Complaint Review: American Dream Vacations - Boerne Texas

We have rented from this and other places before, and we are experienced RV owners and renters. We have never had an issue with anything before or ever filed any complaint ever. We understand what camping and RV’ing is like and enjoy the work involved as part of the experience. Our experience was a nightmare from the beginning and everything on the unit started to go wrong. We spend hours fixing things on a regular basis. We really wish we had not rented this unit or taken the trip because of the stress it has caused. We’ve never wanted to come back early from a trip before and have never actually looked forward to our return home. It took us 3 trips from Austin to pick

up the RV and we were not able to leave until late on the second day due to being given the wrong keys more than once. The door was bent/broken and needed to be replaced. They finally rekeyed the unit on our third trip to the dealership. Right from the beginning, the slide out was a problem and I was concerned it was going to get stuck at some point on the trip because it was not going out at the touch of a button like a slide out normally does. We called about it more than once and were instructed to realign it by jiggling the switch back and forth, which we did. The slide never actually ever came the entire way out, but it was livable for the first few days because we could access

everything we needed to and move inside the unit. During the last 9 days of our trip, we could not open the slide out at all. This unit is not meant to be used without the slide out. This means: -bathroom door won’t open all the way -bedroom closet is not accessible (we had NO clothes for the entire 9 days and we had to move the mattress after the trip was over to get our belongings out) -4 large adults could not move in it at a time. Only one person (or two if nobody needed to move) could be in the unit at a time and the rest had to stay outdoors in the cold until bedtime. -the drivers seats could not be moved back so double bed above the cab could not be used, leaving the table, which

is a kiddie bed and not long enough for even short adults under 5’5” to sleep with legs straight -it is difficult to get down hall and we had to squeeze in sideways down the hallway -it is difficult to get into the bedroom and no route around the bed. My mom, who is in her late 70’s, had to crawl over my dad (who would just go to bed early since we couldn’t move at all in the RV) in order to get into the bedroom, and had to get dressed lying on top of the mattress. This lack of slide out completely ruined our trip and was an intolerable thing thing to have to suffer. When we were in CA, we called and were told that at some point along our travels, a place would be found for us to take it in to be

repaired. We were living for that moment but were never contacted and told anything further. In 9 days and over the miles from CA to TX the company claims they could not manage to get it repaired. We weren’t even contacted and told "We’re not going to fix it”. There were many other things wrong with the RV that added to the stress and prevented us from having an American Dream Vacation, or even a tolerable experience: -Auto leveling jacks did not work from the beginning as well -The "check engine” light was on and the company chose to ignore that. It caused us a lot of stress as we was driving because it kept coming on and staying on for prolonged periods of time. We called

and were told it was benign -but what if there is actually something wrong? Someone will get stuck! With all the other things wrong with the unit, we were concerned, plus it didn’t handle certain terrain well and took away from our vacation experience. If it’s benign, they need to treat customers with respect and replace it so they don’t need to worry about it, not being familiar with how the unit handles, and not be put at risk of getting stuck when there actually is an issue one day. -We chose this unit for its storage space, as it had a large closet. When we picked it up, the doors were missing from when we first saw it. Our things kept falling all over and were not secure. -We RV year round and

are experienced, so we understand things break. However the amount of things that were problematic was too high and shows a record of neglect and proves that they are taking advantage of their customers. They are charging a high rental rate but being cheap and not properly maintaining the units. For example: -the air mattress on the bed above the cab would not hold air. It was very uncomfortable sleeping up there (but then when we had to sleep in the kiddie bed.... I think it was actually worse...) -the table would not stay up and kept sliding down as we were driving and hitting our knees -the door step swung in an out as we were driving down the highway until we took the time to

fix it -the door would swing all the way open and the hinge would fly off constantly and we had to keep fixing that as well -the generator kept tripping and had to be reset -the pantry would not lock in place as it’s supposed to and kept pushing the door open -the fire extinguisher was loose and kept swinging all over (dangerous) -the ladder on the back of the unit was not attached in 3 of the 4 places and swung loose the whole time. It could have come off and hit a vehicle at any point (extremely dangerous) -the outdoor bar area with the fridge did not latch and lock properly and was at risk of burglary -the passenger vent was missing and blew high wind and dust in the passengers face -the

striplights under the awning did not work We would never have complained about these smaller inconveniences and would have overlooked them (minus the ladder, which was a huge safety issue), but combined with everything else, it shows a pattern of lack of maintenance and feel completely cheated, having paid an exorbitant price for a faulty unit. We could have had a pretty nice vacation elsewhere for that price tag. We discussed all these things with the company and they have apologized but have refused to properly compensate us. We received only one night’s refund ($280). Instead of refunding any more days, we were given a coupon for two days discount on a future visit

(manager is claiming up to $1,000 value or something like that, depending on which unit we rent), which I’m not even counting because I would have to spend money there to use it and I’m definitely not giving them anymore money. We didn’t even received enough compensation (in mileage and rental time) to reimburse us for having to come back to the dealership so many times to fix the door lock issue before we left! Over $5,000 for stress and problems? That’s not a dream vacation; that’s a ripoff!