wicked campers-NOT!

Belfast, United...
Level Contributor
31 posts
280 reviews
170 helpful votes
wicked campers-NOT!
Save

Rented a wicked camper van for 7 weeks of wicked.

cheap but not as cheerful. everything ok when selling but as soon as they are required to take responsibility, dont expect to get a reply from customer services. 5 days wasted of our trip because of mechanical problems plus extra costs incurred to us was met with a derisory compensation offer. An email was sent to the care dept explaining that their offer was unsatisfactory. we never heard from them again. Did get to talk to the sales manager who promised us more, his words lacked substance and his email address defaulted. Its hard to communicate with a brick wall. watch out for the theiving staff! wicked campers have been going since 2001, and are sure making their money from us poor back packers. They've also opened up in New zealand and the uk. personally I dont think they'll be going for much longer if they treat their customers like this. BEWARE!

1. Re: wicked campers-NOT!

-:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:-

This post was determined to be inappropriate by the Tripadvisor community and has been removed.

To review the Tripadvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

Our staff may also remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. Thanks for being a part of the Tripadvisor travel community!

Removed on: 8:50 pm, August 23, 2010
Brisbane, Australia
Destination Expert
for Brisbane, Noosa
Level Contributor
6,025 posts
150 reviews
145 helpful votes
2. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

Thank you for your advice, i shall certianly advise others to approach with caution, lets hope that any shonky operator will be taken to task by the relevant authorities.

manchester uk
Level Contributor
19 posts
3. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

Hi and sorry to hear about your problems with wicked campervans but we have nothing but praise for how we were treated by them.

We hired a camper for a month and had a fantastc time , the staff were great ,they even gave us a discount of 10 dollars per day on the rental due to it being our honeymoon,plus gave us a couple of boogie boards.Another great thing was that the rental return time (in Cairns) was 10 in the morning and our flight back to Sydney was nt untill early evening .............. they let us keep the van untill 4 in the afternoon and got us a taxi to the airport .

Herlev, Denmark
Level Contributor
249 posts
5 reviews
2 helpful votes
4. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

Thank you surfoz. And congratulation with your wedding and honeymoon grashopper bg.

It would have been really bad if your honeymoon were to be spoilt because of a company, who "do not know what is right and wrong"

Maybe they have started to treat their customers with respect and in a decent way after they have found out that we had contacted Consumer Affairs.

But I have to say that we met another couple from Yorkshire, who also didn't feel that they had received a roadworthy vehicle. And it seems according to those replies I have received at LP's homepage, that we are not the only one, who made a bad investment with this company.

Apparently the state of Victoria doesn't have any rules about checking the vehicles in a yearly basis, as I believe most european nations have.

We are commited to warn other people/travellers about things like this, since noone should spend their vacation at different garages

Rugby
3 posts
1 review
1 helpful vote
5. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

A young lady we employ in the UK went ot Aus with her boyfriend and hired from Wicked Campers. They returned via a couple of weeks in South Africa and by the time they returned they found this form had taken £160 from her account, despite sybolically tearing up their bank details when they returned the van. They will not reply to her emails to explain what the money is for. There were a couple of speed camera fines but these were paid immediately by her father direct to NSW government. This is obviously a great way for this wicked company to make a great deal of money out of young people. Can anyone tell me the name and address of the company that owns this firm and especially the name of the Managing Director so that we can get the TV cameras round there?

Ian Lauder, Chairman, Vinemans Ltd.

Adelaide, Australia
Level Contributor
15,426 posts
54 reviews
84 helpful votes
6. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

While I have no idea whether these criticisms are justified or not and i have never hired from Wicked Campers I do Know that compared with other hire companies they are extremely cheap and also that they are willing to hire to young people under 21 which is not the case for most other car hire companies in Australia - and most wont hire to people under 25 without a very large premium.

I have also had similar complaints about mechanical problems etc with larger firms such as Hertz when cars have broken down outside of a major city . i think these sort of issues are often dependent on where you are when you break down and who you are dealing with.

But the main point is Wicked is extremely cheap- and as ever you get what you pay for.

And Vineman I think its very very sad that people like yourself think the way to deal with a business complaint is to bring in the TV cameras. We do have strong consumer laws in this country and surely the relevant Dept of Consumer Affairs should be where you take this issue - not to some tabloid TV program.

Herlev, Denmark
Level Contributor
249 posts
5 reviews
2 helpful votes
7. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

I am full aware of that when you rent a cheap van, the only thing you can expect is a van, which matches the lowest standards for roadworthy vehicles. But our worries are that we didn't get any of those. We got a vehicle that should have been sticked, nothing less! And we didn't 'pay' for the exhaust fumes in the van. We didn't 'pay' for spending part of our holiday at some garage in Mount Gambier and we didn't 'pay' for meeting a dishonest employee at their office in Melbourne.

And what is wrong with focusing, with tv-cameras, on swindlers and 'bad guys' ? This has often, on Danish Television programs, resulted in that other 'decisions were made'. However, I do see that there is some kind of wrong ethics, with using TV - cameras and stuff like that, - unless the amount of unsatisfied costumers is 'unsatisfactory', which something tells me is the case with Wicked Campers.

Adelaide, Australia
Level Contributor
15,426 posts
54 reviews
84 helpful votes
8. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

It is not only Wicked that provides bad service. My friends rented a hertz van in WA. When they went to leave a remote camping spot one morning the pop top wouldn't go down. They had to drive on the road with it up (very dangerous) until they found a garage where it was fixed. Hertz refused to reimburse them for the cost saying it was their fault. My friends dealt with this through Consumer Affairs and eventually did get their reimbursement.

There is something wrong I think when people circumvent laws by using the media to tell their story because all too often only one side of the story is really heard by the public. We have had cases in this country where so called "shonks" were exposed by the media - but it has later turned out that it was the customer who was shonky - the trades person has lost his business as a result and in one case committed suicide because of it. We do have laws people should use them instead of taking shortcuts through the media.

Herlev, Denmark
Level Contributor
249 posts
5 reviews
2 helpful votes
9. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

I can not comment on the bad service provided by Hertz. If that is a fact they should tell their story in forums like this.

We all know that our system, here in the western part of the world, is based on some laws, which occasionally drowns in bureaucracy, and it can take years before a ruling can be given. And using tv can help with a 'faster' descision, which I think is ok, as long as serious journalism takes place. I guess it is a part of living in the 21st century whether you like it or not.

Adelaide, Australia
Level Contributor
15,426 posts
54 reviews
84 helpful votes
10. Re: wicked campers-NOT!
Save

I couldn't disagree with you more!

The point is "serious journalism" does NOT take place very often these days-especially on tabloid TV and the reason why things sometimes take a long time to go through courts is because all the issues have to be investigated and considered properly.

A fast decision is not necessarily a good or right decision- but any way it is my understanding that most small claims courts do in fact work quite quickly in this country and sometimes when you get the media involved and people start suing and counter suing it just muddies the waters and makes things drag out for years.

Get answers to your questions about Brisbane
CA$CAD
United States
© 2021 TripAdvisor LLC All rights reserved.

This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in the United States. If you are a resident of another country or region, please select the appropriate version of Tripadvisor for your country or region in the drop-down menu.