4.3
Outdoorsy memberHost since August 2020
Communication
4About Vanroy Smith
4.3
Outdoorsy memberHost since August 2020
Communication
4Memories made on trips with Vanroy Smith's RVs
Marcos A.
5•November 2020
Great RV and Vanroy was a great owner. Very responsive and accommodating. The RV was in very good shape and helped us create great memories for our family!
1 Photo submitted by Marcos A.
Peter P.
1•October 2020
Evan the owner likes to change his story to suit himself He is not TRUTHFUL. DO NOT rent from Evan renter be warned ! Many things broken and not working, van dirty, mattress stained, high risk of COVID-19 if you rent this van.We are quite perplexed about your ever-changing narrative, from in person, on the phone and by message. None of your statements match and you seemed quite confused as to the actual truth. In your message you offered me a shot of vodka when I return the van. I’m sorry but that is completely unprofessional and drink driving is against the law.When I returned the RV you did a much more thorough inspection of the RV when I returned it than when I collected it. You hurried through the pickup inspection and “how to operate the RV’ details as you mentioned a number of times “if that is all as I have to get back to work”. You did not go through all the steps and processes. Regardless if we have rented RV vans before each one is different and works slightly different.During our walkthrough, you actually said to me “you know how to empty the sewage” and as the black and grey tank level indicators are NOT working I replied, “please show me how to do this”.Your RV does not have ANY child restraint devices and you knew that we have a 4-year-old son which we mentioned on our booking form. You did not bother to inform us of this significant safety concern. His car seat was unable to be installed which is legally required. You informed me your children broke all the vertical blinds in the van which implies you have children and understand the correct safety standards for car seats forward and rear facing and booster seats.Your comments “The only seats in the back with seatbelts are at the dining table. Two of them. If the car seat does not fit, then it was simply not made for such. The passenger seat is the only option”. You should know (as you stated you have children) that you cannot place a 4-year-old in the front seat and again it is not that the child seat does not fit. It is that your RV has no legal car seat attachments for a car seat fitment and we should have been informed on booking.I spent the first afternoon that we received the van searching for a suitable safety restraint attachment which took 4 hours to find, collect and install. And as such we were not able to depart on our holiday until the following day. Which lost us our first night on our holiday and many additional hours driving the next day so we wouldn’t lose our next overnight RV booking.I have not been deployed, I have explained to you that I work in an office environment for the Military. The reason for this holiday was I returned from my deployment, which we had discussed previously with you, and this holiday was a chance to reconnect with my family. When you called me and we spoke on the phone to discuss returning the RV early I explained to you that I had to prepare for an upcoming meeting.We have in writing, on a number of occasions, that you agreed that you will refund the 3 days I returned your RV early. An agreement in writing is binding no matter the reason for returning the van early. We also contacted you on 3 separate occasions in regards to the refund and you agreed to return the money. You continually stated it was just taking some time to refund through Outdoorsy and not to worry. At no stage did you require any written evidence nor did you ask for any.If this was not going to be the case I would have worked with my supervisor and continued on my holiday and worked over the weekend to prepare for my meeting. Whilst the contract states there is no refund under normal circumstances, you agreed that I could return the RV early and to reimburse me for the 3 days rental. I suggest you cannot simply change your mind after you have agreed in writing and on the phone that you would refund the 3 days.The money we paid to you via Outdoorsy is under a legally binding contract it is not up to you to use or withhold for whatever you decide or make up at the time. Firstly, you stated you are now withholding it due to additional charges not because you required proof of my work commitments. But prior to that you said it was just taking some time due to Outdoorsy? But now you are stating you require proof of my working commitments which you never mentioned prior to agreeing to refund us the money. Again, your story is changing. If your security deposit was not large enough that is your issue and an issue to go through with Outdoorsy who will then in turn speak to us for additional payments.AwningDuring the collection process you did not fully extend the awning (you agreed and I documented the visible damage prior to my rental). You stated at my collection and again in a message that “requires unreasonable shop time and money to fix, so I have to choose [whether to fix them or not]”. At collection you stated the awning has damage and will need to be replaced at some stage.When I extended the awning for the first time this is how it had been operating and continued to operate that way throughout the rental period. I suggest you are making a claim against me for previous damages and I do not support the withholding of my security deposit for damage that had already occurred. I did not “brace the awning against an object” and it was not “left out in the rain“ as you have accused us of.I suggest the visible damage that occurred prior to my rental was the cause of the “wiggling to go in and out and moving sluggish”.Additionally, when I returned the van, you retracted the awning and mentioned it moving slowly as YOU got it stuck on the van side door as you continued to try and retract the awning before I informed you to stop as it was caught on the door. There were actually only a couple of days it rained, Yellowstone and Montana and they were long days in the National Park with early starts to beat the rush of people and the awing was not “left out in the rain as stated by you” another false accusation.Again your assumption is incorrect and I suggest you are attempting to make a claim against us for previous damage.You falsely accused me of damaging the Slide-Out during the collection process and documented the damage on RV return form. Since then you have messaged “I was able to get the slide out sorted. It seems the axes was braced downwards causing the awful mechanical noise and pressure on the motor”. You accused us of this damage which after further investigation we did not cause which you have admitted to. You have not even had the decency to apologise for the accusation you have made against us in regards to the slide out.You also said to Outdoorsy that there was an issue with the transmission which was included on the list to them of why you were withholding the security deposit, further investigation has shown I was not the cause of this issue which is a similar trend to the other unfounded accusations.I suggest if you have conducted a thorough inspection prior to our rental you would have found the Slide-Out was making the noise you accused me of causing and the already damaged awning was also in the same state when I picked up the van as to when I returned the van.CleaningI am curious as to the cleaning you mention as I cleaned the RV to a much higher standard than when I collected it. I would suggest you DID NOT follow "Outdoors’s RV Cleaning Guidelines During COVID-19" as I informed you we needed a thorough clean by professional cleaners when we collected the RV from you which cost me $165.My wife was unable to enter the van to do the inspection with me on pick up as soon as she went to enter it with me we both could see it clearly had not been cleaned and she left to be able to source a cleaner last minute.You stated that you personally cleaned the RV during our short walkthrough on pickup. Not (“as I paid to have it thoroughly cleaned before” in your recent message). You stated you should have cleaned the RV better on at least 4 occasions we watched you putting away cleaning items that you were using. We observed you in a rush and flustered as you were having a disagreement with the RV Park staff, unorganized and sweaty when we arrived to meet you. You constantly tried to hurry me as you wanted to return to work.• You said the RV still smelt of curry as the "Indian family that rented previously must love curry".• The fridge and freezer smelt and looked as it had not been defrosted and cleaned it still had food crumbs and stains on shelves.• The freezer had dirty ice in it.• The fridge drip tray and pipe were frozen and visibly dirty.• The air vents were visibly full of dirt and dust not sanitised and or cleaned in accordance with COVID-19 cleaning protocols. The filters required significant cleaning in the air-conditioning unit and were obviously not sanitized at all.• The bathroom was dirty including toothpaste left on the cupboard shelves the shower had hair left in, pubic hair on toilet lid and base.• The mirror wasn’t properly cleaned as it had toothpaste and finger prints on it.• The toilet scrubber left in the toilet for us to use had feces on it which we removed and brought a new one for our use.• The cleaners were visibly concerned when they were cleaning the shower as the water was turning black as they were washing the shower walls and door.• Draws and cupboards not wiped out still had dirt and hair in it.• Kitchen sink was dirty with a yellow ring in it.• Several cupboards had random things in it rubbish, tool bits, left over National Park Pass cards and things from other people. Due to COVID-19 that was very unhygienic.• Rubbish, dirt, sand under driver and passenger seat chairs.• RV van had not been adequately vacuumed and or moped.• You specifically mentioned the mattress protector had not been washed from the last rental. Though you expected us to use an unwashed and dirty mattress protector. There was pubic hair, hair, urine stains/sweat stains (or worse) on the mattress. Pubic hair, hair and rubbish (candy wrappers) was also found under the mattress.• The mattress appears old and it is stained and smells. Very unhygienic in the COVID-19 environment or in general for any use. It should be professionally cleaned and sanitised.• We were left no alternative but to purchase a new mattress protector.• We cleaned and sanitized the RV every day of the rental due to COVID concerns and as my wife is in the high-risk category. We cleaned and sanitized ourselves before entering the van if we had visited any populated area and even our dogs’ feet. We packed a vacuum and mop so as to keep the RV clean on a daily basis.• The smoke alarm did not work which you found on collection walkthrough and expected us to replace the battery. Safety comes first when renting anything out and you should have replaced that prior to us picking up the RV.• The main sliding window was not able to be locked again all doors and windows should have locks on them prior to renting for safety.• The RV does not have registration stickers on it and you did not provide us with any registration, insurance and ownership details.We called Outdoorsy on the day we collected the RV to discuss that the RV had not been cleaned adequately and we will have to get a professional clean noting the potential COVID-19 infection transmission.During your thorough inspection on return of the RV you stated how clean the RV was returned and you have EVEN documented on the return form that the RV was cleaned to a satisfactory standard.The minimum cleaning fee on your website states $55 if already cleaned by owner. The charge in my rental contract is $25 cleaning. You have changed this price after our rental contract agreement.You are now stating you have an additional cleaning fee of $175, I suggest this is a gross misrepresentation of the facts and you are falsely trying to garnish more money from me. You mentioned on 2 occasions that thanks to us you could buy another RV if you got more bookings and money like this. You were highly interested and motivated to get additional money. You spoke about how great it was to get this money from us and from this booking and thanked us for it.There is no possible way an RV, any RV of similar size, could take 3 days to clean by more than one person, you would have indicated on the RV return form it was NOT clean and would have objected to the state of the RV immediately. I suggest you are using this as an excuse to falsely garnish more money from me.I am unsure of how or what your "RV feels older" from our trip implies in your message to us?? Again another false accusation?You messaged “Today I got the oil changed, along with transmission fluid and differential fluid, as it felt like the transmission was slipping. The whole rig was jerking and felt like the transmission started slipping each time it had to go to third gear. Regular maintenance, so that bill is on me”. Again, it came back down to regular maintenance but you accused us. Again, you were in bad faith towards us and when corrected you have not even apologised for the accusation.In your communications to us you have not been telling the complete truth and are often changing your story as per the example above.Did you in fact dishonestly avoid putting out the slide (which you did not advertise in your booking) and the awning as there had been issues with them when we picked up the RV van. And you thought as we had a larger booking that you could put these costs on to us?As to your unfounded accusations of damage to the awning and extra cleaning we will not be paying for any additional charges.We too have learned a valuable lesson as I should not have accepted your RV in the dirty condition it was in and requested you remain to go through the all aspects of your RV operations as you would have then noticed the state of the Slide-Out and Awning and we would not have any of these concerns.
Kiran R.
5•September 2020
The RV is clean and well maintained. It is easy to communicate with the owner and all my questions were answered. The brief was concise and clear. The RV is absolutely in perfect condition and we enjoyed it. In addition, it is of perfect length to camp in the national parks. i would recommend and i would prefer for my future trips.
Katia B.
5•August 2020
This was my first time renting an RV as I owned an RV for many years. I maintained it in better shape then many, thus I was very skeptical of the condition that a rental RV maybe, however I am happy to say that my first rental experience was a great one. I will most definitely rent from this owner again.