I recently used getrv.com to rent an RV for a family vacation. I had no problem with this online service. But when I received an online statement of the rental agreement, it told me that I would have to pick up the vehicle in Elizabeth, Colorado. This is 59 miles from my home. I called Getrv.com and explained to them that when I had applied to rent this vehicle I had chosen my pick-up site to be Denver. (Their application gives you a few choices) I told them that I was not able to travel that far for the pick-up and that I would rather cancel the agreement. They then contacted the owner of Elizabeth RV. (Mr. Satyendra "ST" Tripathi) He agreed to deliver the vehicle to my home. I accepted that offer and left the agreement intact.
When I actually took delivery of the RV, it was approximately 9:00 pm the night before our trip was scheduled. Mr. Tripathi brought his employee with him to demonstrate the RV's details to me and collect a security deposit of $1000.00. The employee named Ray was clearly in a hurry and said he still had to drive to his home in Colo. Springs that evening (about 70 miles away). We quickly walked though the details of the unit in the dark. I noticed the indicator for the deep cycle battery only indicated 1/4 full. This should have been fully charged after a 59 mile trek. Ray told me to leave the units generator on for a while and it should recharge. He also suggested plugging the unit into the house current overnight. I did both of these things.
The next morning my wife, my two daughters and two of their friends and my 2 month old son, headed to Rocky Mountain National Park to camp for the weekend.
As my family and I found a campsite and settled in for the night, the power system on the vehicle failed shortly after sundown. Therefore, we had no lights, no heat, or refrigeration the first night. The following day I drove the unit approximately 50 miles to Granby, the nearest city, to purchase a new battery. I installed
the new battery and called the service Technician Ray, whom I had dealt with upon delivery. He apologized and assured me I would be reimbursed for the cost of the battery. I had then asked if he new why the microwave and air conditioner units were not working. He suggested perhaps fuses or breakers were blown or tripped, but he could not tell me where they were located. I was able to locate and check all of the breakers. That was
not the problem. I was not able to correct the problem. Unfortunately, the power failure was not the only problem with the unit.
To summarize the problems with the RV:
The following items did not work or had obvious damage as I received the unit.
Air conditioning did not work.
Microwave did not work
Master bedroom bed supports were broken.
Right tail light did not work.
Deep cycle battery would not hold a charge, and was
completely dry and sizzling when I replaced it!
Shower wand holder was broken (had to be hand held)
Stereo remote control did not work.
Bedroom blinds would not stay up on one side
Unit did not smell fresh.
Linens and bed covers were extremely dusty and felt
very dirty.
So then, when I returned the RV to Elizabeth RV, (Which I didn't feel I really had to do as this was not what I initially agreed to, but did anyway to avoid further conflict) the salesman was highly apologetic and recorded my list of problems. He then stated that he was aware of the broken tail light and had told Ray about it prior to my receipt.
Unfortunately, I had broken the passenger side mirror and agreed to pay the replacement cost.
Nearly a month had passed and I checked my credit card statement to see if the refund of the balance of my damage deposit had been made. It had not. So I called Elizabeth RV and asked for a status update of my refund. After several minutes of the salesman named Bill fumbling with his computer and repeatedly remarking that it didn't make sense and he was not sure what was going on, I was able to deduce that they had decided to charge me for several repairs, excess mileage, and an additional rental day due to the repairs delaying the next days rental of the unit. Bill also said that a refund of $460.44 had been made to my credit card. I asked him to read me the account number which had been credited and of course it was incorrect. He also stated that the cost of the mirror was $88.74 but that the refund of the cost of the battery actually showed up as a charge
to me, instead of a refund. The salesman agreed to try to straighten things up and explained that things were very confusing back on the original rental date because he
had just returned to work after major back surgery and was trying to learn this system by watching another employee (Ray). He stated that he thought Ray had made these mistakes. Bill stated that he would call me the next day and clarify the issues.
He never did not call back.
About 3 more weeks passed and I had still not received a refund or an itemized bill. So I wrote an e-mail to Mr. Brian Heath the President of Getrv.com. He responded immediately and conveyed his regrets and apologies. He vowed to help me resolve the dispute. He apparently placed a call to Elizabeth RV as I received a call from Mr. Tripathi with what sounded like a sincere apology. Mr. Tripathi placed the blame for the mix-up on his employee "Ray' and stated that he had now been fired. He then stated that he had sent me a refund of $460.44 the previous night. When I questioned him about the amount of the refund, Mr. Tripathi said he didn't have the details of why I was being charged an extra $500 plus. I explained to him that I felt that the refund should be for the $1000.00 plus $63.33 (the cost of the battery I had to replace) less the cost of the mirror. ($88.74) Totaling $974.59. This is a difference of $514.15. I reasoned, the fact that he was not able to rent the unit the next day due to having to replace the mirror, was offset by the fact that I didn't have power for the first day of the rental and had to travel approximately 100 extra miles and spend several hours of my vacation to replace the battery. He became very irate at this suggestion, and was not willing to discuss the details of the matter any further. He than stated, "How about I charge you $500.00 for delivering the unit to your houseI'm not going to play your games, why don't you just sue me". He then hung up on me. After several minutes, he called back and said he got a few more details from "Bill" and that he was going to credit me an additional $316.00.
I could tell he was still highly agitated, so instead of arguing further, I asked for an itemized receipt for the additional charges. He agreed to provide this.
I then called and spoke with Mr. Heath of getrv.com and explained to him what had transpired. He supported my position and related similar difficulty in his dealings with Mr. Tripathi. He explained what his working relationship with Elizabeth RV had been like and how his company allowed each affiliate three strikes before terminated business with them. He stated that this incident was strike one. He conveyed that he felt Mr. Tripathi would respond appropriately as this relationship represented a significant revenue stream to Elizabeth RV. He could not advise me on what the financial settlement should be in terms of dollars, but that he felt that I as a customer should be satisfied with the settlement. He agreed to continue to prod Mr. Tripathi if the matter was not concluded within a week.
I never received the itemized statement and have not gotten responses to my e-mails and phone calls ever since. Get RV.com seems like a very sound business, but Elizabeth RV should not be in business at all in my opinion.
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