California campervan hire

We had a fantastic few days with Gertie. As comfortable and well equipped as you would expect from an almost brand new California Ocean, the communication and handover from Beach Life was excellent and without fault. We would highly recommend Gertie for any length of trip and wouldn't hesitate to rebook again in the future.

Disappointing experience with Campervan ownerEverything was fine to start with and good communication,but just before the hire he tried to charge me a second time for insurance ,saying he forgot Id already paid.I had arranged to collect the van at 09.30 but the day before he changed this to either 0830 or 1130.We arrived at 0830 and the van was out with roof and awning erected.He gave me a quick demonstration but had to rush off for appointment.He told me there was a broken hinge on the roof bed making it awkward to stow for roof lowering.His attitude was you can get someone else on the campsite to help you .When I got the van home my husband and I tried and found it impossible for me to lower the roof bed ,meaning that I had to have restricted headroom throughout my week away.We also found that the awning telescopic legs wouldnt lock ,meaning that I couldnt use this eitherThe inside of the van was far from hygienic with lots of dog hairs and dirty boxes with pots and pans in.There was a battery compact hoover inside which was useless due to being full of dog hair and debris.So we vacuumed and air freshened the inside ourselves,I was due to take the campervan back to the owner on Saturday, but I was receiving annoying texts from the Thursday asking be to return as early as possible on Friday as it was going out on hire again .I refused and he excepted that I would return as previously agreed and paid for on Saturday,The owner said he wouldnt be home but his daughter would take the van off us .We cleaned and hoovered the van again before return even though the owner strangely told us not to bother doing that.On returning the van it was clear that the owners daughter wasnt going to volunteer the return of 200 security deposit. We had to ask for ,to which she first said she couldnt find it ,then after further searching gave it to us in the original clearly marked envelope.I have driven pasted on a couple of occasions since then and know the van has not been re- hired since.