Wicked Campers Australia Opiniões 257

Wicked Campers Review: Great Trip, Terrible Refund Process

We hired the Grip 2-5 4X4 camper from Wicked Campers in Cairns for a 9-day trip up Cape York.

Pick up was rather poor: car was not ready at the booked pick up time (1.5 hours late), fridge was dirty, no explanation on how to open the rooftop tent ("you'll figure it out mate") and very unprofessional feel to the pick up desk. On the road, the experience with the vehicle was largely positive. Car was reliable on the road and functioned as needed.

However, the post-rental experience regarding the $2000 AUD Security Bond refund was extremely poor and unacceptable.

1. Extreme Delay: The refund was overdue, taking more than 30 business days (over six weeks) to be returned, despite their agreement stating a maximum processing time of 30 days. I had to email more than 5 times and send several Whatsapp messages. Every time I received short, non informational answers without offering any solutions or giving any essence of urgency in processing the refund. Every time they suggest to contact someone else, always the same problem, namely, no real answer. The lady at pick up explicitely stated it could take 30 work days. We waited more than 45 working days... Totally unacceptable. The lack of communication in combination with the delay is just one big red flag. Seems to me they have a cash flow problem and keep refunds much longer (if they even refund) than needed. Being from far overseas it makes this much more difficult as there was very little to do.

2. Unjustified Fees: The company's system failed to process a direct refund to my active credit card. This operational error necessitated a slow, international wire transfer. Consequently, I was forced to incur approximately €35 in bank transfer fees, which Wicked Campers deducted from my principal bond amount.

While I would generally accept market fluctuation in exchange rates, deducting bank fees caused by their own system failure is a deeply frustrating and customer-unfriendly practice.

Conclusion:
If you can accept the risk of a potentially long and problematic security bond return process, the rental itself was an okay budget option. The vehicle served its purpose, but the lack of customer service and the administrative hassle regarding the refund completely spoiled the overall experience. Wicked Campers needs to significantly improve its bond refund process to meet the terms of its own rental agreement.

We rented from wicked campers, picking up in Cairns and dropping off in Melbourne. Upon pick up there was a slight error, I booked an automatic vehicle, however a manual was prepared for us. They were able to get another van ready within a few hours and it was an upgrade. The staff in Cairns were extremely helpful and kind. The van has been great so far, we are very happy with the service!

Hace más de tres semanas qué entregué el vehículo y aún estoy esperando mi fianza. Es una vergüenza porqué al pagar la fianza lo hice al momento cómo ellos querían.
La autocaravana estaba sucia , sin gasoil y con muchos desperfectos. Además en Hobart tuve qué llamar a las 12.00h PM porqué la oficina estaba cerrada

I gave 1 star, only because it didn't broke down and take us to our destination. The van was very old and tape all together(very bad), it was hard to drive because the wheels were not centered so the van was moving on the left by himself and when I told them, all I get was "we have new and old van in our fleet and this is what you paid for" (also wrong because the picture was different and "the picture is visual" that they told me wasn't written anywhere). I wanted to post a nice video on YouTube but it was to messed up that I was feeling embarrassed. They don't provide the exact one that you see in the picture and when I call them 2 times for this the person on the other part of the phone and the chat was very rude. I spend 2000$ for 10 days and all I received was like "if you want to complaint just write an email". They put also the cost for the off-hours pickup and when I show on time it takes me 2 weeks and write 4 different email and chat to get the money back. It was the first time that I experience such a bad customer service especially after what I spend. All I wanted was for them to find a nice solution or at least to be polite... none of that come from them!

I almost never do this, but I received customer service that went far beyond my expectations. A huge thank you to Shai from the Australian team for your precious help. I truly hope I’ll be able to leave the same kind of review at the end of my Melbourne–Perth journey with the Mystery Machine!

The van was in great condition and did exactly what i needed it to. Saw a bunch of cool things in cairns and the table lands

Wicked campers provided us with a sick mystery machine van that had all the essentials that we needed for our lovely trip down south in WA, wicked campers were also very quick on responses and helped us with any questions we had. Would recommend this company to many friends and even family if they are interested in going on a road trip

I made my booking online and asked for a simple Aventus 2 campervan described as "Modern, fuel-efficient and stylish campervans". I turned up at the agreed time of 10am on the pick up day to find that I was in a vague queue of about 5 people with no clear idea of who was going to be served when. Only one guy was hurriedly showing people their vans and finishing off any necessary paperwork. Everyone had just gone with the default option on the website of collection at 10am. If there was a realistic booking system in place that gave customers a staggered appointment time there would be no need for customers to stand around in the street waiting (there's no waiting room at the pick up address in Adelaide; no offer of refreshments, even water).

When it finally came to my turn after almost an hour sheltering from the sun under a tree on the pavement, instead of the van I ordered, I was offered a garishly coloured high top "Mystery Machine”, which I could not accept as I only had underground parking for the night in Adelaide. After showing the guy my original order he said he didn’t have any normal looking vehicles and offered me an ordinary height "mystery machine” with its old and shabby paint job that might have looked cool in the 1970s.

The vehicle was anything but modern or fuel efficient. The exhaust fumes reeked, there was no USB socket or bluetooth sound system. The vehicle had clearly been on the road a long time with over 500,000kms on the clock. The interior was graffitied with details of people's journeys dating back at least to 2014, various crude slogans, pictures of penises and records of who had copulated with who on the very mattress I was now sleeping on.

Unlike in the pictures on the website, there was no bedding, which I was told I had to buy myself, as a foreign traveller without such things with me. The "mattress" (3 plastic covered mats that fitted together in the back) was completely inadequate, so after a couple of poor nights' sleep I had to book proper lodgings for the rest of my trip.

The thing ran ok, although the fumes were bad so I had to drive with the windows closed and AC on all the time. I also had to buy a car usb charger for my phone. The only way to plug my phone into the radio was via a 3.5mm mic plug, which meant I could either listen to my music or charge my phone - not both at the same time. The description on the wesbsite had also described a cooler for drinks and food, but all there was was a cheap cool box. I had to buy ice twice during my trip to put in it.

When I returned the vehicle I parked (as is legal in the UK) facing the "wrong" way up the road. Instead of politely explaining to me what the rules were, the guy receiving the vehicle just barked at me that I would get a ticket if I parked there. No sense of polite customer service there, then. It took another customer to explain the parking laws in Australia.

As I had the offer of a 5% discount to share my experience I shared this review with them on email. I got a reply that someone would get back to me about the bodged booking, but no one has. Only a reminder to share my experiences online.

Other than all of the above I had a great drive around South Australia which is stunning. But I would not recommend using Wicked Campers to anyone.

We had a great trip with the Mystery Machine 2 (Toyota Estima) from Wicked
Campers, going from Melbourne to Noosa.
Easy to drive, comfortable and well set up for a short road trip.
Pickup and drop-off were smooth and everything worked as expected.
Really fun camper and good value overall.

Booked a van for 10 days. Pick up in Brisbane and drop off in Airlie Beach. The van was nothing special and the equipment was very simple and limited however, the van took us where we wanted and worked perfectly fine. The dropoff in airlie beach was a bit questionable and we had to wait for a long time without any help. However eventually we could leave the keys.

Nice van, loved the laid back atmosphere of the staff and van. We booked a week in Tasmania and had an easy pick-up, time on the road and deposit.

The only thing that was annoying was the bond refund time, it takes alot of time, and when you pay the bond there is a huge transaction fee from the middleman which you dont get refunded back.

Except from that, a nice trip!

Good van that does the job, but not a lot more than that. The aircon did not work and the sleeping area is very short. I am 160 cm and could only just fit. Drop off was easy. The van was small and easy to drive and park.

My little campervan was great for one person. It run smoothly and I didnt have any problems for the week. I just feel like the equipment could be better and the car had lot of damages around (which Wicked was aware of). But if you fine with that, would recomend.

NO BOND BACK AND BEEN OVER A MONTH-
Van it’s self was very nice and smooth mechanical no issues but the camping kit and mattress was a joke, awful cheap rock hard mat
Dropped the van off and still not had bond back and we’re passed the 30 days they say to wait-booking number 233384

I have been waiting and repeatedly asking for 7 weeks now for a return of my security bond.

We loved our van, we choose the mystery machine and do Brisbane to Airlie Beach, amazing travel !!
The only thing to say, we can’t have a fridge in the van and they say « you can have » on the website, so we took the option but we didn’t have, so call us if you want to know if you can put fridge on the van !
The company is react ! You can rent a car with us !

Not a bad experience, but definitely a lot of room for improvement. The gas mileage was very poor. The van was not in great condition overall and emitted some strange noises towards the end of our trip. The gas canisters (for cooking) we received were not full upon picking up the vehicle. The mattress was really just 3 sections of thin foam. It fulfilled most of our needs; it did not fail, but it was not the most comfortable or stress-free experience. The employee who we picked up the van from was very nice.

I rented many of such camper and off-road cars in the world (Africa, South America, Australia). Wicked Campers was the worst experience so far. DO NOT rent a car there. Very bad technical condition and dirty as hell. All is handled by a third party depot who have no clue about offroad campers. No explanation of the cars features and crappy camping equipment. We complained and the consequence was that they canceled our contract and we stood in the outskirts of Alice Springs without a car. Crap and rip off.

The car itself and the staff at the location were great. However, the booking process and the “What is your budget?” feature were a joke, which is why I’m giving 3 out of 5 stars.

It’s about the fifth time I’ve rented a Wicked Camper, but this time I had to book last minute, which is how I ended up in Ringwood. Since it was quite expensive, I tried using the “What is your budget?” option and waited two days without any response. I called and was told it was with operations and that someone would get back to me.

With only two days left before my planned booking, I reached out via Facebook Messenger. The person I spoke to advised that the car I wanted was no longer available and that I could only upgrade—and only at full price. Originally, I had received around 15% off due to a Black Friday deal. Instead of the $450 I submitted as my budget, the offer was changed to $725.

Rather than accepting that ridiculous offer, I went back to the website and booked the original vehicle with the Black Friday discount for $560—more than I had wanted to pay—and ended up with an upgrade at the same price anyway.

If you don’t intend to respond to budget offers, then don’t offer that feature on your website. And if your site allows me to book a certain category and I reach out for support, don’t make my quote more expensive. Just do what happened in the end—when I ignored support and booked online—and provide the upgrade for free if the booked car isn't available at the location. That’s how other rental companies operate.

Just keep it simple.