Cruise Canada

My travel partner and I pre-booked (and pre-paid in full) a motorhome with Cruise Canada, (Richmond, Delta office near Vancouver) recently. It was to be for six weeks. We are in our 50's, have done very little traveling and had to save for years to afford such a holiday. We wanted it to be a wonderful and lasting memory, because we know we will never have enough money to do such a trip again. Well, we certainly have our lasting memories.

1. The "Compulsory Pre-collection Program" video was broken. Nevertheless we were put into a store room and told to watch it and "Come out when it's over".

2. We told them we had never driven in an R.V. before, yet no-one explained any safety aspects of the van to us.

3.The van was not mechanically or domestically prepared for our use, despite the fact that we'd paid many months prior to collection.

4. We each paid a high price to hire our two personal kits, only to discover at the end of the first day's traveling, that there was only one kit consisting of a towel that was filthy, a badly saliva?-stained pancake-thin pillow that smelled of who knows how many previous occupants' oily heads, one very old, stained pillow case and one stained sheet, so thin, we could almost see through it.

5.The employee who showed us to the van noticed only one personal kit on the bed and yet she knew we had paid for two. Failure to rectify this, prior to our departure, was dishonest and inconsiderate in the extreme. When we telephoned the office upon discovery of the problem, we were told there was nothing they could do as we were too far away. We were told to buy all our own requirements and seek reimbursement on return of the van.

6.The flashlight which was supposed to be supplied was not.

7.The voltage adapter which was supposed to be supplied was not.

8.The water hose which was supposed to be supplied was not, so we had no way of hooking up to any water source and no place to buy ourselves a hose until several days later.

9.According to the list provided to us by Cruise Canada, the dump hose was supposed to be 25 feet long. The "piece" they gave us to use was 6 feet, fully stretched, restricting our choice of sites, since the hose did not reach most of the dump holes.

10.An incorrectly sized clamp was attached to the dump hose, causing it to burst apart all over my partner's clothing and shoes and flooded the ground around the dump hole on the very first empty - all in front of the queue of drivers waiting in line. Because no tools were supplied, we couldn't even fix the problem. Subsequent empties had to be done holding the hose up and in place by hand to prevent a repeat occurrence.

11.The shower leaked every time it was used because there was no rubber seal on the bottom of the door.

12.The toilet would not hold water. It slow leaked all the time.

13.The dump valve for the grey water leaked continuously.

14.The end cap on the dump valve had no seal.

15.The water faucet was inoperable, so we couldn't use city water and had to wait extended lengths of time to fill the storage tank to capacity. When the pump was turned on, water was forced out of the faucet emptying the stored water. It was 2 weeks before we could get this repaired. The water we did have came at very low pressure.

16.The water pump caused the lights to flicker and dim when trying to turn itself off. (Mains power).

17.Because no tools were supplied, none of the many faults requiring urgent repair or attention could be effected.

18.Most of the cupboards were high set, suspended from the ceiling, yet there was no stepping block to reach into them.

19.There was no implement with which to clean the floor, yet we were told to keep it clean.

20. All the curtains were faded and tearing apart.

21.The "Check Level" indicators were all broken.

22.Only one of the 4 stove jet indicators would ignite automatically.

23.The passenger front sliding window rattled itself open constantly, forcing us to keep stopping to close it. Finally, we tired of pulling over and one evening found that somewhere during the day's travels, the fly screen had blown right out through the window which had vibrated open.

24.Prior to the loss of the fly screen, we found that a previous occupant or a maintenance worker perhaps had stuffed the top corner with tissues to try to muffle the terrible constant noise.

25.The inside of the non-stick saucepans started to deteriorate after 3 weeks of careful use. The black coating had peeled off and peppered the spaghetti we cooked one night. We even had to clean the pans before the first use to remove the food remnants.

26.The inside of the vehicle had not been cleaned properly before handover. The bathroom sink smelled foul and there was a build up of sludge in the plug hole which we had to clean before we would use it. The floor was dirty enough to blacken the bottoms of our socks. There was a pan to pick up the dirt, but where was the brush?

27.The generator meter was faulty.

28.There was no leveling indicator or equipment such as blocks, yet a sign hung in the van warning us to park on level ground.

29.The microwave (located up near the ceiling) had a bent rotating plate and could not be used safely.

30.The radio kept turning itself off after every 15 minutes or so of use.

31.Alas, when we thought the refrigerator was the only appliance working properly, it broke down too, resulting in the loss of a freezer full of food.

32.The vehicle battery inexplicably discharged 3 times and in order to start up the next day we had to use the emergency start button.

33.The converter fan ran noisily enough to attract complaints and in the last 3 days, it struggled constantly.

34. There was no rack to secure items in the cupboards. The first day was spent listening to crockery, pots and pans rattling and crashing around until we could pad everything up with our own clothing.

35.The side door would only close if slammed, which pleased other campers immensely.

36.Nearby campers were also disturbed by the high pitched noise coming from the water valve on the city water. This happened every time the water was turned on. We had to therefore refrain from using the toilet and taps at night.

37.We were given an emergency number. Every time we rang to report a problem we were told we were too far away for them to do anything and to fix it ourselves, or (on one occasion only) told to present the van for plumbing work at a location of their choice. We asked for a replacement van in which to finish our travelling, citing the problems we were having, however, we were told that this was not an option.

38.The ladder storage area had to be padded up to stop the heavy crashing and banging - no clips to hold the ladder in place.

40.There were no tools for a flat tyre. It is dangerous and risky and we felt very uneasy being in the middle of places like Wyoming and Idaho with a flat tyre and without a cell phone, as we would have had no way of getting help. It infuriated us when the Manager of Delta, Richmond Cruise Canada told us that they don't supply any tools whatsoever, because they don't want customers working on their vehicles - even changing a tyre.

41.We told the staff before taking the van, that we did not have a cell phone. They knew we were to be traveling for the most part in desolate areas. How did they expect us to find a phone booth to call for help if they wouldn't allow us tools?

42.The brakes were faulty. They were weak and emitted a high pitched squeal whenever applied, for the whole 6 weeks.

43.This long vehicle had a serious "wandering " problem. It was difficult to control and required constant steering correction to keep it on the correct side of the road - even more frightening on windy days. My partner has had 25 years of experience driving trucks, semi-trailers, buses and other large vehicles. He knows the difference between vehicle characteristics and serious faults. He is also an "A" grade mechanic. (Their mechanic tried to blame it on the Company which produces the van telling us that this is a design problem common with all their vans).

44.On being taken to the van for the first time, the paperwork idicated that the generator had 1 hour of use. The meter inside read 4.9 hours and this discrepancy went unnoticed until we pointed it out.

Well, $8000 AUS was what this van cost us. The office staff at Cruise Canada in Richmond Delta made it clear from the start they weren't interested in us - just our money - so why should we have been surprised when they offered us $200 U.S. compensation and agree to refund our pre-paid cleaning bill of 50 odd dollars? The Manager admitted the Company had let us down, but said there was little she could do, except offer to pay for a cab fare to the airport for our return flight to Australia.

When our travel agent was informed of the way in which we had been treated by Cruise Canada, he contacted them. Their response? To send us a $500 discount voucher to use when we hire from them next time! Just another slap in the face. The Canadians and Americans we met along the way were disgusted when they heard of the problems we were having with the van and Cruise Canada. We received several offers of help along the way.

We will continue to spread the warning about the dishonesty of Cruise Canada and by doing so, hope we will save others from falling into their greedy hands and costly trap.

Lesley B