Canada RV rental pitfalls , CANADREAM can be CANANIGHTMARE

Time and Place :Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June and July 2013

Conditions: National disaster and mandatory evacuation of camp sites

What RV rental company did : CHARGE US FOR A NEW UNIT

We had rented a unit from CANADREAM.  This company has a fleet of 900 across Canada (200 in Clagary). The unit was old, the grey tank leaked at one third full so we had to dump every day and could not drive far into National Parks without extra planning. The furnace would only work when hooked up to powerso we could not keep warm in no power sites (we had 3 inches of snow on June 21st for 3 days), it was single paned so condensation was horrendous.

Anyway, we continued but were then stranded in Kananaskis country by mud slides and washed out bridges and then evacuated by helicopter 4 days later.

We still had 17 days rental left.  Canadream then decided to profit from the situation, when Albertans and Calgarians were helping left right and centre Canadream insisted we rent another unit and forfeit the rental of the first unit.

The front desk staff had their hands tied by their President who is a rogue and exploited a situation. He had dozens of vehicles available but exercised no good will or compassion.  DON'T RENT FROM THEM.

Also, most companies will pre authorise a deposit of $750 for rental, standard practice, BUT CANADREAM ACTUALLY DEBITS THIS AMOUNT FROM YOUR CREDIT CARD STRAIGHT AWAY.  So think on this, they have a fleet of 900 vehicles, say at worst 50% are on hire, thats 450 * 750 = $ 337,500 (aprox 200 000 quid) that is sitting in their bank account getting interest at the guests expense.

This company had rented 25 uits to the CC UK and the group leader was horrified at the way we were treated. Alas as an individual we have no clout, but be warned if you use CANADREAM you could be left paying off your credit card balance for years to come :(