Aimee

I really did not want to have to write this review, but after making numerous attempts to resolve the situation directly with Dale, my messages were repeatedly ignored, leaving me with no option but to open a dispute with Goboony. What is most disappointing is the response Dale has now given to my dispute. I am a fair person and would have much preferred to resolve this privately, but I will not accept being blamed for problems that were present from the very beginning of our rental or being accused of things that I strongly dispute. On the morning we were due to collect the van, Dale contacted us to say there were issues with it and that collection would be delayed until 5pm. This already had a significant impact on our plans. We eventually set off for Scotland and arrived at our first stop at around 1am. When we switched the van off, we discovered that the leisure battery was not working. The following morning I contacted Dale to explain the problem and asked whether we were doing something wrong. His response was that he was “not really sure”. When we subsequently tried to start the van, the vehicle battery was also completely flat. Fortunately, my partner is a mechanic and carries emergency equipment, so we were able to get the van going ourselves. Had we not had that knowledge and equipment with us, we could potentially have been facing a recovery situation on the first day of our holiday. Even more concerning, the breakdown pack supplied with the van was missing its jump leads. The leisure battery issue completely changed our plans. The van is advertised as “Off-Grid Ready”, and we had planned parts of our trip around staying off-grid. Because the leisure battery was not working, this was impossible. We had to find campsites with electric hook-up at short notice, resulting in additional costs and disruption. Most importantly, Dale was made aware of the battery issue on day one. Despite this, he later claimed during the Goboony dispute that we had caused the battery problem by being off-grid for a week. I find this particularly difficult to understand when we had reported that the leisure battery was not working from the very first night. I was also extremely disappointed by the claims that the van had been returned filthy, that the toilet was full and that a cleaning charge was necessary. I completely dispute these claims. I spent several hours cleaning the van before returning it, including vacuuming, wiping everything down and washing, drying and folding the towels. The van was checked over on return and the toilet and waste were emptied. In fact, the van was cleaner when we returned it than when we collected it, when there was still a considerable amount of dog hair from the previous users. I repeatedly tried to resolve this reasonably and privately. I was not looking for an argument. I simply wanted the additional costs caused by the problems with the van and the £100 being withheld from our deposit to be dealt with fairly. My attempts to communicate were ignored. The van itself was otherwise comfortable and we still managed to enjoy our holiday. My issue is entirely with how the problems were handled afterwards and the claims subsequently made against us. Mechanical problems can happen with any vehicle. What matters is how those problems are dealt with. In our experience, the issues were reported immediately, we received very little assistance, incurred additional costs and were ultimately blamed for problems we had reported from the outset. For that reason, based entirely on our experience, I would personally not rent from Dale again. If you are considering this van, I would strongly recommend clarifying exactly what “Off-Grid Ready” means and what happens if the facilities or vehicle are not functioning as advertised. September 2026