Camper/Trailer hiring

Thanks for your reply. Yes we are in dispute with a company but for legal reasons I do not want to name them. They claimed we did some damage to the flooring in the trailer. For various reasons I know we did not damage the floor. Our deposit was $500 and they claim it will cost $1100 to fix. ie replace some vinyl flooring with a cut in it. It means part of the tent has to be removed from the hard floor area to gain access to remove and replace the vinyl. By asking the question on the forum I wanted to see if other people had a problem and then I could canvas them to see if it with this same company. Other things said to us by the company representative makes me question the validity of their claim.
I understand how you felt about the contract and your liability. I was the same and I felt uncomfortable for the two weeks we had it out. We want to buy a camper/trailer and before making such a large investment we wanted to make sure it was the direction we wanted to go. We even past up great camping spots in the bush because of concerns with damage, albeit if the trailer was damaged it would have proved it not to be able to do what it was supposed to be able to do. We were considering hiring another make of camper/trailer from another company but this experience has left a really bad taste in the mouth. To get my deposit back my only recourse is to take legal action and we know who wins in those cases when small amounts are involved.

Yes in hind sight but as we all know. I did not see the damage at anytime dduring the hire and when we cleaned the trailer before taking it back I did not see the damage and if it was evident I would have seen it when I was on my hands and knees cleaning (althought it was already clean) and drying the floor before we closed it up.

No such clauses but it does say the $500 bond is the limit of my liability for any damage.

I agree, legally they must accept fair wear and tear. We have hired campers three times with 2 companies , one trip was 10,000km to Yulara and back. As you can expect with that trip it copped its share of wear. In all cases we had no problems, we did clean them prior to return. I would be getting a solicitor to drop them a little note.
Good Luck
Craig

It would be nice to do that but I think it borders on "slander". I am still considering my options.

Hi Flappan,

Been there done that (not for a hire problem but a broken "new" trailer after a trip). Got to tell you it is tough going and you need some good evidence to succeed. Reckon I was 100% right but only got 50% but hey, it was better than zero and I made the trailer man's life a misery so it was worth that much.

Kind regards

After spending 20 years with Fair Trading in NSW I am confident of their ability to settle the matter by mediation but the amount of time involved is enormous. Perhaps I should do it just to waste the traders time because mine costs nothing. At this stage it is my word (and SHMBO) against his that the damaged was not caused by us. A 50/50 result would be the most likely outcome. By the way I have not yet been given the opportunity to inspect the damage. His 7 days to return my deposit expires next Sunday after which time I will have to decise what to do.

sorry just to clarify.

Just as well the floor under the bed was removeable or he would not get to his equipment. Luckily they had cooking facilities there or he would have starved to death.

There was a fire ban on, so no open fires of any sort!!!!!

Sparkie(IE not Y) ;-)