We rented the Two4theRoad model from the Denver location. I still love the idea of renting a camper van for vacation, but our experience with this particular company was not a very good one overall. We had issues with the batteries in the living space which led to noxious smells and unusable power and van features (lights, fridge, water pump, etc). The company did not offer helpful solutions & only refunded one night of our stay, even though we had these issues for 3 of the 4 nights we had the van. We actually spent our last night in a hotel rather than in the camper for a 3rd night without power.
Night 1- Red Rocks concert; great to have the van due to a hailstorm that delayed the concert for awhile so we hung out in the parking lot in comfort. We still noticed the smell, but it wasn't horrible & I tucked a towel in the crack at the top of the bathroom door, thinking that might help. We hooked up to shore power when we returned to the Chief Hosa campground and slept soundly on Night 1.
Night 2- RMNP East Portal Campground. Woke up in night to very strong burning chemical type smell. It was frightening and we couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. We opened our windows even though it was cold, and decided to flip the power switch from what it was on (line charge only) to the other setting (auto inverter), thinking this might help with the odor. It seemed to make it worse so we switched it back, but eventually turned the main power off when nothing we tried seemed to help. We didn't know what the smell was, but we were worried that it could be a red flag about something really dangerous. We realized the fridge would lose power too so we moved everything in it to the cooler that Daniel had provided (at about 2AM) The odor was still strong during the night, but I think we slept some. The next morning we opened all the doors and windows in an attempt to really air out the van.
Day 3- decided to plug back in to shore power; set switch to line charge only setting again to see if the smell happened again before we planned to leave for a full day of hiking. After about 30-40 min we didn't notice the smell getting worse, though there was still a lingering odor from the night before so we left it that way for the day. Everything in the van was turned off though. After returning hiking all day, the burning chemical smell was so strong you could smell it from outside. Campground neighbors said they could even smell it. We immediately unplugged & turned the main power off in the van. To get cell service we drove into Estes Park to call Daniel about the situation. We finally talked to him at about 7 PM, & he talked to Kathy @ the main office. They determined it was probably a battery issue, assured us we were in no danger, & said it should be fine to set it to in line charge for the night. We reiterated that it had been operating like that all day, and had created the noxious, unbearable smell. We decided not to use the power at all that night because we didn't want to take a chance on the smell coming back & we weren't sure that there was no danger. Our understanding after the communication was that Daniel or another employee would come to the campground the next day (our last full day in RMNP) and deal with the battery issue so we could have power for our last night.
Day 4- we set out for our hike, dropped the keys off at the campground office, assuming that someone from Campervan was coming to address the issue. We used the campground landline to call Daniel & left him a voicemail. About an hour into our hike, my phone picked up some cell service & a text popped up from Daniel asking if we had issues the night before. I made it clear that we considered it a major issue and that if it weren't fixed, we couldn't sleep in the van another night. It was our last night & we would need the electricity to be able pack up our things that night and early the next morning before daylight. He gave the option for us to take it to a mechanic that day for the repair, but since it was our last day, we opted to continue our hike instead of spending the day at a mechanics shop. Hubby and I agreed it made the most sense for us to return to Denver that night and stay at the hotel where the van was to be returned. We communicated this to Daniel that evening as we were in the trip back to Denver. He was able to meet us that night to check the van back in. He encouraged us to reach out to Kathy as he felt sure she would "make things right".
I called her the day after our trip, & mentioned the good things about the experience, but requested partial refund due to issues we experienced for 3 of 4 days we had the van. She asked what I thought was fair; I requested 1 night and hotel room reimbursement, thinking that was more than fair. She replied that she couldn't do both, but after more discussion, agreed to contact Bob (company owner). I never heard back from either of them. Another employee eventually refunded 1 night van rental. read more