Our first family camper trip: defective van, out of pocket repair, a roof that tore off at highway speed, staying at hotel and a surprise charge. Avoid Indie Campers!
We rented from Indie Campers in Italy two months ago. First family trip in a camper, our son is 2.5.
The van was defective from the start. Two separate failures in two days. First the water system died as soon as we arrived to the campsite. No sink, no shower, no toilet. I talked to their support for an hour for a solution, it turns out it was an AI agent!!! I learnt the fact when they actually escalated to a human agent.
To actually use the van, they made me pay €150 out of pocket for a faucet repair and drive to a shop on my own time (3 hours). Never offered a replacement.
It was on that repair trip that the skylight tore off the roof at highway speed. Just magically gone (I was told by an another driver). I was under the limit, our son strapped in behind me. I pulled onto the hard shoulder and called their emergency line. The depot was closed, no replacement van, no help offered. Our trip ended in a hotel room that night, which we also paid for ourselves (emergency line person told they would pay, but nada). This was early April in Como, the weather was quite chilly over night.
At checkout the inspection agents seemed like angels. Kind, apologetic, logged our liability as €0.02, returned our full deposit. We signed nothing. Turns out that's apparently just part of how this goes.
Ten days later, no warning, they charged my card €308.35 for the skylight. The one that fell off their own van. While their emails still claimed they were "investigating."
They never paid back the €150, the hotel, or refunded the days we couldn't use the van.
It is constant sludge they force you. No response after a while.
I'm not posting this angry. I'm posting it so the next family doesn't book what we booked. If you're considering Indie Campers, please read their reviews first.
Happy to answer questions. Everything here is documented: photos, receipts, messages.
I applied for chargeback, and ECC. I tried to find a lawyer but apparently German lawyers too busy for these sort of issues.