We have rented from this and other places before, and we are experienced RV owners and renters. We have never had an issue with anything before or ever filed any complaint ever. We understand what camping and RV’ing is like and enjoy the work involved as part of the experience. Our experience was a nightmare from the beginning and everything on the unit started to go wrong. We spend hours fixing things on a regular basis. We really wish we had not rented this unit or taken the trip because of the stress it has caused. We’ve never wanted to come back early from a trip before and have never actually looked forward to our return home. It took us 3 trips from Austin to pick
up the RV and we were not able to leave until late on the second day due to being given the wrong keys more than once. The door was bent/broken and needed to be replaced. They finally rekeyed the unit on our third trip to the dealership. Right from the beginning, the slide out was a problem and I was concerned it was going to get stuck at some point on the trip because it was not going out at the touch of a button like a slide out normally does. We called about it more than once and were instructed to realign it by jiggling the switch back and forth, which we did. The slide never actually ever came the entire way out, but it was livable for the first few days because we could access
everything we needed to and move inside the unit. During the last 9 days of our trip, we could not open the slide out at all. This unit is not meant to be used without the slide out. This means: -bathroom door won’t open all the way -bedroom closet is not accessible (we had NO clothes for the entire 9 days and we had to move the mattress after the trip was over to get our belongings out) -4 large adults could not move in it at a time. Only one person (or two if nobody needed to move) could be in the unit at a time and the rest had to stay outdoors in the cold until bedtime. -the drivers seats could not be moved back so double bed above the cab could not be used, leaving the table, which
is a kiddie bed and not long enough for even short adults under 5’5” to sleep with legs straight -it is difficult to get down hall and we had to squeeze in sideways down the hallway -it is difficult to get into the bedroom and no route around the bed. My mom, who is in her late 70’s, had to crawl over my dad (who would just go to bed early since we couldn’t move at all in the RV) in order to get into the bedroom, and had to get dressed lying on top of the mattress. This lack of slide out completely ruined our trip and was an intolerable thing thing to have to suffer. When we were in CA, we called and were told that at some point along our travels, a place would be found for us to take it in to be
repaired. We were living for that moment but were never contacted and told anything further. In 9 days and over the miles from CA to TX the company claims they could not manage to get it repaired. We weren’t even contacted and told "We’re not going to fix it”. There were many other things wrong with the RV that added to the stress and prevented us from having an American Dream Vacation, or even a tolerable experience: -Auto leveling jacks did not work from the beginning as well -The "check engine” light was on and the company chose to ignore that. It caused us a lot of stress as we was driving because it kept coming on and staying on for prolonged periods of time. We called
and were told it was benign -but what if there is actually something wrong? Someone will get stuck! With all the other things wrong with the unit, we were concerned, plus it didn’t handle certain terrain well and took away from our vacation experience. If it’s benign, they need to treat customers with respect and replace it so they don’t need to worry about it, not being familiar with how the unit handles, and not be put at risk of getting stuck when there actually is an issue one day. -We chose this unit for its storage space, as it had a large closet. When we picked it up, the doors were missing from when we first saw it. Our things kept falling all over and were not secure. -We RV year round and
are experienced, so we understand things break. However the amount of things that were problematic was too high and shows a record of neglect and proves that they are taking advantage of their customers. They are charging a high rental rate but being cheap and not properly maintaining the units. For example: -the air mattress on the bed above the cab would not hold air. It was very uncomfortable sleeping up there (but then when we had to sleep in the kiddie bed.... I think it was actually worse...) -the table would not stay up and kept sliding down as we were driving and hitting our knees -the door step swung in an out as we were driving down the highway until we took the time to
fix it -the door would swing all the way open and the hinge would fly off constantly and we had to keep fixing that as well -the generator kept tripping and had to be reset -the pantry would not lock in place as it’s supposed to and kept pushing the door open -the fire extinguisher was loose and kept swinging all over (dangerous) -the ladder on the back of the unit was not attached in 3 of the 4 places and swung loose the whole time. It could have come off and hit a vehicle at any point (extremely dangerous) -the outdoor bar area with the fridge did not latch and lock properly and was at risk of burglary -the passenger vent was missing and blew high wind and dust in the passengers face -the
striplights under the awning did not work We would never have complained about these smaller inconveniences and would have overlooked them (minus the ladder, which was a huge safety issue), but combined with everything else, it shows a pattern of lack of maintenance and feel completely cheated, having paid an exorbitant price for a faulty unit. We could have had a pretty nice vacation elsewhere for that price tag. We discussed all these things with the company and they have apologized but have refused to properly compensate us. We received only one night’s refund ($280). Instead of refunding any more days, we were given a coupon for two days discount on a future visit
(manager is claiming up to $1,000 value or something like that, depending on which unit we rent), which I’m not even counting because I would have to spend money there to use it and I’m definitely not giving them anymore money. We didn’t even received enough compensation (in mileage and rental time) to reimburse us for having to come back to the dealership so many times to fix the door lock issue before we left! Over $5,000 for stress and problems? That’s not a dream vacation; that’s a ripoff!
Slide was accidentally damaged by catching on parially open door then opening. My insurance paid for all the physical damage. They are now coming after me with a collection company wanting $700 to replace a previously scratched 27 inch TV that costs under $300 new. Also coming after me for days of lost rental at $140 per day....total bogus charges of $1,930 when insurance already paid $2,300 for actual damages. Claimed to be fair and honest....not when you turn fake debt over to a collection agency....see you in court Trenton Franklin.
American Dream Vacation leased our family a Class A recreational vehicle for 6 days. The 12 volt house battery was faulty, causing the housing on the rv of our rental to be troublesome and inoperable the entire duration of our rental. Due to being in an area without cellular service and their company pressuring us to return the vehicle on time for the immediate turn around rental, we did not have the opportunity to have the vehicle repaired. Therefore they are denying any responsibility to rectify the rental unit not performing correctly, as customers are believed to be renting a unit that's housing unit is operating. A letter was sent to American Dream Vacations, as included, to which the denied to correct the poor customer service and rental quality.
"Having spent time researching recreational vehicle rental companies, we felt confident renting from American Dream Vacations. My husband and I purposely searched for a newer unit with a reputable company to enable us to thoroughly enjoy our annual family vacation. Unfortunately, diligence did not prevent us from renting an RV that severely hindered us from experiencing the “vacation” in our trip. Throughout our vacation multiple problems were encountered, starting with the generator tripping from the water pump being turned on. There was not one instance that the water pump did not trip the generator within approximately 15 minutes. We assumed, after troubleshooting, it was the generator. We would have shore power the next day and decided that would be suitable and that this would only be a short term inconvenience until then. The following day, upon connecting to the shore power, we realized it was not providing power consistently and was dimming to almost nothing within 30 minutes. This prevented us from utilizing any water or electric amenities in the vehicle without turning on the engine constantly. At this point, the third night, the carbon monoxide and propane alarms continued to chime all night, which was again briefly remedied by starting the engine every hour all night. Essentially, we paid for higher premium sites with water and electricity that we were unable to use, causing higher fuel costs and usage for the whole trip. We arrived at a completely unaffiliated campsite, hoping lack or shore power was, of the last location, a coincidence and irrelevant to the problems with the vehicle. However, the shore power problems continued and became progressively worse as the generator and amenities operated for only minutes and were completely unreliable and unusable. By this time in order to use the slide outs and hide a bed, the engine had to be turned on, to turn on the generator, then turn off the engine to extend these features a little at a time (approximately 45 seconds) before the generator shut off causing the need to repeat this sequence multiple times for each feature to extend completely. Hide a beds and slide outs are inoperable with the engine on making this the only option when needing to use these features. This was incredibly inconvenient and time consuming; a real hindrance of our vacation on top of the lack of a generator, air conditioning, water and electricity. We spent hours troubleshooting, time that should have been spent focusing on our one vacation of the year. We were not in a location with cellphone service and far from any service shops. Once there was cellphone service we contacted American Dream Vacations in regard to our struggles with the unit. We were advised by the service department it was a faulty battery effecting the many different components. We were than advised all we could do to address it is to locate a service shop. We would continue to have the rental for almost two more days, all of which were allotted to driving in order to return the vehicle on time. If we had stopped, the RV would have missed the immediate turn around for the next customer. On the return date the manager had the technician diagnose and confirm it was the battery causing so much trouble and distress during our time in the unit. In summary, we experienced many issues that changed the result of our satisfaction with this rental (from no consistent generator power because of the faulty battery): - Little to no air conditioning in the living areas causing very warm sleeping and traveling conditions. Our small children were miserable and sweating during long periods of traveling. - No consistent water - No consistent electricity - Wasted expenses on RV sites with electrical capacities we could not utilize. - Additional fuel costs from using the engine in place of the generator and having to repeatedly start it for various uses in the RV. - Refrigerator, full of groceries, repeatedly completely thawing to warm temperatures. There was not one problem that could be troubleshot or overlooked, rather it was one faulty battery that effected EVERY component in the whole RV. We would greatly appreciate a refund for this rental as the costs we agreed to were for a unit functioning at 100% capacity. Had we known the lack of operable functioning in this unit, we would not have proceeded forward with renting it. Due to the faulty battery, this rental was equivalent to a recreational vehicle shell with an engine, as no amenities or features functioned properly, if at all."
The company's manager responded by saying this is not a a drive train companonent, therefore not a breakdown and not refundable. In addition, he said he was sorry we felt we were doing the comany a favor by getting the unit back in time versus stopping to get a new battery. NEVER AGAIN, worst comany I have ever done business with. This was a $3,000 rental!!! We DID NOT recieve a unit in working order, they are horrific at customer service and could care less one you have paid, what your experience was.
American Dream Vacations Reviews
We have rented from this and other places before, and we are experienced RV owners and renters. We have never had an issue with anything before or ever filed any complaint ever. We understand what camping and RV’ing is like and enjoy the work involved as part of the experience. Our experience was a nightmare from the beginning and everything on the unit started to go wrong. We spend hours fixing things on a regular basis. We really wish we had not rented this unit or taken the trip because of the stress it has caused. We’ve never wanted to come back early from a trip before and have never actually looked forward to our return home. It took us 3 trips from Austin to pick
up the RV and we were not able to leave until late on the second day due to being given the wrong keys more than once. The door was bent/broken and needed to be replaced. They finally rekeyed the unit on our third trip to the dealership. Right from the beginning, the slide out was a problem and I was concerned it was going to get stuck at some point on the trip because it was not going out at the touch of a button like a slide out normally does. We called about it more than once and were instructed to realign it by jiggling the switch back and forth, which we did. The slide never actually ever came the entire way out, but it was livable for the first few days because we could access
everything we needed to and move inside the unit. During the last 9 days of our trip, we could not open the slide out at all. This unit is not meant to be used without the slide out. This means: -bathroom door won’t open all the way -bedroom closet is not accessible (we had NO clothes for the entire 9 days and we had to move the mattress after the trip was over to get our belongings out) -4 large adults could not move in it at a time. Only one person (or two if nobody needed to move) could be in the unit at a time and the rest had to stay outdoors in the cold until bedtime. -the drivers seats could not be moved back so double bed above the cab could not be used, leaving the table, which
is a kiddie bed and not long enough for even short adults under 5’5” to sleep with legs straight -it is difficult to get down hall and we had to squeeze in sideways down the hallway -it is difficult to get into the bedroom and no route around the bed. My mom, who is in her late 70’s, had to crawl over my dad (who would just go to bed early since we couldn’t move at all in the RV) in order to get into the bedroom, and had to get dressed lying on top of the mattress. This lack of slide out completely ruined our trip and was an intolerable thing thing to have to suffer. When we were in CA, we called and were told that at some point along our travels, a place would be found for us to take it in to be
repaired. We were living for that moment but were never contacted and told anything further. In 9 days and over the miles from CA to TX the company claims they could not manage to get it repaired. We weren’t even contacted and told "We’re not going to fix it”. There were many other things wrong with the RV that added to the stress and prevented us from having an American Dream Vacation, or even a tolerable experience: -Auto leveling jacks did not work from the beginning as well -The "check engine” light was on and the company chose to ignore that. It caused us a lot of stress as we was driving because it kept coming on and staying on for prolonged periods of time. We called
and were told it was benign -but what if there is actually something wrong? Someone will get stuck! With all the other things wrong with the unit, we were concerned, plus it didn’t handle certain terrain well and took away from our vacation experience. If it’s benign, they need to treat customers with respect and replace it so they don’t need to worry about it, not being familiar with how the unit handles, and not be put at risk of getting stuck when there actually is an issue one day. -We chose this unit for its storage space, as it had a large closet. When we picked it up, the doors were missing from when we first saw it. Our things kept falling all over and were not secure. -We RV year round and
are experienced, so we understand things break. However the amount of things that were problematic was too high and shows a record of neglect and proves that they are taking advantage of their customers. They are charging a high rental rate but being cheap and not properly maintaining the units. For example: -the air mattress on the bed above the cab would not hold air. It was very uncomfortable sleeping up there (but then when we had to sleep in the kiddie bed.... I think it was actually worse...) -the table would not stay up and kept sliding down as we were driving and hitting our knees -the door step swung in an out as we were driving down the highway until we took the time to
fix it -the door would swing all the way open and the hinge would fly off constantly and we had to keep fixing that as well -the generator kept tripping and had to be reset -the pantry would not lock in place as it’s supposed to and kept pushing the door open -the fire extinguisher was loose and kept swinging all over (dangerous) -the ladder on the back of the unit was not attached in 3 of the 4 places and swung loose the whole time. It could have come off and hit a vehicle at any point (extremely dangerous) -the outdoor bar area with the fridge did not latch and lock properly and was at risk of burglary -the passenger vent was missing and blew high wind and dust in the passengers face -the
striplights under the awning did not work We would never have complained about these smaller inconveniences and would have overlooked them (minus the ladder, which was a huge safety issue), but combined with everything else, it shows a pattern of lack of maintenance and feel completely cheated, having paid an exorbitant price for a faulty unit. We could have had a pretty nice vacation elsewhere for that price tag. We discussed all these things with the company and they have apologized but have refused to properly compensate us. We received only one night’s refund ($280). Instead of refunding any more days, we were given a coupon for two days discount on a future visit
(manager is claiming up to $1,000 value or something like that, depending on which unit we rent), which I’m not even counting because I would have to spend money there to use it and I’m definitely not giving them anymore money. We didn’t even received enough compensation (in mileage and rental time) to reimburse us for having to come back to the dealership so many times to fix the door lock issue before we left! Over $5,000 for stress and problems? That’s not a dream vacation; that’s a ripoff!
Slide was accidentally damaged by catching on parially open door then opening. My insurance paid for all the physical damage. They are now coming after me with a collection company wanting $700 to replace a previously scratched 27 inch TV that costs under $300 new. Also coming after me for days of lost rental at $140 per day....total bogus charges of $1,930 when insurance already paid $2,300 for actual damages. Claimed to be fair and honest....not when you turn fake debt over to a collection agency....see you in court Trenton Franklin.
American Dream Vacation leased our family a Class A recreational vehicle for 6 days. The 12 volt house battery was faulty, causing the housing on the rv of our rental to be troublesome and inoperable the entire duration of our rental. Due to being in an area without cellular service and their company pressuring us to return the vehicle on time for the immediate turn around rental, we did not have the opportunity to have the vehicle repaired. Therefore they are denying any responsibility to rectify the rental unit not performing correctly, as customers are believed to be renting a unit that's housing unit is operating. A letter was sent to American Dream Vacations, as included, to which the denied to correct the poor customer service and rental quality.
"Having spent time researching recreational vehicle rental companies, we felt confident renting from American Dream Vacations. My husband and I purposely searched for a newer unit with a reputable company to enable us to thoroughly enjoy our annual family vacation. Unfortunately, diligence did not prevent us from renting an RV that severely hindered us from experiencing the “vacation” in our trip. Throughout our vacation multiple problems were encountered, starting with the generator tripping from the water pump being turned on. There was not one instance that the water pump did not trip the generator within approximately 15 minutes. We assumed, after troubleshooting, it was the generator. We would have shore power the next day and decided that would be suitable and that this would only be a short term inconvenience until then. The following day, upon connecting to the shore power, we realized it was not providing power consistently and was dimming to almost nothing within 30 minutes. This prevented us from utilizing any water or electric amenities in the vehicle without turning on the engine constantly. At this point, the third night, the carbon monoxide and propane alarms continued to chime all night, which was again briefly remedied by starting the engine every hour all night. Essentially, we paid for higher premium sites with water and electricity that we were unable to use, causing higher fuel costs and usage for the whole trip. We arrived at a completely unaffiliated campsite, hoping lack or shore power was, of the last location, a coincidence and irrelevant to the problems with the vehicle. However, the shore power problems continued and became progressively worse as the generator and amenities operated for only minutes and were completely unreliable and unusable. By this time in order to use the slide outs and hide a bed, the engine had to be turned on, to turn on the generator, then turn off the engine to extend these features a little at a time (approximately 45 seconds) before the generator shut off causing the need to repeat this sequence multiple times for each feature to extend completely. Hide a beds and slide outs are inoperable with the engine on making this the only option when needing to use these features. This was incredibly inconvenient and time consuming; a real hindrance of our vacation on top of the lack of a generator, air conditioning, water and electricity. We spent hours troubleshooting, time that should have been spent focusing on our one vacation of the year. We were not in a location with cellphone service and far from any service shops. Once there was cellphone service we contacted American Dream Vacations in regard to our struggles with the unit. We were advised by the service department it was a faulty battery effecting the many different components. We were than advised all we could do to address it is to locate a service shop. We would continue to have the rental for almost two more days, all of which were allotted to driving in order to return the vehicle on time. If we had stopped, the RV would have missed the immediate turn around for the next customer. On the return date the manager had the technician diagnose and confirm it was the battery causing so much trouble and distress during our time in the unit. In summary, we experienced many issues that changed the result of our satisfaction with this rental (from no consistent generator power because of the faulty battery): - Little to no air conditioning in the living areas causing very warm sleeping and traveling conditions. Our small children were miserable and sweating during long periods of traveling. - No consistent water - No consistent electricity - Wasted expenses on RV sites with electrical capacities we could not utilize. - Additional fuel costs from using the engine in place of the generator and having to repeatedly start it for various uses in the RV. - Refrigerator, full of groceries, repeatedly completely thawing to warm temperatures. There was not one problem that could be troubleshot or overlooked, rather it was one faulty battery that effected EVERY component in the whole RV. We would greatly appreciate a refund for this rental as the costs we agreed to were for a unit functioning at 100% capacity. Had we known the lack of operable functioning in this unit, we would not have proceeded forward with renting it. Due to the faulty battery, this rental was equivalent to a recreational vehicle shell with an engine, as no amenities or features functioned properly, if at all."
The company's manager responded by saying this is not a a drive train companonent, therefore not a breakdown and not refundable. In addition, he said he was sorry we felt we were doing the comany a favor by getting the unit back in time versus stopping to get a new battery. NEVER AGAIN, worst comany I have ever done business with. This was a $3,000 rental!!! We DID NOT recieve a unit in working order, they are horrific at customer service and could care less one you have paid, what your experience was.