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Horrible Experience with this company. I would never rent from them
again. In my opinion, the RV we rented was not properly maintained. We were lucky we made it home safely.
August 2010, my family and I took a family vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. We rented a RV from El Monte RV of McKinney, TX. We rented RV expecting to travel 2400 miles. 1200 miles from Dallas to Myrtle Beach, SC and 1200 miles back to Dallas. As soon as we pulled off the lock noticeable problems were seen: cabinet doors not staying shut, hood above bathroom not sealed. It was dried and cracked and flapped up and down. However, we made first leg of trip ok. On the way home, with 738 miles left, the right passenger rear tire blew. We were on I-20 W 15 miles from the Alabama border in the left hand lane. We heard a loud boom. My husband struggled to keep control of vehicle. Vehicle lost power and we were forced over to the side barely making it off the busy interstate on the left hand side. We immediately called El Monte Customer Service. They didn't seem to understand the situation. They just assumed it was a normal flat tire. They said they would call us back and we could drive slowly to the service station they found for us. My husband then tried to explain that we couldn't go anywhere. We had NO POWER. He could put the gas all the way down and we went NOWHERE. A service company drove to us within 20 minutes. It was not just a flat tire. It was a bad tire that blew and took out the exhaust. The exhaust was completely mangled. When the tire blew, the tread peeled and wrapped around exhaust causing alot of damage and burning. After 3 hrs of semi's going by rocking the RV with 3 scared kids inside, rv falling off the hitch, getting spare tire on and untangling exhaust enough to drive to the next exit. The service guy followed us to next exit to cut exhaust so we could make the rest of our 738 miles home. The service guy was very helpful. He told us the tire was bad and in no way was it our fault. If we had any problems, to give him a call. When returning the vehicle, we expected we would be reimbursed for expenses incurred and reimbursed for something for what we had to go through to get back home. That was NOT what happened. Instead, the manager told us it was our fault and that we were responsible for all the damages to vehicle. He accused us of running over something causing the tire to blow and all the underside damage. He threatened to charge us for all the damage and even charge for loss of time to rent the vehicle while being repaired. I couldn't believe it. We were being accused of actually causing the damage due to a bad tire. We did absolutely nothing wrong and were being held responsible for them not maintaining their vehicles properly. This is still in progress. We are contacting a lawyer and plan on fighting this. I just wanted to get the word out. Be careful when renting from this company. If you do, please check all tires and make sure they are safe. Do NOT assume they are.
I have pictures. Please email if you want to see them. Thanks!
Please don't try to get your holidays to be a nightmare. The motors homes are very dirty and at our three weeks we had so much technical problems (AC, generator, steps, engine, steering, wheels, batteries) which are too long to explained.
Overall EL MONTE wants to get a lot of money with old (130.000miles) RVs without cleaning and any inspection.
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Der Zustand (Sauberkeit und Technik) des Wohnmobils war mangelhaft. Das WoMo hatte mehr als 210.000km und hatte schon am ersten Tag mehrere technische Mängel die sehr unangenehm waren (Türtreppe war trotz geschlossener Tür ausgefahren, Generator ging nach 60 sek aus, Batterie war leer, Lenkung war ausgeschlagen womit es sehr anstrengend war das WoMo zu fahren, das Licht war nach oben eingestellt).
Den ersten Tag verbrachten wir mit Putzen. Die Polster waren derart verschmutzt und stickig, dass wir diese vor Ort austauschen hatten lassen.
Wir haben selbst ein WoMo und haben auch kein neues WoMo erwartet, aber für 5000 Euro erwarte ich ein Mobil im gereinigten Zustand das technisch gewartet wurde. Es ist eine Zumutung den Kunden fahren zu lassen und erst bei einem Defekt den Mangel zu reparieren. Dadurch sind uns mehrere Tage Urlaub entgangen.
Als Entschädigung haben wir ca. 300 Euro erstattet bekommen. Das hat unserer Unzufriedenheit über das Mobil des sehr schönen Urlaubs leider nicht zurück gegeben.
Die Wohnmobile sollten besser gewartet oder nach 100.000km ausgetauscht werden. EL MONTE versucht anscheinend so viel Geld wie möglich aus den Fahrzeugen zu bekommen. Zum Nachteil des Kunden der mit den technischen Mängeln unterwegs zurechtkommen muss oder entsprechend reparieren muss.
Das kann einen Urlaub schnell einen dunklen Schatten überziehen was sehr schade ist.
Our experience was a $4000 nightmare and will probably end up in court. If you are considering renting from El Monte R.V. I am begging you not to. I wish I had read reviews before we entered into a contract with these crooks. PLEASE SPEND YOUR MONEY WISELY and take the train, fly or even drive your own car and use motels. Renting with this corporation will ultimately ruin your vacation.
See photo of tire with hardly any tread! If at all. This was a crummy tire. "Made in China".
We got a blow out that almost killed our family. See photos. Also, the El Monte on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas, NV (Henderson) rented us an RV with a hole in it. We had to cover it to keep the bugs out. The sink handle fell off when I was doing the dishes. The shade pull-out was broken. The DVD player was also broken. The fridge was not cold enough.
The tread on the tire was nearly smooth. We could have rolled! An hour early we were going 65 mph down a mountain! The tire said "Made in China". It also said Max load of 2, 680 pounds. I am sure that our nearly 30 foot RV weighed more than that!
I feel they were negligent and did not check the tires for us. The man they sent out took 90 minutes to get to us to put on our spare tire. We asked him to check the other tires' air pressure, and he told us he didn't have an air pressure tool! It was truly very dangerous. Almost took our lives.
It was our first time RV'ing and our last. I was so scared for my children and family. I thank God that we were okay. Praise God!
I return things as I found them, even better if I can. Dad taught me that.
I grew up Rv'ing, and can tell you there are great trips, and better trips.
Dealing with the unknowns, including weather, campgrounds, groceries, Family in close quarters, and the nature of having a house roll down the Highway is a blast!
RV's, by nature, are prone to need more attention, support and TLC than the average hotel room. El Monte understands Rv'ing and has always supported me extremely well in that role.
El Monte's rigs are awesome, their service is second to none, and they are always my first stop when coordinating an RV vacation!
I don't think limping in at 20 mph was bad advice. Throwing what's left of your blown tire off at that speed sure as heck wouldn't crush an exhaust sytem.
Your "Faulty tire" theory is an interesting concept...shouldn't you be working with El Monte to sue the tire manufacturer?... I thought so.
You think they knew the AC was going to go out, and they wanted you and your Family to experience that for three days? I don't get that, and have to be honest, I just can't believe it. Not from El Monte, No way, No how.
I take no pleasure in hearing you had a bad time. Sounds like you let some bad luck overwhelm your experience.
My experiences with El Monte are just entirely different, and I believe more typical of their excellent service.
I didn't feel right to let your complaint sit out there as a weighted reference to judge El Monte.
I firmly back you up on your last sentence " People deserve top hear both sides of the (El Monte) story and make an informed decision of their own.
On that Point, well done.
I sincerely hope your next vacation goes awesome.
El Monte, see you this In April!
What amazes me about all the posts is everyone has different experiences. If someone has a bad experience and wants to pass it on they are instantly labled as SLANDEROUS, WANTING A FREE VACATION.
Some of us did not have a tech support standing by resolving our problems... In our case we endured 3 days in the sweltering heat with the A/C not working... I was on the phone with tech support for hours on end with no resolution except... drive to the nearest town and get a fan...
On returning the RV back with less than 350 miles total on it the tire goes flat about 20 miles away (WE DID NOT HIT ANYTHING). We called the "slow and non responsive customer service" agent who told us to "drive it in" So we do what we are told... now the company wants to charge us for the damage caused by their faulty tire and damages done by doing what they said to do...
So for everyone that has had a good experience I'm happy for you... but for you to feel like you can down play and label people who have had bad ones just shows your true ignorance...
People deserve to hear both sides of the story and make a informed decision of their own.
I have rented RVs from several agencies, but after I found El Monte, I would never consider using another service.
My relationship with El Monte started in 2006, and has continued twice a year ever since then; to my Family's total satisfaction, everytime.
El Monte RV is second to none regarding service, maintenance, and support, throughout the entire rental process.
El Monte staff has always been ultra diligent in any of the questions/challenges that are expected of a RV vacation experience.
Your bemoaning is strange to me:
A blown tire, which suddenly appeared "bad" after over 700+ miles into the trip and your resulting damage to the RV muffler is somehow correlated to an El Monte conspiracy? Gimmee a break.
I can tell you about bad vacations...none associated with El Monte, and much more dramatic than a 20 mile drive for support.
I don't get it. Sounds like someone wanted a free vacation, and/or free repair for the damages you incurred on the road. (it's sounds like you got off the hook after messing up the rig) What else would motive your rant?
Bob always makes sure that we walk through the unit together, we kick tires, we take pictures before we leave, and as we drop the unit off. We have a great time reviewing the unit and the go over the operation of all components with no hurry. He always has tips and suggestions for our experience that proves invaluable to my entire Family.
We expect a great unit and service, and get it, everytime. They expect us to communicate ANY problem or inconvenience immediately, and we get lightening fast response and perfect customer service on the rare occasions we have called in a question on the road.
My hat's off to El Monte, Bob, and the entire staff. They are second to none.
John Lyon
I am not affiliated with El Monte RV in any way, but do feel compelled to share my RV rental experiences.
My experience could not be more different that what has been expressed here. I have used El Monte RV rentals for more than 10 years (they do not rent cars to the best of my knowledge) and would highly recommend them to all (and have done so on numerous occasions). All of the folks I have referred have personally thanked me for doing. On more than one occasion I have had an issue with a rental unit, most of the time it was due to me not listening well during the extensive walk through given by the knowledgeable rental representative (it is a house on wheels after all with numerous complicated sub systems) and have had a representative of El Monte walk me through the issue over the phone or quickly turn up person and address the issue. There has never been a situation where El Monte did not address my concerns to my satisfaction.
I have always found their RV's to be clean well maintained and have amazing support during the rental period. I have on several occasions asked for the RV we used last year only to find that the fleet of rental RV's had been updated with even better newer units. On more than one occasion while enjoying one of their RV's while attending a sporting event a El Monte representative has just "stopped by" to ensure we were having a good RV rental experience. Again this is not the norm in the RV rental industry. When I asked why he was there the answer further amazed me "We have many of our units here this weekend and have a technician on site IN CASE WE ARE NEEDED" Truly amazing support.
The reservation process, the walk through of the RV and the ability to call and request assistance, such as mentioned above, where within 20 minutes assistance arrived to address the tire issue (unheard of in the RV rental industry) has always exceeded my expectations.
While I rarely submit my 2 cents to these types of boards I cannot contain myself this time. I HIGHLY recommend El Monte RV rentals and will continue to use them for our vacation travels.
Mark P.
Texas
Sounds like you did run over somthing. How can you proove it was a bad tire? Did you have a forensic study done?
You should of contacted a lawyer before posting this slander. We have experienced first hand El Monte RV's great customer service and have had no problem with the units in the past.
I also experienced a lot of troubles about the car rented from this company.
Detail of our problem are lost all gauges on dash board (including speed meter), AC malfunction, lost exhaust pipe (repair guy said we had a chance to get fire!), radio and CD player malfunction, , ,
We needed almost 5 days of total 11 days of our vacation, just for fix these problems.
I totally agree with you, they do not maintain vehicle properly.
Road assistance is also very poor, one of lady require me to drive 20 miles with malfunctioned speed meter, although these problem, another guy rejected our hope to switch to another one.
When we returned car, there was no sorry and apologize from store manager, and rejected about acceptable reimbursement.
We also think about contacting lawyer and fight with them.
Good luck.