Brian
GoBoony itself was excellent — professional website, easy booking process, all very reassuring.
Then we met the van.
Now, we knew it was an older motorhome, so I wasn’t expecting a five-star hotel on wheels. But it was pretty dusty and dirty inside. We were happy to clean it ourselves at the campsite, so we let that slide.
Just as we were about to leave, Robert casually started explaining which bits of the van didn’t really work unless you were plugged into an electrical hook-up. The microwave, for example, was apparently more of a decorative feature unless connected to mains electricity.
Then came the shower instructions.
We were told the hot water would take around 20 minutes to heat up and that we should run the shower for that amount of time.
There was just one small flaw in this masterplan: the water runs out before 20 minutes.
We tried everything. All the switches and settings were exactly as Robert had shown us, but hot water remained as elusive as a unicorn.
I messaged Robert twice while we were away asking for help. Unfortunately, my delivered and read messages apparently went on holiday too, because I received no reply.
To make things even better, after following the shower advice and running through the water supply, we then had to walk a fair distance to refill the van.
And because the shower still didn’t work, we had to buy two shower passes elsewhere, which cost us £50 in total.
So our “working shower” ultimately involved a long walk, a refill, and an extra £50 bill.
When we returned the van, I explained everything to Robert, including the fact that we’d had to pay £50 to shower elsewhere.
Silence.
No real acknowledgement of the extra cost, no offer to contribute towards it, and not even an apology.
Robert said nobody had ever complained about the shower before and that he would check it once we had gone.
I asked him to check it while we were still there.
At that point, he walked around the van a few times and then said, essentially, “Now that you’ve got everything packed up, I’ll let you out and then I’ll check the shower.”
This was slightly frustrating, given that the whole point of asking him to check it there and then was so we could actually see whether it worked.
So, strangely enough, the shower still wasn’t tested in front of us.
We went through the settings again and confirmed that we had been doing everything correctly, so I drove away with the fairly strong impression that the shower/hot-water system was not working properly in the first place.
For context, I’m not new to camper vans or life on the road. I owned a VW T5 camper for around ten years, I’ve done the NC500, travelled all over the country and been to more than 40 festivals in vans. I completely understand that things go wrong, equipment can be temperamental and older vans come with their quirks. That’s part of the experience.
But there’s a big difference between normal camper-van quirks and renting out a van with an important facility that doesn’t work, then not responding when someone asks for help. Some things you can laugh off and get on with. Others really shouldn’t just be allowed to slide.
To be fair to Robert, he came across as very friendly and personable, and I had no issue with him on that level. But being friendly doesn’t really make up for a van being dirty, a shower not working, messages being ignored while you’re away, and being left £50 out of pocket without so much as an apology.
To be clear, this review isn’t aimed at GoBoony. The platform itself was very good. My issue is entirely with this particular van and our experience with Robert.
If you are thinking about hiring it, my advice would be simple: before leaving, ask Robert to physically demonstrate that hot water comes out of the shower.
And perhaps bring a kettle.
And £50.
Just in case.