Todd Maddock

Yeah just don’t. Go elsewhere for your comprehensive car insurance if you want a fair deal and a quality repair. AAMI take your excess before even determining a repairer and then they try and corner you in to a cheap and nasty patch repair. Their website suggests they’ll sort a quality repair back to factory specifications. That is the most egregious and dishonest statement. They’re crooks and deviants. Take your money somehow else, for your own sake.

This is a tricky one as I have used Maui campers before with an overall good experience. This time has been different. I hired two beach 6 births this time round. A more modern Mercedes sprinter chassis RV which has been fine. And then there is the older IVECO daily RV I have been driving. This vehicle has clearly had a hard life and has not been well maintained and serviced. There have been several issues which have made it not suitable for off-grid camping. And if you can’t freedom camp or camp anywhere other than powered sites, wouldn’t you just hire a normal vehicle, stay in proper accommodation, being more comfortable and saving money along the way? The issues are: house battery that would not run the diesel heater for more than 2 hours, hot water heating that didn’t work, a door latch that would stick and not allow you to remove the key from the lock, and a tap on the gray water outlet that was seized and eventually broke. After trying to camp off grid two nights (each being after a full 16 hours of charging on mains then night prior) and freezing each night, we booked a service appointment back at Queenstown where we picked up the vehicle (we didn’t intend to return here). The house battery was replaced, the hot water fixed and the door lock replaced. They elected not to replace the gray water tap. The next night at a powered site was ok until we tried to empty the gray water in the morning and the tap would not open. So back to Queenstown again we went for another service call to have that replaced. Anyhow, tonight, despite new batteries, the battery would not run the diesel powered house heater for even 2 hours (whilst the other van in our party has been toasty all evening and night). No mention of reimbursement for the costs incurred driving back to Queenstown twice or the additional nights at powered sites. Honestly, if you want to stay in towns, then hire a normal car and stay in fixed accommodation. You’ll enjoy the roads in a car more, be warm and comfortable over night and you’ll save money. If you want to freedom camp or camp in DOC sites etc, these vans are not fit for that purpose, at least when they are a few years old. It should not be up to the renters to log all of the accumulated issues and then spend days and money returning to base to get things rectified. Surely the onboard systems should be tested between rental periods. This sadly, is the last time I will rent from Maui / THL.

The team at Coffee Parts have been fantastic and have made the purchase of my Rocket espresso machine, grinder and accessories a great experience. Not only do they have a great range of machines and equipment, they are always available via email or phone to answer any queries and help you make the decisions that are right for you. They have a wealth of knowledge, know their products, and seem genuinely interested in getting you the right products at a great price, not simply upselling.

If you’re serious about your coffee, no matter where you may live in Australia, then call Coffee Parts. Thank you for a great purchasing experience.

Todd