roadsurfer Reviews 

Roadsurfer – Unprofessional, Untrustworthy and Disgraceful!

An absolutely terrible experience with Roadsurfer. We experienced brake issues and were later involved in an unrelated rear-end collision. The replacement vehicle was inferior, and Roadsurfer’s handling of the entire situation was appalling.

Their customer service, lack of accountability and dismissive attitude are simply unacceptable.

In my opinion, Roadsurfer is a deeply unprofessional and untrustworthy company. Their response to our complaints only made matters worse.

Avoid Roadsurfer at all costs!

The customer service in the Denver office was first rate. Jayton was thorough and courteous when going over our RV with us. Upon return, Chris was also exceptional and fast in getting us out of there. Most importantly, everything on the RV worked as advertised.

We rented a "Couples Condo" out of the Denver location for a 3-night getaway because we are "RV curious" as we look ahead to retirement. The entire process from start to finish was completely flawless, and the vehicle matched our expectations perfectly.

A special shout-out to Cris from the team, who was absolute awesome and made the experience even better. If you're on the fence about trying out van life or an RV trip, roadsurfer is a fantastic way to do it. Highly recommended!

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Roadsurfer Phoenix was great and easy to work with, the rv ran great and we had a really fun trip.

Easy booking process, although I did find logging in to the site a bit onerous as the login tab is right at the bottom. Moving it to the top of the website would make it easier. I also found the instructions a bit difficult to navigate as I frequently found I had to remind myself on how to switch things on and off in the camper van. The Feltham location is tricky to find and not well sign posted. Saying that we had a fabulous holiday and the camper van suited our needs. The customer service on collection and return was good, we had to change our van on collection due to a problem with the water pump.

perfect location close to everything! It's so lovely to find an option near all the beach spots and Sintra that allows for affordable RV style accommodation. This truly assists in keeping all the poopy paper off the roadside viewpoints all over the gorgeous coastal roads. Thank you! Carlos was tremendously friendly and helpful. Nice cafe and provisions 4 min walk away. Charming town of Janas

We had such a fun time on our 10-day family road trip with Roadsurfer! I genuinely think this is a fantastic concept. The ability to take your family on an adventure, travel together, and make memories along the way is such a great idea. We absolutely loved the experience overall and would consider doing it again.

That said, there were a few issues that unfortunately impacted our trip and have made me hesitant to recommend the company without some reservations.

First, neither the water heater nor the heater in our motorhome worked throughout our entire trip. We were never successfully able to get either one functioning, which meant our kids woke up extremely cold in the mornings. These are pretty essential amenities when traveling in a motorhome, especially with children, and it definitely affected our comfort during the trip.

The bigger concern has been the $1,500 security deposit. We returned our motorhome approximately two weeks ago and are still waiting for our deposit to be returned. I also responded to the company’s email requesting a review, but have yet to receive a meaningful update regarding the deposit.

After researching other customer experiences, I was honestly surprised by how many similar complaints I found. Other renters have reported issues with nonfunctioning equipment, heating and hot water, unexpected damage charges, delayed security deposit returns, and difficulty getting customer service to respond. The BBB currently lists 24 complaints against Roadsurfer in the last three years, with 18 filed in the past 12 months. I also found multiple recent reviews describing experiences that were uncomfortably similar to ours.

I understand that things can go wrong with rental vehicles. Mechanical issues happen, and no company is perfect. However, what matters is how a company handles those issues and whether customers feel supported when something goes wrong.

I truly love the concept behind Roadsurfer. Our family made some incredible memories, and that part of the experience was absolutely worth it. But the equipment issues, combined with the concerns surrounding security deposits and customer service, are disappointing.

I hope Roadsurfer takes these recurring customer concerns seriously and makes improvements to its rental inspections and post-trip customer service.

We are still waiting on our $1,500 deposit. I will gladly update this review once it has been returned and the situation has been resolved.

We had a great time with that too Roadsurfer for supplying a safe and reliable vehicle. I just add, Andrew who is the Site Manager was superb, hugely friendly and very kind. Thank you for a great experience.

When handing over the vehicle, Roadsurfer leaves it up to the customer to check for any existing damage, yet they provide a pre-filled document listing such issues—which discourages the customer from performing a thorough inspection, as they assume everything is already in order. I received a dirty vehicle, and because I trusted the company, I didn't notice that a safety latch was missing from the waste tank and that the bathroom skylight was gone. I requested—via email—a photo showing the skylight in place before I took possession of the vehicle; to this day, October 31st—twenty days after I returned the campervan—I have yet to receive any such photo. I was charged for this skylight and forced to pay 522 euros; although the company’s deadline for payment was October 20th, they billed me on October 16th, leaving me no choice but to pay. They are incredibly careless when handing over the vehicle, yet they are extremely strict upon its return. I will never rent a vehicle from this company again.

1. First the check in process is very confusing. It would be nice if someone was with you to check everything & answer any questions you have.

2. The van was not clean, the gray water wasn't fully emptied.

3. A lot of the sensors did not work properly & showed a false level.

4. The auxilary battery was at 10v, which was below the advised 12v. The employee said that the battery would charge while driving. It did not. Even after using the emergency start button, it did not charge at all.

5. I was unable to use any of the battery, on the drive home the battery was completely dead & the co2 alarm started beeping. I pulled over & called customer service number. It was a Sunday & they didn't have anyone that could reset the battery from underneath the van. I waited 30 minutes for the representative to call me back, but he never did. I then proceeded to drive 7 hours while the alarm beeped the whole time.

6. I returned the van 1 day early, & was shocked that when I told the employee what had happened. They said it happened all the time.

I received no compensation for the problems. I would NOT rent from this company!

We rented a camper van from Roadsurfer's Denver for a family road trip we had been planning for months. My parents had traveled internationally specifically for this trip. Unfortunately, the experience became stressful and frustrating. We had read the negative reviews before booking, but convinced ourselves they were probably overrepresented.

First mistake. DO NOT ignore the negative reviews.

From the moment we picked up the van, there were problems: The vehicle was not particularly clean and was clearly not in the best condition. There were broken and worn-out items, and several things simply did not work properly. The black-water tank sensor always showed that the tank was full, regardless of its actual level, and the tire-pressure sensor was not working correctly.

Then, when we started the van we discovered that the radio/display screen was not working at all.

The employee initially offered us another (better and cleaner) vehicle. We had already started moving our luggage and equipment into it when he came back and told us that, unfortunately, we could not have it. His manager had apparently told him that the replacement vehicle was not actually available. At that point, our options were essentially to take the van with the broken screen or lose our money and cancel our trip.

The employee checked the fuses, said they were fine, and explained that the screen was connected to the van's battery system. He reassured us that he did not believe this issue would affect anything else.

We trusted that explanation. That was our second mistake. We ended up leaving approximately TWO HOURS later than planned, with a vehicle that already had several known issues.

While driving, we also discovered the van didn't even have windshield-washer fluid—something we consider a basic item that should be checked before handing a rental vehicle to a customer.

The first night we camped at an electrical site, everything seemed fine. The second night, things went south.

We were staying somewhere without electrical hookups, We had specifically been told that the battery should last one to two days as long as we were driving. That day, we had driven for more than three hours.

We parked for about an hour when the battery completely died !!! Nothing electrical worked. The CO alarm ran out of power and started beeping continuously throughout the night. The gas heater also would not work because there was no ignition/spark.

It was an absolutely horrible night. It was very cold, we had no working heater, no lights, and the CO alarm was beeping continuously for hours. It was an absolutely horrible night. It was very cold, we had no working heater, no lights, and the CO alarm was beeping continuously for hours.

The next day, we ran the generator for almost two hours to recharge the battery. However, as soon as we turned it off the battery started draining again almost immediately. At that point, it was clear that something was seriously wrong with the electrical system.

At that point, it was clear that something was seriously wrong with the electrical system. We cannot say whether the malfunctioning screen and the battery problem were technically related, but given what happened, we believe the issue should have been investigated before the van was handed over to us.

We tried contacting Roadsurfer Roadside Assistance, but nobody ever answered us. Our trip was relatively short, and we decided to continue rather than spend even more of our limited vacation time waiting. We had very little confidence that we would receive timely assistance. We documented everything with photos and videos so we could submit a complaint afterward.

Because we could no longer rely on the van's battery, we had to completely change our travel plans and stay only at campsites with electrical hookups.

The financial impact was:
Approximately $40 lost on campsites we had already booked. Two replacement campsites with electrical hookups at approximately $55 each ($110 total). That's $150 in direct additional costs, not including the parts of our trip we had to cancel or change.

Returning the van was just as disappointing. We told the employee about the battery problem and everything that had happened. There was no meaningful inspection or discussion. They checked the tanks, told us they would inspect the rest of the vehicle later, and essentially sent us on our way. They didn't acknowledge our experience, didn't try to understand what happened, and didn't indicate that anyone would investigate the battery or electrical system.

We eventually submitted a formal complaint with the details and supporting documentation. At the time of writing this review, we are still waiting for a response. We have received no meaningful update or resolution.

Roadsurfer was excellent from the initial booking to the return. Our van was in great physical and mechanical condition and the staff made the experience smooth and easy.

If I could give Roadsurfer 0 stars, I absolutely would!

An absolutely unacceptable experience with Roadsurfer in Flensburg. A completely ruined holiday, a campervan with serious engine problems, repeated promises of a full refund that have not been honoured, and customer service that has made an already frustrating situation even worse.

On 12 October 2026, we collected our rented campervan from Roadsurfer in Flensburg. We had planned a holiday that we had been looking forward to for a long time. Unfortunately, it was ruined almost before it even began.

After driving just 2.5 kilometres, our holiday was effectively over.

Shortly after collecting the campervan, the glow plug warning light came on, and the vehicle could only reach approximately 40 km/h. Shortly afterwards, the maximum speed dropped to just 20 km/h, and after 2.5 kilometres, the engine warning light also came on.

We were now dealing with a large campervan suffering from serious engine problems beside a main road undergoing roadworks, where traffic was restricted to a single lane.

We immediately contacted Roadsurfer's support team, who informed us that we could either wait 1–2 hours for roadside assistance or attempt to drive back to the rental station.

When we asked what we should do if the campervan broke down completely and blocked the only available lane, their response was simply that we should call again.

That was the assistance we received while dealing with a vehicle that could barely move and a genuine concern that it might break down completely.

Fortunately, we managed to return to the Flensburg station.

But what happened next made the experience even more unacceptable.

An employee at Roadsurfer informed us that the campervan had previously experienced the exact same engine fault!

It is deeply concerning that, according to their own employee, we had been given a vehicle with a history of precisely the problem we were now experiencing.

Why was such a campervan made available to paying customers? And how are customers supposed to trust that the vehicles they receive are in proper working condition?

We subsequently spoke with the station manager, who offered us another equivalent campervan. However, this replacement vehicle was not ready for collection.

We therefore explained that we wanted to cancel our holiday and receive a full refund of the rental amount.

The manager immediately agreed to a full refund. Without hesitation.

At that point, we believed the matter had been resolved.

Unfortunately, we could not have been more wrong.

Shortly afterwards, we received an email from a Roadsurfer support employee named Martin, informing us that we would need to submit an official claim to get our money back.

That was not the agreement we had made with the station manager.

We therefore contacted support again and explained the situation. We were told that a full refund was not something they could simply arrange.

The manager in Flensburg then personally took the telephone and spoke directly with his colleague in customer support.

He made it absolutely clear that we should receive a full refund because it was not our fault that Roadsurfer had provided us with a campervan suffering from serious engine problems.

When customer support was still unable to resolve the situation, the manager explained that he would personally cancel our booking and arrange the full refund.

We were then told that we could safely drive home and that we would receive an email within 1–2 hours confirming the cancellation and full refund.

THAT EMAIL NEVER ARRIVED!

And this is where the situation became almost as unacceptable as the engine failure itself.

We decided to end our holiday and leave Flensburg only because the station manager had repeatedly and explicitly promised us a full refund.

We trusted a manager representing Roadsurfer, who had even repeated the agreement directly to the company's own customer support team.

However, Roadsurfer's customer support subsequently informed us that the manager was apparently not authorised to approve a full refund.

How on earth are customers supposed to know what internal authority a Roadsurfer station manager has?

It should not be the customer's responsibility when Roadsurfer's own employees apparently disagree about what they are authorised to promise!

We loved our experience with Roadsurfer. The staff at the San Francisco location were fantastic!

Hired a campervan for a festival but found it was faulty and couldn't hold water due to a leak on the water tank. This meant it wasn't fit for the purpose of hiring making the shower unusable. 8 weeks on and no answer or acknowledgement from claims portal despite admitting fault. Will now seek resolution via credit card chargeback. Frustrating as they would be very quick to make a charge if we damaged the van in anyway but when they at fault there is no customer service. Bristol UK

We rented a campervan for a 7-day road trip in the Dolomites in May 2026, but a mechanical breakdown and a battery failure left us stranded in the middle of the mountains. Out of a 7-day vacation, we spent 4 full days on the phone dealing with their shortcomings. The trip was completely ruined.

For the past 6 months:

- Refusal to reimburse upfront costs: on-site, their agents guaranteed that emergency expenses (hotels, meals) would be covered as long as we paid upfront. Once back home, they refused to reimburse the full amount owed.
- Refusal to refund the booking: even though we were only able to use the van for two nights, they refuse to refund the reservation.

While the phone agents were very understanding during the breakdown, you eventually realize that Roadsurfer takes your money, abandons you at the first sign of trouble, and dodges its legal obligations.
It has now been six months of trying in vain to get back what we are owed. We are now forced to bring in an ombudsman and take legal action in the hope of recovering our €1,300. All we want is simply to be heard and refunded.

In September my wife, our 1-year-old and I rented a roadsurfer camper for nine nights, picking it up in Seattle and dropping it off in San Francisco. The hot water didn't work the entire trip, not one day. We couldn't bathe on board even once, with a baby, so we had to find showers wherever we could and pay extra for campsites that had showers on site. I told roadsurfer about it before we returned the camper and they never acknowledged it.

Three days after we dropped it off they sent me an invoice for $150 for a "missing item" on the wetroom door, which is a joke because we never used the shower. There was no hot water to use it with. I have my own video from pickup day, and you can see a bare post on that bathroom panel with nothing attached, so whatever is "missing" was already missing when we got the van.

On October 15 I filed a dispute and sent them the video. All I got back was an automated confirmation, in German, saying it could take 15 to 25 working days. I followed up on October 19 and heard nothing. I followed up again on October 26 and asked for a real person to get back to me by October 28, and still nothing. Not one person has contacted me, but they've sent me four marketing emails since I filed the dispute trying to get me to book another trip.

If you're renting from them, film and photograph every inch of the camper at pickup, inside and out, especially the bathroom. Test the hot water before you drive away and get every problem acknowledged in writing, because you may need the proof.

Vehicle was clean and tidy, but cruise control wasn't working which can be a pain on long road trips.

I would like to share our extremely disappointing experience with Roadsurfer, a company offering campervan and motorhome rentals across Europe.

I hope our story helps other travellers understand what they might face if they need to change a booking or resolve an issue with this company.

A friend and I booked a campervan for a one-week trip to France in November 2026. We paid £622.20 for the rental.

Shortly afterwards, we realised that a larger vehicle would be more suitable for our trip. We cancelled the original reservation, believing that the amount already paid could be used towards a new booking.

That was our first unpleasant surprise.

Roadsurfer charged us a cancellation fee of £517.80 – approximately 83% of the amount we had paid.

To be completely fair, we acknowledge that we should have studied the cancellation conditions more carefully before cancelling. That was our mistake, and we take responsibility for it.

However, there is one very important detail.

We never intended to cancel our trip, ask for our money back, or switch to another rental company.

Quite the opposite.

We wanted to rent a larger vehicle from Roadsurfer, for exactly the same dates, at a price approximately £40 higher than our original booking.

In other words, we wanted to remain Roadsurfer customers and spend even more money with them.

We therefore contacted the company and politely asked whether they could make an exception and allow us to use the amount already paid as a voucher towards the new rental.

We also offered an alternative: if changing the vehicle was not possible, we would happily keep our original vehicle and asked whether our original reservation could simply be reinstated.

We believed this was a reasonable request and hoped that a customer-oriented company would at least consider finding a mutually acceptable solution.

Unfortunately, what followed was even more disappointing than the cancellation fee itself.

Nearly two months of trying to get a meaningful response

We contacted Roadsurfer repeatedly:

- August 30 – initial request
- September 2 – follow-up with a detailed explanation
- September 15 – another reminder
- September 28 – another request for an answer
- October 16 – formal complaint after weeks without a meaningful resolution

Throughout this period, we remained polite, patient and willing to compromise.

Only on October 20, almost two months after our initial request, did we finally receive a clear response.

Roadsurfer informed us that their terms and conditions were firm, that no refund would be issued, and that no voucher would be provided.

No compromise. No alternative solution. No apparent willingness to consider our individual circumstances.

What makes this experience particularly disappointing?

It is not simply the £517.80 cancellation fee.

We understand that companies have cancellation policies and that customers are responsible for reading them.

What we find extremely difficult to understand is the combination of:

- Exceptionally strict cancellation conditions, resulting in a substantial financial penalty.
- A complete lack of flexibility, even though we wanted to book a more expensive vehicle with the same company.
- Extremely slow and frustrating customer communication, requiring repeated follow-ups over almost two months.
- No meaningful attempt to offer an alternative, not even reinstating the original reservation.

From our perspective, this is a very disappointing example of customer service.

Roadsurfer promotes an image of freedom, adventure, surfing and a relaxed outdoor lifestyle.

As surfers and travellers ourselves, this was one of the main reasons we chose the company in the first place.

Unfortunately, our actual customer experience was completely different from the image the brand promotes.

Our conclusion: We STRONGLY DO NOT RECOMMEND Roadsurfer.

If you are considering renting a campervan from this company, please read every detail of their cancellation policy before making a payment.

Be aware that even a seemingly simple change of plans, where you still want to use the company's services, can result in a substantial financial penalty.

And based on our experience, do not assume that customer support will respond quickly or show flexibility when you need assistance.

For us, this experience is not just about £517.80.

It is about customer care, fairness, communication and, ultimately, trust.

Because the true quality of a company is not demonstrated when it takes your money.

It is demonstrated when something goes wrong and you need its help.

Unfortunately, Roadsurfer failed to meet our expectations in that respect.

#Roadsurfer #RoadsurferReview #CustomerService #CustomerExperience #CampervanRental #TravelExperience #VanLife

My husband and I rented the Couples Condo for a road trip around Colorado in mid-October to celebrate our 65th birthdays. Booking, check-out and check-in were all very easy. Husband reported it drove well. The model was perfect for the 2 of us and included everything we needed. All major systems worked well. It was so nice to have everything we needed everywhere we went. Would definitely rent again!