Apollogroup Reviews

Some facts any prospective renter should be aware of from my experience with Apollo motorhomes.
Important items represented in the website (but apparently not in the fine print) were non functional - TV and awning. Vehicle stopped working and then would resume randomly. The bond of $7500 wasnt a bond as they transacted and I copped a $200 international (NZ) transaction fee and once the bond was paid back of course no bank fee refund. Bits of the motorhome just fell off here and there' as it was pretty banged up. There was a significant wobble from the steering wheel that we put up with, Internal power cut out leaving us hungry and in the dark overnight unable to start the van heater. Customer service went into defense and debate mode refunding 10% of the rental cost. Very disappointing experience and surprised they made little effort to remedy. They did offer to give me 10% off next rental ha too funny that wont be needed.

Pick up an Adventure Camper from Perth branch. On the way to Murchison Settlements , got a flat tire, Christmas day 2020, 12:40 pm, 40*C, in the middle of nowhere, no mobile reception or whatsoever. NO JACK AND ANY TOOLS in the camper to change the tire!!!!! NO ONE around at all. Felt in life danger (my wife and I), seriously. Managed to get to the Settlements , driving 5 hours on the rim. Got a payphone , contacted hotline and a rude and argumentative guy called J.R. told me that not always Apollo fit the jack since some customer can not change the tire!!! Eventually, being contacted by RAC. Five minutes later they called the Roadhouse manager (Christmas day he was off), asking to lend me a jack and tools! They (RAC) would not come since 400km away and unsealed road. Before starting the trip, I bought 2 insurance (one special for 4x4) , valued around AUD 700, for what?????. Next day managed to change the tire myself. On the 28/12/2020 drop the camper off, talk to DENISE BASHFORD, never received any reply/follow up from her. After 2 days I received a routine survey, and after my complaint, I got a credit of AUD 240 on my credit card. Now been waiting for consumer protection WA to contact them and have a fair compensation. You can not rent a 4x4 in Western Australia (or else where) and not provide tools to change tires, and not assisting customer in danger. Is way , way too much. A REAL NIGHTMARE, WORST EXPERIENCE EVER IN OUR LIFE! NEVER APOLLO AGAIN!!!!
Reservation Number JRP8JT

Honestly, the WORST campervan experience ever! Three days before collection in Auckland, I emailed to reconfirm, but never received any response. Did a pre-checkin online two days before hand for a 10am pickup. Arrived at depot at 9.45am and didn't get to leave until 11.30am - SO unorganized! Eventually when the girl come to get us she said, "don't turn the van off for 1 hour because the battery is flat" - didn't give me much confidence, so I questioned it and she said, "well, this is your van, so .... ". I was absolutely dumbfounded. So, already 2 hours late for departure, I left and didn't turn the van off for 2.5 hrs - but when I did, it didn't start again. Called them and they said they would get AA Roadside out to jumpstart us - which was just ridiculous because we would be in the same situation once we got to our first destination. Finally after 5 hrs of back and forth, they sent someone out with a new battery, but refused to acknowledge there was an issue to begin with and it was apparently my fault for not keeping the van running (even though I had). Disgusting, absolutely disgusting experience

where can i start, we got a call the day before leaving there was a delay due to an accident im not sure that is what has happen after everything now. We were fine with that and were told it was an hour delay , then we had to call and confirm the time we were told not until 12:30pm. We arrived to pick the camper up, after confirming the time we walked in and not even a hello, then waited another 40 mins before we got served we were the only people in the office with 4 staff. Checked over the camper, noticed alot of things wrong. We finally got on the trip. Day two into the trip we noticed the grey water wasn't emptied and wasn't working, the gas oven wasn't turning off, we made contact with Apollo, they asked us to run around and get the van repaired. They suggested to not get the gas oven fixed, sure we wont get it fixed gas can be a silent killer . I wasn't impressed atall, we found old rice that hasn't been cleaned. They stressed that we had to clean it when bringing back, when it wasn't cleaned in the first place. If we could of walked out of the office on the day of hire and not taken the camper, i would of but we had already paid. We have been told that head office was going to call us Monday its now Friday and the staff in Perth have said we dont think they work Friday and they not sure what day they work. My suggestion would be to spend your money elsewhere. The only thing about the camper was that we got to see the coast line. i only put one star as i had too or it would be none

We've (especially me) have been dreaming of this multi-week roadtrip for YEARS. We finally booking in the first week of January. As things escalated we umm'd and ahh'd about whether to go. I reached out to Motorhome Republic (whom we'd booked our campervan through) and they were very open and said they have every intention of working constructively with their customers and their suppliers, but things are moving quickly so we just don't know yet. We started to think maybe we shouldn't go? Three days before our flight we figured, our destination seems to have everything under control. But literally THAT NIGHT our destination blocked all international travel. We were very upset.

However Enrique at Motorhome Republic confirmed that the supplier, Apollo, had agreed to full refunds. He said to cancel our booking and put pandemic lockdown as the reason (in the comment box). So we did. The cancellation notification was a bit light on specifics, but we kept the faith that things would work out.

We waited and waited. Longer than I normally would to find out if things had gone as we hoped. These are extreme times, unprecedented in the life of all of us. I followed up politely after a month, just to check to see I hadn't been forgotten. The nice lady said please, things are very busy as you can imagine so we appreciate your patience - perhaps 6 weeks?

Then BOOM. Basically right on the 6 week mark (maybe a day early?) we got a FULL REFUND. We were so, so, so relieved. That was a lot of money. Nowhere in the T&Cs does it commit them to doing this. They did it because it is the right thing. For which we are incredibly grateful.

So the point of all that story is for me to share my experience with Apollo Motorhomes (and Motorhome Republic/VroomVroomVroom) in this crazy and uncertain year that has been 2020 so far. And say a very big and heartfelt thankyou to Apollo for giving us a full and total refund. This is how a company that actually does care about its customers behaves. You've definitely won some loyal customers in us. And as soon as flights resume, we'll definitely be booking our campervan with you.

I got a car with mold in it. Took them 2 days to switch it and it made our first days of our holiday a mess. A terrible company.

First i'm french so sorry for my english.
We rented a motorhome from Apollo from the 15 mars to the 4 april. We didn't take any insurance.
Unfortunately we made some damage on the motorhome. Someone broke the plastic around the light at the left back and we did a scratch on the left side on the motorhome with a tree. i don't complain about that. It was our choice to don't insurance. We played and we lost.
The amount of the damage was of $3469.14. I found it expensive ( i have photos if you want to judge by yourself ) but i can not argue with that because i was back in France.

The problem was to recover the rest of my bond ( Approximatively 4200 dollars ) . So they told me that it should take 4 weeks so the 2th may.
After several mails send,I received an email the 24th april telling me i will get back my money 2 weeks later so the 8th may. But the 15th may i send a mail because i did not receive anything and that i needed my money.
No answer.
I sent another mail one week later. Still no answer. It was very difficult to call their office from France because it was expensive an the time difference.
In my bad luck, i had the chance that a friend of mine was staying in Australia so even if i did not want to involve him, i had no another choice.

He called for me. It was very difficult for him to have someone to manage it. But eventually he told me that Apollo will get back my bound plus a commercial gesture.

So i was relieved but i should not be. When 2 days after, i check my accounts, not only they didn't no get my money back, they took the exactly same amount from my count. No need to say that i was deeply in the negative and of course it happened a week end so i had no way to call Apollo. I had to ask money to my friends to fill my account. At that time, i was so angry ( to stay polite ) because i was powerless.I even thought it was a scam and i should go to the police.

Luckily my friend was there. He reached out. They told me it was a mistake and that they refund asap ( so one week later ) but they won 't pay for the fees of my bank even if it was a 100% their fault.

So finally i get back my money but when i looked closely, they did a mistake. They didn't give me back the money that they own me ( 4100 $ ) but the money i own them ( 3400 $) .

One time again, my friend had to call them to explain their mistakes and i had to wait another week to get back my money.

So it was 2 long months to get back my refund. Luckily i did not need that money to live and i have friends who can lend me money in meanwhile but if it was not the case i could have been in serious trouble.

Really, i don't know if they are just really bad at their jobs or dishonest but anyway before renting a motorhome with Apollo, think twice or just simply don't do it.

Beginning of May 2019, we rented a Mercedes X-Terrain via Apollo Camper in Australia. I ordered it via phone to discuss the suitability of the X-terrain to take us through the Kimberley on the Gibb River Road, aka GRR. Apollo confirmed the car for the journey. I decided to take on a separate Travel Insurance that includes the rental car. Apollo charges approx. an extra AUD 45/day to limit the liability from AUD8000 to a few hundred. I strongly believe that is overpriced, but I have a choice, so I took it.
When we picked up the rental vehicle in Broome we had to deal with an agent of Apollo, who represents them in Broome. The lady that served us was a backpacker student and treated us very badly. She refused to offer the “Drop and Go” option that allows you to deliver the car as is if it is a relatively clean condition on the outside. With travelling on the GRR on red dust roads, it seemed like a good option and we were willing to pay the extra AUD75. We also had to pay the deposit of AUD8000, which disappeared from my credit card in under 1 minute, which you would expect. The lady who served us was in a pretty bad mood and we wanted to commence our journey as soon as possible, being freed from some bad vibes. When we inspected the car, it was fitted with 5 standard road tires Continental PremiumContact6, incl. 1 spare. It worried me at the time, but we didn’t want to enter into another yet discussion with the lady from the local agent. Our adventure commenced. We bought our groceries at the local Woolies in Broome and when we returned somebody backed up in the car and created a dent. No cameras at the parking lot and we filed an online police report that I could use for my Travel Insurer. All part of the risk.
On day 2 we had our first flat tyre, which we noticed the day after breakfast. With the help of a great Irish fellow, who was travelling through Australia with his Family for 6 months, we managed to temporarily fix it with tyre cord. About 100km further on, we could get the tyre fixed by the only mechanic on the first half of the GRR. With about 30km to go, we had our 2nd flat, and had to put on the other tyre again. Luckily, we managed to get to the tyre guy and we decided to change the two back tyres into All Terrain tyres. Much better suitable for the journey. It did cost us AUD950. I wouldn’t mind the cost as long as we would have started on 5 All terrain tyres from the get-go. I still don’t understand why Apollo sends their customers on the GRR on grey granite gravel roads in 35 degrees C in the middle of nowhere and no mobile coverage for days. That is putting people in danger. I wonder who took that executive decision to fit a perfect 4x4 Ute with highway tyres for their clients to travel through the Kimberley.
As soon as we returned to an area with mobile coverage, we contacted Apollo and shared our story. After a few to and fro’s they admitted to the tyre issue and agreed to refund the tyres. They also agreed to release AUD5000 of the AUD8000 deposit and keep the rest as provision for the damage we incurred on day 1. Later on, they provided me with the repair estimate and agreed to release the remainder of the deposit.
To this day, we are now almost 1 month later, I still haven’t received any refund. It takes them under 1 minute to take AUD8000 from my credit card and it takes them more than 3 weeks to return the money on my card. They explained it takes time and they are not a bank.
Because of the bad service of their agent in Broome, the poor decision on their behalf to send customers on the GRR on standard highway tyres and the fact that I’m still waiting for my refund, I will never use Apollo again. I believed they were a professional rental company.