We had a great holiday.

We picked up a camper in Christchurch and went onto the Banks Peninsula and then up to Kaikoura.

The camper was great and straight forward to use.

The only bad points were when we had to meet the Apollo staff, apart from the African guys who drives the courtesy minibus, he should give the rest of the team lessons in how to make customers feel welcome.

We arrived at the depot at 10:20, four desks manned and when I approached a desk the manager told me to put my name of a clipboard, suggesting this is obvious.

One hour later, after others who arrived with us and didn't put their names on the list, we got called.

After spending time online booking ourselves in and providing all the details required, we started filling in the forms again. I was interested in taking excess reduction insurance, but instead of getting the basics we got very confused. We finally took the rental at 12:20, after two hours.

We had our van either vandalised or damaged during the hire, getting the rear light lense broken. This is not a major and it wasn't going to spoil our time. On return I told the staff member what was wrong. "So you drove into something" I was told. A bit rude really.

Why is it I can hire an expensive car from Budget and take 5-10 mins from handing over my licence to drive off. The only difference in the 10 min instruction chat we had in the camper.

Why can't we get the information on insurance online and make the decision whilst booking online.

Why, in this day and age, do Apollo still charge a Credit card surcharge. Get up to date.

I suggest a customer service lesson for the Christchurch staff. It shouldn't feel like we were getting a hard sell without the facts to consider in our own time.

I hope this helps them improve their business, as behind the front line staff, there is a great business that offers some great family holiday experiences.

Reviewed over 11 years ago