Wilderness Motorhomes Avis 

First experience of Wilderness and it was generally good but a few negatives took the shine off which was a shame.
We’d paid for the premium insurance which should have included a Satnav however we were told they didn’t have one for us, if we wanted one we could “buy one and we would be reimbursed”! Not really what I wanted to do having just flown from UK.
First night we ran out of LPG which was frustrating as bottles should have been full on collection.
There was also a bad smell in van, resolved by emptying the grey water tank, this should have been empty on collection.
The camping table was broken, we had paid to have this too.
All of the above said the van was very comfortable and drove well. We loved New Zealand and will have many good memories.
Good product let down by poor customer service

Staff excellent, generally very good. Unfortunately we had a Van issue which resulted in a safety problem. This was not the fault of Wilderness but rather than getting us another van straight away we had to mess around for a day with support trucks. This made it difficult to keep to our original schedule with relatives. Otherwise we found Wilderness very easy to deal with. I would use them again.

First off all you should be aware that if you get a puncture the cost of the call out is down to you; $165 in our case, and 7 hours waiting at the side of the road. I accept that punctures happen, but the Wilderness policy to charge the unlucky customer who, by chance, is driving the vehicle at the time is flawed in my opinion. It should be factored in to the price of the hire and therefore everyone pays a small amount to cover the unlucky ones. It is worth noting that we had taken out the VIP insurance cover also, but it seems that a puncture isn't covered. Had I have crashed the motorhome and wrote it off we'd have been fine with no charges; go figure.

Secondly, our motorhome cannot have been checked properly prior to pick up, and was old and in need of many repairs. We had to empty the grey water tank at our first stop because the smell was so bad on our initial journey. I would expect as well as the water to be full, the grey water tank to be empty on pick up. The water flap and the power flap were broken and taped down with velcro; this attempted fix didnt work and the flaps flapped around during driving which caused a very annoying noise. The camping table that we paid for had a hole in it, one of the camping chairs had bird mess all over it, And the windscreen wipers made a scraping noise when on for an extended period of time.

On returning the motorhome and pointing out the above issues, Timothy, a manager that we didnt get to speak to, authorised $165 compensation for the puncture. But, as pointed out above it is my opinion that we shouldn't have been liable for this cost in the first instance, which I would have challenged, even if we didn't have all the other issues to deal with.

As well as the puncture and 7 hours at the side of the road waiting for the AA, we suffered a sub standard motorhome for 3 weeks, and spent time doing jobs that Wilderness staff should have completed prior to pick up (emptying grey water, and cleaning camping chairs).

This is our 2nd trip with Wilderness. There was never a question to try other brand after our excellent 1st trip 3 years ago on the North Island.

We ran into many issues this time. All those issues are handled and addressed through the hotline. Special mention to Teresa who is ever presence and able to relay our problem to the team to get a solution; from the smallest issue of fridge not getting the right power source to the trickier hill assist button missing in action.

In Lake Tekapo Holiday Park, the motorhome M parked next to us was having issue with lighting up their gas cooker. After some troubleshooting, we figured out the piping was not properly fixed. We didn't have such issue with Wilderness.

Look no further, Wilderness is our first choice for a reliable motorhome.

I am currently writing this review while still experiencing jet lag from our trip. :) My husband and I spent 9 days in the South Island of New Zealand on the Glider 4 and we can't say enough about it. After doing a lot of research on which motorhome to pick, we stumbled upon Wildernesss (which wasn't part of the "umbrella" searches we had originally conducted). The motorhomes looked modern, new and spacious so we were intrigued. The customer service was what hooked us. I had a few questions prior to booking, as this was the first time we had rented an RV and the wilderness team was prompt, knowledgable and extremely helpful. Throughout booking, planning and up until the day of arrival, the Wilderness team made us feel welcomed, informed and ready for our trip.

I can't speak highly enough about the Glider 4. Although a 4 person motorhome, it was just my husband and I, and we really enjoyed the extra space. The lounge in the back with the three windows was my absolute favorite, making it a dream spot for snacks, meals and drinks while looking out at the amazing scenery that New Zealand has to offer.

The motorhome drove very smoothly and wasn't too much for the winding roads of New Zealand. The mechanics of the motorhome (to include the propane, electric water heater/interior heating, grey water, fresh water and black tank) were all very easy to get used to. Wilderness provides manuals and a USB of videos on the TV if things get too much.

We also upgraded to include the WiFi and were very pleased with it. The price to be able to communicate with loved ones near and far, the access to maps, reviews and everything else we've become so dependent on was great. We only lost WiFi twice, once in Milford Sound (which the Wilderness team gave us a heads up on) and the second time in the middle of a mountain range but only for a little bit. Other than that, we were up and running!

Thank you Wilderness Team for all that you do and we can't wait to come back and visit again. For anyone who is looking to rent a motorhome, Wilderness is the way to go!

We rented the wilderness ranger campervan. The staff were very friendly and helpful. However, the dining area, which also serve as the passenger seats during driving is very cramped with the table. The table can be dismantled but this information was not relayed to us.

Full marks to Wilderness Motorhomes. You find out how good a company is when things go wrong. We hired our motorhome for three weeks and had a great experience until two days to go when our gearbox failed while we were checking out of a remote campsite, 60km north of Whangarei. We followed the instructions in the guide - call the AA then call Wilderness. The AA had a mechanic with us in 90 minutes but there was no simple fix to the problem. He called Wilderness who immediately sent for a truck to carry our motorhome to a workshop. Whangarei had the nearest truck but it still arrived in just another 90 minutes. The motorhome was loaded on and took us to Whangarei where we were dropped at Hertz - a mid sized SUV was waiting for us, full insurance paid for and all paperwork complete. Furthermore, we didn't have to stay with the truck to drop off the motorhome. Wilderness had also booked us two very nice hotels for the final two nights - they couldn't have got a new motorhome to us in the short time left of our holiday. We were obviously upset about the disruption, but mechanical problems will happen from time to time and Wilderness dealt with it superbly, keeping the disruption to the minimum and not trying to fob us off with the cheapest solution. We loved New Zealand and will be going back when we'll definitely use Wilderness again.

An amazingly comfortable motorhome - everything was so easy to use. We never felt cramped even as a family of 4 spending nearly 7 weeks in the motorhome in winter. It made for a super relaxing road trip. Wilderness staff are really friendly and helpful and the whole process from initial booking to returning the motorhome was so easy. Thank you Wilderness!

This is our 4th time with wilderness and have not been let down will travel again with this company. Thank you so much.

Amazing service from start to finish. Welcomed by the team at Auckland upon arrival and given plenty of time to get set up in the motor home. The vehicle itself was excellent and much better than any of their competitors in NZ!

I will use Wilderness every time!

Our first experience of renting a motorhome and we have been very pleasantly surprised.
The communication via email re booking and during the trip was excellent - very prompt responses.
The quality of the vehicle was top notch. It had only done 25,000km so still pretty new.
Good amount of equipment on board.
Friendly helpful service.
Liked the reassurance of having the VIP package which includes full insurance etc.

Myself and my husband have just returned from a month long road trip, taking in both the North and South Islands of gorgeous NZ. After doing lots of research we chose to hire our motorhome with Wilderness, and I am so glad we did.

Being from the UK, we had to book directly with Wilderness (none of the UK travel agents deal with Wilderness), but from the first e-mail I sent to them enquiring about our hire, the van, the logistics (picking up from Auckland and dropping off in Christchurch), insurance coverage, extras etc, I felt very confident we had picked the right company.

They offer a very personalised service, our e-mails were always answered immediately (less the time difference), and we always felt appreciated and not just like another renter who they wanted to take money from. They were extremely helpful in their responses, giving excellent advice about touring NZ. They gave us access to 2 excellent NZ guide books letting us plan our trip before arriving and even booked our Interislander ferry tickets.

We chose the Cruise 4 with full insurance. The van was excellent and well laid out with everything we needed, and looked fantastic. We had no problems at all, everything worked as it should and we had no issues during our travels, completing just over 2,500 miles during our trip.

Pick up and drop off was a breeze, and Tony in Auckland explained everything we needed to know before we set off.

I would highly recommend Wilderness to anyone looking to hire a motorhome in NZ, and if we returned would definitely hire again from Wilderness.

We had an absolutely fantastic holiday, thank you to everyone at Wilderness and the people of NZ for making our holiday a dream come true

We travelled from the uk so had no knowledge or experience of the company. From first contact to handing back the campervan we had excellent service and backup. The van was new with only 17k km on the clock Everything was explained to us in simple easy to remember terms as we were campervan novices. Advice , maps , and professional approach was again excellent. We are back to NZ in March 2020 and will be using Wilderness again. Thoroughly and highly recommended

Our FIFTH Wilderness adventure!
The quality of the vehicles is excellent with all the necessary accessories included (bedding / cutlery etc). The staff at both bases are friendly and very helpful - the on road support team is also very good. We would thoroughly recommend having the wifi option.
An awesome team!

You can tell from the title that we’re happy with Wilderness, and again we had a great trip exploring well off the beaten track, thanks in part to the NZ Frenzy and Wildernessts books.
On this trip we were rather surprised to have a much cooler welcome at Wilderness than usual, and what felt like a very fast run through of the van’s features: these things do matter, guys - this is a pricy holiday and it’s worth making sure we have what we need and understand how to make things work.
But it’s only fair also to highlight that, when we found ourselves with a slow puncture high on Mt. Taranaki, on the gravel road at Dawson’s Falls, with almost no phone signal, Jodie came up trumps! She brilliantly sorted out the small problem that the van was still under warranty so (?) wasn’t registered with the AA. An AA engineer appeared before dark, changed the wheel and recommended a local garage to do the mend so that we had a legal vehicle. She liaised with the garage and they were expecting us, and knew that Wilderness would pay.
So a good van, and the great service from Jodie that we’ve come to expect from Wilderness.
Geoff and Rachel

Had a great time and great company, but dropped the ball on a couple of things hence 4 stars. The Motorhome had some external damage that was cosmetic but not fixed. Then worse thing was a leak above windscreen not fixed, was told it was an old stain. It ended up leaking which wars not good, also towels were forgotten which was a bit of inconvenience. Otherwise great company and just needs to go that bit more careful to keep above other companies standards, still far better then the other motorhome companies, felt much up market.

Excellent service from the Wilderness crew as usual. Even dealt with an international parcel i had arriving and was away in the van. Thanks again!

We rented from Wilderness, picking up in Christchurch and dropping off in Auckland, and the overall experience was great. There were a few initial minor issues - gas bottle was empty, floor in motorhome was soft in places, plus no one had thought to provide extra linen and towels, even though we were renting for 25 days, but these were all addressed quickly. Mid trip we needed assistance and their service could not have been improved; I would definitely say that they exceeded expectation.

Would we recommend Wilderness or use them again, absolutely!

This is by far the best company I had busyness with. Par excellence service. Thank you very much, I will see you again for sure!

Excellent professional company
Who helped make our holiday unforgettable
Would happily use them again
Thanks to the Wilderness Team
See you next year