Calypso Campervan Hire and Rentals

I thought I would avail myself of a relocation special with Calypso (via Standby cars) and was due to pick a hightop camper up today in Kedron, Queensland. Now I was under the understanding that I could pick the camper between 9am to 3pm. Standby cars said yes that was correct, and Calypso said no not really cos they expected me at 9am. So to be fair, I will give that part of the story a 50/50 possible each way. I was due to pick up the vehicle at a place called Entrans in Kedron (North Brisbane) and when I arrived there at 2pm there was a man who greeted me rudely. He said he had been waiting all day for me (obviously doesn't get much business). He said he had to go somewhere and pushed the paperwork at me. I said, 'whoah, I just want to check the van over first' (since I had specifically mentioned when I had booked that I was concerned about the cleanliness due to a previous total travel review) but he said I couldnt check it first. I had to sign. I was polite but firm, no look = no sign. He tossed the papers at me over the desk and said if I didnt sign I wasn't going to get the van cos he was leaving. I said 'fine I'll just call Calypso to let them know why I didnt take the van.' and he said 'you do that' and he walked out!! So there I was standing in the rain with no van... no car (had caught a cab there)... in the middle of a suburban wasteland... and my plans to travel to Melbourne totally ruined! I rang Standby cars and they were very apologetic and said they would ring me straight back. Someone at Calypso Head Office rang and said he could only take my word for it that the Entrans man was rude. Boy, don't get me started on that one! He did explain that he had left a message for me earlier in the day to call him (my battery had died, doh). Apparently he had wanted to tell me that the guy had to pick someone up from the airport at 3pm so not to arrive at that time. I am a reasonable person. I can accept having to wait no worries. But this guy gave me no indication when he would return. So it is the treatment that left me fuming... that is NO way to treat a customer (even if I was only paying $25 a day). He told me to leave if I didnt like it, so I did. Needless to say while on the phone to Calypso I officially cancelled my booking with them. I called Standby Cars to explain the situation and they were great. They are going to put me on the top of their list for the next available camper to Melbourne (fingers crossed). And they promised if they couldnt find anything for me, that they'd give me a full refund of my deposit. So Im very happy with Standby Cars and totally despise Entrans and Calypso! So beware when dealing with small companies who have to use other companies to trade. There is no quality control and certainly no customer service control either! (Date of experience: Mar, 2010 )