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We rented VW Transporter campervan Eric through GoBoony belonging to James at Campbell Highland Hire (CHH) in Inverness for 7 days. Leaving our car with CHH we headed out to complete the NC500, in a clockwise direction. Collection & handover was fine, the briefing good, & all seemed well.
However on day 4 - a Sunday - in the middle of nowhere north of Wick, pouring with rain, the VW died on the road. The quick version (as the long is not pleasant) after waiting hours we were collected & taken by transporter to our camp site in Wick. With everything closed, on Monday a mechanic diagnosed the problem to be the alternator. Not available locally, the VW was to be transported back to Inverness to be repaired, some time on Tuesday. With no alternative vehicle available, potentially losing 3+ days, the prospect of a ‘some time transporter ride’ & the loss of completing the NC500, we were left on our own to figure out a solution to salvage the trip.
Locals told us of a Wick to Inverness train, so we purchased tickets Monday afternoon to get back to our car. Again, in short, 4.5 hours to Inverness arriving 2030, meeting with James, collected our car, drove back up to Wick arriving midnight. Next day transferred all belongings van to car, & booked hotels driving back down to complete the NC500. We had to throw away all our food, & remaining camp sites were non-refundable. We lost time and money with this vehicle failure. Seeking some kind of remuneration, GoBoony were immediately empathetic & refunded 4 days as a gesture without hesitation.
CHH James however was not empathetic to our situation. James believes refunding the train tickets Wick to Inverness to be a ‘favour’, & not a responsibility/obligation to get us back to our car & origin… our problem his VW failed! Contracts required the VW to be returned fuel tank full. Being 3/4 full as just re-fuelled, it was impossible to top up a dead vehicle! At least he accepted that point not charging us. In light of what happened he offered us 50% off a future rental as the only ‘goodwill gesture’. (Like airline vouchers, the majority are never used by inconvenienced passengers anyway, saving airlines money!). When you undertake a ‘once in a lifetime’ road trip, not likely to return, and experience breaking down in the middle of nowhere (not an incentive to use the same company!), that is not a journey to repeat. We lost time and money, so are not impressed at the lack of understanding and empathy shown by James CHH. His line is blurred between responsibility, obligation, and goodwill.
Apparently we are to be grateful of the costs CHH absorbed behind the scenes in recovering the VW due to a dispute with his breakdown cover. The only saving grace we had was not driving the NC500 anti-clockwise, like most do. To be stranded out west, single lane road, totally deserted & hours from anywhere would have been horrendous.
Our advice to renters: totally clarify the responsibility of CHH if a breakdown occurs BEFORE leaving Inverness, & download ‘WhatThreeWords’. Breaking down in the middle of nowhere is impossible to pinpoint in many places on the NC500. Those 3 words are lifesavers!
Potentially a good company, but due to the attitude shown to us when things went wrong, we cannot recommend Campbell Highland Hire. Customer service is about owning the problem when things go wrong, & it only took a gesture to help offset the cost of what we lost. Shame James does not support that ideal to avoid all writing this.
Juli 2026
Reaktion von James
We are genuinely sorry that an unexpected alternator failure disrupted Tim and Lisa's NC500 holiday. However, we are disappointed by the suggestion that Campbell Highland Hire showed little empathy or failed to take responsibility, and feel it is important that prospective customers are able to see the other side of what occurred.
The campervan broke down on Sunday 5 July. Breakdown recovery was immediately arranged and Tim and Lisa requested to be taken with the vehicle to their booked campsite in Wick, where they stayed in the campervan on both Sunday and Monday nights.
On Monday, I contacted garages in Wick and arranged for a mechanic to attend the campervan at the campsite. He diagnosed an alternator failure which unfortunately could not be repaired locally within the remaining hire period.
Tim and Lisa decided to return to Inverness by train on Monday evening. I collected them on arrival and we sat down together to discuss the situation and what I could do to compensate them for the disruption.
The campervan was due to be returned before 11am on Wednesday, meaning Monday and Tuesday were the two full remaining hire days. Nevertheless, I refunded THREE days of my hire income, reimbursed their £56 train fares in full and absorbed the cost of refuelling the recovered campervan rather than expecting them to return it full as would normally be required (and could not be expected under the circumstances).
In addition, I offered Tim and Lisa a 50% discount on a future campervan holiday as a goodwill gesture. They declined, explaining that this was a one-off bucket-list trip and they did not expect to return to the Highlands. I completely understood and respected that decision.
It is therefore particularly disappointing to subsequently read that I regarded paying their train fares as a "favour", showed no empathy and that "it only took a gesture" to recognise their loss.
There WAS a gesture. In addition to paying their train fares and absorbing the fuel cost, I refunded an additional day's hire beyond the two full days remaining and offered 50% off another holiday. Tim and Lisa were entitled to consider the future discount of no value to them, but it is not accurate to suggest that no goodwill was offered.
The review also states that "Goboony were immediately empathetic & refunded 4 days as a gesture without hesitation." For clarity, Goboony did not refund four days of campervan hire. I had already refunded £305.57 from my share of the rental for three days. Goboony subsequently refunded £127.43 from its own service fee, calculated using four days. Goboony confirmed in writing that the combined refund for unused rental days was £433, which exceeded the £401 Tim and Lisa had initially calculated as the minimum they were seeking.
Their subsequent correspondence then sought additional compensation towards hotels, meals, fuel, unused campsite bookings, food and lost holiday time. I declined to make a further cash payment and invited them to use Goboony's formal dispute procedure if they believed the booking terms entitled them to additional compensation.
I fully accept that a refund cannot give someone back lost holiday time. Vehicles can unfortunately suffer unexpected mechanical failures, and I have apologised repeatedly for the disruption this caused.
What matters is how we respond when something goes wrong. In this case I arranged a mechanic, reimbursed the train fares, refunded three days' hire despite only two full hire days remaining, absorbed the refuelling cost and offered a further 50% future-hire discount.
Prospective customers can decide for themselves whether that represents a lack of empathy or an unwillingness to take responsibility. At Campbell Highland hire we do our level best to ensure customer satisfaction and if things go wrong we do everything we can within reason to compensate customers.
Sinead
Tim
Nicola
Suzanne
Jason
Quentin
Jon
Phil
Ann
Jerry
