Indie Campers Faro - Pick-up Center in Loule

Our experience with indie campers was the worst thing that ever happend to us while travelling. We rented the model ,,sporty" with the intention to have a nice bus with all supplies so that we can comfortably spend our days at the beach and go surfing. As we picked it up it was still not cleaned and all of our beforehand booked devices were not ready. Half of the stuff was dirty and the surfboards were broken and barely fixed with tape. As the employees get minimum wage and cant do anything without the complaints department (that ypu can only chat with!! No possibility to call!!) we took the bus. Electricity and water were empty immediately and as we wanted to fill up the wanter tank, the water ran out of the floor of the campervan!! As we wanted to return the van directly after this happend the employee garantied us that we get 50% off and should take the van! After a long discussion we took the van and 2 days later our tire broke! Indie campers did not help us at all we needed to repair it and call a mechanic by our own. Even 2 mechanics did not get the second tire off the car as it was very rusty. Because of that our car needed to be towed to the next car repair shop! The mechanic told us that the tire was too old to even drive with it anymore and we had a lot of luck it didnt explode at the highway! At this point we returned the van immediately! We didnt get the repair costs back and we didnt even get a discount on the camper!!!! So the promised 50 % were just a method to convince us to take the van back! I think we had bad luck with the van and I am sure they have better ones that work perfectly but if you need any help or anything you are lost for sure because they are not going to help you at all! We called about a 100 times and wrote 5000 messages!! The customer service is horrible and i can not recommend indie campers to anyone who wants to have a nice holiday.

Van was ready 2 hours later than selected pick up time. Not clean enough and was in poor condition. Towels were not included, bedding was grimy and tatty. No chemical toilet tab available. Would not recommend.

Great service from the employees. They really work hard to make your vacation a great experience. They are very friendly. Very helpful, very good ambassadors for the company. Only thing that wasnt that great was the van itself, the interior of the van and accessoires we were provided with. Lots of things loose/damaged/missing. Both inside and out. As a whole the van was still sufficiently functional but definitely not as advertised. You would expect more for what you pay. I can imagine other people being extremely dissatisfied when confronted with this. And they would totally be in the right! But the local staff went above and beyond to make our holiday a succes. And that goes a long way with us. In the end we still enjoyed our vacation.

With one word: a NIGHTMARE. A total disaster: the van broke due to lack of ordinary maintenance and after that moment nobody was able to support us in any way, nobody was willing to take accountability. We were completely left alone with a broken vehicle (not because of us, but even in that case it would be wrong, especially because we paid for the extra insurance). The negative online reviews are true: as soon as you have any kind of little issue, your are left alone and you lose holiday time. A tip: be sure to travel with good and positive friends, who are able to cheer up the mood. Check-in: This is not a check-in service. People who work in the pick-up centre should be able to give the right informations, help you in any possible way and they should care about the customer. Nicer people would be great. (PS: we had to change the first van with another one, and they asked for another 500EUR deposit.........)

It's unfair that we even have to rate this company with one star. My advice, as echoed by many others: stay away from this company. There are better alternatives in Spain and nearby (which we found out later) that offer much better service. We waited at the depot for two hours to receive our Active van. During that time, three other couples were also waiting, each dealing with their own van issues, while other customers kept coming back with problems--an absolute mess. 2 of them asked for a full refund after driving for 20 minutes and encountering difficulties with the van itself. Our van had no water at all, but still the staff pressured us to take it, claiming they had no other options. They gave us Indie Campers' customer service number, instructed us to take the van without water, and suggested we ask for compensation later (don't bother--they won't compensate!). After waiting an additional two hours, a technician finally arrived and fixed the issue. While they initially refunded us for the Essential Kit, we discovered two days later that the charge had been reinstated--completely useless. The chiller wasn't working, so all our food was ruined--it didn't even work when plugged in. We were forced to dine out and absorb the extra costs because, as expected, they wouldn't cover them. They even had the audacity to suggest we purchase a new fridge ourselves and submit the receipt later--would you trust them to refund that? Not at all. Plus, I shouldn't have to spend time during my holiday dealing with problems they should be handling. To top it all off, our van wasn't even insured for the first two days, despite us having paid for it. The staff at the depot were so overwhelmed that they forgot to activate it (thankfully, we didn't have any accidents). The vans are in terrible condition. When you arrive for check-in, it becomes clear that your van hasn't been properly inspected--no water, battery not charged, nothing. You're left waiting while they scramble to check everything, and that's when the problems start. They simply don't have time between rentals, and they're clearly understaffed. The team is burned out and visibly frustrated with the company. We all want to enjoy our holidays, but this experience was a complete nightmare. It's a real shame because Portugal is beautiful, but this situation completely ruined it for us.

Perfect service. Camper was brand new and drove perfectly. Staff during both check-in and check-out was very kind. I was surprised by the mileage - it hardly used any fuel. We had the pop top model which was especially night on clear mornings when the sun rose. 10/10 recommend!

Overall the van drove fine and we could have a lovely holiday. I read now that we are lucky the car didn't have any problems with starting. BUT there are many issues to be addressed: Visible surfaces were all clean, but many corner had still crumbs and dust from previous users, dishes were dirty. There was poop in the portable WC. If we didn't check that before we left it would have been a disgusting surprise. First, the car interior didn't match the pictures. Additionally we lacked a lot of explanation. How the camper works, who to empty tank, how to add water, when to know that tank is full. Apparently it starts to overflow to the pavement when it is full and that was a scary surprise. Some sockets didn't work, would have liked to know that because we tried very long to fix the cool box the correct drawer, thought the wire is broken, drove back to indie camper to have another fridge, figured out it was the sockets instead. This resulted in us keeping the fridge in the toilet and taping the wire of the fridge on the ground so that we would not trip on it every time. The introduction was too short and being first time in a van it is also complicated to ask everything. For example, half of out trip we didn't have a phone holder. But then we realized it pops out when you pull quite hard on some plastic part in the armature. I massive improvement for navigating around. Its a pity that we suffered so long.. Also, a closet door was broken. That was fixed by tape when we returned couple days later for extra information. The guy who helped then was very nice. Extra remarks: Would be nice if the car is fully packed when receiving it: full tank, full water tank, charged interior battery. Your colleague didn't even know the status of them.

The staff were super friendly and helpful from pick up to drop off. The van itself was rather comfortable and quite straightforward to manage. Also its fuel consumption is super sustainable. All in all good experience with memorable adventures.