Allyson Hatherill, hatherillfamily@gmail.com, 24 november 2008
I did loads of research before deciding on Idea Merge. We booked a 6 berth Britz RV for a two week trip around the north island with husband and 13 year old boy/girl twins. We rushed to get to the office in Auckland before they closed as our flight from Chile had been delayed for 12 hours. Got there in time and had the run through as to what to do. Didn't take everything in and would have liked a demonstration on how the tables collapsed and the beds were made. At the end of a very long and stressful day, trying to figue it all out caused a few cross words. I was disappointed in the RV itself. It was a 2003 5 speed manual with 108,000km. It was showing its age and was like driving a tank. The stick had a tendency to pop out of gear if we went over a bumpy surface. We had initially paid for both of us to be drivers, but after hearing the words coming out of my husbands mouth, I decided it was too scary! I'm glad we took out the full insurance, we got a damaged windscreen from a flying rock. Anyone coming to New Zealand for a driving holiday should seriously consider taking out the full insurance to cover the windshield at least. NZ roads are paved with volcanic rock as it is cheaper and longer lasting however it plays havoc with windshields. We were told our windshield would have cost us at least $700 to replace if we weren't covered. A tip for those coming to NZ and not used to driving on the left side of the road. Just remember that as the driver, the middle line is always beside you! The drop off was easy, I just told him where it was, left the keys in the ignition and off we went. We stayed at Top 10 Holiday Parks which often had huge differences between them not to mention prices. We paid anything from $40 to $65 a night. We thought this was expensive for less than 15 hours of use of the electicity and bathrooms. In the end, my husband and daughter would not RV again whereas my son and I would.

Greg Ethridge, 07 september 2008
Overall the trip was great. The RV we rented appeared in good shape and handled the many miles we drove with no problems. The major issue we had was at the pickup location. First, we were there probably 3 hours waiting to get served. That were a little short on staff. But the major problem was that I had talked with IdeaMerge and specifically requested an RV with the semi-automatic (tip-tronic, I think is what they called it) transmission. I was not very experienced driving a basic standard. The folks at IdeaMerge implied that they were checking with the site in Christchurch where we would be renting to make sure they had one available. They communicated to me that they had one confirmed for me. When I got to the pick-up site, they did not have one and seemed to say they have never had one. This created quite the delimma for me. We decided to go ahead and try it. The first couple of days were pretty rough getting used to driving a standard at the same time as driving on the left side of the road. To make a long story short, we survived and made some memories. GregE

Note from IdeaMerge: The problem mentioned above did indeed result from a major miscommunication between IdeaMerge and the vendor. In light of Mr. Ethridge's complaint, IdeaMerge has straightaway contacted the vendor and corrected the problem associated with the miscommunication. Moreover we've in turn extended to Mr. Ethridge an apology and a partial refund.

Sara and Ric Rosenkranz July 4th, 2008, 06 august 2008
We rented a 4 berth Kea camper. This ended up being the perfect size for 2 adults, a 6 year old and a 1 year old. What a great way to travel with kids! We saw so much beautiful scenery and met some of the nicest people at the camping spots all around the north island. We found the camper easy to use, easy to convert at bedtime, and overall easy to figure out. We would travel this way again in a heartbeat! The whole rental experience was just great! Thanks.

Joanne McMillan, 07 july 2008
We booked our six berth motorhome with ideamerge as they were the most competitive on price for the Kea which we had choosen. We rang Kea from our hotel and they came and picked us up and took us to pick up the van. A very comprehensive van with everything that you would need and lots of room, also very economical on fuel. On our second night the bed broke but kea had someone there to fix it within an hour of getting the call. We dropped the van off and they took us to the airport. Excellent service throughout, from booking to collecting. Would certainly use again and have already priced up for Cananda next year.

Mark Grimes, markgrimes@sky.com, 25 may 2008
Picked up our 6 berth motorhome from Apollo in Auckland, Apollo collected us from the Airport. Pick up was smooth, took about an hour to finalise paperwork from arrival to leaving the office.

Motorhome was 1 year old in excellent condition, clean and well presented. It made our touring holiday of New Zealand a pleasure.

Overall a positive experience from the initial booking with Ideamerge. Doug even returned a telephone call to me when I could not get through to his office in the states,and I live in the UK!

Drop off in Christchurch was also smooth, took approx 30 mins to complete paperwork upon drop off
Excellent from start to finish

I would definately recomend Ideamerge , Fantastic service and value for money.