New Delivery Fees for Rentals

[Kanda]

We decided to rent an RV for our upcoming FW trip. After we chose the RV and made our deposit, we were sent an email stating there is a new $75 delivery fee to deliver to FW. There is also a 7% miscellaneous fee (that covers the FREE toilet paper,etc). Just thought I'd offer a heads up to anyone who might be renting -- add about $180 to the list price!

 

[Sundancer330]

Who are you renting from. We have a reservation for Feb and have free delivery and setup and no extra fees for toilet paper, propane, etc. I would shop around if I were you, this is not the way to treat a customer by adding these fees after you made the deposit. We rented from the same company last year and will continue to in the future due to the great service we receive.

 

[kandazak]

Greenberg. Who are you renting from?

 

[bama_ed]

Greenberg. Who are you renting from?

kandazak, you're DIS name is similar to the OP. Is this an alter? Or a his-and-hers? Just trying to follow along and I'm confused.

Bama Ed

PS - Greenberg does show a delivery fee on their website for short-term rentals although the amount on the site is different than what they told you...

 

[Kanda]

Oh, I didn't realize. I just auto sign in on my phone (had to create a new one there because I couldn't remember my password). The laptop is still auto signed in to my first account. Yes, it's the same person.

 

[bama_ed]

That's funny. My edit to add the PS and your reply occurred at the same time.

How many days/nights are you renting for?

Bama Ed

 

[Kanda]

Bama Ed, where do you see a different price? We are renting for 7 days.

The policy (which is listed in red under the FAQ's) says "starting today" which doesn't say when "TODAY" is. It was not there when we asked for the reservation.

I'm not going to cry over $75, but I think it's poor practice to publish prices increases after the fact.

 

[bama_ed]

Bama Ed, where do you see a different price? We are renting for 7 days.

The policy (which is listed in red under the FAQ's) says "starting today" which doesn't say when "TODAY" is. It was not there when we asked for the reservation.

I'm not going to cry over $75, but I think it's poor practice to publish prices increases after the fact.

To go through it all (locations from Greenberg's home website page) http://www.greenbergrvflorida.com/:

On Greenberg's "Campgrounds/Fort Wilderness" web site page is this statement (emphasis mine):

Free Delivery to Disney Fort Wilderness

When planning your vacation, remember that Greenberg Rent A Camper offers free delivery on all available RVs for rental periods lasting longer than four days. That’s right—every one of our travel trailers can be brought directly to your Fort Wilderness campsite and set up, free of charge. If you’re renting an RV for less than four days, we charge a nominal set-up fee. We also offer the typical pick-up-and-tow process of RV renting. Bring the trailer or camper to any location you desire, and return it when your rental period has ended.http://www.greenbergrvflorida.com/camping-in-florida/fort-wilderness/

On Greenberg's "Travel Trailers" web site page after the list of individual trailers this paragraph says the delivery fee is $30 for rentals shorter than 4 days (emphasis mine):

Rental Policies
•Taxes and fees (equaling 14%) are not included in the prices above.
•There is a rental deposit (equal to the daily rate of the RV) required at the time of reservation. More information about this can be found in the “Reservation Process” section below.
•A $25.00 Waste Tank Servicing and Sanitation fee is applied to every rental term.
•All 2 day reservations must be booked less than 45 days prior to the rental date.
•2 day rentals and are not available on the weekends.
•When renting for four or more days, we provide a free delivery, pickup, and setup service to Fort Wilderness Campground. For rental periods lasting less than four days, we charge a flat rate of $25.00. Please note that we also provide this service for other locations, but charge a fee of $4.00/mile (one-way).

*Free delivery to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort for all rentals for 4 days or more.
*$30 delivery to Ft. Wilderness for 3 day rental or less.http://www.greenbergrvflorida.com/trailer-rental/

As you point out, on their FAQ page point #6 is in red and says:

6. Call or text us at ... with your campsite number as soon as it is provided to you. We no longer call Fort Wilderness for campsite numbers because of their recent changes in policies for rental companies. All trailers will be delivered after 1 PM based on a first-call basis and the rental start date. Please allow a window of at least two hours for delivery, once the campsite number has been provided to Greenberg Rent A Camper. We will do our best to inform you of the estimated time of delivery. Please note that campsites must have “ready” status for delivery. Starting today all future reservations are subject to $75.00 delivery and pick up fee regardless of length of rental.http://www.greenbergrvflorida.com/rv-facts/

Seems like the FAQ statement might be the most recent. Like you, though, I wish all related information agreed with each other wherever it was located on their website. Disney may be enforcing some contract language that was loosely followed previously.

It's sort of like deciding where to buy gas when you're driving down the road. The sign high up in the air may list one price but on the pump it says a different price. It could be that the sign in the air hasn't been updated because the delivery truck is still on the premises filling the underground storage tanks. The trailer vendors are going through a change in their relationship with WDW, it sounds like, and we are literally in the middle of it. So the price on the sign is not the price at the pump right now, so to speak. The contract arrangement with WDW may have forced vendors to modify their pricing and their customer-facing info hasn't been updated. (although it should have been IMO).

I understand your surprise at the different pricing but before you get angry at your vendor or any other, I'd cut them some slack during this time of change for them. We on this board went through a similar confusing time when Disney would no longer allow off-site golf cart rental vendors to deliver customer carts to the Fort. All business had been conducted off-site before customer arrival via the Net and cell phones but Disney hates the competition.

But back to basics. I'm interested in your "try-before-you-buy" approach. What time of year will you be at the Fort? I own a pop-up and have thus never rented a trailer but like a lot of folks here I think camping is the BEST way to visit WDW. Greenberg generally has a good rep on this board and I hope you have read some of their reviews here or those folks will chime in.

Despite the change in rental pricing, I hope you enjoy your trailer vacation and become a trailer owner someday. Just make sure your tow vehicle (TV) can handle whatever trailer you end up with.

Bama Ed

PS - also, FWIW, the $75 delivery fee regardless of length of rental makes me wonder if the trailer vendors are having to pay Disney every time they place a rental at the Fort. It would be entirely like Disney to ask for money where they did absolutely nothing to earn it. The rental customers are generating revenue (paying for the campsite) that would otherwise be zero for Disney so Disney should be paying the vendors to thank them for the additional business. Given Disney's arrogance, though, that would never be the case...

 

[kandazak]

Replying from my cell, hence the other account name! Anyway, thank you for the details. Like I said earlier, I am not crying over this. This post is more of a heads up to others who might chose to rent.

I'm sure they will eventually get all of their website in one accord. I have read many positive reviews about Greenberg and hope that our experience with them will be positive as well. Just a little shaky start!

We have tent camped for years and love it. But I have recently finished school and started working as an RN. We have one week of vacation, and since our time is limited and our packing for tent camping is very time consuming, we decided to give RV'ing a try. The idea of just packing our clothes and showing up to an already set up campsite is appealing to me. But I'm already afraid I will miss the "outdoors" aspect of camping when staying in an RV. We will see!

I just can't imagine any kind of camping at Disney to be a bad thing!!!!

Thanks again for your reply.

 

[myjourney]

I am renting from Greenberg for next month and I have not received anything about an additional fee. From the beginning I knew there is a 7% misc and a $25 sanitation fee.
I just checked and I have my confirmation with what I owe. I am guessing they emailed you about the $75 before sending a confirmation?

 

[Hans Olo]

I already had my reservation with Greenberg before they made the new changes with the $75 delivery fee.
They're going to honor the no delivery fee to already existing reservations.

 

[Unearned Happiness]

I'm guessing if you made the reservation prior to the change, you're good to go. This only seems to apply to any new reservations going forward.

On Friday (9/19), we made an 8-day reservation through Greenberg for next summer. The new fees were included in our total amount. However, last month when we initially contacted them for a quote, these fees weren't included.

Obviously, this change is brand new. If you find any pages on the site that don't indicate the new fee structure, I'm sure it'll be updated shortly.

We contacted them about the fees yesterday and they confirmed that it's a new policy as a result of additional expenses they have to pay.

Yes, this stinks. BUT after comparing them to other rental companies, Greenberg's rates are still very competitive and we're still very excited for our first stay at Fort Wilderness next summer.

BTW, the additional fees did NOT affect the initial deposit they required, which was still $150 before and after the new policy.

 

[Kanda]

That is correct. It is only for reservations made on or after Tuesday of last week. Unfortunately, we made our reservation on Tuesday, before any mention of the fee, and just had it added to our bill. Then were told - after the fact - that there was a new fee in place. I thought good customer service would be to waive the fee for us since it wasn't published or even mentioned, but their response was "if you do not want to pay the fee, we will gladly cancel your reservation".

I have heard nothing but positive things about this company. I certainly hope whatever corporate changes are going on do not interfere with good customer service.

Can't wait til November!!!!!