This rental was my second time renting through Outdoorsy. My first experience was so wonderful that I fully expected it to be the same when I went to rent again. I would like to start by saying (and I told Bryan this) that I try to look for the good in situations and if something goes wrong, hopefully it was just a mistake and it can be addressed going forward so it doesn't happen again, as opposed to assuming it's actually intentionally deceptive just to make some quick money. I also told Bryan that I felt it was my responsibility to leave an honest review based on our experience, as I rented from him based on his previous 5-star reviews and our experience was the opposite of that. There were some immediate red flags upon pick-up that made me feel it wasn't a good idea to take the van and I wish I had trusted my gut and walked away, but I didn't, and I regret that.I'd like to start with the positive: this van was very easy to drive. Turning radius is great, seats are comfortable, controls are easy to understand, and the quality of what *is* in the van is very nice. Now, on to the concerns. My first concern was knowing Outdoorsy has a Covid cleaning protocol for renter health and safety, yet upon opening the doors to the van, there was an unlaundered blanket on the bench seat, a swiffer broom on the floor, and Bryan had come out of the van carrying a dozen eggs and some other items that appeared to have been in the refrigerator and/or cabinets. I was immediately uncomfortable by seeing this, but I decided to let it go because everything else appeared to be clean. When he brought us inside for a tour, I immediately noticed there was no toilet in the bathroom, despite his listing stating that there was one. The whole reason we wanted a converted van was to travel safely during the pandemic without needing to share public spaces with anyone, including bathrooms. We were planning to stay at a KOA campground and I knew they had bathrooms, so we decided to let that issue slide as well. He showed us how to turn on lights, how to turn on the shower, and where to turn on the pump that pulls the water down the drain in the shower as well as from drain in the sink in the kitchen, when we used either of them. He showed us how to set up the bed (three large, sturdy planks held up on rails on either side of the interior walls) and then three cushions (provided) that go on top of the planks to create a queen-sized bed. He showed us how to turn on the inverter for power sourced from the van battery to use the stove and the microwave; appliances which he said were pretty self-explanatory in operating. He also showed us the large extension cable where we could connect to campsite power if we preferred that to the battery, as well as a provided hose to connect to the campsite water supply if the 35 gallon tank in the van ran out of water.The next red flag came up when I started the engine. There was a notification that stayed on the entire time we had the van that said the vehicle was 163 days past due for service. Our plan was to pack up our stuff first thing the following morning to spend the weekend exploring Joshua Tree National Park, where there are huge stretches of highway out there with no cell service, no stores or service stations, not even houses. The entire time we were out at the park, I was worried it would break down and we wouldn't be able to reach anyone for help (which did not happen, fortunately.) We noticed that his registration showed he had only owned the van since November 4th which was 70 days prior to us renting from him, which means that notification has been on since he bought the vehicle. (He told us at drop-off that the dealership he purchased from told him not to worry about that, which seemed odd to me.) Another concern was getting a message after leaving with the van, telling me he forgot to fill the water tank so I could just use my garden hose to fill it myself, something that he should have done prior to us taking the vehicle. Knowing we could hook up to the campground water supply, I didn't worry about filling it before we headed out for our trip.When we were loading up the van the following morning, we discovered on the upper rack of the refrigerator, a glass bowl without a lid that had two grilled chicken breasts in it, as well as two cans of White Claw, which we immediately threw away. It was then that I noticed old crumbs and spills at the bottom of the refrigerator because he didn't clean any of it before we took possession of his vehicle. (photo below)The first (and only) night in the van, we discovered even more issues. The power cable he provided did not work with the campground municipal power supply. Once it got dark, we realized he did not provide a privacy screen for the front windows of the van, which meant anyone walking by our campsite could see directly inside. Fortunately, we had an extra blanket so we rigged our own privacy screen out of that. We also discovered that in his listing, he said there is an oven, and a "compact propane stove in the kitchen." In our other rental, the microwave was also a convection oven, so I wrongly assumed that was the case in Bryan's van. There is no oven at all. Only a small microwave. The stove is not, in fact, propane. It's an induction stove that (upon doing a google search as no manual was provided and we couldn't figure out why the stove would turn on, but not stay on) we discovered the stove requires special cookware to conduct heat in order for it to work. Bryan did not provide the special cookware (when I brought up that the stove wasn't working via messages, he said "no one else has had issues with it.") When we returned the van and I told him we figured out the stove requires special cookware and that's why it wouldn't stay on, he then said he does have the special cookware, he just forgot to give it to us. This was confusing to me because if it were a propane stove as he had listed, special cookware is not needed. We ended up using the microwave to try and cook our ground meat on a dinner plate I brought, to make the tacos we planned to have for dinner. By the way, I highly recommend not cooking meat that way...ever. In the morning, we ended up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast because our frying pan and saucepan would not work on the stove to make anything else.When it was time to set up the bed to go to sleep that night, we discovered that the hard-bottomed nylon storage bin he has mounted on the side wall in the van actually blocked about 1/4 of the bed once a person is on it, which wouldn't be a problem if you were sleeping alone, but there were two of us, so it was a problem. I considered pulling the bench seat out underneath (listed as the third-person sleeping space) but with the planks overhead, it felt like trying to sleep in a coffin. I'm sure that space would be great for a small child, but not for an adult. I ended up sleeping partially under the bin but I couldn't lay on my side without my shoulders hitting it. (I took two pics of that spot that I've uploaded in my review.)After hardly sleeping overnight due to the confined/limited space, I went to take a shower and the water wouldn't go down the drain, despite having the pump on. I had the water on for about 3 minutes and it filled to roughly 4 inches deep, so I had to get out. By this point, I was on the edge of tears with everything that kept going wrong. I messaged Bryan about the shower issue and he replied a few hours later to say the tank must be full. He said the tank holds 20 gallons, but the only water we had used was a quick wash of two plates in the sink the night before, a quick wash of my face, and both of us brushing our teeth. I don't think we had even used a gallon of water the night before and with the shower only being on for 3 minutes in the morning, I can't imagine we used more than 5 gallons total. He responded that the "time before last" he drained all but one gallon out of it, so my guess is the *last* time it was used before us, that tank filled up and he forgot to empty it, just as he forgot to fill the freshwater tank before we took the van. He suggested we empty the tank, yet he did not provide a hose to properly dispose of the grey water to the septic tanks at the campground. When I brought this up, he suggested we just open the valve and let the grey water dump out at our campsite, which is absolutely not okay, and we refused to do. Instead, we tried bailing out the water with the saucepan we brought (photo below) but it was taking forever so we stopped and ended up leaving the remaining water at the bottom of the shower, placing one of our bath towels at the edge to soak up what splashed out on the drive home. We did not feel comfortable using the communal showers that the campground offered due to the inability to wear a mask while bathing, so we ended up just washing our faces in the sink and using wet paper towels to wipe down our bodies. Ugh. I messaged Bryan that there were just way too many issues with the van and we would be coming home that night and would like to return the van to him the following day, which was one day sooner than our scheduled rental return.When we returned the van the following day, I described all of the issues to Bryan and he did accept responsibility for everything. He said he would not charge us for returning it a day early and offered a discounted rate for a future rental with him, which I declined as the van is not equipped with what we wanted out of a rental. As an owner, he absolutely has the right to charge what he wants, but it was not worth it to me that I was charged over $400 per night with a 4-night minimum, and with the added insurance and Outdoorsy fees, this nightmare experience cost us over $2,600. As of this posting, he did reduce the nightly fee to $275 and no longer has a minimum rental time, but he has not updated the listing to reflect what amenities are and are not included, despite me suggesting he do so. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this rental to my friends, but hopefully other future renters are now aware of what amenities actually are included, as well as knowing the additional supplies that are needed, so they can be more prepared for their trip than we were, seeing as how we based our preparedness on the listing and the 4 other reviews that had all given Bryan 5-stars.
