CounterholdLearn more

Incident · 2026 · Travel and vehicle rental

Indie Campers’ chatbot approves a trip its rental terms forbid

In July 2026, a customer said Indie Campers’ website chatbot confirmed a camper could be driven to Montenegro, so they paid in full. Human support later said the rental terms prohibit Montenegro. The customer says the company disclaimed the chatbot’s answer and, after cancellation, refunded only 5% of a €1,500 payment.

Last updated

What happened

Before paying for a July camper trip, the customer asked the chatbot on the company’s official website whether the vehicle could be taken to Montenegro. They say it explicitly said yes, and they paid the full amount.

A human reply to their follow-up arrived more than 48 hours later and said the terms strictly prohibit travel to Montenegro. The customer says the company replied that it takes no responsibility for AI answers and applied its late-cancellation fee.

Dutch technology lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet wrote that a chatbot’s answer is comparable to text in an FAQ or brochure, so the company is bound by it, and cited the Air Canada ruling.

What happened next

The customer said they had started a card chargeback and planned to contact the European Consumer Centre. The final outcome is not public.

Legal or regulatory result

No ruling. Engelfriet’s analysis on Ius Mentis is commentary, not a decision.

What would have stopped it

  1. Answer eligibility questions (permitted countries, insurance cover) from a structured list tied to the rental terms, and show the list rather than a yes or no.
  2. Hold the payment link when the bot has answered an eligibility question it could not verify against that list.
  3. Attach the chat transcript to the booking and set a written rule for honoring or refunding when the bot was wrong.

Attack families

Sources

  1. Reddit r/LegalAdviceEurope: the customer’s account
  2. Ius Mentis (Arnoud Engelfriet): legal analysis, in Dutch
  3. Vibe Graveyard: Indie Campers AI chatbot support failures

This page summarizes the cited sources as of October 21, 2026. It adds no findings of our own about any person or company. See an error? Email contact@counterhold.com with the subject “Correction”. Corrections are noted on this page with their date. See our terms for how we handle correction and removal requests.

Similar incidents