Well, Just Lose Your Customers

[CindyL]

For the benefit of campground employees/owners, I thought a thread on the behaviors that customers have encountered that caused them to consider not returning to the campground again might help.

Over the weekend, we camped at a campground that I will not name here. It was our third time there, this time by choice (The last time was to have a place to stay at the birth of our grandchild.). We previously had really liked the campground and chose it for a central point to have a Father's Day get-together. My 86 year-old father-in-law cannot get around easily, so since they had a nice pavillion, we asked to use it and could we park near it because of his difficulty in getting around. It was easier to get to than our camper. The employees said that was fine, so we brought in the dishes, food, and lawn chairs. The campground owner showed up, told us that we could not park on the grass, that normally they charge for the pavillion (The campground is already 52.00 a night plus extra charge if you want to play mini-golf.), the employees were new and she had not had time to train them because her mother died (So what, we had a disabled user!), and we better leave the pavillion immaculate (which it was not when we arrived).

Now a little forethought on her part would have helped her. We were all dressed nicely; the cars were nice; and everything was arranged nicely. We did not look like people who would leave the pavillion dirty.

Needless to say, we won't mix her campground up with others in the future. Forever, it will be known, not for its cleanliness, not for its amenities, not for its proximity to shopping and a larger city, but for the rude way we were treated by the campground owner. Not a way to treat paying customers.

CindyL

[BAMA & Pachyderm Posse]

Cindy I agree with you , don't know what is the best way to reach owners I'm afraid the most dont care , I guess a forum to list bad & good ones would be ok. just to let us know whether to stay or not , at there campground .

[Thomas G.]

Maybe you could post your experience on Yelp or Google Maps to guide others in the future.

[ColoRockiesFan]

Try this website to review the campground:

RV Park Reviews :: Home

[Alf S.]

Hi: CindyL... My motto when I was in the car business was..."If you like the way I treat you please tell others, if you don't please tell me!!!
The campground won't know how you feel unless you tell them.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Mike Magee]

Can't say that I've ever had a bad CG experience like that, not that I recall. But any business can blow it from time to time. I recall my wife and I walked into a car dealership to look at a Dodge minivan; I had an earlier model Plymouth minivan, really liked it, and wanted a new one (old van had 240K miles on it). We looked at the van in the showroom, and waited... and waited... no one came over to help us. Sitting in the van, though, I realized that they'd done something with the drivers' seat that I didn't like too well (sculpted out the back near the shoulder blades kind of funny, for looks) so I said, they sure don't know how to sell stuff here and the seat is odd so let's go look at a Ford. Ended up buying the Ford.

[theresa p]

my experiences with campgrounds have, for the most part, been very favourable. however, i agree with alf---letting the campground owner know how you felt, that you won't be back and that you will not recommend her CG to friends will hopefully make a dent in her thick skull.
in all likelihood, it was more that she was having a bad day....perhaps she'd offer you a free weekend to make up for this one she ruined.
won't know if you don't tell her.

[Robin G]

Normally I would recommend you write a reveiw but in this instance your not upset over your camping experience. This is a tough one. Unfortunately there was a mis-communication with new employees. Do I see it as the owner being grumpy? Yes probably, but to give the campground a bad review when it wasn't about your campsite or camping experience, doesn't seem right. So I do believe writing a letter directly to the owner would be the best thing in this situation.


Not having witnessed the whole thing, all I can say as a former park owner is it seems your upset because the owner was rude. That is understandable, but you have to look at it from the campground point of veiw as well. You were using a facility that the campround usually charges for (no I don't understand this, but I don't own that business, so ...........) You were parked on grass, which is tough to maintain and having car's or even a car parked on it, would have brought me out as well!


Frankly, had you driven and parked on my grass, I would have come un glued . But I would have had options on how to get your FIL to the pavillion. Golf cart etc...... I would have found out what was going on, before being to rude! And once I found out of the misunderstanding I would have made you get off my grass, but as I said figured out options for you.......

[CindyL]

Kevin joked that we should have introduced ourselves to her. Three of us have the title Dr. I could have explained that I train teachers for students with physical disabilities . Oh, well, she might not have understood that this means that I teach about ADA-compliant facilities.


CindyL

[Byron Kinnaman]

$52.00 per night. WOW....
I complain if I have to pay over $10.00 per night.

[john warren]

well,,,i have to admit to always going way overboard to give folks a break. with that in mind , i imagine she was dealing with a lot of frustration and turmoil in her life with her moms passing,,,,so i would probably call her back and ask how she was doing , and let her know i understood the sort of loss she had had.
now if it was a temporary mood thing she would have the opportunity to apologize for her behavior, and make amends. if she didn't then you would have the chance to close with letting her know you understood there was miscommunication from her employee that was trying to service a customer to their best ability, but that you did not like the way you were treated. that you probably won't be back, nor recommend them to any others.
this tells her the employee was good,,,, but she was bad...."bad girl no smores"

[john warren]

now as to general things a camp ground can do to make sure i never come back?

grubbiness. i don't mean an accidental spill of a trash can by a racoon,,,i mean a run down ,dirty, moldy ,cob webby facility. keep you grounds picked up, your trash cans or dumpsters fairly clean, and your restrooms and showers clean. honest to god how hard is it to grab a broom and knock down those darned cob webs?

and rather then being grumpy about someone that errors in camp ground rules ,,, how about dealing with rediculess noise levels and garbage strewn sites?

[Robin G]

Originally Posted by john warren

now as to general things a camp ground can do to make sure i never come back?

grubbiness. i don't mean an accidental spill of a trash can by a racoon,,,i mean a run down ,dirty, moldy ,cob webby facility. keep you grounds picked up, your trash cans or dumpsters fairly clean, and your restrooms and showers clean. honest to god how hard is it to grab a broom and knock down those darned cob webs?

and rather then being grumpy about someone that errors in camp ground rules ,,, how about dealing with rediculess noise levels and garbage strewn sites?

Try being a former park owner (as well as being a freak about clean) and go camping in campgrounds/rvparks! I can pick apart their lack of cleaning and maintence 10 mins in my site. It's so very hard to be a guest and not pick up a broom, rag, etc and clean the place up! Or ask them if they think this is really clean? Really? It's even hard for me to go back to our park. One of our old guest met us at our site when we pulled in, she hugged me and said are you gonna be ok? I looked at her and said yeah why? She said, it's not like you guys kept it from the bathrooms to the sites. So hold on to your hat! She was right, but I bit my lip and kept my mouth shut. Not a easy feat!

[Kevin A]

As CindyL noted, we were a bit taken aback by the owner's reaction to our picnic. What CindyL didn't say was that we immediately said we would move the car, didn't argue, said we would move the car, said we were sorry that her mom passed away, said that we would move the car... You get the idea. It was when she finished up with "We usually charge for the use of this picnic pavilion. Oh, are you camping here? Site 5? OK. We pay a lot to keep this pavilion clean so you should leave it spotless." that it seemed a bit much. This was after asking permission to have the picnic - offering to pay - and to park on the grass and being given approval.

I can chalk this all up to a bad day - no problem - but the campground also discontinued having WIFI and is starting to let some things "go to seed," like the mini-golf course while having the highest rates outside of a major tourist attraction area that we've encountered. The WIFI is becoming a big issue for us since we are in need of fairly regular access due to our jobs.

I think I've found a replacement site about 15 miles away from this one that we may try next. Part of the fun of camping! OK, I've moved on!!

[RogerDat]

Originally Posted by Kevin A

As CindyL noted, we were a bit taken aback by the owner's reaction to our picnic. What CindyL didn't say was that we immediately said we would move the car, didn't argue, said we would move the car, said we were sorry that her mom passed away, said that we would move the car... You get the idea......

It really gets my dander up when I am bending over backwards to find a resolution to a misunderstanding or miscommunication and the other party seems to view that as meaning they can get pushier or more rude.

Couple of campgrounds over the decades have come close to having me channel my inner red-neck in those type of situations, which boils down if no one explained to you growing up how to have a polite respectful conversation, I'm damn sure I can remedy that lack of education for you. In one case going elsewhere was an option and I told them what I thought of their manners, in the other that comes to mind manager was reminded they were informed of requirements, accepted reservation and now they should honor it. They did.

But those places seem to be rare, and since I generally go places that others have said they liked I just don't come across it. Mostly the opposite, CG staff willing to bend over backwards to help. That is what makes your situation seem so unpleasant.

Glad you found an alternative location.

[Ricky 4]

We stayed at a Branson Mo campground for 4 days.
Two of those days the groundskeeper ran a loud leaf blower.
I didn't say anything because I didn't know what response I would get.
I did email them later though.
We have stayed there several times before and really like the place and the location.
This is the first time I have had any problem there.
I will return to the same campground next year-hopefully all the unwanted leaves will be blown away by the wind!