We have stayed at this campground at least 12 times. When we were thinking about buying an RV we rented one and went here. After 48 states, it is still one of our favorites. It is also a Passport America campground and that is a real plus. We both love the place. It is an hour away from our house. It was taken over by a national corporate campground company which made some changes and then went bust. The family now has taken it back and we love it again. It has 400 wooded sites. We know the employees and just call for a reservation. There was a line of long term campers in one of the side by side entrances. We had paid online and they waved us through. They opened the long bar (like at a train crossing, they have one for each lane). I drove through and as I did the bar from the other lane came down and hit my awning assembly at the top side of the coach and broke off. I drove through and stopped and went back to help. The employees said not to worry, he would get it fixed. We went to our site and set up the electrical and water and went back to go to lunch (only 10 minutes later). Somebody was reattaching the bar (14 feet long). It was bulky and I offered to help. He said, “Are you the stupid M****r F****r who broke this.” I explained I was in the other lane and it came down into my lane and hit my coach (it was about a foot too long). You could tell it had been knocked down many time before as it was all buggered up. He was fixing it with a leather man tool and messing up the threads. I told him I had wrenches in my truck and would help. He got abusive again. A short argument ensued until my wife told me to leave. I told the employee friend that you handyman has a foul mouth. He replied that he was the manager of the park. My question is; What do? I am not going to let this one jerk spoil our good times in the future. Do I write it up and give them a low score or forget it?
I would like to say to give the park (and "manager") a second chance, but you just don't swear like that to customers. I think that is enough reason to talk to the owners. Maybe the guy was just having a bad day, but that is no way to treat customers. Owner's won't know of problem employees unless someone tells them - you might not be the only one being talked to like that.
I agree with Tom. Because of your long standing experience with this park and it's owners, I believe they would appreciate your feedback.
QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ Dec 9 2012, 08:47 AM) [snapback]32101[/snapback] ...My question is; What do? I am not going to let this one jerk spoil our good times in the future. Do I write it up and give them a low score or forget it? If you a write review that does nothing more than describe this unfortunate incident, it will be rejected. If you include the incident as part of your review it just might have an impact on the manager's behavior.
I am not saying the manager was right to treat you like he did, but sometimes it is hard to know what has led up to such an inappropriate outburst. If the arm had been broken off many times before, this could have been the “straw” that set him off. Or maybe it was brought on by an unrelated incident. Whatever the reason I think a big factor is whether or not he acts like this all the time. If this was just an isolated incident where he just got fed up and lost his temper (who hasn’t done this), I can see that he might deserve a little leniency (especially if he apologizes later, which apparently he did not). The problem is you may not have the opportunity to see if this is his usual behavior or not, so if you really like the place, I would mention the incident in the review (but not give a detailed account), and maybe lower the rating a little. I would also report the incident to the owner so that if this is an on-going behavior, he will be aware of it.
Yeah I agree with everyone else, say something to the owner, if this guy is using THAT kind of language, believe me he's probably done something similar before...that's totally inexcusable! I would talk/explain to the owner of the park on the importance of customer service. Maybe see what his response is. If it sounds like he is going to try to resolve it or do something about it then maybe you don't need to include the incident in your review but if he sounds like he's just blowing you off then maybe you might want to include it. Mike
I told him at the time that he shouldn't talk to customers like that in this age of reviews and he could expect to be hearing from me online. That was a mistake I know now, but I tried to smooth things over and get my tools to help and he started up again. I don't know the owners. I think I might find out and write them a letter. Usually jerks like this don't last long. In our lodging business, we had 18,000 guests and I never cussed at any of them. It was obviously his fault. I do feel sorry for the employees as they are very nice.
QUOTE(Lindsay Richards @ Dec 9 2012, 08:39 PM) [snapback]32117[/snapback] I told him at the time that he shouldn't talk to customers like that in this age of reviews and he could expect to be hearing from me online. That was a mistake I know now, but I tried to smooth things over and get my tools to help and he started up again. I don't know the owners. I think I might find out and write them a letter. Usually jerks like this don't last long. In our lodging business, we had 18,000 guests and I never cussed at any of them. It was obviously his fault. I do feel sorry for the employees as they are very nice. If he was not the owner also that would be a good place to start. That you like the camp ground and that he is taking a lot away from it being one of the best.
I agree with all that is being said here - we have a gate at our park and it is often broken off because people stop their rigs too soon, go through too fast, get too close, whatever the reason but it is usually broken off once or twice a year and yes, it's a total frustration, but never to the point where you would use that type of language in front of a customer. (don't ask what I sometimes yell in the shower ) . If this person is an employee he needs to be called to task immediately and if I were to write a review I would certainly put that in it, but if the park does any type of follow up to deal with it that should also be reported. Often our park is reviewed and we "fix" what the problem was but never have a chance to let people know so it would be nice if you did a follow up review or waited and reviewed after you had received a comment back from the park.
Campergal, I agree, but in my case, I was in the left lane and the right lane bar came down and hit my coach. The problem was that the right lane bar extended into the left lane about a foot. It had a 2 X 4 sticking out the end into my lane.
Hi, I wonder why gate bars are necessary? I have rarely seen any where I visit. Are there many many campers who would try to "rip off" the park by staying for free--and leaving early?
Years ago I broke down the gate arm (wood) due to a timing problem at Royal Coachman RV Resort in Nokomis, FL. You put in the pass code and arm went up, I moved off and down the arm come in front of our motorhome. I could see this arm had been broken off a number of times from all the patch work done on it. I took the arm back to office and was told this happens 3 or 4 time each month. We have a problem with the timing system. No one was upset or mad over this little problem. To me gate arms are a pain. Life in RV land.
"Hi, I wonder why gate bars are necessary? I have rarely seen any where I visit. Are there many many campers who would try to "rip off" the park by staying for free--and leaving early?" We've been to a lot of private campgrounds in New England with automatic gates. Campers usually need a simple key card to operate it, which you get when you sign in. Helps to control who goes in and out of the campground by vehicle, usually makes vehicles stop right by the office so people can see who it is. Other campgrounds that didn't have a gate would many times have a "security" person at the entrance, usually a workcamper, to check who was entering. A local campground has no gate or security, and some weekends can get kinda crazy there with non-campers coming in just to party and drink. Since I don't do that much anymore, I rarely go to that campground.
Considering that it was the CG's fault for an improperly designed gate arm which actually apparently did some damage to your coach, given that this guy was so belligerent, my reaction might have been to inform him that he would be shortly receiving a bill for the damages to my coach and that he would be welcome to address any further concerns to my attorney. No telling what reaction that might have engendered, but it ought to have been interesting.
Gates are like locked doors. They are there to keep the honest people out. If someone whats to get in they will. As far as the maintenance man, I would defiantly say something to the owners or write them a letter. If they have a suggestion box, drop a note in there, that might work too. People that deal with the public should have some kind of people skills. Obviously this person doesn't.
The two gates on the incoming lane are basically for traffic control during the day. One is operated by a key pad for returning campers if the work camper is busy and the other one is to hold campers back while they check in. Since I had checked in on the internet and they knew us, they waved us thru the returning camper gate and the other gate came down into my lane. No question it was a faulty operation on their part and the manager was messing up the fix by using the wrong tools. This place is usually full by now and will be until the snowbirds go home in about 3 or 4 months. We will go back then. Hopefully Mr. Foulmouth will be gone. Rock Crusher Canyon is too nice to let this jerk ruin it for us. There was no damage to my coach at all. Their Passport America rates go off Dec 1st through the end of March also.
Ask the abusive employee if you get a discount if you stick around and listen to him run off at the mouth....
