I was really steamed at the Lakeside Park in Livingston, La. They advertise they have pull-thru sites and are a Passport America park. When you get there and want to use your Passport, they then told me they only have 4 sites available (the worst in the park) and that they were all back in. We were towing a jeep and certainly did not want to unhook just for the night. I ended up paying the Good Sam rate, but was very disappointed in their attitude towards Passport America. The park is very nice, but they should be ashamed to state they are a Passport America park, it is obviously only a come on for them.
Many of the PA campgounds have restrictions stated in the PA comments. I went to one that said I could not use PA because I did not call in before I arrived. You can look up the campgounds on the internet and see their requirements near the bottom of their add. BC
Misrepresentation of amenities at parks: OH BOY, WHERE TO BEGIN? Let's start with "free wi-fi"....translation: yes, you can get wi-fi occasionally between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. but only if you stand on the third dryer from the left, facing the back door and wearing a metal colander on your head as an antenna. "River front"....are you talking about that stagnant drainage ditch over in the corner of the property....the one next to the poison ivy patch? "Big Rig Friendly"....is your "big rig" less than six feet wide and no more than eight feet high? Can you make make an 180-degree turns without jackknifing? Can you park your tow vehicle on top of your rig or fit it underneath? If so, c'mon in...we're big rig friendly. "Heated pool"....yeah, if you're used to swimming in the Pacific Ocean year-round, you'll think our pool is heated. Otherwise, hope you brought your wet-suit. Not that it makes any difference, because the pool is closed. "Free cable"....ok, technically the cable IS free and it's fine as long as you like 7 religious stations, 4 shopping networks and 3 telenovela stations. "Pull-thru sites".....yep, you'll be able to pull IN but you sure as tootin' ain't gonna pull OUT. Can you spell b-a-c-k-o-u-t? Granted, I've found most parks aren't bad at misrepresenting their amenities, but the ones that do do it with style....
I looked at that CG's web site, and could find no mention of Passport America. It does say "Pull through sites available" and "Please contact our office for current rates and availability". At Passport America's site, they do list this CG, but they say "P.A. discount is valid on Back-In Sites only". Do you have a brochure or some other type of advertising that says different?
QUOTE(jamarynn1 @ Sep 19 2012, 09:13 PM) [snapback]31223[/snapback] Misrepresentation of amenities at parks: OH BOY, WHERE TO BEGIN? Let's start with "free wi-fi"....translation: yes, you can get wi-fi occasionally between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. but only if you stand on the third dryer from the left, facing the back door and wearing a metal colander on your head as an antenna. "River front"....are you talking about that stagnant drainage ditch over in the corner of the property....the one next to the poison ivy patch? "Big Rig Friendly"....is your "big rig" less than six feet wide and no more than eight feet high? Can you make make an 180-degree turns without jackknifing? Can you park your tow vehicle on top of your rig or fit it underneath? If so, c'mon in...we're big rig friendly. "Heated pool"....yeah, if you're used to swimming in the Pacific Ocean year-round, you'll think our pool is heated. Otherwise, hope you brought your wet-suit. Not that it makes any difference, because the pool is closed. "Free cable"....ok, technically the cable IS free and it's fine as long as you like 7 religious stations, 4 shopping networks and 3 telenovela stations. "Pull-thru sites".....yep, you'll be able to pull IN but you sure as tootin' ain't gonna pull OUT. Can you spell b-a-c-k-o-u-t? Granted, I've found most parks aren't bad at misrepresenting their amenities, but the ones that do do it with style.... I stayed in a park in Dickison, TX last winter and I picked it because they have propane on site; they have cable television; they have free Internet. The truth is they have the propane tank on site but no one certified to fill tanks. They haven't had anyone to do that for 2 or 3 years. Webpage still notes propane on site. The cable television was discontinued for the most part before my arrival and then completely cut off during my stay. The manager said that the cable company had stopped feeding the higher channels just before we arrived and then they company switched to where you had to have a "box" to receive the channels. So no cable either. Lastly the "free Internet". Was Ok for the first week or so and then their router took a dump and it was mostly out or non-existent for the duration. The park had come under new owners and they were not interested in spending the money to get the system restored professionally. So in essence I can feel your pain on the advertised amenities. To the other poster in regards to the PPA park in Livingston, LA. Their restrictions on the PPA website specifically state that the PPA rate only applies to "back-ins". I am a life member of PPA and I always read the restrictions on the PPA website. In addition I also call the park and ask of they are still a PPA park.
QUOTE(crazyfordaylilies @ Sep 19 2012, 02:08 PM) [snapback]31217[/snapback] I was really steamed at the Lakeside Park in Livingston, La. They advertise they have pull-thru sites and are a Passport America park. When you get there and want to use your Passport, they then told me they only have 4 sites available (the worst in the park) and that they were all back in. We were towing a jeep and certainly did not want to unhook just for the night. I ended up paying the Good Sam rate, but was very disappointed in their attitude towards Passport America. The park is very nice, but they should be ashamed to state they are a Passport America park, it is obviously only a come on for them. I hope that you mentioned these restrictions in your review of the park. This site is the one place we look for that kind of info.
Great reason to call the park before arrival. We usually decide on a park the afternoon of arrival and ask the questions that are important to us. When a campground realizes that you are getting what you want at a price you want, they begin to cut the price. Nobody wants have empty sites. RVparkreviews has a Smart phone friendly site that makes it very easy to check here and read the reviews before deciding. Allstays can be used for free sites also. It will interact with your GPS on the Smart phone. Having the campground website and this site's reviews is a huge advantage now in getting a good campground site on the fly. PPA also has a free phone app that is easy to use.
QUOTE(DXSMac @ Sep 20 2012, 03:27 PM) [snapback]31231[/snapback] This thread is just re-affirming my belief that PA is not a good deal. I disagree. (Actually, I don't disagree that's the thread is reaffirming your existing opinion, only that Passport America is not a good deal. ) Passport America is the only membership that makes sense for anybody other than fulltimers. There is no obligation beyond your annual membership fee, and it takes about two nights of use per year to amortize that. We have been members since 2003. campgroundreviews.com makes it easy to determine which Passport America parks to use, and which to avoid. Of course, members need to check out the restrictions at each park, but we need to do the same when using our RPI and Coast-to-Coast memberships.
Actually we are fulltimers and I do use PPA when ever we can. I have found some PPA campgounds that are really great. You just have to use Park Reviews and see the restrictions in the PPA website for the campground. There was one campground that we went to that gave us a full week at PPA prices. This was an excellent campground. It was Wilderness RV Resort, Silver Springs FL. BC
QUOTE(TXBobcat @ Sep 20 2012, 07:25 PM) [snapback]31235[/snapback] Actually we are fulltimers and I do use PPA when ever we can. ... Sorry. I didn't mean to imply that Passport America isn't a good program for fulltimers, only that it is the ONLY membership that makes sense for most people who aren't fulltimers, as well as for fulltimers. We have been fulltimers for 10 years now, and our Passport America membership has more than paid for itself every one of those years. But even if you are on the road for only a few weeks a year you will almost certainly come out money ahead with a membership.
Hi, Or, you could, with some research find parks that are low in cost with the facilities you require. Once in ten years I went to a "recreation hall" for a supper. I thought, "how nice" and the next day I had a case of food poisoning. I've actually used a pool 4 times in that ten year time frame--and on the last occasion dropped my keys. Panic city? You bet! What I need/want is a minimalist place to stay in a park like setting with electric power. (and even that is not a requirement--rv's after all are "independent" of outside services). In short, I love small town publicly owned campgrounds. Some of them are wonderful and even have power/water for free--others are minimal charges, often as low as $5.00. Such locations do not often accept Passport America.
Boy, I sure agree. PPA is great. You are going to find some bad parks in it and not in it. They have saved me thousands and will save me hundreds in the next month. It is up to us to check the park out first which is easily done by this great site. If I have a bad experience at KOA or Good Sam, I don't slam the whole deal. These are individually owned and operated. In this case the exceptions were right on the website. Without the exceptions, there would not be any discount clubs. I am not mad because I can not save half every time. Much of the time is good enough for me.
May I suggest that if one is going to check out a campground review on this website, then click the View on Map link and bring up the satellite view (if that is not already the default one). You can see whether or not there are pull through sites, it's shaded, or waterfront. You can get an idea if it is big rig friendly if there are any parked at the CG or at least by comparing RV sizes to site size. One can usually make an educated guess on the worth of a PPA campground by looking at the normal price before discount. If it's normally a $20 park then you get what you pay for with the discount.
I have 4 nights on my present trip and have an staying all ( 2 nights each at 2 different PPA campgrounds). I have saved $52 so far. That will buy some gas and the campgrounds are a 7 or 8.
QUOTE(DXSMac @ Sep 20 2012, 04:27 PM) [snapback]31231[/snapback] This thread is just re-affirming my belief that PA is not a good deal. Last year I got G a lifetime membership at PPA and it has been a pretty good deal for us. We use it for the "in between" nights when we don't feel like Wally-docking. Many of the campgrounds have pull thru sites available so we don't have to unhitch, which is just what we're looking for. The PPA CGs we've stayed at have been nice mom-and-pop sort of places. We've used the reviews here each time and have decided to NOT stay at a couple CGs because of poor reviews. LR's right: Call to confirm that the CG has available what you want (and that they still accept PPA).
Personally, I'm waiting to see if the OP comes back with a post admitting that it was his lack of research that caused his "problem". Two posters here have noted that the "back-in only" limitation was listed on the website. So the OP should not be ranting against the RV park or Passport America.
QUOTE(Jerry S. @ Sep 24 2012, 06:55 PM) [snapback]31267[/snapback] Personally, I'm waiting to see if the OP comes back with a post admitting that it was his lack of research that caused his "problem". Two posters here have noted that the "back-in only" limitation was listed on the website. So the OP should not be ranting against the RV park or Passport America. Don't hold your breath.... :lol:
Another 1PW (One-Post Wonder). FWIW, the discount limitation to back-in sites only is also stated in the latest printed PPA directory, so it's not new info. Maybe the OP was embarrassed that they made a mistake and it was pointed out. I can sorta relate after my A/C fiasco.
