Summersville Lake Retreat In Wv - Don't Pay In Advance!

QUOTE(kcmoedoe @ Sep 26 2014, 11:00 AM) [snapback]38466[/snapback]

, but I guess it is possible a complete stranger got their contact information by hacking into the campground's computer system and then used that information to relay occupancy reports to them.) or they saw it with their own eyes. (And that normally would take being in the area, though I guess we can't dismiss the possibility that the OP works for the NSA and redirected military spy planes over the park on a daily basis.) If they were in the area, that would be direct evidence that their claim of an emergency was untrue, no guesswork involved.




I think that is most logical explanation which would, as you say, involve no guesswork -- I like it! I just don't agree with the way you reached your conclusions and it appears as though we have agreed to disagree. Have a good one.

 

How about we quit guessing completely, and just read the OP's second post... "Our friends were able to go, so they saw others on our space."

 

QUOTE(NYDutch @ Sep 26 2014, 04:12 PM) [snapback]38468[/snapback]

How about we quit guessing completely, and just read the OP's second post... "Our friends were able to go, so they saw others on our space."

You want to let facts get in the way!!!!! :lol:

 

QUOTE(WVA3185 @ Sep 27 2014, 11:39 AM) [snapback]38482[/snapback]

You want to let facts get in the way!!!!! :lol:


Well, it does take some of the fun out of it I guess... :blink:

 

QUOTE(VWP @ Sep 22 2014, 11:57 AM) [snapback]38397[/snapback]

I am posting this out of frustration with this resort.

Do NOT PAY in advance here!

They make absolutely NO attempt to help you if you need to cancel for an emergency!!! They even rented our space to someone else for the MAJORITY of the time we had paid, and they still didn't refund ANY of our payment, nor did they offer to let us come and stay another time. They "double-dipped!"

We will NEVER go there!!!! A little goodwill could have gone a LONG way. There are too many other beautiful places to stay in this area. Not a happy camper here!!!!



The only fault I find with this post is the Do NOT PAY in advance-most of us would not pay in advance unless you have to for the reservation.

The rest of the opinion makes sense. It is the OPs opinion. If the reservation was for a high demand campground during peak season and the rest of the park was absolutely full except for their one reserved spot, then so be it. If there were other spaces available anyway, they weren't fully booked and therefore not turning people away anyway. If the park was completely full without one space empty, then they were able to re-book the site and did "double dip".

Goodwill does go a long way. We got evacuated from Cape May during our camping trip before Hurricane Irene. The county was under mandatory evacuation so we had to pack up and leave. I assumed we would be out of luck for the unused days as it was not the park's fault. They gave us a credit toward next year's stay and gave a refund to our relative who lived out of state and would not be making the trip back again.

 

rkw, you must have missed the post about the refund policy stated plainly on the campground website. Just because the poster said they had an emergency does not mean the campground believed him. People are always making reservations (also appointments at other places) and then changing their minds and claiming they had an emergency. It has happened so often that, without written proof, we don't believe them. I'm not saying the poster lied but saying that others have lied so often that we will doubt the honest ones. Sure goodwill goes a long way but when you have shown goodwill over and over only to find you were being taken then you lose all interest in being generous.

What happened to you during the hurricane was nothing like the situation the poster was speaking of.

 

Sometimes a campground will go the extra mile to retain customer goodwill, but I don't generally expect it. Some years ago, we were heading for a KOA where we had several nights reserved, requiring a deposit for the first night. The morning we were due to head there next, I was notified that my mother had suffered a massive stroke during the night and passed away. Of course we headed home instead. When I called the KOA to cancel, I told them upfront that I understood I would not be getting my deposit back, and that was not an issue. A day or two later, I was quite surprised to find a very nice condolence message from them on the funeral home web site, and a couple of days after that, I received a lovely card in the mail that included a coupon for two free nights at their park, or one free night at any other KOA. I don't know how much research they had to do to find the funeral home site, but regardless of how little it might have been, their actions were well above anything I would have expected.

 

QUOTE(dalsgal @ Sep 29 2014, 02:42 PM) [snapback]38499[/snapback]

Just because the poster said they had an emergency does not mean the campground believed him. People are always making reservations (also appointments at other places) and then changing their minds and claiming they had an emergency. It has happened so often that, without written proof, we don't believe them. I'm not saying the poster lied but saying that others have lied so often that we will doubt the honest ones. Sure goodwill goes a long way but when you have shown goodwill over and over only to find you were being taken then you lose all interest in being generous.




From your response I would assume that you are a campground manager/owner. If you have been lied to in the past on a regular basis and have lost business because of that, I can understand your unwillingness to believe people - even the honest ones.

So, if I make a reservation and have a last-minute HONEST emergency are you saying that I have to submit written proof to you verifying that that emergency was real and I was not lying?

Are people always changing their minds claiming emergencies or just some? Do you ever run across anyone who is telling the truth or are you lumping everybody together and saying that we are liars and not to be trusted?

It seems that you are concluding right from the get-go that "people" are a bunch of cheats and the guy at the other end of the phone has to be lying to and not to be trusted. Is "Sorry, I don't believe you," your standard response?

I just hope that I do not have the misfortune of having an emergency after having made a reservation at your RV park and having to prove to you that I am not lying knowing all the while that you have already made up your mind that I am. After all, I am one of those "people" that just can't be trusted. What have we come to that we are so distrustful and think everybody is a liar and a cheat.

 

I am a manager of a campground. I have also worked in other fields where people make up all kinds of excuses for not showing up. Our refund policy is not at all like the one being disputed. However, I would absolutely be hesitant to believe a last minute story from most people. I know that all people don't lie but when you have heard those same stories, almost word for word, dozens of times they all end up sound fake. How would I know that your story was true or not? Almost every time I have stuck my neck out to help someone it has been chopped. I follow the rules that the owner sets for us and if I fail to follow those rules I lose my job. I am not sure why you are attacking me for my opinion on this subject. You have your opinion and I have mine and yet, you are being judgmental and making accusations. Enjoy your travels!

 

QUOTE(dalsgal @ Sep 29 2014, 07:13 PM) [snapback]38506[/snapback]

I am not sure why you are attacking me for my opinion on this subject. You have your opinion and I have mine and yet, you are being judgmental and making accusations. Enjoy your travels!



I am not "attacking" you nor am I making accusations. I am expressing my opinion on what seems to be your distrust of people. You have stated that you don't trust people who say they have an emergency. You have implied that they are dishonest and liars. I didn't say that, you did. Just because I disagree with you that doesn't mean that I am attacking you or being judgmental.

And it is not me who is making judgments about people. You are the one who sees those who say they have an emergency as being dishonest and liars. You are finding them all guilty - even the honest ones. So who's being judgmental here?

Yes, I do have my opinion and it doesn't happen to agree with yours. I happen to believe that most folks are honest and don't try to "rip off RV parks" with their phony emergency cancellations.

I wouldn't want you to lose your job for giving people some small amount of credit for being honest.

 

As I said, our reservation policy is nothing like the one in question. We are much easier to deal with in spite of what you think my attitude is. Now, please, let this go because I do not intend to continue to be belittled by you, or anyone. You don't know what our policy is at all. I have simply been stating that the OP should have read the refund policy before attacking the CG for following the policy they have plainly stated. Now, please move on!

 

QUOTE(dalsgal @ Sep 29 2014, 09:01 PM) [snapback]38511[/snapback]

I have simply been stating that the OP should have read the refund policy before attacking the CG for following the policy they have plainly stated. Now, please move on!



Yes, they should have. As instructed ...... moving on.

 

QUOTE(dalsgal @ Sep 29 2014, 03:42 PM) [snapback]38499[/snapback]

rkw, you must have missed the post about the refund policy stated plainly on the campground website. Just because the poster said they had an emergency does not mean the campground believed him. People are always making reservations (also appointments at other places) and then changing their minds and claiming they had an emergency. It has happened so often that, without written proof, we don't believe them. I'm not saying the poster lied but saying that others have lied so often that we will doubt the honest ones. Sure goodwill goes a long way but when you have shown goodwill over and over only to find you were being taken then you lose all interest in being generous.

What happened to you during the hurricane was nothing like the situation the poster was speaking of.



No, I didn't miss the post. The OP is claiming that their site was rented for the majority of their reservation. The cancellation policy only refunds if the entire stay is booked. I get that technically they followed the policy. But they are still double dipping for the rented period. The goodwill would have been to offer them a rebooking for the time that they re rented the site. And yes, I realize that it is not the policy. But in my opinion it would have been the moral thing to do instead of take advantage of someone's misfortune which is basically what they did in the end. They got paid twice for the re rented days.

 

While everyone is assuming Dalsgal is calling everyone liars, I would like to point out that the RV Park industry is hardly the only industry that has cancellation policies that don't have exceptions to those policies. Airlines, cruise ships, many resorts, vacation rentals etc. have similar policies. They don't get into judging good vs bad reasons, they just don't offer refunds on deposits. Following the policies and being consistent is a hallmark of a well run business. Operating off the cuff will eventually bite a business in the buttocks.

 

QUOTE(kcmoedoe @ Sep 30 2014, 04:19 PM) [snapback]38522[/snapback]

Airlines, cruise ships, many resorts, vacation rentals etc. have similar policies. They don't get into judging good vs bad reasons, they just don't offer refunds on deposits.



Many, many airline fares these days are completely non-refundable and even changing the date by a single day often results in substantial charges. Most of us accept this as a fact of life and some buy trip insurance if they want to hedge their bets. If an RV park wants to operate this way it is its right IMO although I may choose to try to find one with a more lenient cancellation policy.

 

QUOTE(rkw99 @ Sep 30 2014, 12:03 PM) [snapback]38518[/snapback]

No, I didn't miss the post. The OP is claiming that their site was rented for the majority of their reservation. The cancellation policy only refunds if the entire stay is booked. I get that technically they followed the policy. But they are still double dipping for the rented period. The goodwill would have been to offer them a rebooking for the time that they re rented the site. And yes, I realize that it is not the policy. But in my opinion it would have been the moral thing to do instead of take advantage of someone's misfortune which is basically what they did in the end. They got paid twice for the re rented days.

They didn't get paid twice if all they did was move someone from a slightly less desirable site to that site and the less desirable site therefore went unrented. Maybe they moved someone from a site near the bathrooms or the highway or further away from the lake to the site in question. The site wasn't going to be occupied, so why should a guest who was there have to stay in a less desirable site simply because the unoccupied site happens to be next to the friends of the people who couldn't travel? In my travels, I seldom see parks that are absolutely 100% occupied. I would suggest that the park in question is no different. I doubt the park actually made additional fees, but much more likely just tried to make someone who was there a little happier. Maybe in the future the park should move any guest who was traveling with someone who cancelled into the site next to the worst location in the park. That way the park wouldn't be tempted to upgrade someone into the site next to friends of the cancelled party and those friends could honestly report that the site was vacant for the entire time.
The facts are the people made a reservation, the park held the site for them until they cancelled and the park went about it's business. There was nothing underhanded, nobody sprung any hidden rules or policies, the people are just upset that a policy they should have known about and they accepted jumped up and bit them. BTW, site fees are just part of what most parks earn. They also make income off of the store, the laundry and any other extras that they charge for. When people don't show, they lose that income as well. So it is not like a no show is automatically a good thing, even if they keep the deposit.

 

QUOTE(kcmoedoe @ Sep 30 2014, 03:29 PM) [snapback]38524[/snapback]

They didn't get paid twice if all they did was move someone from a slightly less desirable site to that site and the less desirable site therefore went unrented. Maybe they moved someone from a site near the bathrooms or the highway or further away from the lake to the site in question. The site wasn't going to be occupied, so why should a guest who was there have to stay in a less desirable site simply because the unoccupied site happens to be next to the friends of the people who couldn't travel? In my travels, I seldom see parks that are absolutely 100% occupied. I would suggest that the park in question is no different. I doubt the park actually made additional fees, but much more likely just tried to make someone who was there a little happier. Maybe in the future the park should move any guest who was traveling with someone who cancelled into the site next to the worst location in the park. That way the park wouldn't be tempted to upgrade someone into the site next to friends of the cancelled party and those friends could honestly report that the site was vacant for the entire time.
The facts are the people made a reservation, the park held the site for them until they cancelled and the park went about it's business. There was nothing underhanded, nobody sprung any hidden rules or policies, the people are just upset that a policy they should have known about and they accepted jumped up and bit them. BTW, site fees are just part of what most parks earn. They also make income off of the store, the laundry and any other extras that they charge for. When people don't show, they lose that income as well. So it is not like a no show is automatically a good thing, even if they keep the deposit.


Well, besides the fact that you are making quite a few assumptions and I am taking the OP at their word, if in fact it was a matter of moving someone else into a "more desirable" space, if it were my friends that had cancelled I would have wanted the space left open so I could have more room and if I were the cancelling friend, I would want my paid for site left open for my friends to have more space. That's why.

 

QUOTE(rkw99 @ Oct 1 2014, 03:14 PM) [snapback]38538[/snapback]

Well, besides the fact that you are making quite a few assumptions and I am taking the OP at their word, if in fact it was a matter of moving someone else into a "more desirable" space, if it were my friends that had cancelled I would have wanted the space left open so I could have more room and if I were the cancelling friend, I would want my paid for site left open for my friends to have more space. That's why.


It seems to me the campground has the final word in assigning available empty sites. This site may have just been the next one showing as available for the next check-in once the previous reservation was canceled.

 

It doesn't matter if the site was open or not. Just because the CG put someone in that spot does not indicate double dipping. The reservation was canceled and that meant the site was available. Would it matter if they put someone new in that site or another empty one? If the friends wanted more space they could have rented a second site. Just because a site is empty does not mean it is available for anyone to use so they can get the use of free space. How would the friends have had extra space if their friends had occupied the spot? The OP canceled his reservation and, according to policy, did not get a refund. That is the rule of the CG and the OP is upset that they didn't break the rules for him. What if 10 people suddenly had an "emergency"? Should the CG give everyone their money back and end up taking a huge loss ? There are rules and policies for a reason.