That would be interesting trying to explain it to insurance but first you would need to figure out what type of insurance you would need. For me the fun part would be looking at the peoples reactions when they watch someone driving their rig into the water. I could picture it now. "Hey, look over there! Some fool is going into the lake!" I bet you would get some good reactions in that rig.
Cheryl, Actually I was with them, we were on a 15 day panama canal cruise. The next one is already booked for Jan. 08 Eastern carrb. Bluejay
WOW, This FOURM has no bounds when it comes to OFF topic, Reviews, gas prices, cruses, the whether. I did enjoy reading through the comments and I am not about to get into a war of words with this group (You is Way to educated for me). You will notice this is my first post, I am a virgin (be gentle with me). I would like to make a comment, when reading revues most of the time either on an RV site or buying a product I normally can sift through the individuals that for some reason did not get the service or product they expected. It is what it is. :blink:
Rontrem, welcome to the forum. We normally save the off topic discussions for the general chat area, but do occassionally veer off course here too.
OK, here's my take on it. Given that the other reviews of this campground were reasonable and positive, I took one look at the complaint and didn't give it any credence. I suspect most folks wouldn't. It is clearly the work of a malcontent and wouldn't stop me from using the campground. Was it a low brow thing to do, you betcha! Should it be removed, no. Reasonable people will see it for what it is. Consider the nutcase in Gallup, NM. Some folks continue to rave about his park and insist the negatives aren't fair. Well there are more than enough negatives that I believe the negative ones and would never use this guys place. So I say, much ado about nothing. Thank heavens this jerk has a ranch and will probably never have time to rv again.
QUOTE(Cheryl Fuller @ Mar 22 2007, 07:35 PM) [snapback]6608[/snapback] Rontrem, welcome to the forum. We normally save the off topic discussions for the general chat area, but do occassionally veer off course here too. Now that is what I am talking about (If I only had the literary skills to express myself) Good Job SunFlyer. :lol:
I find this to be funny that someone who once said all Northern campgrounds were bad now feels that it is wrong to trash a campground. Just becaue you like it, it does not mean everyone will like it.
I think it is good to have someplace to respond to highly negative posts. I, for one, try to read all the reviews and see what is the dominent theme. I am back into RVing after a number of years off and really enjoy the reviews. It does seem that nothing can please some people. If people will just give the basis for their opinions I am fine. All of us are looking for different things in a park and what is really negative for one person may not mean anything to me. Thanks again for all the good information.
Hello all, This is my first post on this site, and yes, I admit up front that I am an RV Park owner and operator. I have regularly, for the last couple of years, monitored reviews on this site both as a way to see what people have to say about our park and to see what they like and don't like about other parks. Having been an avid RVer for 25 years before retiring from one career and building an RV Park, we attempted to include in our park everything we thought that RVers would like (within our budget of course). For the most part, I think we succeeded. This topic is very interesting to me. I am sure that many of you would think that, as a park owner, this topic would touch my hot button. To the contrary, I agree that everyone has the right to their opinion, and I can get some good even out of an average or bad review. Of course we would like to have all 10s, but if not, then what can we do to improve on the lower ratings. I look at high ratings of other parks to find out what people like about them that we do not have, and I look at low ratings on other parks to see what pitfalls and mistakes we can avoid. I hope that regular contributors to this forum will not mind me adding my 2 cents worth occassionally. I promise not to comment on other parks, but as an RVer and a park owner I hope to some substance to the discussion. As the song says, "I have looked at love from both sides now....." Thanks - Doug
Hi, Here is an example of a review that is unfair! Rock Garden Campground The camper's RV got scratched because he chose to drive into the campground. He then gives the campground a 2 out of 10 rating--because of his driving skills. I can imagine how the campground owner's felt. I'm traveling in that area this summer and if I get a chance I'll post a review.
I am really encouraged by Doug's (Parkview) comments. That is Exactly the kind of attitude that results in a good, well run park. I suspect that his park gets generally good reviews and that any bad one's are few and far between. For Doug's info, we don't look at a single review. We scan trends, and tend to weigh recent reviews higher than older ones. If in the past 10 reviews, over the last 12-18months you average 7+ with no more than one bad review, I'll stay at your park if it has the facilities I want. (IE WES (given), cable, WIFI (preferably free - I work on the road and need access), wide spacious site so that I don't trip on my neighbors utility cables and hoses and have a bit of privacy if I so choose. Good clean facilities. That's a 9+ for me. Good luck. You should do well with your attitude.
I have to say that when I read the reviews of a campground I am interested in, I scan through the reviews and try to get an over all opinion to the facilites and tend to over look such negative comments I have seen posted such as the road to the campground was a dirt road and my rv got dusty. I just laugh and shake my head, and think well it's camping and it's going to get dusty and dirty. I myself like to "camp" as opposed to rving and look for places that afford me the opportunity to "camp" with some of the comforts of home such as clean restrooms and showers, laundry facilities yes they are more expensive than a public laundrymat but that is the price you pay for the convience of having not to drive into town. What I look for is the general feel for the campground such as the size of the sites, wooded or field, camp store and the cleanliness of the facilities and attitude on the whole of those running and working at the campground. You will always have someone who is disgruntled posting a review so that review needs to be weighed against the other reviews.
Found this thread interesting. I for one see no problem with some posting their opinion, regardless who is really do blame. I have been in the customer service industry for over 30 years and reviews like the one this thread mentions are just part of doing business. Having owned my own business at one time I remember that you can't please all of the people all of the time. I also know some people just can't be pleased. That appears the case with this person. When reading reviews, I try to see what the majority of the reviews say. If there are almost all 8's and above, with a single low score, I put that low score as one of those who can't be pleased or is just being unreasonable (excessive expectations?). Still, their opinion is just that, their opinion. If a campground (or hotel, cruise line, etc) is really performing well, it will show. Just my two cents worth.
I have also been in customer service for many years and this is the price of running a public business. Every unhappy customer tells 9 people and the happy ones tell no one unless asked, as a rule. I have posted many good reviews here and only one bad one. The bad one was pretty bad, but had a few others that seconded my view. The interesting thing is that there was almost an immediate "piling-on" from people that begged to differ and several were almost the same as reviews that had been posted before. I really think that there are "ringers" that are in the employ of some CG's and look for these posts. It's better to bury the bad post with good ones, I suppose. In terms of CG character assasination, I found one tonight regarding one of the most highly regarded CG's in this part of Colorado. They are simply outstanding. We'll be there again this weekend. The more I read, the more sad it became, then I started laughing. Let's face it, God himself truly could no please some of the people that walk this earth. In this case, I suppose the staff could have committed collective suicide, but then he would have complained about the blood on the ground. Mountaindale Campground - last 10 reviews 10-8. "We were with a group here. Everyone was very nice until Saturday. Most everyone had left but couple were still here including us. We had checked with the staff 5 times to affirm our departure day and time. We were leaving Sunday instead of Saturday and this had been secured many months ago. I also confirmed this when we checked in. Saturday one of the staff came by and told us we had to move for that night because someone had booked someone in our site. I said if they did that then the new people should be moved to another site. They said no we had to move for our last night. We said we would just leave. We started packing up. The lady came back and said we could stay in our site. I said no because by that time we were packed and ready to go. The owner was not there that one day and he called me yesterday and apologized to me and said we should never have been treated this way. I will have to think hard and long about staying there again. Also the girl that made the mistake on their computer also called and said she was sorry and it was her fault. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel."
QUOTE(ric&trac @ Jun 10 2007, 07:26 PM) [snapback]7273[/snapback] Found this thread interesting. I for one see no problem with some posting their opinion, regardless who is really do blame. I have been in the customer service industry for over 30 years and reviews like the one this thread mentions are just part of doing business. Having owned my own business at one time I remember that you can't please all of the people all of the time. I also know some people just can't be pleased. That appears the case with this person. When reading reviews, I try to see what the majority of the reviews say. If there are almost all 8's and above, with a single low score, I put that low score as one of those who can't be pleased or is just being unreasonable (excessive expectations?). Still, their opinion is just that, their opinion. If a campground (or hotel, cruise line, etc) is really performing well, it will show. Just my two cents worth. In respect to excessive expectations, I've contemplated adding a page listing the parks with the best reviews, (this is really hard since some parks only have 1 reviews), but I would only include parks with over a certian number of reviews. Each time I think about it, I decide not to as people would build excessive expectations of these parks, causing poor future reviews.
WebMaster, Don't change anything. I'm sure you have enough to do without trying to make it even easier for everyone. If you do that then someone is going to start whining that their favorite RV park isn't on there or that there are ringers giving nothing but great reviews to just get in that section or even that their favorite park is being maliciously trashed so they can't get on there. I'm sure that most of the people who use this site are smart enough to figure out which are good parks and which might need to be avoided. You do a great job. After all this site is based on nothing more than opinion. Thats just my opinion,
With the reasoned discussion that I am reading on this topic, it seems to me that all we RV Parks have to fear from these discussions is fear itself. Forgive me FDR. Doug
Hi Guys and Gals, Im a newbie here but I've been following this thread with a high degree of interest and hope to get some advice from you. First, okay - I'm old, but not the grumpy old type that can't be satisfied with anything. My wife is an absolute sweetheart with a smile and a heart as big as she is. We love RV'ing and Camping and have been doing both for many years. We're not malicious people, malcontents, or mean people, we're not confrontational types, and we're not arguementative. We would never cause inconvenience or problems for any fellow RV'er or Park Manager. We stay at National Parks, State Parks and Private Parks and I have never submitted a review because we have never stayed at an RV Park that we didn't like and never met a RV Park Manager that wasn't just a super-fine person. These folks are champions in our book. I guess I should say - until now. On June 14th we were on our way home to East Texas after a trip from East Texas to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and then down the coast to near Atlanta and from there began heading toward home. Our little granddaughter had been put in the hospital (she's fine now) and although we weren't hurrying, we wanted to get home as soon as possible. From the Woodall's book we selected a campground at Vicksburg, Mississippi that was listed with Good Sam's. Its the Magnolia RV Park Resort and is located one mile off I-20 in Vicksburg. We called ahead and explained we had a pick-up truck and a 30' TT and wanted to know if we could have a pull through where we could leave the truck and trailer hooked together and get an early start the next morning. We were told by the lady (managers wife) that this would not be a problem. When we got to the park, we were again told the same thing by the same lady and she placed us in a slot at the rear of the park and away from other RV'ers so we would not disturb them with our plan to leave early. We got set up, had some dinner and a man appeared at our door yelling (actually screaming) because our truck was slightly into the roadway. This fella never identified himself and I didn't know who he was. He wanted to know what I was going to do about the truck and I told him I was doing nothing, that this had been agreed to with the lady running the park. A short time later TWO POLICE CRUISERS arrived. The officer I talked to was polite, but not the least bit interested in anything I had to say about our arrangement with the lady at the desk to leave our truck and trailer hooked together. He said this was private property and the manager wanted us off of it and we had to leave. The lady never showed up to defend us or confirm the arrangement. By this time a small croud had gathered to see what was happening with the criminals and watch what would happen with the police. We didn't argue, we just pulled in our slide and left. Now folks, I have never had the police called on me for anything at any time in my life. The police agreed I was not blocking the road for other RV'ers or emergency vehicles. And this was a terribly embarassing situation. In fact, I guess I'm more shocked by what happened than I am angry. I considered writing a negative review for this Park, but after reading this thread I guess I would just be considered malicious, especially in view of the fact that this park somehow has a small number of positive reviews. My negative review would not succeed in alerting my RV'ing friends to the kind of treatment we were given. I guess what I need your advice on is how to write or structure a negative post in such a way that the posting would be given serioius consideration and not looked at as the ramblings of some old crank? Incidently, we spent the night at the River Town Campground on down the same road about five miles and got the friendly, helpful service we are used to getting from RV Park Managers. And no police officers visited us that evening.
Texas Traveler, boy that's a tough one - I hope you got a refund from that park. It is just my opinion, but I think you should write a review. Others who read it might be more inclined to get any type of arrangement with ths park, in writing. I am glad your granddaughter is fine. Being a grandparent myself, I can imagine what a worry that would be.
