What Are Your Pet Peeves Rv'ing?

I honestly don't think that the kinds of places we frequent are prone to falsely planted reviews. We don't often go to high profile places that would wage ratings wars with each other. Our kind of restaurants are small local places in smaller cities. We're not naive about how to interpret reviews; we always discount the ones written by people who complain about everything or the ones that are too complimentary.

What we look at primarily is the distribution of reviews across ratings categories. At most decent places the number of low ratings will decrease as the rating level decreases. In other words there will be fewer 2-star ratings than 3-star and fewer yet 1-star ones. What we try to avoid are those places that have a cluster of very poor ratings that "clump" near the bottom. That often seems to indicate an inconsistency of performance which results in some "really bad" days.

If a restaurant has more than a handful of reviews it is unlikely that a significant fraction of them will be "plants" anyway. Like any other statistical analysis problem, as the number of samples gets larger the true distribution becomes more evident. I rarely pay that much attention to any particular review but, rather, I look to see where the average rating is. IMHO most restaurants end up with averages in the 3-4 star range. We try to look for those that rate 4+ or higher.

 

It is almost impossible to detect a serious review cheater. I heard of one B and B that had over 500 bogus reviews. Places brag about them and how good they are. Big monitary incentive to cheat.

 

To each his own; as long as I am content with the places I go on the basis of TripAdvisor reviews then I am satisfied. I am not as cynical as you with respect to how many of the reviews are false; I guess when I encounter the first place at which I have a serious disagreement with the opinions of reviewers I'll revisit my position. Until then I will consider it to be a valuable resource.

 

Pet Peeve: Exterior speakers.

There is an amazing invention for personal enjoyment of music in public spaces: headphones.

 

I have personal experience with Trip Adviser and have read many articles and studies about their results. Many places also ask certain people to give good reviews and give rewards for them. It is not being cynical, it is local knowledge. Feel free to believe them all, but realize that most of the time you will be reading bogus reviews. They thrive on people like you who believe the hype. Smaller sites who try to eliminate fraud are much better.

 

cwcsmc,

Your post was removed here because it contained an inappropriate word. You are welcome to post your comments again without that word.

 

QUOTE(Texasrvers @ Sep 1 2013, 11:10 PM) [snapback]34626[/snapback]

cwcsmc,

Your post was removed here because it contained an inappropriate word. You are welcome to post your comments again without that word.



So what was the word? Never mind. Doesn't matter. I didn't save a copy of what I wrote so I guess it doesn't matter because I am not going to re-write it and therefore your little community is safe from outsiders who have a different view about what RV'ing is doing to the world of camping.

 

We don't have a problem with you having a different opinion. We do have a problem with your attitude towards those of us that think differently than you do. No one said a thing about your being wrong with what you look for in a camp spot but you have said lots of things against us just because we like our RV's. Perhaps your day would go better if you would get that load of anger off your shoulders.

 

One of my pet peeves are people that use inappropriate words in a public forum then act like they don't know what word they used.

 

QUOTE(HappiestCamper @ Sep 3 2013, 08:16 AM) [snapback]34667[/snapback]

One of my pet peeves are people that use inappropriate words in a public forum then act like they don't know what word they used.


Sure wish we had a like button I could use for this comment.

 

Most Likely I am THE pet peeve on here, one of those annoying dudes from the U.K in a large 37ft class A Rental MH, although I have been doing this for 20 years and have covered around 100,000 miles in the U.S in most states and a lot of major cities etc, so am quite experienced and used to large vehicles.

My pet peeve has been mentioned here before, folks who join interstates at a nice leisurely 40mph or so, who expect you to move over, you do so to avoid parking in their Queen size and then get a Peterbuilt up your ass because they then speed up leaving you stranded in the left lane...

Also Gas Stations where when in a long almost 40ft vehicle with the fuel filler at the back, means your front end is now in the shop next to the shelf with the beef jerky on it.

Folks who pay to enter a beautiful national park and then have to get through it in under 25 minutes and expect you to drive over a cliff to get out of their way.

Overal though, driving in the U.S is far more relaxing than in the U.K

 

If you've driven 100,000 miles in a rental RV then you probably aren't our concern. No doubt by now you've learned which side of the road we drive on over here! :lol:

But we totally agree with you with respect to tourists who think that national parks are "tickets to be punched" as in, "Ok, I saw Yellowstone this morning; we'll do the Tetons after lunch." A few years ago we encountered a lady at the Little Bighorn battlefield who went from viewpoint to viewpoint simply photographing the signs without spending even a moment to read them. Maybe she read them when she got home!

 

QUOTE(jim crowl @ Aug 22 2012, 08:56 PM) [snapback]30771[/snapback]

My pet peeves are related to people, rather than facilities:

1. Neighbors who do not know the term "bedtime", and are outside laughing and talking at the top of their lungs at 1am, 2am etc. just like it were the middle of the day. When this has happened I usually just shut the windows and turn on the air conditioning to drown them out and get some sleep.

2. Pet owners who make no effort to quiet barking dogs, or clean up after them. The park I am at this week has an interesting policy: they charge campers a $25 fee if they are caught NOT cleaning up after their pet, and give campers a $25 payment if they turn someone in NOT cleaning up after their pet. It must be working, as I have not seen any pet waste.

3. Smokers who feel the earth is their ashtray. I stayed at one park that was fairly new, overall kept clean, but had over 200 cigarette butts in my site alone (no I didn't count them, but that's accurate). I'm not a smoker, but assume it must have been someone who stayed more than one night.



I am naively new to RVing AND I'm of all things a resident camp host..#2. is quite intriguing to me.
I have dogs and often clean up after lazy campers. We offer an enclosed area where the dogs can be off leash to do their business and a large can to put the droppings in, just inside the gate. There are also posted signs asking to clean up after your pet.
I've been known to catch the camper walking past my site and hand them a baggie asking them to clean up and oops you must have forgotten a baggie. lol. No they weren't happy, but it didn't happen again, at least with them.
Offering incentive to clean up is something my manager probably won't do, but I'm gonna bring this up.
I don't wanna be the poop cops, but the mess ultimately ends up being my job, because it matters to me how my park looks and what my own dog is exposed to.

 

I've been reading these posts, sometimes getting a kick out of them, for quite some time. Often I thought "ah, yeah, campfires suck" or "hope that wasn't my dog's pile that the guy stepped in"....never thinking I'd have my own.

Well, it seems lately there are two that are really odd, but happen so frequently now I'm scratching my head over them.

1. "Your dog/kid/whatever is so cute!! I could just take her/him with me! Better lock him/her up!"
Okay friends, I get it. My kid is cute. My dog is cute. I take the compliment. But for goodness sake don't joke about kid/dog napping. Really now. It kind of takes the relaxing element out of the experience. You may look like a sweet old grandpa/ma to some, but to me, well, you just became a total CREEPER.

2. CG hosts or neighbors who are on a crusade. I don't want the flyers. I don't want to hear about JC or the Bible. I just want to get to my site and take off my shoes. Talk to me about coffee, about your homeland, about anything. Except how much you want to save me. Let me take care of that.

and pay showers. Those suck, especially when I can't load them and they turn off every 4 minutes while I scramble for another quarter with soapy fingers.

 

QUOTE(ThreeTravellingBlondes @ Sep 27 2013, 10:33 PM) [snapback]34910[/snapback]

and pay showers. Those suck, especially when I can't load them and they turn off every 4 minutes while I scramble for another quarter with soapy fingers.



I forgot about pay showers! I understand having showers on a timer -- our local state park has that, push the button and you have about a minute of water - just push again for more, you do this for as long as you like. The timer helps control usage and conserve water.

When I pay $30-$60 (or more) for a campsite, why do I have to pay if I want to use the campground showers?

 

QUOTE
why do I have to pay if I want to use the campground showers?


Which raises the old argument about charging via a menu of services. In seven plus years of traveling at least six months per, we have used a campground shower once and it is likely we never will again. Why do we have to pay for hot water for your shower included in our lot rent? As impractical as it would be, wouldn't it be nice to be able to pay for only those services actually used?

 

Yet the cost of "renting" a camper/RV site is usually substantially more than a "tent" site without hookups. We have used campground showers rarely since getting our TT, but it just irks me to have to pay to use the shower after paying so much for our campsite.

I have heard the reasons campgrounds have for charging for showers, it is just one of my "pet peeves".

 

Newbie here-

I have really enjoyed reading the discussions in this thread. Furthermore, I REALLY appreciate this site as it has kept me from going to some really bad CG's/parks, etc. My initial thoughts are the "live and let live" mentality but it should in my opinion start with the people that offer spaces.....Owners/hosts/managers.

I have lived full time in my MH with my children and dogs for 365 days now so I consider myself a mildly seasoned fulltimer. I have also seen that fulltimers get treated like parasites no matter how nice your rig is or how well behaved you are. I originally bought my rig to travel and see the US and NOT see pains in the rear people. I have encountered more times than not, horrible RV parks but not because of the neighbors, their dogs, kids or trash......MANAGEMENT. My expectations are some what unrealistic though so lets keep that in mind as I complain.

FALSE ADVERTISING-

"We have free wifi!" Another poster pointed this out it is only free because they cant offer it for a price. It's not like its that hard to control, I spend a lot of time at RV parks having to maintain their internet for guests just so I can get access. I have had to sit at the office (not my cup of tea) and use the internet. Not digging the wifi that parks offer and I feel when they advertise it I am paying for it in the fees just like a hotel.

PET FRIENDLY/PET TOLERABLE-

If it were pet friendly, you would understand that small, I mean very small breeds cant hold it to walk the half a mile to the dog park that is usually flooded with other dogs poop anyway. I have no desire to let mine go far off to do their business taking the chance that they cant hold it til we get there and then make the neighbors mad because 17 other dogs liked their yard too even if we pick it up. Let us poop at home!

KIDS-

I have never had a problem with kids except one park where kids thought we lived in cave man days and they had no toys other than the gravel to throw at MY CAR! If your kid is off YOUR site and acting like no sane adult is around, I will have no problem saying HEY, THATS MY CAR CAN YOU PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE?! I generally like kids in parks because I have them and gives them a sense of community of their own.

MY SQUARE FOOT NOT YOURS-

I have paid for this spot, I dont appreciate this mentality that park owners seem to have (that I have been to anyway) of NO REFUNDS. If I pay for a month in advance and say you offer a swimming pool year round and you close it for the month I am there I feel I have the right to ask for a refund, am due it and can leave. But these park owners act like they are militant that YOU follow the rules but they dont have to offer just simple customer service. I have no problem with neighbors entertainment centers, parties, I have teenagers I can sleep through anything. But if say Mr and Mrs. Retired people have a problem with it, why not offer them to move into the quiet side of the park, know your people. I personally don't allow anything outside my RV as I do not want to portray a trailer trash look but if someone else does....I dont care. I dont care if your dog comes and poops in my yard, it would be cool if you pick it up but if you dont and its not the size of a large rat Im the neighbor that wont complain. I dont complain when your website offers services you "used" to offer but dont anymore yet you raised your rates. I do however complain when you charge me something that was there the day I signed in but somewhere on the path to the park making a buck they took it away but forgot like the government has taught them that they dont owe me a dime back for me loosing the service.

FINALLY-

Breathe-

I will continue to travel and I will continue to try to "live and let live" but I will also try to point it out to the owners that have this NO REFUNDS policy like a cheap motel that we are people too!


Thanks for letting me vent!

 

Welcome The Traveling Company. I have a couple of things that caught my attention in your posting.

If dogs go to the bathroom in your site and you are there for a month or more the smell does tend to get a bit rough sometimes for the other people around you. We don't have a problem with letting your dog potty in your yard on occasion but we do have a problem with people not cleaning it up or letting their dog go to the bathroom in your site. I will take issue with anyone that does that when staying with us. Usually the ones that don't clean up behind their dog is someone that doesn't bother putting their dog on a leash even though that rule is for the safety of your dog and others.

Also if you rent an apartment on a monthly basis they do not refund you so why do you think a CG should refund your money when you move out before your month is over?

Sometimes what seems an easy fix to you on the WiFi may not be an easy fix for the CG. We offer it here free and it is good for every campsite. There have been a few times when there was a problem with it and it was the provider and not us that is the problem. Our WiFi rarely ever goes down and we have gone down, in the middle of the night, to reset it to be sure people can get online. We do the best we can to make sure everything works.

 

I have read the forums here for a long time before posting and realized one thing.....if I were going to ask for an opinion of a park manager it would be you. So kudos to you for being the type of person that catches my attention with a level head.

My dogs are so tiny, specially bred, that they dont have poop you can see without a special microscope....my dogs are all under 4lbs. So it would make sense that their guts cant hang til the dog park so they are pad trained but even at that, they still like a good 30 mins in the sun. Doing that with their bladders means they have to pee pee 7 times in that 30 mins. LOL Territory go figure. If it does not smell in my house where they pee and poop several times a day how can it smell in the grass? My final statement about the dogs are, what is "occasional"? If the manager has a bad day is THAT the day that occasional is subjective?


In an apartment, if they dont fix something I can deduct it from the rent and they have to fix it. Landlord tenant laws apply to us too!! If you decide that you want to charge us for power, and water and chose not to pay your bill and we do without why is that a reason to put it on us? Im just saying, you sound like a reasonable person but you have competitors that ARE NOT and have shown their rears time and time again. When you do me that way thats one thing, Im jaded and I complain but when I see a history of it for many, many Rv'rs, it's time to do something. Don't worry, I will find the good people in the midst as I always have. I know they are there but right now because people dont know their rights, they are few and far between.

As far as the wifi, I wouldn't have EVER bothered getting an account on here to vent, if not for the fact that CG's religiously place "free wifi" symbols on their website if I have not encountered the problems country wide, I would have thought it to be me. Apparently its not.

Thank you SO MUCH for your help, I do very much appreciate your response as I figured I would not get one. But curious, what amount of 365 days in a year do you spend at the risk of CG owners, or RV parks? Not including who you work for.

Ive watched your posts for a while and do respect your position so please dont think for one minute that I will write you off and your opinion.

Still-
TravelingCo