Park pet peeves, Park owner’s turn

[wapiticountry]

There are 92 posts why RVers don’t like RV parks, so here is what some of us on the other side experience.
We are in business to make money. No need to tell us you never use more than two dollars of electricity so your rate should be three dollars a night.
We aren’t going to make someone pack up and leave so you can have their site.
Your kids aren’t cute enough that we must allow them to run wild into other people’s sites.
We know the difference between a service animal and an untrained pet.
Your guess is as good as ours as to why there is no pizza delivery in town.
We don’t allow campfires and the fact you believe it’s not camping without one doesn’t exclude you from the policy.
Yes, we do need to close the restrooms at noon for an hour so we can clean then thoroughly.
Us not having a pool does not turn the showers into a water park.
You are not exempt from quiet hours because you just got back from the day’s activities.
Check in and check out times are not suggestions, they are our policies.
It’s grass, not green asphalt, so don’t park on the lawns.
The wildlife is wild. Your children cannot pet the elk, ride the bison, or take a bear cub home, so don’t try.
We have years of experience running the business, if we need advice on how to operate we will hire professionals.
You ran over the rock, tree or utility pedestal, it didn’t jump out in front of you.
Speed limits aren’t minimums, they are maximums.
We can’t put you in a wooded, shaded site that doesn’t have any trees.
We didn’t pay the subscription fee for the weather, so we can’t change it.

That’s a few, no doubt other owners and employees have more.

[valhalla360]

time2roll wrote:

haste maker wrote:
Park owners are in the people pleasing business...if not pleasing the customer is a problem...they maybe in the wrong line of work...

Need to re-read item #1

If the owner makes a camper unhappy.... it is because the owner does not need that troublesome customer.

Not suggesting the OP but we've come across owners who apparently don't need any customers by your definition of what the owner needs. They are just outright anti-customer oriented. Usually, it seems they fall into the business. Typically, it seems to be a situation where they inherit a park.

In moderation, the OP's comments are probably fine but taken literally, they are bad customer service.

[dedmiston]

harryjr wrote:

dedmiston wrote:

harryjr wrote:
(Name omitted to protect the guilty)

In case folks don't know, it's OK to post the name of a company or product that you don't like. You just can't continuously bash them. Luckily we don't see the bashing very often, but feel free to name names if you think it would help other members avoid the same bummer that you experienced.


Here's the forum rule for reference:

Forum Rules wrote:
You may post about problems you have with a product or organization, however the use of the forums to repeatedly attack them is strictly forbidden.

Thank you Admin. At this point I didn't want to beat a dead horse. I just thought it was funny that as soon as I read bucky's original comment, I knew exactly which campground they stayed at. At the time, I posted my opinion on several sites including the campground's facebook page. It took them over 2 years to realize that they could delete my review from their own page. My feelings toward the owner now is more pity than anger. She's a wack-a-doodle. 10 years from now I'll have forgotten all about her. She'll still be crazy.

That's very okie-dokie with me. I just wanted to make sure you weren't accidentally adhering to a rule that doesn't exist.

Thanks for keeping it classy.

[harryjr]

dedmiston wrote:

harryjr wrote:
(Name omitted to protect the guilty)

In case folks don't know, it's OK to post the name of a company or product that you don't like. You just can't continuously bash them. Luckily we don't see the bashing very often, but feel free to name names if you think it would help other members avoid the same bummer that you experienced.


Here's the forum rule for reference:

Forum Rules wrote:
You may post about problems you have with a product or organization, however the use of the forums to repeatedly attack them is strictly forbidden.

Thank you Admin. At this point I didn't want to beat a dead horse. I just thought it was funny that as soon as I read bucky's original comment, I knew exactly which campground they stayed at. At the time, I posted my opinion on several sites including the campground's facebook page. It took them over 2 years to realize that they could delete my review from their own page. My feelings toward the owner now is more pity than anger. She's a wack-a-doodle. 10 years from now I'll have forgotten all about her. She'll still be crazy.

[dedmiston]

harryjr wrote:
(Name omitted to protect the guilty)

In case folks don't know, it's OK to post the name of a company or product that you don't like. You just can't continuously bash them. Luckily we don't see the bashing very often, but feel free to name names if you think it would help other members avoid the same bummer that you experienced.


Here's the forum rule for reference:

Forum Rules wrote:
You may post about problems you have with a product or organization, however the use of the forums to repeatedly attack them is strictly forbidden.

[harryjr]

Posted By: bucky on 01/05/23 06:13am

"We've been RVing for about 25 years. The only "bad" campground was in MD. They literally had the gate outside the entrance so that you had to walk a hundred yards to the office to get them to open the gate open so that you could drive in and then check in to get the code for the next time you left and wanted to re enter. It went on and on from there. There were rules posted on trees everywhere, and they were different rules on each tree.
My favorite one was posted on a wooden coat rack standing on an aging concrete pad in the middle of a field. The sign said "no playing here dancing only"
Regardless of all that we enjoyed our stay. It is or was their property so guess what? Behave!"

__________________________________________________

I don't have to buy a vowel. I can name that campground with only one guess. Our review below compared it to a POW camp.

“Call me when there are new owners”
Have you ever, for some perverse reason, wanted to experience a prisoner of war camp? You know, tons of pointless rules and rude guards who delight in enforcing all the pointless rules just to annoy you. Boy have we got a campground for you. (Name omitted to protect the guilty)

We arrived late Fri. afternoon in the rain. We checked in, paid our fee along with a $10 deposit for a gate key. We mentioned that our daughter was coming over to bring us dinner. Oops, $5 charge for a visitor. She’s bringing her husband? Now $10, plus a $20 visitor deposit for the gate card. We could understand a charge if they were coming for the day and using the facilities, but to bring dinner on a rainy night? Also gate key is required to enter and LEAVE the campground. Will we be shot if attempting an escape over the fence?

Pool is open from noon to 8PM daily. When we tried to enter through the snack bar at 6PM on Sunday, there was a sign that the snack bar had closed at 4PM and the other gate was locked. We got the attention of the lifeguard closing up and she said that because there hadn’t been anyone there for a half hour, Lois (the owner) said to close early. We pointed to the sign with the noon to 8 hours and after checking with Lois she did reopen. Other people arrived shortly after. To access the pool, we’re back to the POW camp. You have to show your receipt every time and every person must be listed on the receipt to make sure you didn’t sneak Uncle Fred in under the beach towel. The chaise lounges are not to be moved. To enforce this, they are bolted down to the concrete. Tables are to be used for eating food purchased from the snack bar only.

They are about 20 miles south of York, PA where there is a Harley Davidson plant with factory tours. But no motorcycles are allowed beyond the front gate. It must be fun to schlep all your gear from the front gate to your site.

A dress code? No offensive t-shirts allowed. Who makes the decision as to what is offensive. Liberal political statements, conservative? Hunting slogans, PETA supporters? Beer drinkers vs wine?

30 cable channels, but half were such poor video that they were unwatchable. We mentioned it to the desk and the next day they replaced a connection and tested the signal and said it was “fine”. Their definition of fine is different from mine. No improvement. The wi-fi was typical for campgrounds. Not great, but usable.

Activities for kids are on the weekends only and there is a charge for virtually everything.

It’s actually a very nice venue. But there is a reason why it is about 40% vacant at the height of the season. After 40 years, the original owner sold out to his daughter in 2010. I wish we had visited when the original owner was still in charge. It would be interesting to see how it has changed in the last 7 years.

[free_radical]

Crowe wrote:
Y'all need to learn how to play together in the sandbox better!

Like this maybe

https://youtu.be/r7flKgJKjTk

Thats what you get with proper education,mind you they got about thousand years of evolution on us how to teach people manners. Lol

https://youtu.be/HwJqaDvv7ZI

[dedmiston]

Grit dog wrote:
Funny you mention that. Was on the phone a couple times with the FL tax collectors getting the info straight for our 19y/o son who is down there and sipped his car there this past year.
I purposefully called offices in small towns figuring it would help with phone wait times.
Both times, the lady was super nice, friendly and very helpful.
Almost unnaturally pleasant if that's a thing!

Florida gets such a bad rap because of the whole Florida Man thing, but the people there are pretty cool. It's just a shame that they're such horrible drivers. I've been all over the U.S. and Floridians get the gold medal for bad driving.

The locals all blame the tourists, but I came to see through that pretty quickly.

When I moved out of FL, I gave my buddies a TED Talk on "Flow", because it doesn't just pertain to driving.

* When you're in the Publix, pull your cart to the side of the aisle while you're reading the label on that spaghetti sauce so that the rest of us can get through.

* When you're on the road and see the light turn red, that doesn't mean you stop NOW wherever you are. It means to pull up about six feet off the bumper of the car in front of you to keep the queue tidy and to prevent other people from tucking in and cutting everyone else off.

* When you come to a yellow light, don't enter that intersection unless you're absolutely positive that you can make it across the other side without blocking the intersection.

* And speaking of red lights, the red light is not the signal to pick up your phone and start tweeting, especially if you're not situationally aware enough to know when the light turned green without me honking at you to wake you up.

* Coming to an intersection or a driveway? It's on YOU to stop and check that it's clear. It shouldn't be up to ME to know that "uh oh, that goober is gonna sail right out in front of me and I'd better avoid him/her if I don't wanna wreck".


But other than their lack of flow and their lack of vehicular skills, I met some amazing people there. I had to move there for part of last year and leave my family behind. Before I left, my elderly mother told me to "look out for angels when you get there, because you'll be all alone and you're going to need some angels to see you through your days". I hadn't ever thought of it that way, but son of a gun if Florida isn't chock full of people who totally qualified as angels. They were great people and I miss a lot of them.

There's also some devil in that place too. The last person I spoke to the day I hit the road to move out happened to be a hooker trying to close a deal with me at the Wa Wa. She got all mad when I turned her down: "What are you, one of those married guys?" Yep. And proud of it.

(Sorry for the hijack. Y'all need to pay better attention to your driving though. And no, it's not just the tourists. It's you.)

[Grit_dog]

dedmiston wrote:


I had to make a few trips to the DMV in Florida last year. It felt ominous going in since the sign on the building says "Tax Collector" instead of DMV. And then there's a waiting room with armed guards where all the riffraff like me had to wait. But once I got into the inner sanctum to do my business with them, it was like I'd gone to heaven. The people there were so sweet there it blew my mind.

I emailed the supervisor of the woman who helped me and told her how dazzled I was with her service, but I wondered if this one woman was just a fluke. I emailed her back after my second visit and told her it must actually be good hiring, training, and management because the second woman was fantastic too.

The supervisor emailed me back and told me that she forwarded my messages to the governor's office. I reckon the message is still unread in the governor's inbox, but it's the thought that counts.

So your DMV example is a good one: Not all DMVs or RV parks are alike. Some of them understand how much better life flows when you aren't a witch and some don't.

Funny you mention that. Was on the phone a couple times with the FL tax collectors getting the info straight for our 19y/o son who is down there and sipped his car there this past year.
I purposefully called offices in small towns figuring it would help with phone wait times.
Both times, the lady was super nice, friendly and very helpful.
Almost unnaturally pleasant if that's a thing!

[Walaby]

wapiticountry wrote:

Even if the sewer connection is two hoses away you can “walk” the contents down the hose from the rig to the sewer connection. In all my years of owning parks I never saw a guest crawling under their rig to walk the contents of a sewer hose from on side of the rig to the other.

Actually, I did it once at a park (near Disney), where we wanted to park the opposite direction so doors faced our friends. I asked and they said okay.

I have also done it several times when dumping at my house.

It's not easy, but doable if careful.

It helps if you have a cap for your hose. I just capped it and crawled under and moved it to the other side, then walked it to the sewer connection.

Mike

[dedmiston]

Grit dog wrote:

dedmiston wrote:


Agreed, but anybody whose default position is to be nasty shouldn't work with the public. Don't take out your problems on me when your beef is with the last guy or the guy before that. Anybody who doesn't have the skills to reset after each transaction should find another field to work in.

Or just do the obvious thing and become a clerk at the DMV! LOL

Credit where due, our local DMV gals are SUPER nice. But that has not been the norm over the years...

I had to make a few trips to the DMV in Florida last year. It felt ominous going in since the sign on the building says "Tax Collector" instead of DMV. And then there's a waiting room with armed guards where all the riffraff like me had to wait. But once I got into the inner sanctum to do my business with them, it was like I'd gone to heaven. The people there were so sweet there it blew my mind.

I emailed the supervisor of the woman who helped me and told her how dazzled I was with her service, but I wondered if this one woman was just a fluke. I emailed her back after my second visit and told her it must actually be good hiring, training, and management because the second woman was fantastic too.

The supervisor emailed me back and told me that she forwarded my messages to the governor's office. I reckon the message is still unread in the governor's inbox, but it's the thought that counts.

So your DMV example is a good one: Not all DMVs or RV parks are alike. Some of them understand how much better life flows when you aren't a witch and some don't.

[Grit_dog]

MFL wrote:
^^Just to put this in more simple terms...some people are just more willing to put with other folks BS than others, when serving the public. This is even more obvious when dealing with CG ownership/management situations.

I enjoyed dealing with the public, selling motorsports. Obviously, handling complaints, not as enjoyable as a happy customer! As mentioned, a reset is useful, moving from one customer to another.

Jerry

I view campgrounds similarly to owning a little backwoods bar/restaurant/resort. Of which the ownership turnover is far greater than most industries and businesses.
If small time, like most campgrounds/RV parks are, it's a family business and you're literally a jack of all trades all day every day.
Seemed like a good idea because you love camping (or drinking...lol) until you realize the enjoyment is not the same when you're on the other side of the bar (or checkin desk or toilet scrubber) all day and half the night, but mostly just during the times of year when you'd rather be on vacation like everyone else.
Business plan and expenses, most small business folks like this aren't exactly accountants and business majors, so the additional expenses, revenue, taxes, and all the other financial duties and concerns don't just "work themselves out."
Maint and upkeep and profitability, The last owners had huge smiles on their faces and told you how awesome of a venture it was, but were moving on to "better opportunities" after only 3 years of ownership.
Bu the smile was because it was the second best day in 3 years, only slightly behind the day they signed the note on the place form the last smiley owners.

This is how I imagine campground ownership. Before even getting into dealing with Joe public 100x a day EVERY DAY!

[Grit_dog]

dedmiston wrote:


Agreed, but anybody whose default position is to be nasty shouldn't work with the public. Don't take out your problems on me when your beef is with the last guy or the guy before that. Anybody who doesn't have the skills to reset after each transaction should find another field to work in.

Or just do the obvious thing and become a clerk at the DMV! LOL

Credit where due, our local DMV gals are SUPER nice. But that has not been the norm over the years...

[MFL]

^^Just to put this in more simple terms...some people are just more willing to put with other folks BS than others, when serving the public. This is even more obvious when dealing with CG ownership/management situations.

I enjoyed dealing with the public, selling motorsports. Obviously, handling complaints, not as enjoyable as a happy customer! As mentioned, a reset is useful, moving from one customer to another.

Jerry

[dedmiston]

wapiticountry wrote:
As for some people not being suited to work with the public, spend enough hours doing it and I would bet everyone would have times they like to strangle a customer or two even knowing it was going to take a lot of time and effort to bury the bodies. The fact they don’t is a testament to their dedication to their job.

Agreed, but anybody whose default position is to be nasty shouldn't work with the public. Don't take out your problems on me when your beef is with the last guy or the guy before that. Anybody who doesn't have the skills to reset after each transaction should find another field to work in.