Campsite Refund??

[timandsusan]

We have been on the road for about 4 months -- 10,000 miles journey. All had gone well. Good experiences--wifi and cable seem to be better at the numerous parks where we stayed as compared to previous years. A few parks notify us when we check-in--we are having trouble with our wifi or cable.
OK--that usually means--no wifi and no cable.
Question--I pay for all the services listed by the park, when the park does not deliver--shouldn't I pay LESS??
I don't believe the parks believe they need to deliver all the advertised services at the specified price--why not charge full price--the RVer will probably not return.
Are RV parks the only SERVICE Business that operates this way??

 

[DQDick]

When you go to a fast food place and ask them to take the pickles, lettuce and tomato off your sandwich you still pay the same. If you asked them to put something else on it you pay more.

 

[richfaa]

We have been to a couple of C.G's both KOA that charged extra for cable service and when it did not work gave us a rebate.

 

[timandsusan]

Rich-you understood the "SERVICE" question--thanks for the response. Hamburgers and oil changes are not SERVICES--these business's sell a PRODUCT. Everyone have a good time.

 

[Art-n-Marge]

Lot of RV parks we've been too, claim to provide free wifi or cable service, so if it's not working, you get what you paid for. Then there's the pay as you go service that always seems to work no matter what.

It doesn't hurt to ask about a refund but I'm pretty sure they'll weasel word their costs to not give back any money. Other things might get you a refund, but even a bad electric post or water being shut off for a two days (happened to us in Pismo Beach) didn't get us one.

If ever there is one with a refund it will make the forums because it's unusually nice and they deserve a shout out for their generosity. Otherwise it's their cost of doing business.

Now, I keep generators for emergencies (have used them twice), Satellite TV we use it everywhere and skip whatever TV they provide. The internet we use as it's available, but sporadically (we can wait for most stuff when we return to the stickhouse). We've been burned when the water goes out because I forget to fill the reservoir when we arrive, mostly because I don't want to carry all this water and don't feel good about just dumping it on the ground if I don't use it by the time we leave.

But if I were fulltiming or longtiming, things would have to be treated differently and I would be more like Tim & Susan, wanting what I think I'm paying for and expecting a refund if it wasn't provided.

As for the original question, other businesses that don't deliver offer some compensation more times than not. But doesn't RV also stand for Really Valuable so whatever you get should be appreciated and what you don't means "sorry and be thankful for what works"?

 

[CORattler]

Apparently some RV park owners feel that if they say "Free WiFi & Cable" that relieves them of any responsibility to maintain it yet still advertize that their park has it to attract customers. Those that operate this way are shady & deceptive and do not deserve our business.
I understand temporary outages beyond the owners control. These folks are usually recognized by hearing them say "We're sorry, it's out at the moment but we're working on it right now to get it restored"

 

[richfaa]

If the C.G service is stated as Free then it is free although we all know that the cost of that servce is included in the C.G rate and if the service does not work well ...free = zero cost so you get zero back. If the service is stated as a additional cost say 2.00 a day for wifi or cable and you pay for the service and the service fails then we would and have asked for the rebate and have received it. I do remember that on another occasion we paid for 50amp service and the 50 amp plug was broken and not usable but the 30 amp was ok so they charged us for a 30 amp site. I think that if you do not receive a service that you paid extra for (not stated as a free service) the C.G would give you credit.

 

[2slick]

quote:Originally posted by Emmel

I'm sorry, I thought an oil change was a service you paid for but don't get what you pay for? I misunderstood what you meant by "service".

Ha....I always get my oil changed at a "service" center.

 

[CORattler]

Thanks for the chuckle...


[/quote]

Ha....I always get my oil changed at a "service" center.
[/quote]

 

[CORattler]

Right you are Rich!

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

If the C.G service is stated as Free then it is free although we all know that the cost of that servce is included in the C.G rate and if the service does not work well ...free = zero cost so you get zero back. If the service is stated as a additional cost say 2.00 a day for wifi or cable and you pay for the service and the service fails then we would and have asked for the rebate and have received it. I do remember that on another occasion we paid for 50amp service and the 50 amp plug was broken and not usable but the 30 amp was ok so they charged us for a 30 amp site. I think that if you do not receive a service that you paid extra for (not stated as a free service) the C.G would give you credit.

 

[timandsusan]

Thanks for the discussion--always good stuff on the MOC. As long timers--just completed a 10,000+ miles trip using 40 different RV Parks--we just about saw everything. Yes, we did stay a many really great RV parks--lots of Good Sam with great owners. In Shreveport at Tall Pine RV Park, they came to my rig, picked up my empty propane bottle, filled it, and returned it before I could get set up--they even lifted it into the compartment! That is SERVICE with a big SMILE! Yes,--their wifi and cable was great also. I told them what a great park they had.

 

[RickW-MOC]

If TV/Internet is important to your lifestyle then set your rig up so that you are not dependent on the park providing those services. Internet access is important to us so we carry aircards and have satellite internet access as well. TV we don't worry about. If they have cable and it works great! If not we can run up the antenna. Not the end of the world to us.

Only asked for a refund 1 time. We had a open ground with our power. I asked the lady for another spot or to fix it. She informed me people stay in that spot all the time with no problems and she was not going to call an electrician at 8pm. She had other open spots but did not want to "re-do" her paperwork because they were "upgrades". At this point her husband (I assume) came out and said lets see what we can figure out. He offered us another spot right next to the one we were in. He also told me since we had already unhitched he had no problem with us just stretching our power cord over to the other site if we had enough cord, which we did.

 

[Lindyn]

Tim I agree totally, we did 10,000 or more miles this year and we depend on WiFi for example. We have found that most places the WiFi is a good but we don't do a lot of downloads, or watch streaming Tv. but I'm not sure but most parks pay for so much band width and in a few days the computer will slow down. And when we question, the answer is always it does slow down because a lot of people are surfing and streaming video. But as the sign says free WiFi or Cable, we never use their cable. I had rather pay a little extra for the WiFi??

We are in Florida for the winter and the WiFi is awesome but when the RV park fills up in Dec. the WiFi will probably slow down. We will begin the research on our own internet system, which will be roof mounted. In the past we used Hughes net, we still use Hughes net at the stick house. I just never liked setting up the Hughes net dish, we did that for 3 years. We do have the wireless AT&T USB system with the Cradle Point for the router as a back up. We are going to look into Moto Sat roof mounted system, because we are on the road 8 plus months a year and are really considering going back to full timing again. The stick house is just a waste of money, taxes, Ins, and heating and cooling and its something we just don't need. But with the economy in the tank, we will not sell for less than what we want.

But if its Free or not if they advertise, it should work. When we find RV parks that don't do as advertised its RED listed and we want be back.. We did this past summer have working WiFi in most places, however some systems did slow down. Happy Trails.....