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Pops Youell · 06-05-2013, 04:31 PM

Reserve America: has anyone used this web site or phone site to make camping reservations? If not don't. I made a reservation (4 sites) at a National Forest Camp Ground in VA. Due to weather I called to cancel the reservations more than 24 hours prior to arrival time. $200 was placed on my credit card for the 4 reservations. When I called I was told the charge for canceling would be $10 fee for each reservation and $20 charge for the first night for each reservation. I was told the charge for each site was $10 reservation fee (non-returnable) and $20 per night for 2 nights. My credit card total was $200, my cancelation total was $120 plus the $40 registration fee that was not returned. A grand total of $160 for a two night, 4 site, camping trip that was canceled. I spent one hour and five minutes with the Reserve America customer relations people including one supervisor. My wife then called the campground directly and asked if all there reservations were done through Reserve America. The camp ground person said no it is first come first serve or you can call to make a reservation. She also said that 4 sites could be placed on 1 reservation not 1 site per 1 reservation. The National Forest web site sends you to Reserve America. The camp ground person could not believe what had happened to us. My wife later called and spoke with a director of camping for the national forest service. The director is going to look into what happened to us and will get back to us. We will never use Reserve America again. The people were friendly but their policies are not.

DianneS · 06-05-2013, 05:59 PM

I do feel your frustration.....however, I have to side with Reserve America on this one. Their website clearly outlines all the applicable fees that will be charged in the event of a cancellation. 1) A non-refundable reservation fee is charged to process your reservation. 2) A cancellation fee is charged to process your cancellation. 3) If the cancellation is made "after 5:00 pm the day before your arrival date the campsite fee for one night will be forfeited". They do spell it out really well so there should not have been any surprise. Your reservation ensures that you have a site when you arrive and if the park is full others will be turned away if they do not have a reservation. There is a cost to process your reservation, a cost to cancel your reservation but mostly there is now a loss if your reserved sites can't be rebooked the next day.
I don't believe this is the right forum to slam Reserve America for doing exactly what they told you they would do if you cancelled. Just my opinion.

JudyH · 06-05-2013, 06:19 PM

I am not a fan of Reserve America, they seem to have the camping reservation game all tied up though, so what can you do? There is no getting around them. In fact at some parks if you are first come camping, and pay for your site at the campground, someone can make a reservation online and you have to leave. That happened to us, and we had to change spots. But I suppose if I had made reservations online, I would want my spot when I got there.

Ann n Gene · 06-05-2013, 06:36 PM

I agree there are definitely pros and cons to this issue and it deserves serious, in-depth discussion. However, this is definitely not the thread on the forum for this discussion, IMHO.

TXiceman · 06-05-2013, 06:37 PM

Before I use RA, I'll call the park first. RA is the absolute last resort to get is a park.

As far as I am concerned they are legal crooks.

Ken

jlfbatonrg · 06-05-2013, 07:33 PM

We have been messed up by RA on several occasions, the worst was putting us in a site that was too small for our coach. It was the only site available so we backed in as far as we could. The site was on a curve, and sometime while we were there some sort of RV came through and hit the front of our coach, damaging the Bra and the paint. I'm sure they didn't know they hit us. Since then we call the Park first, determine what site we are going to stay in then make the reservation using RA. Even then we have had them mess up the reservation.

DSL417 · 06-05-2013, 07:44 PM

Agree with Gene, there have been other threads on the pros and cons of Reserve America, so perhaps carrying on the conversation in the General Discussion area might work better.

Also agree this bears discussion, as everything I've read in those threads pushes me in a different direction than using Reserve America. A lot of negative out there.

cb1000rider · 06-05-2013, 07:54 PM

Pops:
1) It sounds like the reserve america rules for cancellation were pretty clearly posted. Obviously they stink.
2) You've got consumer charge-back protection on your credit card. Exercise that right if you feel that you were wronged (in consideration of the clearly posted rules). Reserve America can fight it, but CC companies generally side with the consumer.

Thanks for posting your experience...

jwbinmd1960 · 06-05-2013, 08:33 PM

Maryland State Parks uses RA and they charge a fee for reservations even if you don't use the reservation system. If I show up in person they will charge me $4.50 per night just to record that space is taken in the RA system...what a racket! I wouldn't mind a small flat rate but a daily charge is kinda sticking it to ya IMO!

rhusak · 06-06-2013, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwbinmd1960

Maryland State Parks uses RA and they charge a fee for reservations even if you don't use the reservation system. If I show up in person they will charge me $4.50 per night just to record that space is taken in the RA system...what a racket! I wouldn't mind a small flat rate but a daily charge is kinda sticking it to ya IMO!

Hi Everyone..
As usual its all about the money! Next they will go through the IRS!
Ron Husak
Currently at Navajo State Park on a Reserve America Reservation..

DSL417 · 06-06-2013, 09:24 AM

I got to thinking about it and I did use Reserve America as Florida Sate Parks use it among others. The thing that struck me is why so expensive and no weekly or monthly rates (although they probably don't want seasonal).

Topsail is a great park, but $42 a night year round seems a little steep. If it was all going into the park that would be great. My guess is that the state got rid of reservation headaches at about a cost to the consumer of $8 a night. IMHO that seems steep...particularly as I saw at least 4 state employees running the park and at least 4-6 workcampers there.

With that kind of staff for the number of spaces, you'd think they could take there own reservations. It may be a racket for RA, but they are serving a population that seems captive, in more than one state and making it a good business proposition ... for RA.

TN Bill · 06-06-2013, 11:27 AM

The place to go for reservations on Gov. land is Federal recreation, camping and tour reservation information - Recreation.gov they too have some cancellation charges.

jzick · 06-06-2013, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TN Bill

The place to go for reservations on Gov. land is Federal recreation, camping and tour reservation information - Recreation.gov they too have some cancellation charges.

I believe recreation.gov is part of Reserve America. I do not like RA fees, but at least they are very plainly stated up front. At least when we use them our reservations are right as opposed to when we had to call on the phone, hope it was answered, and then depend on some overworked ranger to keep the pencil and eraser reservation schedule straight.

Pops Youell · 06-08-2013, 05:25 AM

I guess I started a fire storm. Thanks for each comment. Yes, I knew there were charges if I canceled my reservations, but I canceled my reservations prior to 5:00 pm. I just felt paying $160 in cancellation fees for a $200 charge was just a little high. Concerning talking about this on the Entegra Owners Forum, what better place than this to ask other Entegra Owners their opinions. I read threads about all different types of inquires on this forum. When a person posts a thread, you title the thread so others can choose to either read them or not read them. There are many threads that don't interest me, so I don't read them. I will continue to ask my fellow owners questions about whatever I need an answer or opinion for. If you don't like the title of the thread, don't read it. Sorry to be so blunt, it's early and I haven't had my cold caffein yet.