Community Forums

pops2 · 08-08-2013, 09:11 AM

just bought a 41 ' damon ultrasport 4075 and sold the house and the road beckons. we have been offered a c2c membership with bonus points for 600$ and was wondering if it is a worth while deal as we are full time and wish to see Canada and the US and need places to stay 1 to 2 weeks at a time Help me make up my mind as I think this a good deal but want to hear from others that are in the same (boat) RV.

macantic · 08-08-2013, 09:35 AM

We have it and all I can say is sometimes its good and sometimes not. I would suggest you google the places you think you will go and see if and how many parks will accept C2C. For example,Briarcliff RV Resort in MyrtleBeach is the only one that will take it. It seems to me that just about all campground memberships have their pros and cons.

JohnT · 08-08-2013, 09:50 AM

We've had C2C going on 5 years now. Our home park is free for two week stays at a time. Otherwise, when on the road, we try to plan using C2C parks enroute as they are usually $10 per night. We planned a 7 week winter trip down South and were succesful in using C2C 90% of the time.

Arch Hoagland · 08-08-2013, 10:10 AM

I'd suggest going a year before purchasing and get a feel if it would be beneficial for you to purchase.

In my experience I've not seen any near where we travel. And we've hit 48 states.

The ones I've seen are pretty far from the beaten path.

EDALLSAILS · 08-08-2013, 06:06 PM

Is it worth it? Sometimes. Depends where you are going. Passport America can be very good, except some campgrounds have excluded dates such as weekends etc. Search the WEB for USED Campground Memberships. there are all kinds of deals. we bought our C2C from Membershipresale.com . we get 1 wk free at home park (which is in Georgia near Perry). PaCKAGE GAVE US C2C, RPI . THAT IS GOOD NEWS. BAD NEWS. there is an annual fee for home park, c2c and rpi. Our total fee is 200 bucks. Saved us a bunch. We also bought a ZONE PASS from 1000 Trails, not worth it to us. Perhaps if we lived out WEST instead of florida we'd use it more. Safe travels... ed

pops2 · 08-08-2013, 08:15 PM

got a phone call from a c2c salesperon and a deal is only as good as the deal presented. they mentioned that to buy a membership from a park can cost on the upward of 6000$. they gave the option of getting one for 795$ for a deluxe and 1st yr. no charge then 200 per yr complete for home CG and renewal. got to be careful with what you do with your money in this day and age.

PyrateSilly · 08-08-2013, 08:55 PM

For some it's a good plan but not for Thom and I. We looked at where they were and where we were traveling and they did not work for us to buy. So my advice is to look carefully at exactly where the parks are and if they are close to where you might be traveling, if not then it may not be a good idea to buy.

Barbaraok · 08-09-2013, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arch Hoagland

I'd suggest going a year before purchasing and get a feel if it would be beneficial for you to purchase.

In my experience I've not seen any near where we travel. And we've hit 48 states.

The ones I've seen are pretty far from the beaten path.

You just didn't know where they were. Unless you've spent time going through the directory in detail, how would you know where they were? I'd bet that you've probably stayed in some parks that belong to C2C, just didn't know it.

Barb

Barbaraok · 08-09-2013, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pops2

just bought a 41 ' damon ultrasport 4075 and sold the house and the road beckons. we have been offered a c2c membership with bonus points for 600$ and was wondering if it is a worth while deal as we are full time and wish to see Canada and the US and need places to stay 1 to 2 weeks at a time Help me make up my mind as I think this a good deal but want to hear from others that are in the same (boat) RV.

Since you are being given the membership, try it for a year. You can always drop it latter if you don't like it.

We've used C2C for 7 years - so maybe we know just a little about membership parks, etc. We save several thousands of dollars each year by using membership parks. Especially in the west, if you full time I wouldn't be without it. There aren't a lot of C2C parks in Canada, but there are some in BC, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.

We average about 100 nights a year using membership parks. Sure works for us.

As far as being to far away - that depends on where it is and what you are doing. If you have to be in the middle of a big metropolitan city, then it won't work for you. But, you can stay within easy driving distance of metro areas then it is a no brainer. We've used membership parks in Phoenix, Palm Springs, north of LA, north of Santa Barbara, south of Pismo Beach, north of San Francisco (took a ferry right to the SF Giants park to watch a game), outside of Seattle, just north of Colorado Springs, outside of Flint, Mi, south of Boston, in Rapid City, SD (easy drive to Mt. Rushmore), Myrtle Beach, SC (great golf just minutes away), several places in Florida, outside of San Diego, etc.

What do you have to loose?

I've written a page on our blog about Membership Parks. Take a look for explanation of some of the terms you will see.

Barb

missourijan · 08-09-2013, 10:09 PM

I would echo the other poster's idea to travel for a year and then decide on a membership park. I wouldn't believe anything that a C2C salesperson says. Does it include the C2C fees for the year or the home park fees? Buy a Passport America membership for $40 (50% off campgrounds) and Good Sam for $25 (10% off). Also, look at Amazon.com and purchase the Don Wright Free Campgrounds books (western & eastern edition). Those books list a lot of national campgrounds that can only accommodate smaller rv's but we've found a lot of cheap campgrounds in them. Also, you can spend the night at a lot of casinos (www.casinocamper.com), Cabela's and if you are a member of Elks, a lot of them have sites with partial hookups. The biggest problem with buying a membership is that if it doesn't work out for you then YOU have to try to sell it to someone else. You can buy a used membership from ANY campground that is in the C2C network, they usually have a list of memberships for sale. Look at Treasure Lake in Branson, MO, they have the list of memberships for sale online and their home park fees are reasonable $190/year.

Arch Hoagland · 08-09-2013, 10:15 PM

Barbaroak.... Can you just drop your membership?

What are the horror stories I read where people can't get out of their memberships in some of these arrangements with private campgrounds.?

bigmichael · 08-10-2013, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arch Hoagland

Barbaroak.... Can you just drop your membership?

What are the horror stories I read where people can't get out of their memberships in some of these arrangements with private campgrounds.?

Not Barb-but I agree with nearly everything she said in her post. We too FT and have had C2C as one of our memberships for 6 years. There are contracts in existence which try and prevent cancellation, but you just need to read the contract. For instance, ours stipulates the dues will remain fixed, and can be cancelled any time.

As to looking at where you will travel--if you are going full time, I assume like us, you plan to travel all over. We have found C2C in many places that we didn't expect, but they are definitely everywhere. It really doesn't take many nights at all in a year to make up your membership fees and be money ahead. We have a "home park" that we have never been to-with the fixed yearly dues of $39. This was simply to give us access to C2C and RPI. If you are thinking of "buying" into a very expensive home park-then I would be very careful and diligent.

Barbaraok · 08-10-2013, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arch Hoagland

Barbaroak.... Can you just drop your membership?

What are the horror stories I read where people can't get out of their memberships in some of these arrangements with private campgrounds.?

Yes, there are old horror stories out there. But people took the parks to court and the contracts were thrown out and the practice ended provided that (1) the contract purchase price was paid off (lots of people finance the full membership price at a home park), (2) current dues have been paid, and (3) you submit in writing that you are canceling your membership in accordance with your contract, often 30 or 60 days before the next dues date. That is for the home park. For C2C (or RPI) you just don't send in the annual dues since they are a system of AFFILIATES not the home park.

Barb

jd7566 · 08-11-2013, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pops2

just bought a 41 ' damon ultrasport 4075 and sold the house and the road beckons. we have been offered a c2c membership with bonus points for 600$ and was wondering if it is a worth while deal as we are full time and wish to see Canada and the US and need places to stay 1 to 2 weeks at a time Help me make up my mind as I think this a good deal but want to hear from others that are in the same (boat) RV.

We've been C2C members since 2008, though we are not full-timers, we use the membership to supplement our travels. If you want to use c2c exclusively, you may not find a campground where you want to stay. Also, the type of membership and type of park will determine your length of stay. EG, a Classic park affords you a 1 week stay, a Deluxe is 2 weeks. Plus the yearly maintenance fee is around $150. It isn't for everyone, but it works for us.