RVers' Bill of Rights

[judi]

Maybe we should start a RVers' Bill of Rights. I'm getting tired of stopping at a park that looks like paradise on it's website, but is a big disappointment in reality. And prices are steadily going up. 45 dollars, 51 dollars, 38 dollars. Ladies, add your demands!

1. If you say you have wi-fi, make sure it works properly. No excuses.

2. Please, spaces wide enough so you are able to put out an awning and your slides.

3. Spaces that allow a picnic table to be located in a place that is not over your neighbor's sewer line.

4.

[JudyJB]

4. Have rules that you actually enforce, like against loud music played by neighbors and people inviting all their relatives for dinner.


By the way, I was someplace in Ohio and the rules stated that it was a state law that campers had to be at least 15' from the one next door, so it asked you to make sure you parked in the center of your spot.

All states and communities have rules about the minimum sizes for hotel rooms and residential homes, so they should have rules for campgrounds to prevent them from stuffing too many vehicles into a small spot.

[MelissaD]

Many things are a matter of expectations. But I understand your frustration in "truth in advertising" issues.

Price is a relative thing. I've seen nightly prices has high as $250 a night with a 3 night min. near New Orleans for Mardi Gras and over a $100 a night for FL waterfront.

As for WIFI I understand your frustration but on the other hand I know it's very hard and expensive to build a system to cover the area of a campground to handle the peak flows of traffic and no dead spots. At our current "resort/CG" we are parked maybe 50' from they WIFI antenna and it's still slow and spotty service. On the weekends it's pretty much useless, so we just use the hotspot on my phone. Providing WIFI in an area like a house or a restaurant is one thing but covering several acres is another. I don't expect much from "free WIFI". If I paid for it, I'd expect more.

As for the size of sites I can get some idea from looking at the photos of activities posted and google earth can give you a feel. Different people have different expectation on lot size. Some CG's offer larger sites for a premium. Since the infrastructure is expensive to install there is a tendency to group the sites together. If all you want is some power, the sites can be further apart. When you add water and have to stay below frost lines the cost goes up. When you add sewer and grades for drainage the price goes even higher. We have been at nice CG's in the east that the cost to install sewer was cost prohibitive due to the rocky terrain. Commercial CG is there to make money. If I want a large lot, I guess I'd look for an area with low land prices of where the state or fed's owned the land. Some place like Liberty Harbor Marina & RV Park ( http://libertyharborrv.com/ ) is simply a parking lots near major attraction in this case NYC and you are paying for location at $80 a night.

I realize we have not traveled as much as some members but so far we have stayed at places that live up to our expectations. Maybe we have been lucky.

Would it be reasonable to say all sites should accommodate a 45' rig and tow vehicle?
Should all CG's have 14' clearance?
Should all the access roads accommodate the above 45' RV and tow vehicle both in road width, height and turn radius.

I have come to expect that my rig just won't fit in some places and I'm ok with that. I understand that I won't fit in many State and Federal CG's and I'm OK with that. I don't fit in Chain o Lakes park near my home both because they won't trim the trees and the sites are too small. It would be nice if some of these place accommodated my wants/needs but what is a priority to me is probably not a priority to someone else.

As someone who has family get together at a CG. I like having 4 generations around the campfire. I guess I'm guilty of inviting all my relatives for dinner. We also paid $5 a head to get the extra people into the CG for the day.

[BirdbyBird]

But watch out for any bunch of gray haired ladies and all show up with chairs, dishes and food at one campsite and site around and disturb the peace with raucous laughter.... Oh, wait, I forgot most of them are in bed by 9 pm.....

[havingfunnow]

Yes, oh, yes.

Melissa, I'm just curious -- have you stayed at Liberty Harbor? About twenty years ago, my 'sister' and I had reservations at a campground in New Jersey within sight of the Statue of Liberty. Only, following their directions to get there . . . First we drove through a neighborhood where every door and window was heavily barred. Then we drove past an abandoned factory with broken windows. Then we entered the gravel lot which did, indeed, have a view of Lady Liberty. If it had been just us and our boys, we might have stayed -- but we had Other People's Children in the van, so we went elsewhere.

Mostly, I just want truth in advertising!!!!

(Edit -- not that I'm sure this was the same campground, because I can't remember the name.)

[JudyJB]

As far as truth in advertising, I get really grumpy when I call in advance and am told something is available, but when I actually get there, it is not. I would appreciate being told the truth about how good the WiFi or something else is, not being told when I get there that somehow I am the only person who cannot access it. Must be me because no one else has ever complained about various items!

Like when I was told about the "some" trick-or-treaters when there were actually something like 900 kids plus a thousand or so parents, and I was told they would walk me to my site when I got there, and instead the guard sent me to a dead-end parking lot where I waited for almost two hours, and when I got out to explain to the people whose cars I had blocked in, was hugged and then followed around by a staggering drunk!! (Can you guess this was the last casino I will stay in?)

[judi]

The term "free wi-fi" is misleading. You are paying for wi-fi when you pay for your site. Some places do charge extra for wi-fi, but regardless, if they say they have it, you're paying for it. I just want the truth. If you wi-fi sucks, tell me. If you want to provide wi-fi then the cost of doing so is the cost of doing business.

I completely agree about loud neighbors. Management should deal with that problem promptly.

I guess what I'm saying is I want to be treated with respect, and I want accurate advertising.

[Bethers]

Totally agree with you Judi. I stayed at a park that in my 22' little C with a small slide, I couldn't open my slide or put out my awning. Disgraceful. I had reservations for 3 nights. Paid for them at check-in, got to my site, was appalled. I was tired, so went back and had to demand my money back for the 2nd two nights because I'd pull out in the morning. I say had to demand because they were refusing - until I pulled out my phone and dialed my cc company to cancel the charge completely. How quickly they acquiesced.

Do not advertise wifi to the sites, if you have wifi to a clubhouse. It CAN be done to all sites - I've been at very, very large cg's who have done it and it works. Does it cost them more, probably. But they charge rates that more than cover it. So, don't use the excuse it's hard - don't offer it then - or claim you have it.

I do not expect to fit in a site advertised for a rig smaller than me. I do expect to fit in one that is listed as fitting me - and I expect to fit in it and be able to use any slides/awning, etc that I might have.

All this said, I've had pretty good luck - with some terrible experiences. And because I've had bad experiences with KOA's more than any other group - I avoid them like the plague. I've rarely (if ever) had a bad experience at the NFS or NP/NM cg's or COE cg's - plus they are almost always much more scenic and more my style. They might not have a lot to offer in amenities (including w/e and or s), but they usually are much more scenic and spacious.

[Cougarfan]

Here in Oregon, the best deal used to be the state parks. They just raised the rates on some of them to $31/night. For about $5 more, I can go to 7 Feathers resort and have a clean, level site, 24 hour security, shuttle that will take me just about anywhere I want to go in the area if I don't want to drive, NO fireworks to traumatize my dog, nice, friendly campers that don't build "beer-a-mids" at their site, very few screaming children, hot, fresh coffee in the office whenever I want it and the only sound you usually hear after 8:00pm is the shuttle van driving thru the park dropping off campers after their night out. My coworkers make fun of me because most of them tent camp. When I show them pictures of the places I've camped, they oooh and ahhh and say "oh, maybe I'll go look at rvs" LOL

Don't get me wrong, Oregon state parks are in fabulous locations and are very nice, but after the experience at Tugman at the last gtg we had, I'll take clean over scenic. I was still finding pine needles inside my trailer over a year later and I keep it really clean! If it didn't rain so much here the state parks would be great.

There is a nice KOA not far from me that has nice sites and super friendly staff. I can stay there for less than $40/night, but everywhere around here is creeping closer, or has already reached, $40 or more a night. I have to choose how far I want to travel vs. how much I'm willing to spend per night. If it is somewhere I really want to go, I'll pay the rate. Otherwise, I'll look around for a less expensive option or find a place to explore that I don't have to take out a 2nd mortgage in fuel and cg fees.

As far as the wifi goes, if it works great. If it doesn't I'm annoyed but I have a mifi that I can try to use. If I was living full time in my trailer, I would want the wifi to surf the web but would use my mifi to pay my bills just for the security.

Here in Oregon, I try not to go camping on holiday weekends (4th of July is the exception. See description of 7 Feathers above) due to the amount of weekend warriors that want to cram a years worth of drinking into one weekend and that think sleeping is overrated and staying outside yelling, fighting or whatever all night is a dandy idea. Those types of people usually go to NF cgs or state parks, not resorts. So if I really, really, really want to go on a holiday weekend, I'll choose a private cg over a public one.

All this being said, if I want to go camping, I will pick a place I want to go and then research the lowest cost for the nicest park I can find. If that happens to be $50/night, and its somewhere I really want to go, then I'll pay it. It just might mean one less weekend of camping in that season.

I do understand the frustration with creative advertising. Sometimes I look at an rv park online then go to rvparkreviews.com and the reviews are horrible. Sometimes crappy-looking rv parks online get great reviews so you just never know. Karen is always making fun of me because I do a bunch of research before a trip LOL I'd rather have an idea of where I might stay instead of going in blind and having to fight for a refund or be afraid to walk the dog after dark.

We're all different and we all look for different things when we go camping.

Just my .02

Laura

[Acadianmom]

I really appreciate a level site. What I can't understand is a site that is cement or asphalt and not level. Why go to the expense of paving it if it's not level.

I use to get aggravated at the lack of signs for campgrounds. It's not so bad now with a GPS. There would be a sign on the highway and you exit and nothing. I'm a lot better about getting off the road before dark now. It was really hard to find some of these places in the dark.

Martha

[Cougarfan]

I really appreciate a level site. What I can't understand is a site that is cement or asphalt and not level. Why go to the expense of paving it if it's not level.

In Oregon, if the sites were perfectly level, the rainwater would create a lake and we'd all be complaining about that too

[avalen]

But watch out for any bunch of gray haired ladies and all show up with chairs, dishes and food at one campsite and site around and disturb the peace with raucous laughter.... Oh, wait, I forgot most of them are in bed by 9 pm.....

[MelissaD]

:lol: Yes, oh, yes.

Melissa, I'm just curious -- have you stayed at Liberty Harbor? About twenty years ago, my 'sister' and I had reservations at a campground in New Jersey within sight of the Statue of Liberty. Only, following their directions to get there . . . First we drove through a neighborhood where every door and window was heavily barred. Then we drove past an abandoned factory with broken windows. Then we entered the gravel lot which did, indeed, have a view of Lady Liberty. If it had been just us and our boys, we might have stayed -- but we had Other People's Children in the van, so we went elsewhere.

Mostly, I just want truth in advertising!!!!

(Edit -- not that I'm sure this was the same campground, because I can't remember the name.)

I have not been there but I know of people who wanted to see NYC and your description pretty much matches theirs.

[Cudedog]

Excellent topic, as per usual Judi.

Lots of food for thought here. How about this, Beth: your forum has ladies traveling all over the country all the time, staying at all levels of campsites from boondocks to (I imagine - and I can imagine quite a bit!) to palaces.

How about keeping track of those? I would volunteer to do it - a kind of rating system could be developed, ladies could email their impressions, with site name, location, cost, discounts offered, was it good-bad-indifferent, old-lady friendly (speaking only of myself, of course) or and what have you. This could easily be maintained on an Excel spreadsheet that could be converted to an .html page.

I think this might prove quite useful.

It could be a part of your site, or I could host it off-site.

Thoughts, anyone?

Thanks.

Anne

[retiredhappy]

The more I traveled the less I liked RV parks - too close together (I once listened to the man in the next RV snore all night), too expensive. I much prefer COE parks, then small city parks. As for state parks, they've gotten so expensive that I can often stay at a RV "Resort" with pool, sewer, wifi, cable, etc for the same price. Also a fan of Passport America. I, too, try to avoid camping on holidays or weekends - just too crowded and noisy for me. Haven't tried a forest service campground only because I just wasn't near one when I wanted to stop.