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Old 09-11-2019, 06:20 AM   #1
docwade87
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Question/concern...your opinions

We set out for a 10 day trip last Thursday afternoon. We headed out to east fork campground in Durbin, WV where we had set up to stay the night then leave the camper there the next two nights while staying up on Snowshoe mountain resort. Our plan was to come back down and pick up the camper on Sunday morning and continue our trip to Gatlinburg, TN.

East fork campground was spectacular, he decided to only charge us half of the average cost per night and allowed us to leave the camper plugged in to electricity on site until we got back.

While staying in Snowshoe, I got a devastating text message from my wife’s sister Saturday morning stating that their Dad, my father in-law had passed. This was completely unexpected. I immediately started packing and got in contact with administration for where we were staying in Snowshoe who gave me a full refund for that next night we were supposed to stay. I also immediately sent an email to Camp LeConte in Gatlinburg, TN explaining the situation and that we would not be able to come and stay.

We came home to an email from Camp LeConte stating that they would not be able to refund us because they would not be able to fill our spot for the days that we were supposed to be there and because we were inside a 72hr window. They did say if they were able to fill the spot for any of the nights we were supposed to be there that they would refund us for those nights. Their policy states no refunds for any family emergency especially if it’s within a 72hr period prior to the stay. Obviously we were within that 72hr period. However to me this is not a typical “family emergency” and is a life event. Airlines even give you full refund for this type of emergency. This should be an exception to anyone’s family emergency policy IMO.

I responded back to Camp LeConte staying my distaste with their decision and asked if they would reconsider. They still held to their word. I asked to speak to their owner/manager on the phone. They called the next day stating that they got our site filled for 2 nights so that they would refund us for those two nights only. I again expressed my distaste of how they were handling this situation and to please reconsider. They held their ground. I advised that I would never stay there again due to them obviously being more worried about money rather than customer service and that if they were in my shoes I’m certain they would feel the same way. I advised them that I would make sure to give them negative reviews everywhere possible due to how they handled this situation.

Am I far off on these beliefs? I was not ugly to them at any point and kept my composure. What do you think?

I apologize for long post, but felt the whole story written out would give better picture.

Thank you.
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Old 09-11-2019, 07:08 AM   #2
ADQ K9
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I can't see both sides of the story equally, but my take is that they made an "attempt" to cover your vacated reservation.
They are refunding you 2 nights which is better than nothing.
A private campground is probably operating on a smaller budget than a major airline.
Policys are put in place for a reason.
You are asking them to bend the rules for your benefit.
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Old 09-11-2019, 07:10 AM   #3
docwade87
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Originally Posted by ADQ K9 View Post
I can't see both sides of the story equally, but my take is that they made an "attempt" to cover your vacated reservation. They are refunding you 2 nights which is better than nothing.
I too try and see both sides of the story. They made an attempt, however IMO the attempt was half hearted and if they weren’t all about money, it wouldn’t have been a question. Most everywhere else I can think of even airlines, hotels, resorts, have a exception where death in the family is an excusable reason and full refunds will be issued?

Thank you for your input!
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Old 09-11-2019, 07:29 AM   #4
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First off sorry for your loss. I can understand both sides, and while I am on your side, I can understand the campgrounds policy. If it is a smaller private facility, I can see where the budget is much tighter and maybe they are only open for a short time of the year making every nights fees that much more critical.
While I get your frustration, I don’t know that I would go so far as to give them bad reviews everywhere I could. JMHO.
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Old 09-11-2019, 07:31 AM   #5
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First off sorry for your loss. I can understand both sides, and while I am on your side, I can understand the campgrounds policy. If it is a smaller private facility, I can see where the budget is much tighter and maybe they are only open for a short time of the year making every nights fees that much more critical.
While I get your frustration, I don’t know that I would go so far as to give them bad reviews everywhere I could. JMHO.
Understood. Which is why I came here for some input before deciding to put negative reviews up. Do you not think a review pertaining to this is necessary?
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Old 09-11-2019, 08:22 AM   #6
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First, I'm sorry for your loss and hope that you and your DW find the means to cope with the loss of her father.

I can understand your side of the story, you are forced to change plans for something devastating to your family. I can also understand the campground's side of the story, they are a business that must make a profit to stay open and operational. They reserved a site for you, probably turned other customers away who were seeking a reservation because they "locked in your site". When you cancelled, they still have the site (now with no income) unless they can fill it with other campers. If they refund your payment (which was charged to your card 72 hours prior to your arrival) they do not have an income for that site (unless someone else rents it).

This is the refund policy on the campground website:
"PAYMENT: Camp LeConte requires a 50% deposit at the time of booking. This deposit is nonrefundable. We will charge your credit or debit card on file with the balance due three days prior to your arrival. There are no refunds for any reason within three days prior to the reservation day. This includes, but is not limited to: weather, family emergencies, mechanical problems and simply a change of plans. Reservations not paid in full three days prior to arrival are subject to cancellation. If the payment method for you balance is different from the information we have on file, we must be notified prior to the balance due date. Reservations changed or cancelled four days or more prior to arrival only forfeit the deposit."

https://www.campleconte.com/map

The policy is clear. It appears that they did "make an appropriate good will gesture" by refunding the charges for days that they did rent the site to someone else. When you think about it, they could easily tell you, "Sorry, nobody rented the site" and they could have kept the entire amount.

It appears that they did go "beyond the published refund policy" and refund the part that they didn't lose by your cancellation.

I'd say that it's simply the way business works in today's competitive market.
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Old 09-11-2019, 09:07 AM   #7
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It would be fair to state that they abide by their refund policy and that the buyer should beware.

Things happen. Unless they were completely booked, there was no harm and no foul.

Sorry for your families loss.
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Old 09-11-2019, 10:12 AM   #8
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I too am sorry for your loss. I also agree with the previous posters. The policy is stated clearly and to expect more is ignoring that. It appears they did do what they could to give you a partial refund even though their policy said they did not do that.

There are locations in FL that charge for your reserved month up front; 750-1000 and tell you right then and there that if you cancel there is no refund. I take them at their word. I have had to leave a couple of times from locations that I have prepaid a couple of weeks early, I've never asked, or thought of asking for a refund.

Some of these parks run on a wing and a prayer and a lot of hope. Once a site is reserved and they start turning away customers because you are going to pay them for it, and then you don't, could leave them in a bind so I understand it; although sometimes it is not convenient.
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Old 09-11-2019, 10:24 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by JRTJH View Post
First, I'm sorry for your loss and hope that you and your DW find the means to cope with the loss of her father.

I can understand your side of the story, you are forced to change plans for something devastating to your family. I can also understand the campground's side of the story, they are a business that must make a profit to stay open and operational. They reserved a site for you, probably turned other customers away who were seeking a reservation because they "locked in your site". When you cancelled, they still have the site (now with no income) unless they can fill it with other campers. If they refund your payment (which was charged to your card 72 hours prior to your arrival) they do not have an income for that site (unless someone else rents it).

This is the refund policy on the campground website:
"PAYMENT: Camp LeConte requires a 50% deposit at the time of booking. This deposit is nonrefundable. We will charge your credit or debit card on file with the balance due three days prior to your arrival. There are no refunds for any reason within three days prior to the reservation day. This includes, but is not limited to: weather, family emergencies, mechanical problems and simply a change of plans. Reservations not paid in full three days prior to arrival are subject to cancellation. If the payment method for you balance is different from the information we have on file, we must be notified prior to the balance due date. Reservations changed or cancelled four days or more prior to arrival only forfeit the deposit."

https://www.campleconte.com/map

The policy is clear. It appears that they did "make an appropriate good will gesture" by refunding the charges for days that they did rent the site to someone else. When you think about it, they could easily tell you, "Sorry, nobody rented the site" and they could have kept the entire amount.

It appears that they did go "beyond the published refund policy" and refund the part that they didn't lose by your cancellation.

I'd say that it's simply the way business works in today's competitive market.
You are correct with the fact that they stood by their policy and “attempted to make a gesture.” They refunded me the two days that someone else paid for. I don’t know if that’s a gesture or not, more so they were receiving double the payments for that site so it only makes it right. Otherwise the incoming people should have stayed for free. If I’m not mistaken, double booking is illegal and may be considered a form of embezzlement or stealing? So again, they did no one any favors.

I definitely try to understand their side too, however, even when putting feelings aside and trying to put myself in their shoes, it doesn’t seem ethical to me. Again, many many places make the common exception for death. Just my two cents. Not going to beat a dead horse about it.

“The modern day way of business” does not seem like an ethical or good excuse either as this is not followed on a grand scale in my experience. Again taking care of customers far outweighs immediate income as you continue to build your customer base. You don’t take care of them, they stop coming. That’s with any business. Then you loose more than you would have in the first place.

Again, I appreciate the responses. I asked for them. I also appreciate good discussion and dialogue which is why I am responding to your individual responses.
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Old 09-11-2019, 10:27 AM   #10
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It would be fair to state that they abide by their refund policy and that the buyer should beware.

Things happen. Unless they were completely booked, there was no harm and no foul.

Sorry for your families loss.

They were completely booked.
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Old 09-11-2019, 10:55 AM   #11
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We've stayed at winter parks that you paid up front for the season & signed that you understood "NO REFUNDS". So in my opinion they treated you as best they could & don't deserve negative reviews. If anything should be commended for helping as much as they could.
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Old 09-11-2019, 04:25 PM   #12
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If they state their policy on their website or reservation form, you have no complaint and no recourse.

A review complaining that they follow their policy would be ignored by me.

I'm sorry for your loss but that is the way things go regarding the reservation.
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Old 09-12-2019, 04:00 PM   #13
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I too wish business now adays was different. Dont even get me started on Walgreens. I run pharmacies that only treat children. No body leaves without their medications. Nobody, to the tune of over $2 million each year. I make a difference where I can.
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Old 09-12-2019, 05:02 PM   #14
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The loss of a family member is terrible, I am truly sorry. Legal part of all this has no feelings, the reservation was/is a contact. It's not worth any of this to worry about. This is a side show to your family issues. Right now your family is most important. You tried, sounds like you got some money back even though the contract said you should not.
I was on call at OSP for the last 8 years. I made 2 night reservation as we all do months or weeks in advance. Contract said no refunds unless 24 hours notice. Morning of trip I was called into work. I lost 58 bucks.
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Old 09-19-2019, 08:36 AM   #15
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In the same situation. We put our 5th wheel in a local park on a lake instead of putting it in storage last year. In October I ruptured a thoracic aorta. This is an 18 month recovery. We had just signed up for a year. We went to the trailer a total of 4 times to check things out and never even stayed over night. Paid for the full year and are finally pulling it off of the site this month since we paid up to October. Small park but big park owners but I still get it. They had 6 open spots and would not refund unless they could fill all of them. Several grand down the drain at a time it would have come in handy with copays nearing $10K but it is what it is. For me just glad that a year later I'm still here and starting to feel like I can do a few things again. Our usual gone for the winter trip will be longer than usual after having to stay in MN for one of the worst ones in a LONG time.
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Old 09-19-2019, 12:55 PM   #16
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Sorry to hear about your loss. A similar situation happened to us 2 years ago. We had booked a 6 night stay at a campground in central NH, really looking forward to getting away for a week, and looking forward to the campground - the site was located on a brook and had only heard great things about it.

We left to head up to NH, and hadn't gone but 1 mile and we got the call that my wife's father passed. I knew the campground's policy about refunds (1 month notice = refund less a processing fee/ 2 week notice = 1/2 refund/ less than 2 weeks = 0.00). I called the campground to let them know we wouldn't be there and why, they offered their condolences and that was that. I didn't expect anything, and nothing was offered.

The following year we wanted to try to go to the same campground, we were looking forward to it that much. My wife called to make a reservation, not only was that very site available, but there was no charge. The clerk on the phone said we had a 6 night credit from the previous year. Nothing on their website mentioned anything about that, but when we got there and had a chance to talk with the owners they said they only thought it was fair to offer us a credit for one year.

Needless to say the first night was emotional, we raised a glass in my Father-in-Law's memory and thoroughly enjoyed our week by the brook.

I guess the moral of all this would be to ask if you could possibly be credited for a stay in the near future...… I think people try to do what's right and decent.

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Old 09-20-2019, 02:05 PM   #17
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The policy of giving a future credit is becoming more common. The loss of a loved one suddenly is a shocking experience and I too am sorry for your loss. The no refund policy is there for a reason as the area is quite busy and bookings are critical to be able to have some control over your site occupation and availability. I believe they made a good faith effort to accommodate you. It is unfortunate you didn't think to ask for a future credit. A bad review would not be appropriate in my opinion, after all, it wasn't their fault.
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Old 09-26-2019, 04:30 AM   #18
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The policy of giving a future credit is becoming more common. The loss of a loved one suddenly is a shocking experience and I too am sorry for your loss. The no refund policy is there for a reason as the area is quite busy and bookings are critical to be able to have some control over your site occupation and availability. I believe they made a good faith effort to accommodate you. It is unfortunate you didn't think to ask for a future credit. A bad review would not be appropriate in my opinion, after all, it wasn't their fault.
i agree with this post.


couple of years ago while staying 4 days at the koa in mount pleasant sc we were scheduled to check out on monday morning. sunday wife gets a call that a family friend passed away so she wanted to leave sunday early evening to return home.

we loaded up and i stopped by the office to notify them that we were leaving and why, in case they could rent our site, never expecting a refund of any kind. by the time we got home 4 hours later i received an email with a one night refund to my credit card.

they were not obligated to refund a night but by doing so i gave them a great review and would stay there again.

i don't think your campground deserves a bad review, as stated they maintained their policies.
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Old 09-26-2019, 05:48 AM   #19
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Hello docwade87. Sorry for the loss of your Father-in-law.


JMO, I would let it go. Life is too short. The bad review would change nothing and only add to your angst.



Sorry this happened to you.


Hope your wife is OK.


Oak
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