reserveamerica

[DavidC]

Just to let people know about a policy these people have regarding their reservation policies. We made reservations for a campground and my wife was looking at the wrong month. After finalizing the on line reservation I noticed this discrepancy. There is no way to change the dates on line. She called reserveamerica and they will change the date for a $10. 00 fee. If you cancel the reservation there is a $10. 00 fee. So it appears that any change or cancellation means that they are going to stick you for more money on top of the initial $9. 00 reservation fee. I talked with their customer service and they let me know that they were not going to back down on this charge. Beware making reservations with this company as customer satisfaction is at the bottom of their list.



Dave

 

[richardcoxid]

I second that about Reserveamerica! Any time that I have used them I get the story that sites are going fast and you better make your reservations now to assure you a site. Then I have gone camping in central ID a few days after being given the “song and dance” and found 25% of the campsites vacant!



I would much rather pay the Forrest Service Etc. the $9. 00 reservation fee and have them use it for facility upgrades/wages than to pay it to Reserveamerica.



Down with Reserveamerica, write your congressman. What a rip off!



Happy Camping from Idaho

 

[TboneMan]

NYS uses reserveamerica for their campgrounds in the State Parks system (many are very nice).



If you decide to stay an extra day or two at the park after you are there, you still have to pay the reservation fee just like you do with the original reservation.

 

[DavidC]

I emailed reserveamerica with this topic

While making reservations for Houston Mesa Campground in Payson AZ. my wife had mistakingly given me the wrong dates as she was looking at January instead of February. We called reserve america to get the date changed to February and were told a $10. 00 fee applied to any change or cancellation on top of the already charge of the $9. 00 reservation fee. I talked with customer service and was abruptly told there was nothing that could be done about the fee but he would change the dates. It was obvious that reserve america does not care about customer satisfaction and that it is probably the last thing on the list. That is if it is even on the list. I was very disturbed to find an organization like this that is associated with the Forrest service that treats customers with the attitude that yes we can fix your problem but you will pay for it. I did not charge you a fee when I hauled a trailer 80 miles to a closed campground when the reservations were made on reserveamerica. Everyone makes mistakes but reserveamerica appears to want to profit from those mistakes. This appears to me to be a very sorry way to run a business.



And the reply

Dear Valued Customer:



Thank you for using ReserveUSA for your camping needs.



You agreed to this policy at the payment screen of your reservation:



I acknowledge and have verified that the reservation I am making is correct. I have read and understood all the warnings, information, policies, and general rules that are relevant to the reservation I am making. I am responsible for any misunderstanding or mistakes that are made including, but not limited to, incorrect sites, dates and unintentional reservations. I agree to pay all associated fees and penalties.



You where able to check all of your information about your reservation at this point. Please keep in mind that we are a business, and it does take time and money on our end to make sure we have these reservations for you as well as making any changes to your reservation.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.



Reply back to reserveamerica

Thank you for the worthless reply. You have justified my previous email with customer relations.



Dave

 

[GFrance]

I've used them a couple of times in the summer just to make sure we had a spot at a popular campground. I hate paying a fee on top of a camping fee. Now we either stay at a first come first serve park or a private park.

 

[surfbeetle]

Reserve America is HORRIBLE

The state of California used them for its campsites. If you want to camp at a beach, you better be ready 7 months in advance to call. Don't bother using their website, it gets overloaded when making reservations. It used to be that you had to reserver 7 months in advance to the day that you wanted. Now its 7 months to the months, ie if you wanted July 23rd, you have to reserve by the first business day in January. They will sell out an entire month on the first day of the month. It is bad business, but they don't care! My wife and I were booking a specific site at South Carlsbad state beach, I was on the web, she was using the phone. I was almost done booking it online and she was able to book it away from me with the phone operator because their system would not hold it for online transactions in progress like the way Ticketmaster will hold stuff for 2 minutes when booking something.

 

[CFoye]

I hate the whole system of ReserveUSA, it SUCKS.

In California, you must reserve via ReserveUSA or else you won't be going to any popular destinations.

Then to boot, you can only make reservations 240 days prior to your reservation starting date. So, when the guy in front of you wants to reserve a site, they can reserve their first day on the 240th day and then run their reservation past the 240th day mark and subsequently take the site til the end of their desired reservation date. So, if you want to get a reservation and you call 240 days out, the guy before you has already reserved the site past the 240th day mark and you are S. O. L. Then you'd better be on the phone at 7:00:01 am on the last day that the guy in front of you reservedl, in order to get the next available date.

I think this is backwards. They should only allow you to reserve 240 days out, PERIOD, with the 240th day being the last day of your reservation and not the first. Or make people call in everyday for their next reservation day.

Case in point, we have a fairly large group that goes to Trinity Lake in Northern California. We need about 3 sites total. So, we thought that mid July would be excellent, good weather long days etc. We called 240 days out to try and get a spot. Well we couldn't get a single site after calling everyday for 4 days trying. Started to look at June. Turns out that June is basically free and we could get reservations for 3 sites. So, we moved everything up a month and hopefully it'll still be really nice.

It's just really frustrating how their system works.



Chris

 

[VicR]

This brings up a question I've had about Reserveamerica's site assignments.

Do they allocation sites for anything that will fit in that site, or do the have a group for <20' only, 20-24' only, 25'+ only, etc. Would they not let my 20' camper go in a 25 foot site for instance?



Reason I ask is I we went to Yosemite last week of October, 2004. I booked the reservations online and only had 3 or 4 sites to choose from for my under 20' truck camper, eveything else was unavailable. When we got there, the campground was only 1/3 full! Made me wonder if they only let certain classes of RV's into certain sites and they wouldn't let my 20' camper take up a spot that could hold a 25' (and let it go empty instead?)



I can see both sides of the issue. It would irritate me to have to squeeze my rig into a tiny site while somebody in a tent takes up a 50' level pull-through, but then again, first come first served...



-Vic

 

[surfbeetle]

Yeah, the whole thing sucks! At San Elijo State beach in San Diego County, they have a 24' restriction on the full hookup sites, even though if you back into the site and hookup, you have more than ample room to put a 35' rig in there. I have a 24' fifth wheel and have tons of space to park, but they won't let you. Then on top of it, they only allow two vehicles per full hookup site, the dry sites are three vehicles. Its so stupid. If on the dry sites, they allowed four vehicles, ie two trucks and two trailers, they would make the extra $$ from the extra vehicle costs plus still be able to sell out the other sites because the beach sites are extremely popular. Just me 2 cents worth!

 

[jeepit]

This is the main reason we don't camp at state parks unitl late in the fall when nobody wants to camp because it is too cold. O/W we camp at county parks or in state forests in Wisconsin.

 

[Jumbo Jet]

I've been using RESERVEAMERICA for years without any problems. I read the notices and have acted accordingly.



I have talked with customer service as recently as last month over a reservation issue and they handled it in a very accommodating manner.



I recently hadto make a date change (for 3 campsites) that was not RESERVEAMERICA'S fault and paid the $10 fees.



I like the convenience of the Internet booking and payment capability. I also like to carefully plan my trips before I leave.



What works for some does not work for others. They would not stay in business if they weren't doing something right - would they ?

 

[richardcoxid]

It never ceases to amaze me that the “Forest Services” (I use that term generically) can’t manage their own facilities/services and show a profit. However the US Gov. can sign a contract to a “for profit corporation” and they are able to manage the services and show a profit.



I would much rather pay the “Forest Services” a reservation fee that will be used for facility upgrades and/or wages than give it to a “for profit corporation”.



The same types of comments that appear in the posts above are applicable when making reservations in Y’Stone and Grand Teton National Parks. We always camp in Forrest Service Campgrounds out side the boundaries when camping at the “Parks” rather than patronize the “reservation service” in this case Xantra (sp?). They are just as big of RIP OFF as Reserveamarica!



I have written our Senators/Congressman about my feelings about the “reservation system”. Know what kind of reply I received back? The usual political gobbley-gook.



Regards to all you campers

 

[surfbeetle]

Well in true government fashion, my wife had an issue with reserve america TODAY. Yesterday, she made four reservations for beach camping this summer in Carlsbad California. We go with my in-laws so she booked two spots for a week and then two more spots for labor day weekend starting at the end of august. Because my inlaws were going to pay for two of the reservations, my wife used our credit card for two and then used my sister in law's credit card for the other two. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong! This morning, my sister in law gets a call from Reserve America (too their credit, we are thankful that they called). The person on the phone says that there is a problem with one spot for Labor Day weekend. She claims that one of the spots was not paid for and we would lose it if it was not paid. Confused over what was going on, my sister in law had my wife call back and speak with customer service. Turns out Reserve America overcharged my sister in law by charging her credit card for three transactions, my card for two transactions for a total of 5 transactions but only credited three of the reservations to be paid. My wife got that part of the mess all straightened out so that all four of the spots were paid for and then had to spend the next hour arguing with them to credit my sister in law's card for Reserve America's screw up! They kept stating that a refund was not possible, patiently, my wife went up the ladder until she got the refund processed. It wasn't our fault so there should have never been an issue whether or not to refund the money! Then, my wife decided to double check all of the confirmation numbers and dates and for two of the reservations, they had booked us short by one day! They put us out on a sunday rather then the next day as we had asked! The moral of the story: Be very diligent and persistant when dealing with them!