Welcome to my nifty Dreambook, a free guestbook service from New Dream Network and the DreamHost!If you have a minute, please add your entry to those below by signing my Dreambook!
| Name: | Rick |
| E-mail address: | iluvthesummer@gmail.com |
| Comments: | Just wanted to voice my opinion about the criminal activity that is taking place between DestroyAmerica and our state politicians. Since this criminal activity is at the state level, I suggest you call your state senator a lot and voice your displeasure. Your government officials (who receive payoffs from DestroyAmerica) should know your thoughts. Please be aware that changes can only occur through numbers. I suggest you not hold back from voicing your opinion. DestroyAmerica has done just that. I will continue to spread the word about how awful this site is. |
| Name: | Tom and Mindy |
| E-mail address: | tommyandmindy@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | We always go to rocky neck sp in ct every year, its a tradition, well this year they raised their rates to $40.oo per night, $90. for the weekend, are they out of their minds? We go camping because we love the outdoors and its affordable, not any more in ct, sad to say we won't be going to rocky neck for $40. a night! |
| Name: | Lou |
| E-mail address: | loubbqpit@gmail.com |
| Comments: | Who knows what really happened, but I do echo so many others on this site that something drastic needs to happen. What exactly is that? I have no idea. We were some of the more fortunate ones and were able to book 7 sites total between the 15 of us. For those that got skunked, I know exactly how you feel, like being punched in the gut. It sucks. And until the site changes, so does reserve america. Only 364 more days til we have to deal with this debacle again. OH I CAN"T WAIT!! One last thing. Many of you know this but start checking your destination of choice on the Tuesday/Wednesday BEFORE the weekend you wanted to arrive. Many people cancel their reservations at the very last moment so they can at least get part of their money back. We have been able to secure some pretty cool spots in some pretty popular times of the year by doing just this. GOOD LCUK TO ALL. |
| Name: | Marcia Mears |
| E-mail address: | elvisonthebeach@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Just need to vent along with the rest of you. I spent 2 1/2 hrs dialing and re-dialing 2 phones while my friend was on line trying (unsucessfully). I finally got through on the phone and we were able to get our 4th choice campground, last choice dates. We are 2 families who have gone camping for 20 years and have not been able to get our 1st, 2nd or 3rd choices in the last 4 years or so. Yet, we hear of and see empty sites at the places we wanted to be and people who go to the same place "every year". How are they able to get reservations??? Who do they know??? |
| Name: | drozd |
| E-mail address: | sldrozd@verizon.net |
| Comments: | Reserve America is systematically destroying my family's tradition of camping together every year. My family (consisting of 6 siblings with their families) has camped together at San Clemente State Beach every year for the past 30 years, well they finally did it, none of us were able to get reservations after trying most of the morning trying book a single week. They could not have designed a worse way to do this, The entire world trying to book any day of the most popular month at all the state parks in CA all starting at 8 am on the first of the month. How do we get rid of them??? |
| Name: | anon |
| E-mail address: | falloffacliff@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | One last idea, RA needs to change how the reservation "windows" open up. Our local county parks open up six months from each day. For example, if you want to camp at Uvas Canyon Park from Friday, July 26th to Sunday, July 28th, your arrival date is July 26th. This means the latest you can call is on Wednesday, July 24th and the earliest you can make the reservation is on December 26th. This would eliminate the mad rush they experience on the first of each month and instantly make their website more stable. Just a thought... |
| Name: | anon |
| E-mail address: | falloffacliff@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | Wow, where do I start? My fiancee and I struggled to find an venue that fit or needs and we finally found one in our local state park. We figured that since we were flexible on the date (may-october) we shouldn't have a problem. That was until we discovered the reserveamerica system. Argh, what a nightmare! The first month we tried getting the reservation we were shocked to see EVERYTHING booked within moments of it opening and the system crashing not leaving us even an opportunity to get in. It was worse than getting tickets to a Michael Jackson concert! The second month we geared up with three computers and two phones calling. NOTHING! Today (2-1-10) we had nine people on computers and with 3 phones calling and still came up empty handed. I understand that everyone needs a fair shot at the campsite, but I’m not talking about just a family picnic. I want to have a WEDDING and reserve 2 group sites and a group picnic area for an entire weekend. There should be some consideration for people trying to reserve more than one site. Our backup plan is with the county park system which has a “special event coordinator” who helps walk you through the process of getting a reservation. There is an extra “special event fee” which helps to cover the cost of the attendant but it is so much nicer dealing with a real person instead of the online system (which crashed constantly) and the %#*()&$()*’s at their RA’s telephone bank. I just want peace of mind that our wedding day will be reserved. -engaged and frustrated. |
| Name: | Donna Watson |
| E-mail address: | donnawatson20@gmail.com |
| Comments: | We have been camping at So. Carlsbad State Beach with a group of close friends for over 25 summers. Well, we won't be this year. We tried with 6 computers, all set to hit the button at precisely 8 on Jan 2 and again on Feb 1. It is so frustrating! We didn't get sites in '08 either. I make all our travel arrangements, etc. online and reserve america is by far the WORST website and organization I have EVER encountered! What will it take for them to improve it?! |
| Name: | Anonomous |
| E-mail address: | cantsay@any.com |
| Comments: | These are real people @ ACTIVE.COM, in charge of PR for RA A number for ACTIVE is Tina Wilmott (858)964-3813. IAC Corporate Communications: Stacy Simpson/Leslie Cafferty (212)314-7470/7326 |
| Name: | webmastere |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.reserveamericasucks.com |
| Comments: | Wow, I have been gone for a few days, and came back to find that the guestbook had tons of new entries. I am sorry to see so many frustrated campers. This guestbook only holds 100 or 150 entries total, and I do have all of the emails from whenever a new post is made, however, you all can't see the past few years worth of posts, and I don't want your good ideas to be lost to posterity. Several people mentioned a facebook page, so I made one that has a discussion tab. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Reserve-America-Sucks/298261430208 |
| Name: | Berbaum |
| E-mail address: | cberbaum@gmail.com |
| Comments: | RA STINKS!!! I do this every year. Its ALWAYS stressful. 1/2/10 reservation day for our July trip was tough but not as bad as today. I logged on at 7:50am & had my accounts set & ready to click "book it". After an hour of "server timed out" messages I got the lame message "Our apologies....we're working on the server" AGHH!!! I drove to work & started trying again. at 9:33am it started working again. I was able to get two sites right next to each other. These were the ones I wanted at 8am and got them!!!! I got another site 4 places down, & another site 4 places down from that one. 6 of us were trying and I was the only one able to get spots. Thank goodness I had time to do this. RA needs to get a new system up. The first business day of Jan, Feb, and March are and will continue to be SUPER BUSY and they need to prepare for that. I am sorry for those who did not get spots for there summer vacations. I have been there and feel your pain. Carlsbad SB vacation spot |
| Name: | SAM |
| E-mail address: | saramears@gmail.com |
| Comments: | Someone should totally make "Reserve America Sucks" facebook page, that would be awesome! It took 2 hours of reloading the page, redialing the phone (always busy) and we got our sites in Big Sur. This site could be more user-friendly, and they should have servers that can handle such a large flux of traffic, it is ridiculous that I am competing for server capacity, with someone who wants to get a camp site at an entirely different camp ground. Perseverance is key with this site, and then flexibility if your dates get booked... so lame... |
| Name: | Bruce |
| Comments: | reserveamerica is the 7th most popular google search! LOL! Lots of pissed off people out there! http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X&oi=prbx_hot_trends&ct=title&q=reserveamerica http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X&oi=prbx_hot_trends&ct=more-results |
| Name: | Tom |
| E-mail address: | trocathome@cox.net |
| Comments: | What I don't understand is the number of sites simply not available for booking online. At El Capitan, in just one camping loop, there were over 12 out of 40 sites not even available to reserve...not shown as booked, just invisible on the availability screens. Do they hold these back for drive-up arrivals that day? Do they hold them for friends of employees? How were about 8 of the choice sites already booked for the first 2 - 7 days of the month, when the system supposedly doesn't allow bookings to extend from one month into another? There's something going on about availability of these sites which isn't disclosed on the Reserve America site. It breeds suspicion of favoritism. The CA State Parks would be wise to more fully communicate what's going on. And when we do use their computer system, they might as well have a lottery. It's very frustrating to time out again and again, and each time I log back in I see fewer and fewer spots available. And getting through by phone is impossible. I don't think CA has any incentive to fix it. RA is probably the low bidder, and the popular campsites sell out every year, so what do they care if it's a broken system? |
| Name: | Vince |
| Comments: | Score!!! After 40 mins of senseless loading and reloading I finally got my first pick. Big Sur here we come. Spot 137 right on the water. Best site in the whole joint. Up yours Reserve America. This whole system needs a total revamping. |
| Name: | TSparky |
| E-mail address: | thomas_sparkman@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Same as everyone else below, spent 2 frustrating hours getting timed-out and then finally RA stopped responding. Came back and I was actually able to get my first part choice, but 4th choice for site. I suspect that many people just gave up. California should switch to rolling 6 month reservations like the National parks are now doing. That way, if you want to start on Aug 13th, you would make your reservations on Feb 13. I emailed the head of the state parks with that suggestion - if enough people do that it might help. Also contact your local Rep/Senator too. Tom |
| Name: | Joyce Watt |
| E-mail address: | siswatt@aol.com |
| Comments: | From the PRNewswireNetYork IAC and The Active Network, Inc. a leading provider of technology and market solutions for community service and participatory sports organizations has entered into an agree for Active to acquire ReserveAmerica, from IAC. Perhaps concerns about reservations for campgrounds could be sent to Active and it may enable them to improve the system. A number for ACTIVE is Tina Wilmott (858)964-3813. IAC Corporate Communications: Stacy Simpson/Leslie Cafferty (212)314-7470/7326. |
| Name: | alan logston |
| E-mail address: | alansgonefishing@gmail.com |
| Comments: | I hit redial every 10 to 15 seconds for ywo hrs and nothing now what? |
| Name: | Lou |
| E-mail address: | loubbqpit@gmail.com |
| Comments: | The site started showing signs of a heart beat allowing you to partially rebook, then would go down and back up. For about 5 minutes, all went smoothly. Our carts were never emptied and the sites were booked. But they went fast. |
| Name: | Lou |
| E-mail address: | loubbqpit@gmail.com |
| Comments: | The site started showing signs of a heart beat allowing you to partially rebook, then would go down and back up. For about 5 minutes, all went smoothly. Our carts were never emptied and the sites were booked. But they went fast. |
| Name: | KP in CA |
| E-mail address: | dave@coffeetopia.com |
| Comments: | WTF?!? So our family summer plans have just been screwed by Reserve America, again, and I'm furious! We, like many, only get one family trip per summer, and last year we had to abandon our multi-family camping spots due to this circus. This year was worse! How much money to RA make off of our reservations? Don't tell me they can't plan for the crush of online users--it's the same every year. And this doesn't even begin to address the faults with the reservation system as a whole. I believe it's time, for us at least, to move away from the in-system parks and start exploring the BLM and other non-reservation parks. RA can go to hell... |
| Name: | Cat M |
| Comments: | Woo Hoo..El Capitan Here we come! I am so happy. I just kept trying hoping I could get anything. |
| Name: | Bruce |
| Comments: | Got my spot. Finally. Probably only because I always go the week before Labor Day when places are empty and everyone else has given up out of frustration. RA still stinks. The system needs a changin'! |
| Name: | griz |
| Comments: | Just got my reservations...what a stressful morning!!! thanks a lot reserve america |
| Name: | Got in finally |
| Comments: | Got my 2nd choices. If your page still shows loading ...forget it..open a new page and try again. Took 2 solid hours. Good Luck |
| Name: | Cat M |
| Comments: | Ok...I am crying now. I have been waiting since last summer for this day and it totally sucked. For those that have been doing their thing for years, I feel your pain. |
| Name: | Bruce |
| Comments: | Just echoing what everyone else is saying here on Feb 1, 2010. Login worked fine at 0745 but as soon as 0800 hits the website becomes non-responsive. Forget about the phone, constantly busy. Had two tabs "booking" my spot but they always timed out. Finally gave up because I have to work. Then I try again at work and the web site had crashed. Big shocker there. This is really the fault of the way the CA State Park reservation system works. Opening up the entire CA State Park system 6 months in advance but on the first of the month forces everyone to try on the same day at the same time to get a reservation. Simply stupid. It brings the the RA system for the entire country to its knees just to satisfy CA. For those who say they will never use RA again, well, you have no other choice! I cannot believe that this does not violate federal anti-trust laws. I will be writing my congressman and Senator a letter to have them look into this. If they have time to investigate the college football BCS system then they have the time to investigate this. It's just as bad. |
| Name: | Jeff Woods |
| E-mail address: | hollywoods@mindspring.com |
| Comments: | Hey, guess what? The site is back up!! And all the campsites you wanted to book? RESERVED!!! Nice! Thanks RA!!! Reserve America SUCKS A$$!!!!!! |
| Name: | Disappointed Family |
| Comments: | So Sad. Can only afford one family camping trip a year. Can't even make a reservation through a company which reservations is all they do? RA's reservation structure only makes sense IF they realize they need to be able to handle the traffic that THEY have generated! RA you need to Fire your IT guys, Fire your CEO and make no mistake about it your monopoly will crumble soon enough! |
| Name: | Jimbo |
| E-mail address: | jimbo@dumble.com |
| Comments: | Not only can you not view the reserveamerica web pages, but you can't call them either. I had made my reservations a couple weeks ago and just wanted to pay for them today before the deadline, but after reading all the Feb. 1 messages in this guestbook I suspect my reservations will expire before I even have a chance to pay. |
| Name: | Michelle |
| E-mail address: | mulchmama@cox.net |
| Comments: | Just got thru like butta!! got my beachfront!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Name: | Christine |
| E-mail address: | cjaz65@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Reserve America... What a great company! NOT!!!!!!!!! I have to leave for work and have spent the last two hours (yes I tried to get on at 7:30) trying to make reservations. I get the same as everyone here. I have been able to get reservations in the past with them, but never have I tried on the 1st of the month and it has been a couple years since I have used them. This is absurd. Where is our old State Park system? |
| Name: | Parkers |
| Comments: | Love their claim they are upgradding the Website. Ca State Parks Site is down also, looks like Reserve America sucked the Ca State Park site down with it! |
| Name: | larry hughes |
| E-mail address: | hughes@qnet.com |
| Comments: | Reserve America does suck.... No real service, their site keeps crashing and we're unable to get on.. THEY SUCK BIG TIME..... LH |
| Name: | Matt in CA |
| Comments: | If you have a minute please visit the CA state parks page at http://www.parks.ca.gov and email Arnold or Mike Chrisman (links in left bar) expressing your displeasure with ReserveAmerica and demanding that RA either fix its problems or for the state to move to another reservation system. |
| Name: | Lou |
| E-mail address: | lousbbqpit@gmail.com |
| Comments: | The frustration is running rampid across america. What is so hard to swallow is the fact that we (as did so many others) had secured two spots in out cart and when we went to checkout, it asked for us to click on a "Details Needed" button. It just sat there, eventually timing out. I can accept not getting a site, but this was total chaos today. They should change their name to Fatchancereservingamerica.com |
| Name: | Send them an email |
| Comments: | ok. So send them an email reserveamerica@reserveamerica.com They should stagger the reservations so their crappy servers don't crash. |
| Name: | Robert Copenhaver |
| E-mail address: | R_copenhaver@sbcglobal.net |
| Comments: | AAAAAArrrrrgggghhh! I'm so sick of this ongoing nightmare. Gone are the days when we would gladly drive to San Clemente at six in the morning to wait in the line to get our site. We couldn't afford to do the big vacations alot of our friends could. But we all looked forward to our week at the beach - AND WE ALWAYS GOT A SITE. The park always kept a few sites available for out of town traverlers... |
| Name: | Reserve America Sucks my hairy beanbag |
| E-mail address: | cmapingsucksnow@america.com |
| Comments: | Here's something that will get you thinking about the way we have to reserve our camping spots. Every year my family gets a spot in Doheny SB in California, it used to be a matter of calling on the phone until we were able to get ahold of someone. So last year we happened to get 1 spot reserved during the 4th of July. We happened to meet a group of over 100 people that were all camping together and somehow they and their group managed to reserve 21 different spots over 4th of July weekend!!!!!!! How is this possible!?!?! Me and my family have about a dozen different people both calling and going on the internet trying to reserve spots and somehow these people are able to reserve that many spots for themselves on such a busy weekend?!?!?! There is undoubtedly some sort of corruption going on with this website if circumstances such as this can take place. I felt I needed to bring this to the attention of the users on this website and ask what can we do about this problem. Reserve America has single-handedly ruined the camping experience for everyone except the people with some sort of "hookup" with someone who works with the company. I would also like to point out that in addition to this severe example of misuse, there is also multiple other families that appear to have the same spot at the same time year after year. Given the amount of effort I exert trying to get a camping spot, I would really be curious to know how others can consistently keep getting the same spots every year?!?!?!?! If anyone has any thoughts or ideas as to whats is going on and how we can put a stop to it don't hesitate to sign the guest book so we can discuss how to out an end to this. |
| Name: | Elizabeth |
| E-mail address: | lizzie.ucsc@gmail.com |
| Comments: | My family dreads this day every year. We are all up at 7am discussing a game plan, logging in, setting up our tabs, and getting our phones ready. We call and call, and frantically press "book now" but we never have any luck. We usually have to piece together our dates, moving our campsite around 2-3 times during the week, but it looks like we don't even get that this year. We had several campsites in our check out, only to have that page timeout because the server was too overwhelmed to take our details, leaving us with nothing. Now RA has completely crashed and only displays that mocking "back soon" icon. This may be the first time in over 20 years my family wont be going to this beach. ReserveAmerica sucks soooo hard. |
| Name: | Lauren Richmond |
| Comments: | Reserve America Sucks the Joy out of Camping... i couldn't have said it better my whole family tried for 2 hours to get a campsite to no avail, the site kept crashing. Is this what camping in america has come to? SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!!!!!!!!! |
| Name: | TONY |
| Comments: | This site was down last nite for "upgrade" so I figured they were gearing up for this morning . What a shock ! Is it true that Reserve"America" is a Canadian company based in Ontario ? Figures |
| Name: | the closer |
| E-mail address: | time2share@me.com |
| Comments: | Yeah, sign this page up on facebook and see how many people join. |
| Name: | Cat M |
| Comments: | Now I'm really pissed! |
| Name: | susan knight |
| E-mail address: | csknight@citlink.net |
| Comments: | we are just one of the 8 families that get together camping every summer on the beach in California. We have all been doing this for about 15 years, so you can only imagin the stress we have endured over the years getting a site together.(with the lotteries ect... we use to go to el capitain but as we all got older we decided to change to carpinteria. it has all the hook ups for the ones who have rvs and we always have a great time . this year because of the BS on RA. not one of us was able to get a reservation seems to me they need to make room for people making reservations for week visits. but as we all spent hours getting knocked off from time laps. I was on the computer for hours. I just went back in and all the sites are availiable except the weekends. just so frustrating and sad that a BS co. can break up a annunal vacation for all of us it was the only way we all got together. each year ...my heart is breaking I hate Reserve America. They need to change the name to %&^% Americans... susan |
| Name: | maj reid |
| E-mail address: | fletch13r2@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Yep. Same problem as all you guys have had. Same issue. I clicked on a site for Carpinteria, it was blue, booking then time out and can't get back in. System goes down and now the website is completely gone. Amazing! I've tried the phone and, suprise!, busy. |
| Name: | Leo |
| E-mail address: | lzorell@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Good morning .. these is the error i got form RA this morning when trying to book .. they have issues!!! "Our Apologies... This Website will be Back Soon This website is currently unavailable while we make upgrades to improve our service to you." |
| Name: | Frances Moore |
| E-mail address: | Frantasticquilts@sbcglobal.net |
| Comments: | I totally agree with you. We have taken time off from work to try and book sites to no avail and this morning I guess the website was just overwhelmed and went off line. It is a real shame. It is the only way we can afford a vacation with our large family. Thanks for the website to vent. |
| Name: | Bob Haffey |
| Comments: | three years in a row we have not been able to get reservations at a campsite that we have been going to for the preior 6 years. The servers can't handle the load and neither can Reserve America...they have truly sucked the life out of not only our camping experience but the process of making reservations is a nightmare...we will no longer use Reserve America |
| Name: | Frank |
| Comments: | Oh what a sad joke reserveamerica is. I've been eagerly anticipating signing up for our family vacation, got everything ready ahead of time so I could just click on it once it came online. So did a million other users it seems. If you set your site up that way you'd think you'd have the capacity to back up the traffic. Not so with reserveamerica. I find it hard to believe that you have to go through this torture to get to reserve a spot with a State Camp Site. Well, actually I didn't get a spot. The site was non-functional the second the clock hit 8:00 and by the time it crashed I had not even been able to check out of my 3rd shopping cart. The previous 2 expired before I could fill in the details since the server was backed up. Then the entire site crashed. Well, you were all there so you know what I am talking about. If this is what I have to do to get a spot, I don't want a spot. I guess that is a self regulating mechanism of sorts. |
| Name: | Scott Stickle |
| E-mail address: | sestickle@gmail.com |
| Comments: | I echo the posts here, and then some. I've spent the last 1:15 attempting to provide the information the system requires for confirming my reservation, only to be dumped out and my site(s) lost. Maybe they should spend another 9.95 per month to get a second server at GoDaddy to make this work? |
| Name: | Nancy Roatcap |
| E-mail address: | nancysranch@aol.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.nancysranch.com |
| Comments: | Today I am trying to make reservations for Carpenteria State Beach, CA. They open the reservations six months before the month you want. Last year I had a horrible experience trying to patch together some days, finally ending up with 4 nights, moving campsites once and with three separate reservations, two cancelled, five in all. Today I got my dates by keeping 6 tabs open grinding away on the dates and after several timeouts. Then you must enter the details. They gave me 11 minutes before throwing out my dates. The website was so clogged up I never got through, and they threw out my dates twice, forcing me to go through the multi tab experience angain. Then, the site went down. Now, I have to go to work, and I doubt if the kid are going to get to go to the beach this year. |
| Name: | RA Crashed |
| Comments: | Yes. The website is crashed. F'n republicans....sure private enterprise can do it better. f you. |
| Name: | viva_Boulder |
| Comments: | posted on Twitter by viva_Boulder ReserveAmerica "Our Apologies...This Website will be Back Soon" spoiled our vacation plans. Americas $97,000,000 computerized booking co. |
| Name: | kathleen simmons |
| E-mail address: | katfarley@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | I'm so tired of trying to get camping reservations every month with no luck...... RA really has taken the joy of camping from all of us! What can we do? Reserve America has got to GO! |
| Name: | Bret |
| E-mail address: | bret@ieee.org |
| Comments: | I too tried for an hour to book a site and timed out each time. Everytime I went back, more sites were gone. Who do you suppose was getting through? Last month I got a site and it wouldn't let me check out. Everytime I tried, it had a server error and took about 2 minutes off the time I had until my site was released. I finally paid for it with 30 seconds to spare. I have wondered for a while if they prioitize friends and family of the people that work there. Maybe they finally went too far and shut everyone else out intirely? Does anyone know who in the government we could write to replace reserve america as the CA state park reservation company or is it run by the government? I think you need to put this site on Facebook and have people become fans. I think it would get more attention. Bret |
| Name: | The Closer |
| E-mail address: | time2share@me.com |
| Comments: | The way this should be done is to let everyone line up at a spot and then blow a horn. everyone should run and plant a flag in the spot they want. hahahaha. it would work about as well as this stupid website were trying to use. any one get a reservation yet? i have called 75 times over the last hour. this is mother f'n lame |
| Name: | Matt in CA |
| Comments: | ReserveAmerica is a joke. They are the only way to reserve a state campground in California and their servers cannot handle the load. Every year when "reservation day" rolls around their crappy infrastructure gets taken to its knees, what a great experience as a consumer! The 800 number is of course busy for hours on end, no chance there. So far this morning they've gone through the following: 1. Huge traffic causes heavy load and page displays slow to a crawl. 2. Their application server gets overloaded and the web server can no longer proxy requests to the application server. 3. The application server either crashes or is restarted, leading their apache web server to display an error page. 4. Right as I'm entering my credit card information they take the site off line for maintenance... arg! Apparently now they are "improving our service for you", at least that is what the site is saying. How nice of them, it's not like I need to get to work or anything. And at this point I don't care about "improved" service, how about any service at all! I'm a software engineer and build these types of online applications for a living, it's inexcusable that Reserve America is the sole provider for the state of CA and that they cannot figure out how to keep their application running. This happens year after year and is just sad. Shame on Reserve America and shame on the state park system for forcing me to use them. - Matt |
| Name: | Neal |
| Comments: | I just spent 2 hours trying to reserve a space in a camp ground in Texas (Potters Creek). After many problems with passwords and etc. I finally pushed the final button to pay for a 3-night stay in April. You guessed it---it timed out. I tried to refesh and re-enter, but no can do----OBVIOUSLY they do not have the proper equipment and/or software to handle the business of campground reservations. |
| Name: | michelle Anderson |
| E-mail address: | michanderson8@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Has anyone been able to make a reservation this Morning? I can't even sign in? Too bad there wasn't a different company that offered these services. Isn't this considered a monopoly. If the phone companies can't do this why can the parks department? Our lovely government is to overwhelmed to deal with this. Heaven forbid we be entitled to use what we pay taxes for! |
| Name: | George |
| E-mail address: | finman48@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | We've been camping at Refugio State Beach for thirty-eight years. This is the first year we were unable to book reservations. Each year has progressively become more difficult to access . ReserveAmerica ia a booking monopoly in league with the State. The State refuses to acknowledge complaints about RA. It's amazing to realize they book all State parks . The State fees already exclude many campers . Adding the leaches of Reserve America to the fees is egregious and we need to be able to explain that to State legislators. Write your State Congressperson. |
| Name: | Thre Parkers |
| Comments: | Getting desired dates is very improtant, the web site crashes the first of every month! When it is working it is slow and often times out while making reservations. I can emagine why anyone would use this company. My-God, the feds left it, that says it all! |
| Name: | Alexis |
| E-mail address: | lexyib@gmail.com |
| Comments: | I've been online since 7:45 am... website is dysfunctional, I still don't have a campsite reservation, and their stupid phone lines are constantly busy!! This is beyond ridiculous!! |
| Name: | Peter |
| Comments: | After spending a long frustrating morning battling RA servers (and losing), I have some thoughts on the matter too :-) Instead of having the government run the reservation process, we need competition! The government should allow multiple companies to handle reservations, and whoever has the best service and lowest prices will gain market share. Win-win. |
| Name: | Ryan Prest |
| E-mail address: | rgprest@gmail.com |
| Comments: | Tried booking a campsite for 1.5 hours to no avail. Keep timing out because too many people. Now the website says its down for upgrades. What a load of bull shit this website is. |
| Name: | rose |
| E-mail address: | mickeyandfrankie@live.com |
| Comments: | try getting on and having your campsite booking...............and they knock you off and now can't get any reservation............worst system ever.There site is down........and we only get 1 second to book spot. |
| Name: | cathy mendoza |
| E-mail address: | cmendoza03@sbcglobal |
| Homepage URL: | http://yahoo.com |
| Comments: | I feel like crying. This is my 1st year of planning our own family group camping trip. I have not been able to sign in or get through via telephone for over 50 mins. To top it off..the web site went down. I let you know the outcome. |
| Name: | Dave |
| E-mail address: | abc@def.com |
| Comments: | Trying to book sites at San Elijo this morning I had 2 campsites in my shopping cart (YAY!!!) but the system kicked me out with a "read error" message (booo). When I finally logged back in my cart was empty :-( |
| Name: | Lucy |
| E-mail address: | Lucycs57@aol.com |
| Comments: | Reserve America sucks more every year. It's cheaper to stay in a hotel near the beach. The real insult is when you do get thru, and get a campsite, and you see multiple empty sites around you. What gives? |
| Name: | Bruce |
| E-mail address: | jj@aol.com |
| Comments: | F'n web site went down just a few minutes ago! 8:43am I've been on sicce 8am! |
| Name: | andrea van holt |
| E-mail address: | alm25hb@aol.com |
| Name: | cindy wheeland |
| E-mail address: | lawrencewheeland@sbcglobal.net |
| Comments: | So today is THE day to make Ca State park reservations and the reserveamerica site says"we are upgrading the site" Hello! why would they do it on the day when thousands of people trying to get sites? |
| Name: | Sue |
| Comments: | This morning I have wasted over an hour trying to book camping at San Elijo for August. When I finally logged in and hit book at exactly 8 am the server eventually timed out. I tried this 6 or 7 times with the same response. I was going to cal them to complain but guess what their web site is now down. Thanks for nothing RA you SUCK! |
| Name: | Justin |
| E-mail address: | Jollero@aol.com |
| Comments: | I agree with you reserve america sucks. I took the morning off of work to book a campsite at Half Moon bay state beach (CA) for my sons 6th birthday. I cannot get through the phone. I have spent an hour online, and it says booking, but never books it, and now an hour later, they took the website down for maintenence. Crappy servers they must have, isn;t this a monopoly, they can charge what ever they want. |
| Name: | david yarwood |
| Comments: | I've spent all morning trying to make a reservation, and this website couldn't be more accurate. It's obvious that they have never stress tested their website. Their phone system is so overloaded you can't even get into a holding queue. With this example of service I can't believe they are able to stay in business. David Y |
| Name: | Bummed in CA |
| Comments: | Nice servers ReserveAmerica. Maybe you should move out of your NYC offices to somewhere more cost effective, spend the money on servers so we can actually reserve camping sites and lower the fees at the same time. The reservations site should be run for campers by campers, not a bunch of suits. |
| Name: | jeff woods |
| E-mail address: | hollywoods@mindspring.com |
| Comments: | I HATE RESERVEAMERICA California state parks simply cannot be reserved... th ewebsite is hacked, you have to reserve 6, yes SIX months in advance !!! The reservation supposedly opens up at 8:00, but so does the websit lock F'ing up Reserve America, YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 |
| Name: | Fernando Hurtado Jr |
| E-mail address: | destroycreate@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | F**K RESERVE AMERICA... THEY'RE IDIOTS, THERE'S A MILLION PHONE NUMBERS ON THEIR PAGE BUT NON TO THE HOME OFFICE I WONDER WHY? BASED IN NYC? WHY DO I NEED TO DO BUSINESS WITH NYC OVER A CA CAMPGROUND? YOU'RE "KIKES" I CAN'T BELIEVE THE NET OF CROOKS AND STEALING HAS CROSSED OVER INTO CAMPING? ANY MEANS OF MAKING MONEY A "KIKE" WILL EXPLOIT. TOO BAD THIS IS BECOMING A MONOPOLY ON THE ENTIRE CAMPING INDUSTRY, ANYONE WANT TO START A CLASS ACTION ANTI TRUST CASE AGAINST THESE "KIKES." RESERVE AMERICA, I PRAY FOR YOUR CHEAP SOULS FOR I FEEL YOU ALREADY SOLD THEM SO YOU CAN CHARGE PEOPLE A PREMIUM FOR THAT JOKE OF A WEBSITE YOUR SLOW STUPID SERVER AND FOR FORCING PEOPLE TO GO THROUGH YOUR NAZI/KIKE SERVICE TO DO SOMETHING THEY ENJOY, CAMPING. |
| Name: | Elena Nunez |
| E-mail address: | mayaelen5@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | I am able to relate to your fustration and anger towards RA. I have also experienced the worst customer service ever through RA. The first experience I had was two years ago on Labor Day weekend. We made reservations to our favorite spot at Carpenteria State Beach 6 months before as it should be done (with confirmation number)and to our surprise we had no reservations. The staff tried accomodate us with a one night stay, but in order to stay another day we must have to be there bright and early to lotto a space. We called the customer service line and they had no explanation for it, but they sure did charge our card for it. It was the worst weekend ever!!! The staff was extremely rude, inexperienced and unhelpfull. It took RA months before we even received any monies back to our credit card and the whole amount was not returned only partial payment. Thank you very much for keeping this going another year, maybe other viewers might read and change their minds when trying to reserve through Reserve America. Sincerely, Elena Nunez |
| Name: | Doris Wilkinson |
| E-mail address: | doriswilkinson373@gmail.com |
| Comments: | I tried to reserve a Texas state park RV site on Jan. 20, 2010 for latter March, 2010. I put in a 3 week range and was told NOTHING WAS AVAILABLE. My skeptic husband called the Texas Park Reservation phone number (wait forever and pay toll charges or have them call you back) and was told there were plenty of available sites. In fact, there were 30 openings for the specific week we wanted. I have to wonder how many people have been done this way and given up, thinking that Reserve America was accurate. |
| Name: | Timothy |
| E-mail address: | timothy@yahoo.com |
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| Name: | Kathy B |
| E-mail address: | kb28021@carolina.rr.com |
| Comments: | I fully feel your pain. I too have been forced to pay cancellation fees thru Reserve America. Like most families we lead busy lives that sometimes result in last minute plans. When you want to reserve a campsite for 2 weeks, you had better plan at least 10 months in advance or your'e in trouble. No more flying by the seat of your pants. So when I made our summer reservations only 6 months in advance I was not surprised that our two weeks would be split into moving from one site to another, 3 sites all total. (3 sites equals 3 reservations) Just a few days later, I noticed that someone cancelled their reservation and oh boy, not only was it a good location but we could go from 3 to only 2 times of packing up and moving spots. Here is where it gets frustrating. I still was going to be camping on the same dates, same campground, I just wanted to move my reservation to a better site that had come available. I was told I would have to pay a cancellation fee. I said OK. And since I was cancelling 2 sites to get one better site, that would be two cancellation fees. It really doesn't seem fair, especially when you arrive at the campground and you see all these great campsites sitting empty (the people ended up not coming) yet other campers are turned away because the campground is fully reserved. These has to be a better system. |
| Name: | Linda |
| E-mail address: | linda_miller59@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Trying to make reservations with RA is the worst experience ever. Every year I go through the same thing i try to sign in but my password never works and then when they assign one it still doesn't work I now have tried 4 times to get on to make reservations at a NY state park. I just wonder how much money the states lose because of this poor service, I know I am ready to start going to privately owned campgrounds because it is less frustrating and I don't have all day to kiss the ass of RA to get a site. |
| Name: | Angie |
| E-mail address: | peluso2k@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Reserve America has turned camping into a nightmare. At one California State Park we have not been able to book our favorite site in over 3 years and unfortunately the rest of the sites at the campground are pretty bad....cramped....and filled with those lovely, natural, white travel trailers that barely fit. Sorry...I'm a tent camper and travel trailers are just plain ugly. This park could definately do a better job of separating trailer campers from tent campers...and apparently everyone else that visits here feels the same....or I would be able to get my site!!! Anyway, just spent an hour trying to book the site as today was the day it would be available to reserve. Got up at 6:30, logged in, had everything ready to go. Literally pushed to "book now" button for 25 minutes prior to 8:00 AM PST start because I don't trust reservamaerica's clock. Sure enough, lost the site, some how it was already booked all the way through August???? This is the most ridiculous system. I find it amazing how easy it was to camp before the days of ReserveAmerica...Now I have to book 6 months in advance and still can't get my favorite site!!!! |
| Name: | Mitchell Howell |
| E-mail address: | mitchell013@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Going to canada to reserve your camping experience for the US is just plain idiotis! Thats like getting an american car thats made in mexico.....OOPS, too late!Their service is atrocious at best! I fight for squatters rights at a state beach in So. Cal every year and every year there is a mix up or un called for confusion as to who is occupying the site and the duration of the stay. Fortunately for somebody else, two of us haven't shown up at the same time to check in! Happy New Years to you all, and lets continue to deal with the sub par entities that bring us customer service at its finest! |
| Name: | Robert |
| Comments: | Reserve America, what a joke. We camp at Army Corps of Engineers Campgrounds and until it became mandatory to use reserve america it always was enjoyable. Now we have to fight to get a campsite. I miss the old days of reserving at the campground. Currently the campground we stay at is undergoing some renovations. Reserve America has given so much misinformation about this. They have no clue what is going on at the campground because they are 300 miles away! Last year they allowed several people to book sites only to take them away before their arrival date. This happened to some of our family. They had planned their vacation time at work, scheduled everything around their trip just to get a letter in the mail that said "sorry your reservations have been canceled." Now, if we were able to book at the campground where they can actually tell you what is going on, this wouldnt have been an issue. Its like there is no communication between the Corps of Engineers and Reserve America. I have already tried to book a site this year for this summer and the saga continues. Reserve America once again is giving out incorrect info. It just amazes me with all of the technology we have here in the USA that someone cannot relay the truth to the public. WHY MUST WE HAVE A MIDDLE MAN? IS IT SUCH A BIG TASK TO BOOK SITES AT THE CAMPGROUNDS? Go figure, anything that the government is involved in is bound to be screwed up. |
| Name: | judy randall |
| E-mail address: | forepaughs03@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | I agree with you that Reserve America sucks - I sat up waiting until midnight on Christmas Eve to get a 2 week stay for the 4th of July. At 12:01 a.m., I attempted to reserve my site - a message came back saying I had to wait until 10 am on 12/25 to make my reservation. I thought it had to be an error, I've done this a few times already and never got that message - sure enough, same note 5 other times. On Christmas morning, I tried again (just in case) at 7:30, 7:45, 8:00, 8:30 am. My husband went online at 8:45 am - campsite booked ! Talk about ticked off. The next business day I emailed Reserve America to ask what the reservation rules are - TALK ABOUT RUDE, they would not answer my simple question as to how someone else could reserve the site but I COULD NOT..........all they kept saying was it was booked until July 9th -- Reserve America is a scam ! |
| Name: | Tom |
| E-mail address: | dtom@gmail.com |
| Comments: | RA is an underperforming group of hacks who cannot run a simple web server farm. Try getting a site on January 2 2010 you will be amazed at how amaturish this group of Canadian commies is. |
| Name: | Pat |
| Comments: | IN North Carolina we were charged $3/day for the reservation system although we drove in without a reservation. This was a NC state recreation area. |
| Name: | Mike |
| Comments: | I was stunned when I first came upon RA several years ago. I'd much like to know who authorized (in a legislative sense) their takeover of the process. THOSE are the bastards I have a problem with. What company wouldn't fleece it's customers given legislative license? |
| Name: | Tony |
| E-mail address: | ttony@gmail.com |
| Comments: | Everyone seems to be upset that RA has poor customer service since they have a monopoly on state park campgrounds. It just might be that the individual states that subscribe to their services hire RA on the criteria of pricing, and how much work that they think that it would be to switch vendors. Given the economic state of the last few years, this makes sense from a political perspective. But it doesn't do any harm to complain at RA for being crappy, though it might do a lot of good to complain to whatever government entity was responsible for hiring them in the first place, and continuing to hire them. There are competitors to RA, some better, some worse, but I think that it requires the individual state governments need to see that it's citizens are displeased with the garbage customer service. |
| Name: | passing through |
| Comments: | if the writer of this site was trying to plug their website design services as the last guestbook poster suggests, then wouldn't they have put a link to their web design business on the site somewhere? Sounds like you RA employees don't think things through before you post here... |
| Name: | larry peay |
| E-mail address: | larry_ccs@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Wow, what a crybaby. It sounds like you are trying to promote you skills as a web designer and web consultant than to rectify a potential problem with reserve america. I've camped from Florida to Colorado and yes, we all have "issues"- grow up man. |
| Name: | hello |
| Comments: | first things first i use to work for RA and the first thing i want to address is to TARA YOUNG please get your info right this is not a canada based company they are out of calf. and they do not work with ticket master ticket master sold them out to a company in calf. and most of the agents get minawage and they get no more no raises they don't get noitced when they have worked for the company over a year you all keep saying that the agents are rude well you know what you would be rude too if you were called names on the phone for something you have no control over i mean i have been called as bad as a C*** now i will be rude and hang up on you you wouldnt call your mother or your wife names like that we get called these name because you can not see us face to face.. and all the rates are told to you and if you want to know a rate ask then you will get the rate... dont' take it out on a agent they didnt do anything wrong but try to go by the policy that are written out to them they can not change that policy in no way or form... so grow up or sell you trailer tent or what every ya want to sleep in and go sleep in a hotel oh what those prices have raised and you can not afford them and also cancle on of those resv on the day of and see what ya get back and yes you are charged a non refunable resv fee like most place you resv for you get charged that from camping to airplane tickets |
| Name: | Scott |
| E-mail address: | AZPeakFitness@aol.com |
| Comments: | I've read many angry posts against RA here and I must say that I do not share your views. I have had success in using this online service, but even if not, in this day and age you should expect bookings of this type to be done by computer. For specific campsite knowledge, I call the local campground "ahead" of making my reservation online. My disappointment is on a much larger scale in that access for dispersed camping in general is disappearing. Thank goodness I live in Arizona which has a lot of BLM land. But the beautiful state of California becomes an impossible task to experience in the freedom and spirit that it once was. Scott |
| Name: | Miles |
| E-mail address: | helpdesk@reserveamerica.com |
| Comments: | Regarding winter camping, many campgrounds adjust the number of "reservable sites" by season. Simply because they appear to be sold out, in fact many remain for a "walk-in". Popular locations in CA like Mt. Tam, Sea Clff, Refugio, Doheny tend to stay fully booked all year long, and only one or two overflow sites remain. |
| Name: | Tara Young |
| Comments: | Yes, ReserveAmerica is Canadian owned, albeit a division of TicketMaster (also Canadian owned). Furthermore, ReserveAmerica has pulled jobs from New York and California for tech and help desk support. Because the contracts with certain states require call centers within their boundaries, RA complies, moving the beter paid, more highly skilled jobs up north, leaving the minimum wage, entry level, barely benefitted employees to work the call centers. Due to call rotations, your reservation agent may not be in the state contracted, therefore not knowledgeable or helpful. Dependent on contract, a percentage of all fees do go back to each state. Daily use camping fees themselves are set by the states. |
| Name: | Donald R Turlington |
| E-mail address: | dontigger@gmail.com |
| Comments: | I do agree with you about the fee's, but you were told of them BEFORE you reserved. Customer Service HAS gone to pot for years in almost every business, not just RA. I just used the system to book for Allegany State park in N.Y. for August. ( we'll see what happens. ) But in RA defense, They are the Third party for a reason, they are a business, and they are on a phone so they don't care cause you can't get them fired. I have been in a hotel type of business and you can not believe the hassel people cause by booking, then canceling, re-booking....ect ect. That is why the fee's are so much. It is to discourge you from doing so. And if you take a part back to an automotive place now you pay a re-stocking fee, so........... I agree that you got semi screwed, and I agree that they can improve the system, but all in all, it is brand new, and they haven't worked out ALL the kinks yet. It is also a shame that the woman canceled your reservation anyway. I have learned to get their name or I.D. number, and I even now ask for a supervisor..... Good luck in the future! |
| Name: | Connor |
| E-mail address: | connor@yahoo.ca |
| Homepage URL: | http://step.977mb.com/lortab/lortab-elixer.html |
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| Name: | Mike |
| E-mail address: | mebm14th@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | As explained many times, RA is not a Canadian company. I don't know where people are getting this idea, unless they are trusting wikipedia. The same company that owns TicketMaster, Active Networks, is the parent company. Also, per night camping fees are assigned by the state, not RA. All other business rules are what the state assigns, whether they use RA or not. RA has control of the reservation and change/cancel fees, which are approved by the state. |
| Name: | unhappy camper |
| Comments: | Today, while I was at one of the Gulf Islands National Shore areas, I stopped at the ranger station to ask questions about camping in the newly reopened campgrounds which had been shut down for several years due to hurricane destruction and the Bush administration's withholding of federal funding for reconstruction. The ranger said they will soon be using Reserve America, but until then, I can get a campsite on a first-come first-served basis. I said I dislike Reserve America and explained that I got rid of my RV several years ago, partly because of Reserve America's policies. He replied that he and his co-workers want Reserve America to take over because it will lighten the rangers' workload, especially since there has been a substantial reduction in force; he expects it will make his work easier and provide him with more time off. His overall response to me was a clear indication that he was displeased with my opinion about Reserve America. I had been thinking about buying another RV, but now I think that would be a waste of money since Reserve America has evidently taken control of most state and national park campgrounds. |
| Name: | Robert Baker |
| E-mail address: | mycasita@aol.com |
| Comments: | Camping in California is going through some rough times. Arnold Schwartznagger, our governor wants to close 200 of our campgrounds because of the budget crunch. It costs $32 per night now to camp in a state campground, and yes, you have to reserve through Reserve America. A county campground (Lake Cachuma, just north of Santa Barbara) will be going to Reserve America because they say it is more cost effective. I feel I might as well sell my truck and trailer because it is becoming too expensive to spend a few days in a campground on a retirement income. |
| Name: | Todd Stiles |
| E-mail address: | tlstiles@sbcglobal.net |
| Comments: | I'm done with wasting my early morning every first of the month trying to get a campsite with this jackass outfit. You jump through all THEIR hoops, get logged in and sit there waiting to start clicking on a specific campsite only to be outdone by someone or something else but can you quickly jump to an ajoining campsite? NO, hell no their system will bump you off, or ask you to again sign in or who knows what. Reserve America is a prime example of the total loss of customer service in America. On top of that we find that the cost of our favorite campground in CA jumped 38% from $47 a night to $65 a night this year. If it was not worth the hasstle before then it is certainly not worth it now. They can screw themselves now, especially since they woun't have us to screw anymore. |
| Name: | Amy T |
| E-mail address: | amylt2004@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Our story is one similiar. Our favorite camping spot in upstate NY where my husband has been camping now for 30 years has become a source of frustration, anxiety and anger!!! The fees we have paid to make, change, or adjust our reservations usually adds up to about $50.00 a year. We do have one further suggestion and would appreciate any ideas or support others may have on this. We believe very strongly that the 9 month window should apply residents of the state. Persons wishing to make reservations at a campground out of state would not be able to reserve a site until an 8 month window. This would ensure that the taxpayers supporting their parks would have first choices. Because the only thing worse than a canadian company controlling our reservations is the damn canadians getting your camp site!! |
| Name: | In the Know |
| Comments: | KOA uses ReserveAmerica for reservations...The ReserveAmerica agent that told someone to use the private campground, KOA, if they didn't like reserving state camping through ReserveAmerica knew this... ReserveAmerica has monopolized camp reservations. Monopolies tend to care less about customer service as they know your choices are limited. It's deal with us or go without as far as ReserveAmerica is concerned. As you can see from the employees comments on here, the lack of concern for service and the level of intelligence this company employs. As well, one employee has remarked that the agents are 'working long hours' and another that ReserveAmerica pays them very little and gives them little if any recognition ReserveAmerica does not care about your level of service, your vacation plans, or your complaints. The bottom line is the only thing they are watching...and your not in it ! Private campgrounds and recreations that use ReserveAmerica are •KOA •Encore/ELS Reservations •Thousand Trails |
| Name: | Mark Miller |
| E-mail address: | miller_90201@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Every year I organize a trip of 8th grade students from our school in southern California for a 3-day trip to tour the Capitol and the historic parts of Sacramento. I have to make the Capitol tour reservations through Reserve America. Every year, it is a complete nightmare. This year, reservations for the tour supposedly became available at 8 a.m. on October 24th. I began dialing three different phones at that exact moment. Using redial, I estimate that each phone was making three calls per minute; at the end of 40 minutes of doing this, I finally got stopped getting the "all lines are busy" recording. I estimate that was about 350 phone calls. THEN, I call a recording from R/A, "A representative will be with you shortly." As I write this, I have been listening to that recording for about one hour. I happened to have gotten through on a cell phone; the battery ran down, so I had to find my charger, while still on hold, and plug it in. The recording also says "reservations are available on line at ReserveAmerica.com" This is simply a lie. The only thing available on their website is for CAMPING. I've spent almost an hour trying to make a TOUR reservation for my kids on line; it can't be done. This is the worst company I have EVER worked with ,for anything. They obviously have an exclusive contract with the government! |
| Name: | Kathy S. |
| E-mail address: | stateladyvstar@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Exactly how much of these fees go back into the state coffers?????????????????????????? |
| Name: | Ron Witt |
| E-mail address: | witt_rs@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | My wife and I have faced our own horrors with Reserve America. We try to stay in state parks as much as possible enjoying the larger campsites and greater privacy offered over the privately owned parks. Unfortunately, I have found many of the park rangers in our state parks as essentially lazy. This is why a company such as Reserve America easily contracted with these parks to schedule their reservations. Yes, I too believe a better, simplier and cost effective system is possible but it would require more effort from the parks and the rangers hired. |
| Name: | frustrated |
| Comments: | I just want to say that I think it is ridiculous to try and book a campsite with RA. I try every year to book a cabin at a NYS park in the summer and every year I get nothing!!! I wake up every sat. morning at 8:30 to get on the RA website and start clicking on the book now button at about 8:55 just hoping that I will actually snag something. But NO everything is booked!!!! How is it possible that everything is reserved already by 9 am on the dot? Why can't I get through? And forget calling RA by the time you get through to someone everything is gone! There has got to be some unknown trick to this because someone is getting these sites!!! Then the worst of it is when I settle for a tent site and then I get there and half of the cabins are empty? WTF!!!! Why can't we just call the parks to reserve like we used to? F*** RA and their stupid unreservable site!!!! |
| Name: | anthony caccamo |
| E-mail address: | antcaccamo@optonline.net |
| Comments: | you are absolutely right Reserve America SUCKS big fat camping logs it is the worst company to deal with when it comes to making reservations rude bastards stuipd motherfers who give a shit less for the poeple they should be helping F--- THEM Canadian F---'s... |
| Name: | unhappy camper |
| Comments: | To help understand why our legislators have given private companies control of access to public campgrounds, search online for "privatization of the public sector," "neoliberalism," and "enclosure." Privately controlled access is only the first step toward eventual selling of public parks to private owners. It needs to be understood that private operators obtained control of the parks through backroom deals with legislators - the public was never asked to vote on it and it was never an issue in the media. Campers might want to find out the names of the legislators who are responsible for giving campground access to the private sector without asking their constituents' approval. |
| Name: | John Piggott |
| E-mail address: | john.piggott@gmail.com |
| Comments: | I have had my difficulties with RA. I can not for the life of me reserve the site I want no matter how many days I log in for 09:00 am openning of the system. Even when I get to the checkout and have given all of my information I get the same error every time, and lose the booking. When dealing with a monopoly we lose the free enterprize incentive to do a good job. Reserve America saves the parks money by managing their reservations. There is no reason for Reserve Ameerica to offer any quality service as they are the only show in town and no one will or can challenge them. When a compeditor steps up, RA will find that is not as easy getting money for nothing. Have a good camping year anyway, JP |
| Name: | bblhed |
| Comments: | Yes, they do suck oh so bad! Here in CT until this week camp sites were $15, get two days and that is $30, What's up with a reservation fee that is almost 30% of what the camp site would cost? And now they want $9 to cancel. These people are nothing but thieves that probably promised these states that reservations would keep their campgrounds full. Here is a nice little tidbit for you as well, it you do the walk in thing at your local campground, they charge you teh $9 fee at the desk. Thieves!!! |
| Name: | meg edwards |
| E-mail address: | megje@optonline.net |
| Comments: | There cancelation policy is the worst ! Lost $80.00 to cancle of season. for 2 nights. will never use them again ! |
| Name: | debbie maillet |
| E-mail address: | debbiemaillet@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | Yes I agree this reservation fee of $9.50 and all the cancellation fees suck. I live in Canada and I will tell you the camping fees here are very very expensive, recently went for a 2 night stay near kingston ontario, total cost was $71.00 for 2 nights. Compared to camping in the U S even with the fees, the U S is a steal compared to canada. |
| Name: | justin |
| E-mail address: | zeroten@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | i applaud your vigilance against sucky companies. bravo. |
| Name: | duuuu |
| Comments: | RA IS NOT A CANDIAN BASED COMPANY THE COMPANY IS IN AMERICA NOT IN CANADA GET THAT STRAIGHT IF YOU WOULD USE YOUR BRAIN ONCE IN YOUR LIFE YOU WOULD FIGURE RA OUT THEY HAVE RULES THEY HAVE TO FALLOW THEY COME FROM THE STATE AND CAMPGROUNDS THEY HAVE TO PUT THOSE TO TWO POLICY TOGEATHER AND MAKE ONE LETS SEE U DO THAT AND MAKE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS AND CANDIANS HAPPY WITH OUT GETTING COMPLAINTS OH YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO DO THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT SMART TO FIGURE OUT RA SO GIVE UP AND GO SOMEWHERE ELES AND QUIT PUTTING AGENTS DOWN THAT ARE JUST DOING THEIR JOB THEY ARE HIRED TO DO A JOB ITS NOT THE AGENTS FAULT ABOUT THE POLICY SO QUIT YELLING AT THEM ABOUT IT IF YOU HAVE SUCH A PROMBLEM ABOUT RA AT THE BOTTOM OF RESERVEAMERICA AND RECREATION.GOV THERE IS A CONTACT US COMPLAIN THERE IF YA NEED TO BUT DON'T YELL AT THE AGENTS FOR SOMETHING THE COMPANY THEY WORK FOR DID GROWN UP DUMBASS |
| Name: | wrg |
| Comments: | I love Reserve America. I currently have 7 trips booked thru RA at my favorite State Parks including two water front 13 day trips in the keys at Thanksgiving and Christmas and two water front at the most popular South Carolina Beach State Park. I take pleasure in all your comments knowing the more you have problems the easier it is for me to get the sites I want. PS I may not be able to use the 13 day trip at Bahia Honda at Chistmas. watch RA it may become available soon. and yes RA wiil charge me a cancelation fee, why shouldn't they. RA is a for profit business, they must pay for computers, servers, office space, employees, power, water. By canceling I am creating additional work for RA, why would I expect to not pay for it. Just from the comment posted here how many extra employees do you think RA must hire just to handle cancelations. If I do work for someone I expect to be paid, if they require additional work I charge extra money. For those of you that want something for nothing, move to Canada. |
| Name: | Crystal Schultz |
| E-mail address: | magellan@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | I was shocked to discover this site when going to reserve a camping spot for my birthday next month. I have had multiple bad experiences with ReserveAmerica and am extremely resentful that I have no choice but to do deal with them whenever I want to camp in a state park. The agents I've spoken to have always been very unhelpful and sometimes downright rude, even with I'm just making a reservation and not even complaining or trying to cancel. In fact, I've never complained or tried to cancel anything and yet their suckyness has still managed to make and indelible impression on me. And that, in my opinion, shows the true depth of their suck. It's one thing to be rude and unhelpful when someone is having a problem with their service or/is being difficult, it's yet another when someone is just trying to peacefully give you their money. What a poor way to represent America's wonderful state parks!! Shame on you ReserveAmerica!!! |
| Name: | amber |
| Comments: | AAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to just be able tp pick up and go again, what camoing is all about. I hate RA,I hate capitalism, and I hate RA! |
| Name: | Tom |
| Comments: | I couldn't agree more. RA is a web-based system that you have to use a telephone to change a reservation on. This defeats the whole purpose of a web-based system. The hours for the customer service line for NYS Parks render it unavailable approximately 71% of the time (and the 29% of the time it is available pretty much consists of standard working hours when most folks have higher priorities than sitting on the phone to change a camping reservation). Perhaps that's why RA customer service is so poor, their employees are all taking care of personal telephone calls when they should be attending to their jobs... I could take the former RA employee's advice and just use KOA campgrounds (which I often do, they too are very nice), but on second thought, rather than write off all the beautiful state parks that I contribute toward as a taxpayer, I think I'll voice my concern (along with the hundreds of other folks that seem to feel the same) to my state officials. Perhaps they will consider contracting with an alternative company. |
| Name: | Andrew |
| E-mail address: | andrew@comcast.net |
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| Name: | Patrick |
| E-mail address: | patrick@cox.net |
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| Name: | Rob |
| E-mail address: | ufccv@cox.net |
| Comments: | I agree, Resurve America MAKES UP RULES AS THEY GO. You neve hear the same answar twice, it is imposible to deal with them. I called once when the lost a reservaton,I was able to get the rep. to admitt that they get lots of negative feed back and she agreed that somthing needed to be done. I gave up on booking and will not ever again go to a Rserve America camp-ground. |
| Name: | Andrew |
| Comments: | I go to the beach here in California twice a week. Since last Monday day parking went from $10 to $15 at all state beaches. The new day pass parking tickets now say Reserve America on them. I didn't reserve a parking spot! I don't like the 50% increase, especially when the company sponsoring my parking pass has a monopoly on state campgrounds in America! and I'm paying for there sponsorship. |
| Name: | mike |
| E-mail address: | magouldcapecod@comcast.net |
| Comments: | this is typical federal government. lets screw up a system that has worked great for years and hire a canadian company who gives two sh**s about you stupid americans.why dont we hire a mexican security company to protect our southern borders. Ime sure if I wanted to reserve a campsight in toronto, the telephone operator would finish the sentence with " aye ". but I still enjoy camping and will be camping until my last breath! |
| Name: | Roger L |
| E-mail address: | inquires@getcampsites.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.getcampsites.com |
| Comments: | For those of you who get frustrated because you can never get into certain state and federal parks, check out www.getcampsites.com We search reserveamerica every few hours to find your favorite sites/dates, and it's free. |
| Name: | Sue |
| E-mail address: | crazzeesue@gmail.com |
| Comments: | I really have never had a problem with RA. BUT! I do agree that the State of WI should take back the reserving. I would rather pay the state the extra to keep our parks as beautiful as they are than to give it to an outside company. I also do not like that almost all of the sites are reservable. They do not leave enough for drive ins. Oh and I also spend a lot of time at Pine WOods! It is a beautiful campground. |
| Name: | Debbie Hollingsworth |
| E-mail address: | debholly1960@hotmail.com |
| Comments: | I had no idea that R.A. is in Canada. Nothing like sending our jobs to another country. I live in Oregon and have to say that I have always had a great experience with reserving online. I always seem to get a sweet nice helpful person when I call reserve America to change or cancel a reservation. It costs 6.00 here change or cancel a reservation. I will say that I have never seen any of the rangers do anything but drive around the parks and bother people. I do not understand why they even have them in parks. The older volunteers are always the ones doing the actual work. Don't think our tax dollars are being used efficiently. Get rid of a bunch of rangers and save a lot of tax dollars. |
| Name: | Miguel |
| E-mail address: | migdog1198@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | I agree 100%. I have had a similar experience and think it's about time we got our campgrounds back. |
| Name: | Miguel |
| E-mail address: | migdog1198@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | I agree 100%. I have had a similar experience and think it's about time we got our campgrounds back. |
| Name: | Danny Camper |
| E-mail address: | djrjkocich@msn.com |
| Comments: | Texas uses Reserve America to do online reservations to it's State Parks, where we camp several times per year. In 2008 the web site "locked up" which threw my vacation timeframe 3 weeks after I wanted it. Tonight, I got online at midnight to get my reservation to our favorite park which you must do 11 months in advance if you want to get in in the summer, and guess what? Reserve America is down for " system upgrades". I will either have to stay up and keep checking periodically and hope they come back online, or go to bed and call in the morning and risk the park being full already. So the guy is right. Reserve America Sucks. Danny |
| Name: | barry smith |
| E-mail address: | grumpylsmith@aol.com |
| Comments: | I agree that was over the top! |
| Name: | tom wojcik |
| E-mail address: | tawojcik@verizon.net |
| Comments: | let take our camp sites back! |
| Name: | former employee |
| E-mail address: | HelpDesk@reserveamerica.com |
| Comments: | lol... I can't believe this site is still up and running with people still contributing to the guestbook. I still don't understand though how the owner of this site says that the RA sucks when this site has got to be the worst design I HAVE EVER SEEN. I mean I agree with your content, but don't you think you could've done a better job too???? frontpage? straight html?? please share the knowledge!!! |
| Name: | Big Dog Camper |
| Comments: | I am going camping at Fort Stevens state park in 2 weeks. I have to adjust my time there. For the last 3 days I have been calling reserve america at 9:30 AM, 12:30 PM, and 3:30 PM to change this. Guees what folks. I get the same message that there mail box is full and the systme hangs up on me. Nice! |
| Name: | Get it straight people |
| E-mail address: | getitstraight@people.com |
| Comments: | Here are the facts: RA WAS owned by the same company as TicketMaster (IAC, Inc.) up until early this year. IAC sold RA to a company called Active.com (look at the RA website at the bottom of the page, and you'll see the Active.com logo). The main office is still in Ballston Spa, NY. ALL of the offices are located in the US, so even though you call them for a FL state park, you may get someone answering the phone in NY or FL. The fact is that every employee is a US resident, because evry office and call center is located in the US. At least some of you got it right about the fees and policies, the States make up the policies and fees, RA carries them out. If you have such a hard time with dealing with those policies and fees, you are always more than welcome to deal with KOA's or other private campgrounds. You'll pay sometimes as much as two times the amount per night, and some private parks will charge you up to $10 a night to cancel. |
| Name: | ca camper |
| Comments: | Does anyone know if there is an after market reserve america site... I can't understand how all of the spots would be gone for a campground - in the middle of winter. Granted it could be good weather - but I am wondering if there is something else going on....I have heard that Canadian camping groups take all the spots. |
| Name: | linda Marciana |
| E-mail address: | linda_marciana@verizon.net |
| Comments: | I LOVE to camp and I do almost every weekend from spring to late fall. I was just about to use RESERVE AMERICA to be sure I could secure my favorite campsite at Bowman Lake, State Park, Oxford, NY, when I ran into your website. Well, I am now very reluctant to reserve and I think I'll just take my chances and show up like I always do, which has been working for me for quite some time. At this time, Bowman Lake does serve non-reservers, so I guess I'm ok, for now. But, i will certainly take your advice and talk to whomever I need to so I can join the happy campers who REFUSE to be led around by their 1-800s or dotcoms. Thanks for the information and, happy camping!!! |
| Name: | thomas |
| E-mail address: | blue_laser2003@yahoo.com |
| Comments: | Pegasus Solutions should be handling these web pages for reservations. They can: 1) save the government thousands of dollars a year, 2) cut down on the excessive fees charged, 3) link up the campgrounds with all other reservation centers (i.e. Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, etc. and all the Airlines, Hotels, and care rentals also), and most importantly - 3) Bring these jobs back to the USA where they belong. Don't offshore camping, America! |
| Name: | Fred Coreia |
| E-mail address: | correia4@juno.com |
| Comments: | A major problem with reserve america is that people are booking campsites like 6 months in advance! At my local park I can't get a single site for the next month. Never mind the good beach sites -untouchable now. And people are doing things like booking only one night on a Saturday to 'reserve' the weekend for them. When I drive thru the park that's 100% reserved there's easily 10% of the sites empty! This whole thing sucks, it was way better when you drove around the park, paid at the ranger station and were done. |
| Name: | Kevin |
| Comments: | Amen to the suckage of Reserve America. We booked a National Forest campsite over the 4th of July weekend. When we got there, it was just a few burning trash barrels short of a third-world refugee camp. There was already someone in my 'reserved' spot, there were no other numbered campsites available, and the concessionaire running the campground was still stacking them in like cordwood -- using the trailhead parking lot and wide spots in the road inside the campsite for "overflow camping". Cars lined the road and tents were pitched just a couple of feet from each other. Given that we'd have to fight it out to camp in a numbered 'table & firepit' campsite (the concessionaire's on-site rep wasn't much interested in helping us out), and there certainly wasn't any way we were going to fight over an 'overflow' patch of parking lot, we elected to cut our losses and return home. The next day, I E-mailed Reserve America to ask for a full refund. They responded that they'd contact the concessionaire to approve a refund. After waiting a month for the concessionaire to respond (they never did) and multiple E-mails from me, Reserve America agreed to refund my camping fees MINUS their $9.00 reservation fee, which was "not refundable under any circumstances". What did I pay that $9.00 for? The privilege of *NOT* actually having a reservation? The privilege of being jerked around for a month? Seems that they just stole my money and gave me absolutely nothing but frustration in return. Nine dollars may be a small amount in the overall scheme of things, but I'll definitely be contacting my credit card company about a chargeback. |
| Name: | read poilcy or listen to them |
| Comments: | you all need to read the policy on line that is set up for you to read or you all need to listen to the policy on the phone when you call instead of going right to make a reservation... its like sign a contract for a house or a car are you going to sign the cotract befor you read through the policy or are you just going to sign the paper work ?????umm wonder why the world is falling apart |
| Name: | Dana |
| E-mail address: | kiessfamily@bellsouth.net |
| Comments: | I had a problem getting a refund back from Reserve America. When I called to check on the refund the representative was very rude and hung up on me. I called back and got a much more helpful person who actually cared enough to resolve the issue for me. It is sad that you have to call more than once to get help! |
| Name: | Deno-Is-A-Dumbass |
| Comments: | Ok so let me get this straight, Deno. You book a reservation through ReserveAmerica and discover that the actual state park is not very well kept up and proceed to blame it on them? What kind of an idiot are you? I bet if you bought movie tickets through fandango and then found out the movie sucked you would probably blame the company you bought the tickets from too... ReserveAmerica is only the RESERVATION Service, they get paid by the state to do what they do, which means setting all the fees (yeah those are set by the state) and proceeding to give info about the park. so if you went to a state park that was poorly kept up its nobody's fault but yours for not doing proper research to find out what the park is like. If youve got a computer, USE IT. I guarantee you could find some sort of review of it. Idiot. |
| Name: | dumbass people |
| Comments: | ok this person deno who wrote a letter to ra? how is it ra fault that the trash cans were full? they are not at the campground they are a resv center that is in states in the us so they can['t help that the trash cans are full and the maps if you want to complain about that complain to the campground ra is a resv center like hotel resv. centers they are not a campground and for camping mom they are not run by ticket master ticketmaster is owned by someone eles the company was split in half and they are based out of calf. now so get your facts stright and why is it ra fault that sites are not being booked up on the week and only on the weekend if you want to compalin about that complain to the campers that are camping only on the weekend and don't want to camp during the week lets see how far that will get ya.. rhonda how many states do their part in anything humm none.. the sites are marked as how much they are but you got understand most states charge out of state people more money for a night they want the people in their state to get better deals thats stats for you.... bari now i know why they are complaining about ra if the state parks are not going to go with the policy they sent up for ra they are going to have alot of cust compalining you are giving full refunds back when thats not in a policy you guys keep complaining about it but does it help? i would really like to know that because as far as i can see you guys keep on compalining and nothing happening oh its called this is how the world works you are going to get screwed daily by someone..... |
| Name: | Carsten |
| Comments: | Now am I surprised and I do take back my former comments about RA. A conversation with a RA customer service specialist who promised world class service promptly added the extra nite- WITH NO NEW FEES. Perhaps RA, at least in the campsites across NYS is indeed attempting to improve their customer relations. So, I am pleased. It is truly unfortunate what I am hearing elsewhere. |
| Name: | Carsten |
| E-mail address: | corktree03@aol.com |
| Comments: | Wow, it just happened to me. Within 5 minutes of booking for 5 nites in NYS and paid for at $104, I realized I had an additional day available, whereby 6-nites. I called back Reserve Am to add the extra nite. There would now be a cancellation fee $9 + $9 new reservation fee + $19 overnite fee, total of $37 for one nite. Yes indeed RESERVEAMERICA SUCKS and un-American junkies. |
| Name: | Mary |
| Comments: | I reserved a site on their interactive map, and I booked it for two sites connected, come to find out that when I booked that specific site, it didn't book the correct location area, apparently it went by availablity by alphabetical order, so instead of getting E67, I got A67 because its available first. To add to the mess, the manager at Welleskey NY State park wasn't very understanding and said that even if its not your fault, there little we can do, even if she had other sites that was available. So we end up getting an emergency lot still wasn't connected and was just a little dinky spot off the side of the road. |
| Name: | Amy |
| E-mail address: | morayamyc@att.net |
| Comments: | YES YES YES RESERVE AMERICA SUCKS!!! Our Favorite Campgroung in Santa Cruz Ca. uses Reserve America, now we no longer will go there! |