noplace2 wrote:
SDcampowneroperator wrote:
Seems like every day someone says they cant get level, blame the site. Its a fine line to walk to show them with a level or even a frying pan with water that their auto leveler is out of calibration or the stick on bubble is.
They always want to blame the site before doubting their unit they are proud of.
Over our 15+ years fulltime, we have hosted 5 CG's and managed 2. I feel yer pain, bro! :D
The one thing that I disagree with you about is the fine line. I do understand that owners need to claim and retain revenue. After a couple of venues, we learned to ask the right questions. Although not precise, one of them would have encompassed a scenario as you described above. If the answer was anything except, "We have provided the best service we are capable of. If that is not satisfactory to you, we will refund your night with us and we hope you find better accommodations elsewhere", and we would move on. Simple translation to the customer: You don't need us, we don't need you. Fortunately/unfortunately, (you make the call) a slightly over 92% decided to stay. Yeah, yeah; some of them didn't have anywhere else to go, but the other % decided to stay because they were dealt with honestly. Too little of that going around these days.:(
Any owner who agreed to use that approach after we signed on experienced an average retention rate significantly and statistically higher than before attempting to placate the customer.
And I full timed for 22 years before owning and operating our camp for 15 years the day after tomorrow, 6/15/01
Its not a contest of experience or training, its about handling the situation with giving the customer first doubt, checking our equipment first to show them the trouble most often, not always, is theirs.
With leveling, we explain the site is laser level with preferably a slight drop to the rear to allow for drainage, carefully suggest using a manual method to level to rule out faults in auto or bubble levelers. Thats the fine line I wrote about, is how to deal with the issue. Customers are very proud of their unit, are hesitant to believe fault in it.
On power, pressure, CATV issues , we always assume the customer is right, carry test equipment tools and parts on our maintenance cart, test ours first, can 99% of the time prove ours is good, the trouble is the guests. Rarely, we do find a weak breaker, a fault in CATV wiring. The 1% . is ours.
A good business never assumes their equipment or staff is infallible
