No refund from Terry Bison Ranch

If it were my son returning there would not be a second thought about losing
$160 for a campsite reservation.Being there to greet him would be worth infinitely more than any campsite fee.
Forget the fee ! Enjoy the fact that your son came home alive!
I am really suprised that it seems like I am the only one to think this way.Camping/RVing is fun,but come on folks...5 tours and a son
or daughter returns home and a $160 refund is important ? I don't get it !

happybooker1 wrote:
Did the OP indeed cancel his spot? If so he should try calling and booking a spot NOW for that exact same time. Upon being told "we're all booked up" he should inquire about the site he cancelled which SHOULD be vacant.

Upon finding out that they have, indeed, rebooked that site he should then politely argue that a refund is due to HIM since they are getting paid TWICE for the same site.

I don't camp at private CG's much for that very reason. State Parks are 'always' willing to refund your money, minus a small fee (in Texas anyway)!

Once you cancel, the site is available to the next person. He made his decision, he has to live with it. Do you think that when you cancel a non-refundable reservation on an airplane that the plane travels with your seat open? It is really easy to avoid any and all cancellation fees. Don't make a reservation. Of course, during Frontier Days the nearest available RV site will probably be 100+ miles away, but hey, no cancel fees if you decide not to attend.
Cancel fees exist for several reasons, some even help the average RVer. If there were no fees and no time restrictions, people who plan in advance would be shut out of reservations by people who game the system and book several places at the same time and then make their travel decisions much later. When that happens, both the park and the people who were shut out lose. Making a reservation GUARANTEES that you will have a site. The park can't cancel your three day reservation to make room for someone who wants to stay 14 days. There is no telling how many reservations that park has turned away because it was holding those three days for those people and many of those unbookable reservations may have been for longer periods of time.

happybooker1 wrote:
Did the OP indeed cancel his spot? If so he should try calling and booking a spot NOW for that exact same time. Upon being told "we're all booked up" he should inquire about the site he cancelled which SHOULD be vacant.

Upon finding out that they have, indeed, rebooked that site he should then politely argue that a refund is due to HIM since they are getting paid TWICE for the same site.

I don't camp at private CG's much for that very reason. State Parks are 'always' willing to refund your money, minus a small fee (in Texas anyway)!

That's the exact monkey business the CG is trying to avoid. Once reservation is paid there are no refunds period.
No hard luck stories real or imagined. I don't mean to imply the OP is not being truthful,however the CG does not want to judge or deal with changing or manipulating the schedule for this event.
I don't think this is the CG's everyday policy,but for this event no refunds,no discussions and the policy is strictly enforced. One needs to be 100% committed when making the reservations or be willing to forfeit all monies.
The CG is not attempting to cheat or rip off campers they simply want the camper to be fully committed to arriving at the schedule time without any drama.
We all know there is lots of drama with the public as a whole.

COE and public parks constantly deal with people booking sites for themselves and others and then using the dates they truly want and then cancelling the rest. They may have to pay a small $10.00 cancellation fee. The $10.00 penalty is not enough of a deterrent to keep people from making reservations they never plan to use. However a full payment no refund policy ensures people are 100% committed to their reservations. CG's develop these policies because a few bad apples attempt to manipulate the system. As long as the policies are stated up front or clearly posted I have no issue with CG that operate this way.

I have never seen a campground, that requires advanced payment, that gives a refund if you cancel. That is the whole point of getting paid in advance. Chalk this one up to learning that you should ask about the cancelation policy before handing over your money.

Bad business or not… No refund fees are not new and are quite common even for hotels…

For all Hotwire Hot Rates, bookings are final and cannot be cancelled, refunded, exchanged, transferred, or changed, even for a fee…
You can change or cancel your lodging booking either online under your Reservations when signed into your Hotels.com account, or by calling our customer services number…

The same is true at most online booking sites and many CG’s…

Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park & Campground
The purchase of tickets and campsites for major music festivals are non-refundable. All sales are final. There are no exceptions. Event is rain or shine. Additionally, this policy applies to campsites that are reserved for the entire week that the festival takes place.

Even some public CG…

San Diego County Parks and Recreation Department
Cancellations:
Overnight use: All fees will be forfeited if the reservation is cancelled less than 30-days before the check-in date. Reservations cancelled with less than 90-days but more than 30-days prior to check-in date will be refunded less the first night's fee, reservation fee, and a $5 cancellation fee. Reservations cancelled more than 90-days prior to check-in date will be refunded less reservation fee and a $5 cancellation fee.
Day use: All fees will be forfeited if the reservation is cancelled less than 30-days before the picnic date. There is a $30 fee to cancel a reservation more than 30 -ays before the picnic date.

Did the OP indeed cancel his spot? If so he should try calling and booking a spot NOW for that exact same time. Upon being told "we're all booked up" he should inquire about the site he cancelled which SHOULD be vacant.

Upon finding out that they have, indeed, rebooked that site he should then politely argue that a refund is due to HIM since they are getting paid TWICE for the same site.

I don't camp at private CG's much for that very reason. State Parks are 'always' willing to refund your money, minus a small fee (in Texas anyway)!

garyhaupt wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:
Sounds like the OP didn't use the website so had no idea of the no cancellation policy. And even if they have a no cancellation policy for those days that is not a good policy. So the OP has every right to share this info with the rest of us. I would not make reservations there knowing this is their policy, but I was going anyway.

Think about it, if that week is so popular, how difficult a time do you think they are going to have renting the space out again?

Maybe look at it this way...if you have a business and you have been able to sell all of your product, how cool is that, eh? Especially if it was a no-refund product? Money in the bank account.


Gary Haupt

I have a business and if I ran my business that way I probably wouldn't have it very long. My business relies heavily on word of mouth and if I screwed customers over I wouldn't have it very long.

Lantley wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:
Sounds like the OP didn't use the website so had no idea of the no cancellation policy. And even if they have a no cancellation policy for those days that is not a good policy. So the OP has every right to share this info with the rest of us. I would not make reservations there knowing this is their policy, but I was going anyway.

Think about it, if that week is so popular, how difficult a time do you think they are going to have renting the space out again?

The CG have these policies to keep people from changing or booking multiple spots for friends etc. and not showing up. During these sort of chaotic events the CG's do not have time to deal with shuffling the schedule. Rearranging the schedule creates errors and headaches that the CG chooses to avoid. The OP needs to assume responsible/liability for their own circumstances not the CG.

So I still say it's a bad business practice and I wouldn't stay there because of it. I've been to events at RV parks and I never saw one that had a no cancellation policy other than within a few days of the reservation.

msmith1199 wrote:
Sounds like the OP didn't use the website so had no idea of the no cancellation policy. And even if they have a no cancellation policy for those days that is not a good policy. So the OP has every right to share this info with the rest of us. I would not make reservations there knowing this is their policy, but I was going anyway.

Think about it, if that week is so popular, how difficult a time do you think they are going to have renting the space out again?

Maybe look at it this way...if you have a business and you have been able to sell all of your product, how cool is that, eh? Especially if it was a no-refund product? Money in the bank account.


Gary Haupt

msmith1199 wrote:
Sounds like the OP didn't use the website so had no idea of the no cancellation policy. And even if they have a no cancellation policy for those days that is not a good policy. So the OP has every right to share this info with the rest of us. I would not make reservations there knowing this is their policy, but I was going anyway.

Think about it, if that week is so popular, how difficult a time do you think they are going to have renting the space out again?

The CG have these policies to keep people from changing or booking multiple spots for friends etc. and not showing up. During these sort of chaotic events the CG's do not have time to deal with shuffling the schedule. Rearranging the schedule creates errors and headaches that the CG chooses to avoid. The OP needs to assume responsible/liability for their own circumstances not the CG.