Campground Damage Deposit

[wxtoad]

I've been camping for many years, but I have never come across a Damage Deposit required at a public campground. Cypress Black Bayou
Recreation and Water Conservation District in Louisiana, however, does have such a policy:

"We require a reservation deposit to be paid at the time of booking. The total amount of the reservation deposit will equal the total amount of stay and a $100 damage deposit. The amount of stay will be applied at check-in. The $100 damage deposit will be refunded after your site has been checked and cleared."

I could maybe understand this requirement at a high-end commercial RV resort or similar, but at a public CG?

WxToad

[Wishbone51]

I've never seen a CG ask for a deposit, but I found a strange rule in an RV park near Crater Lake, OR .. $200 charge if your jacks dimple their asphalt. I was careful to use pads, and took pictures of all asphalt damage before I set up and showed it to them ahead of time.

[hotpepperkid]

buta4 wrote:
I can see it now. At checkout, one is told to wait until someone is available to inspect the campsite after he/she inspects the ones on the back forty! :C

Im sure there may be some places you have to go through a check out but none of the places I have stayed. I just drive out the gate and on down the road.

[Drbolasky]

Riff-raff control, IMHO. Chances are management will have a good idea if there is going to be damage or not well before check-out.

[Horsedoc]

Had a site just up the street from us in a state park in N Ga. We were walking and smelled this nasty, nauseous smoke as we passed an empty site. The pigs that were staying there had thrown a pile of crappy diapers and cans on the fire and these were smoldering. There was a dumpster on their way out, but this bunch had to dump it on the fire.
This is the same quality of people who raise he77 all night and have a pit bull tied to the steps that lunges at everyone who walks by. More and more we find this kind of behavior in our state parks. It would great to nail their fannies with a fee to clean up that site and all the associated dog poop and human poop

[CA_Traveler]

I basically find the damage deposit unacceptable because generally it means:

My departure is delayed while I check to make sure there is no issue with the host - who knows what might happen to that site after I leave and before I check like the pedestal damage above? Or I just leave and hope for the best, which includes early departure?

Plus they may have and maintain CC information which may not be secure. I would not learn of the damage charge until later and would then be involved in calling them and/or protesting the charge.

It's sad that a CG feels the need for a deposit because a few won't be responsible for their actions.

[westernrvparkow]

copeland343 wrote:
I talked to the campground today. Someone broke a electric pedestal and it cost them over $1100 to repair. The lady I talked to stated that it would be a $100 charge on a credit card only, no cash deposit and it would be refunded after inspection of the site and should take three day for refund to appear on the card. We go there several times a year my BIL live across the lake and my brother lives in Bossier City. We have not been there since the $100 deposit requirement. It is a Parish run park not a private park. The charge is on all RV sites and also on the cabins also.

If repairing/replacing an electrical pedestal cost the park $1100.00 I am in the wrong business. They must have used government workers or bid the job out using some kind of ridiculous job specifications instead of just hiring an electrician to fix it.
That park must draw a much different crowd than any park I have knowledge of. In 15 years I have attempted to collect for damages exactly one time. Some idiot family decided mini-golf wasn't good enough and they took to driving the golf balls into the surrounding area. One broke a neighbor's plate glass window. The family was very apologetic and said to contact them with the repair bill and they would take care of it. Suffice to say they never returned a phone call, let a certified letter go unclaimed, had cancelled the credit card they used to pay for the site and basically stiffed us for the $500.00 repair. So there is some logic to having a damage deposit if the crowd is a bunch of drunken "watch this" hooligans. Otherwise, it is a whole lot of wasted time because normal RVers and Campers are not exactly the damage causing crowd.

[CA_Traveler]

I would have expected the vehicles insurance to cover the repair cost but maybe they did not know who was responsible?

[copeland343]

I talked to the campground today. Someone broke a electric pedestal and it cost them over $1100 to repair. The lady I talked to stated that it would be a $100 charge on a credit card only, no cash deposit and it would be refunded after inspection of the site and should take three day for refund to appear on the card. We go there several times a year my BIL live across the lake and my brother lives in Bossier City. We have not been there since the $100 deposit requirement. It is a Parish run park not a private park. The charge is on all RV sites and also on the cabins also.

[2gypsies1]

Roy&Lynne wrote:

Veebyes wrote:
An actual charge on the card or an amount 'hold' on it to be applied only if the site is left in a mess?

Who hasn't pulled into a site & found beer cans, baby diapers, assorted trash in the fire ring. Who hasn't been greeted by fresh dog poop in their site?

No problem with people having to pay for their lack of consideration to the future CG users.

Me, never. I guess I've been very lucky but I have never found an issue with a campsite. I mean some have been unlevel or narrow but I've never found one with garbage.

That's because someone and most likely a volunteer has cleaned up the site before you came onto it. 🙂

As volunteers we know what kind of garbage campers can leave behind and what kind of damage they can do.

[Dog_Folks]

kmbelt wrote:
Anyone see this on their main webpage. I find this interesting.

Cypress Black Bayou

Solar Panels
No solar panels allowed on District controlled property or on any structure over District controlled property including Cypress Lake and Black Bayou Lake.

never see that or any campground wanting a deposit.

It is not in the campground. The link you provide that refers to no solar is for LANDOWNERS.

Click on "home" and then go to "RV" to see rules for the campground.

[kmbelt]

Anyone see this on their main webpage. I find this interesting.

Cypress Black Bayou

Solar Panels
No solar panels allowed on District controlled property or on any structure over District controlled property including Cypress Lake and Black Bayou Lake.

never see that or any campground wanting a deposit.

[johnhicks]

I wouldn't pay a damage deposit.

I suppose the county the conservation district is in doesn't have a sheriff's office? And of course doesn't have any anti-littering or anti-vandalism ordinances?

[Roy_Lynne]

Veebyes wrote:
An actual charge on the card or an amount 'hold' on it to be applied only if the site is left in a mess?

Who hasn't pulled into a site & found beer cans, baby diapers, assorted trash in the fire ring. Who hasn't been greeted by fresh dog poop in their site?

No problem with people having to pay for their lack of consideration to the future CG users.

Me, never. I guess I've been very lucky but I have never found an issue with a campsite. I mean some have been unlevel or narrow but I've never found one with garbage.

[monkey44]

One thing I've always noticed about "deposits" ... after finding acceptance in the 'users', it eventually becomes the norm.

Once it becomes the norm, it eventually moves into the "well, you get all but $10 back - we use that ten bucks for clean up and maintenance" ...