KOA disappoints.... again!

[Desert_Captain]

We wanted to surprise our best friends this Christmas with a special gift. While we have never been fans of KOA for a number of reasons {poor locations, exorbitant fees etc.}, our friends make an annual trip to Moss Landing where frankly, based upon their recommendation, we had a nice visit last September.

On December 11th I went to the KOA website and purchased a gift certificate for our friends to use on their next KOA stay. My credit card was charged immediately. We waited anxiously to hear from our friends when they received the e mail from KOA with their gift certificate. By the 20th with no news I had to call them and ask them to check their e mail, spam accounts etc., in search of their Christmas surprise but alas nothing had been sent.

On the 20th I called KOA, when I tried to reach their customer service number the phone rang about 30 times with no response but on the third call they finally answered. I explained the problem and expressed my frustration at KOA having ruined the Christmas surprise and asking that the gift certificate be sent. They assured me that it had been sent, it had not, and promised to send it immediately.

I followed up with an e mail directly to KOA customer service and received an automated response assuring me I would hear back from them in no more than 2 business days. After nine days I had heard nothing from KOA. I continued to check with our friends but as of this morning, the 29th, they had received nothing from KOA. I called KOA again {another 30 rings before an answer}, was once again assured it had been sent but, they would "send it again".

I asked them to send it directly to me this time so that I would verify delivery and lo and behold it magically appeared in my in box just a couple of minutes later. I forwarded it to our friends who were delighted but hardly surprised.

A big fat thanks for nothing to KOA for ruining what we hoped would be a nice Christmas surprise. Note to KOA management: Taking money for goods and or services without providing the same constitutes fraud, pure and simple. Lying about it, repeatedly, just added to the aggravation.

:M

[Toolguy5]

Emails can get lost or held up in cyberspace. Has happened to me plenty of times.

As far as KOA disappointments, most KOA's are privately owned. Some are down right terrible and some are very very nice and pleasant. We have had many great experiences at KOA's as well as many disappointments.

As another poster stated once KOA has your email you get lots of emails. If your friends are like me you Trash with out reading. If you empty your trash frequently you will never see it.

One typo can send email into cyberspace.

When you had email sent to your friends account, you lost control of your situation. No way of verifying receipt unless you contacted them or waiting for their thank you.

[mikebreeze]

Very sorry for your issues. BTW, in which state is Moss Landing?

[mich800]

braindead0 wrote:
Many mail hosting companies block at the insertion point based on block lists, reverse dns and a variety of other techniques. I would suspect that an SPF check failed and kicked the mail back to KOA without ever hitting your friends email account.

It's still on KOA if that's the case, the email would have bounced back to the sender.. and I'd bet they send from an unmonitored account so the kicked mail (probably a lot of them now) just sits there.

Incompetence at best.

That is not always the case. I went around in circles with comcast because it was happening to me but we were not getting the bounces.

[braindead0]

Many mail hosting companies block at the insertion point based on block lists, reverse dns and a variety of other techniques. I would suspect that an SPF check failed and kicked the mail back to KOA without ever hitting your friends email account.

It's still on KOA if that's the case, the email would have bounced back to the sender.. and I'd bet they send from an unmonitored account so the kicked mail (probably a lot of them now) just sits there.

Incompetence at best.

[sch911]

Desert Captain wrote:
No there are no variables that lets KOA off of the hook. The e mail address was correct and my friends checked their spam, deleted, trash folders several times. KOA sent nothing until my third request.

I guess I should have known better than to try and do business with them after the phone rang off the hook every time I called. Then they ignored my e mail despite stating in writing that they would get back to me in 48 hours and did not.

I said "again" as every experience I have had with KOA over the years, except the one night we spent at Moss Landing, has been a disaster. Absolutely no excuse to treat customers as I have been treated but I've learned my lesson and they will never see another dollar from me.

I'd definitely hit the delete key on that email if I got it unsolicited! I agree with others, its not KOA'S fault. Why didn't you just have it sent to you in the first place!

[Roadpilot]

We've stayed at a large number of KOA's. We've always had an OK time. I look at them as the Holiday Inn of hotels. I recommend them to people all the time.

[bid_time]

Desert Captain wrote:
No there are no variables that lets KOA off of the hook. The e mail address was correct and my friends checked their spam, deleted, trash folders several times. KOA sent nothing until my third request.

I guess I should have known better than to try and do business with them after the phone rang off the hook every time I called. Then they ignored my e mail despite stating in writing that they would get back to me in 48 hours and did not.

I said "again" as every experience I have had with KOA over the years, except the one night we spent at Moss Landing, has been a disaster. Absolutely no excuse to treat customers as I have been treated but I've learned my lesson and they will never see another dollar from me.

I don't know about your friends but as for me, the first time I used a KOA they got my email and were unrelenting in sending me junk mail. After a few weeks of this I set up a filter and to "automatic delete" their emails. I never see their emails. They won't go to a "junk" folder, a "spam" folder, a "deleted" folder, or any other folder; it just plain disappears, forever. If KOA sends me something I will never, ever, ever see it unless I delete the filter I am using. Just another possibility. I use the same filter for "Krogers", "Art Van Furniture", and a whole host of others - poof gone!

[mich800]

Desert Captain wrote:
No there are no variables that lets KOA off of the hook. The e mail address was correct and my friends checked their spam, deleted, trash folders several times. KOA sent nothing until my third request.

I guess I should have known better than to try and do business with them after the phone rang off the hook every time I called. Then they ignored my e mail despite stating in writing that they would get back to me in 48 hours and did not.

I said "again" as every experience I have had with KOA over the years, except the one night we spent at Moss Landing, has been a disaster. Absolutely no excuse to treat customers as I have been treated but I've learned my lesson and they will never see another dollar from me.

If you have any experience sending mass emails, emails to lists of customers, etc you would know it just is not that easy. I have some customers that do not receive my emails. It turns out Comcast in this case sometimes just do not deliver the email even to the spam folder. It just disappears.

[azdryheat]

Just call your credit card company, dispute the charge, and the charge will go away. Easy peasy. Then go down to Lazy Days KOA and buy the gift card in person.

[MarkTwain]

navegator wrote:
The moral of this post is:

Have the gift certificate sent to you and you forward it to the recipient!

Simple solution to a complicated problem.

navegator

To uncomlicate the problem, just stay away from using KOA's. KOA complicated this problem by failing to do their job correctly!! KOA should have offered a discount for their screw up just in the name of customer service.

[The_real_wild1]

Only ever stayed in one. Was ok but expensive. Either way you never know until you try them. In your case that was poor customer service.

[Desert_Captain]

No there are no variables that lets KOA off of the hook. The e mail address was correct and my friends checked their spam, deleted, trash folders several times. KOA sent nothing until my third request.

I guess I should have known better than to try and do business with them after the phone rang off the hook every time I called. Then they ignored my e mail despite stating in writing that they would get back to me in 48 hours and did not.

I said "again" as every experience I have had with KOA over the years, except the one night we spent at Moss Landing, has been a disaster. Absolutely no excuse to treat customers as I have been treated but I've learned my lesson and they will never see another dollar from me.

[navegator]

The moral of this post is:

Have the gift certificate sent to you and you forward it to the recipient!

Simple solution to a complicated problem.

navegator

[Crowe]

You had the opportunity to put this in dispute with your credit card company until it was resolved. You didn't. Your friend could have accidentally deleted it because they did not solicit anything from KOA. And it's possible you may have given an incorrect email address or it was taken down incorrectly. That would be my first guess as you got it immediately.

You also stated "KOA disappoints again". What makes you say "again"? If you had a similar situation occur in the past and it upset you so much, why would you try again?

[MarkTwain]

KOA :(:(:(:(:(:(