Our Chapter President has requested that this letter be posted on the RV.Net forum.
RE: Princeton Castle RV Resort, Princeton, BC Canada
We arrived at Princeton Castle RV Park on June 29, 2014 as a group of Good Sam campers. We reserved nine sites for six days, leaving on August 5, 2014. We chose this park because of the website pictures and the articles describing the facility. It said that there were full services and wifi at the RV park. Upon arrival, we were told that we could go to the Husky gas station to dump our sewer tanks. As our rigs were large and we had been travelling for many hours, we were finally told that we could use their tanks on site.
When the reservations were initially made, we were told that the sites were large enough for our 36ft. unit as well as our tow vehicle. However on arrival, we found that the site could not hold even a 20ft. unit. We were eventually told to just go and select our 9 sites. We all parked in a site we could fit in, and parked the tow vehicle across the driveway. On checking the power at the post, we discovered that the polarity on the post was reversed. An "electrician" was called, he tested the posts from site 10 to site 18, and found problems. He then informed us that Fortis was at fault. Later the next day, Fortis visited the site and checked all their connections, which were all in good working condition. Fortis said that the power problem was on the RV Park site and nothing was done to rectify this. We were without power for the week, a week in which the temperatures were 35C.
In the washrooms and kitchen facility, there were signs which said that water was only good for consumption after it was boiled for 1 minute and that the management were trying to rectify the problem. One of our members stayed here 7 years ago and nothing has been done since then. There were water problems then.
The whole facility is so poorly maintained- washroom floors not washed, the lodge smells musty and gardens are full of weeds. The kitchen floor, walls and windows are filthy and there are many spiders.
Our reservations had been made several months in advance, yet the gardener was just mowing the sites...with a weedeater when we arrived. The uncut sites were infested with grasshoppers. A leg of our step stool was cut off by the weedeater when the gardener was clearing the area for us to park. There is absolutely no landscaping or flower gardens, and the garden benches are covered with bird poop.
Also, at the far end of the campground, there is an old decrepit Motor home and two tents. These people are actually full time living in the park. They have three large dogs which are allowed to run loose, even though there were "dogs must be on leash at all times" signs posted.
We went to the office with our concerns, and after twice negotiating with the manager, we were able to reduce the rate from $30 to $20, since we had no power, only wifi at the office (1/2 km away), no drinking water and only sani dump. Despite this, we are deeply disappointed with the conditions at the RV park.
It should be noted that this was the Canada Day Weekend, and the park was by no means full.
We don't want to see other RVers disillusioned by the untruths on the Castle RV website.
Dave Dunn
President Chilliwack Valley SAMs
