Reserveamerica

[tarnold]

Rant, if people are looking for jobs, try subject. Yesterday I was on hold for 1:18:40 to get a reservation at a ga. State park.

[wapiticountry]

I would imagine having live customer service staff is a huge money loser for ReserveAmerica. You have to remember the only revenue they get is their commission for the reservation, not the actual site fees. Unlike ordering a Pizza, a call for site reservations probably involves many back and forth conversations. The customer wants the agent to check several different parks. The customer will want to get input in deciding which site to choose. They will want the agent to check different dates and different length of stays. the customer will have to relay to the agent all the information regarding their RVs, their tow vehicles, the makeup of their group etc. If it takes the average person 5 minutes to make all those choices using the online system, it will probably take 3 to 4 times as long using a customer service agent since all that information will have to be communicated back and forth rather than just appearing on the computer screen. I doubt it is even possible for a customer service agent to generate enough reservation commissions to even cover their hourly pay. This is why it's extremely likely ReserveAmerica has the absolute minimum number or customer service representatives they have to provide to meet their contractual obligations with the states.
Finally, I bet the customer will have too high an expectation of those customer service agents. It is likely the agent has never set foot in the state, much less in the actual park. Yet, the customer will probably have numerous questions like: "Is site 72 level?" "Does the site have a good lake view?" "Is the walk to the bathrooms easy for someone with mobility issues?" Obviously, those questions cannot realistically be answered by a near minimum wage employee five states away. All in all, telephone customer service reps for businesses like ReserveAmerica are likely to be a bad investment for both the business and the customer.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

True, but some companies where slow, even now not able, to implement the technology.

Doubt RA was one.

My daughter is in customer support. All her phone support was Internet - not using or tying up her home telephone line at all. But she is lucky. She has fiber-optic cable to her home for internet.

My brother in rural Arkansas still uses dial-up 56K modem for internet.

[tdiller]

JAC1982 wrote:

bikendan wrote:

gbopp wrote:
Did you get the reservation after being on hold for 1:18:40?
I do as much online as possible because of the lack of customer service for many types of businesses.

So true! Because so many are working from home, you can't get any customer service or tech support to call you. They are using their personal cellphones or personal landlines and they don't want to have their personal phone numbers.
I've been dealing with Whynter Appliances since May 4, on a non-functional wine fridge. Tech support will only deal with me on an email basis. I have tried calling but after 2 hours on hold, they disconnect me.
One email told me to remove the control board but no instructions on how to do that. I emailed back saying it would have been nice if they had told me how to do that. 4 days later, I finally get the instructions. It takes 3-4 days for tech support to reply to my emails.
Now this week, after supplying them with pics of the board, I haven't received any communication nor are they answering the phone.
This is the kinda of thing that's going on now.

So ReserveAmerica isn't so bad.

There is zero reason these days for a remote worker to have to call from their own cell number. Even before all the coronavirus stuff, I worked from home 1-2 days a week. I have an app on my cell phone that links it to my office phone. When I want to call someone, I do it through the app and it appears on the other end as coming from my office number.

These days, if a company can't figure out how to make working remotely seamless and no different than working in an office, well, that's a management problem.

My desk phone at work is tied to my laptop. I can answer my desk phone via my laptop with video if needed from anywhere I can get internet access so no need for remote workers to use their own phones.

[JAC1982]

bikendan wrote:

gbopp wrote:
Did you get the reservation after being on hold for 1:18:40?
I do as much online as possible because of the lack of customer service for many types of businesses.

So true! Because so many are working from home, you can't get any customer service or tech support to call you. They are using their personal cellphones or personal landlines and they don't want to have their personal phone numbers.
I've been dealing with Whynter Appliances since May 4, on a non-functional wine fridge. Tech support will only deal with me on an email basis. I have tried calling but after 2 hours on hold, they disconnect me.
One email told me to remove the control board but no instructions on how to do that. I emailed back saying it would have been nice if they had told me how to do that. 4 days later, I finally get the instructions. It takes 3-4 days for tech support to reply to my emails.
Now this week, after supplying them with pics of the board, I haven't received any communication nor are they answering the phone.
This is the kinda of thing that's going on now.

So ReserveAmerica isn't so bad.

There is zero reason these days for a remote worker to have to call from their own cell number. Even before all the coronavirus stuff, I worked from home 1-2 days a week. I have an app on my cell phone that links it to my office phone. When I want to call someone, I do it through the app and it appears on the other end as coming from my office number.

These days, if a company can't figure out how to make working remotely seamless and no different than working in an office, well, that's a management problem.

[Dutch_12078]

With first all of the park closings and reservation cancellations and now the re-openings and attendant reservations to deal with plus the number of employees either laid off or working from home, I don't find it at all surprising RA is slammed. As said, do as much as possible online and save a lot of hassle.

Just one example of how re-openings can hit RA hard, NY State park campground reservations were recently opened up for all of 2021 at once instead of the usual 9 month window that spreads things out.

[bikendan]

gbopp wrote:
Did you get the reservation after being on hold for 1:18:40?
I do as much online as possible because of the lack of customer service for many types of businesses.

So true! Because so many are working from home, you can't get any customer service or tech support to call you. They are using their personal cellphones or personal landlines and they don't want to have their personal phone numbers.
I've been dealing with Whynter Appliances since May 4, on a non-functional wine fridge. Tech support will only deal with me on an email basis. I have tried calling but after 2 hours on hold, they disconnect me.
One email told me to remove the control board but no instructions on how to do that. I emailed back saying it would have been nice if they had told me how to do that. 4 days later, I finally get the instructions. It takes 3-4 days for tech support to reply to my emails.
Now this week, after supplying them with pics of the board, I haven't received any communication nor are they answering the phone.
This is the kinda of thing that's going on now.

So ReserveAmerica isn't so bad.

[rr2254545]

Big Katuna wrote:
Their cancellation/change penalties suck.

The states set the policy's not Reserve America - complain to the state

[Big_Katuna]

Their cancellation/change penalties suck.

[gbopp]

Did you get the reservation after being on hold for 1:18:40?
I do as much online as possible because of the lack of customer service for many types of businesses.

[K_Charles]

I didn't know you could make reservations with them by phone.

[rrupert]

I've done it online.

[2oldman]

you can't do this online?