joyjohnr wrote: DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE I MADE! DON'T GET INTO A CONTRACT WITH THIS COMPANY! I FEEL THAT THE WAY THIS COMPANY DOES BUSINESS, THEY DESERVE TO GO BANKRUPT AND BE SHUT DOWN.
WOW... exactly the opposite in my TT experience. Bought the membership on e-bay and have not regretted one minute. The southwestern places I have visited are in excellent shape and find them very enjoyable.
Very good value if a person plans on RV'ing a lot. Sorry to hear about your expereince and please keep us posted on how things turn out.
I haven't belonged personally, but we camp with some people who are members of Outdoor World, which apparently has recently been purchased by 1000 trails.
They have done nothing but complain about the service, rules, requirements, and service since the buyout. Apparently they get different answers when they call with questions, procedures are difficult to understand, and no one seems to be able to give them a straight answer.
In addition, we have camped as their guests in a park several times, and I haven't found it to be all that wonderful for the money they have to pay. Poor bathhouses, bad roads, and ugly unmaintained sites have been enough to keep me away. I would rather stay in a KOA.
I guess once they get your money and you are locked in, they don't have to respond to their customers the way free market campgrounds do. I am not saying they are all bad, just what my vicarious experience has been.
Dirk
Myself (34), my Wife(32), and "The Boy"(3)
06 GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab, 5.3L V8, 3.42rear
05 30QBSS Trail-Cruiser, Prodigy BC, Reese Dual Cam W/D
WOW!!!! we just bought a tt and outdoorworldand i used to go to them when i was a kid and i have had nothing but good things to say about it reservation system is great campgrounds here on the east coast are awesome and there is about 11 with in 4 hours drive for me and the amount of camping we do it is worth it you never have to guess what is gong on activity wise they always have it posted on the website so the kids love it
TV 1997 GMC SUBURBAN, 92 Mustang Rag Top
PUP 1992 Starcraft Starburst
Eric 32,Tammi 37,Anthony 12,Julia 10,jason 9,Briana 7,Ashley 5,Robert 2
The biggest advantage for members from what I can tell is the fact that you can stay for free - so you don't have to worry about setting money aside for the site each time you go in the monthly budget. I imagine there is a certain number of nights per year that you need to camp to get your money's worth. Not knowing the real costs of these memberships I can't do the math to find out though.
I have to admit it sounds cool - but we are the type that likes to travel to different areas, so I have already found plenty of places where we have taken trips that there are no TT/OW campgrounds close to the destinations we are striving for.
I don't think there is a universal answer on this one. Each must weigh their own advantages/disadvantages, based on their needs, budget and camping styles.
It's all personal preference I guess. We are onsite at Sea Pines in NJ this year and love it. We always go back there and enjoy it very much. The bathrooms def. need to be updated and maintained better, but we don't use those since we have a TT.
kraushad wrote: I haven't belonged personally, but we camp with some people who are members of Outdoor World, which apparently has recently been purchased by 1000 trails.
They have done nothing but complain about the service, rules, requirements, and service since the buyout. Apparently they get different answers when they call with questions, procedures are difficult to understand, and no one seems to be able to give them a straight answer.
In addition, we have camped as their guests in a park several times, and I haven't found it to be all that wonderful for the money they have to pay. Poor bathhouses, bad roads, and ugly unmaintained sites have been enough to keep me away. I would rather stay in a KOA.
I guess once they get your money and you are locked in, they don't have to respond to their customers the way free market campgrounds do. I am not saying they are all bad, just what my vicarious experience has been.
Not to mention, you get to pick your own spot. When we didn't belong to ODW, we booked with another CG we had been out many times before. We were given this******site that we barely could fit on, looked like a dump area for trees etc. We were stuck having to leave because they had no other open sites.(On 4th of July weekend, imagine that one) I will never go to Pine Haven in NJ ever again! That makes me happy we are ODW members, we know what we are getting before we even get there There will always be those who don't care for the resort type places, but I personally wouldn't go out in the forest somewhere.. to each their own, right?
ejbrandley wrote: WOW!!!! we just bought a tt and outdoorworldand i used to go to them when i was a kid and i have had nothing but good things to say about it reservation system is great campgrounds here on the east coast are awesome and there is about 11 with in 4 hours drive for me and the amount of camping we do it is worth it you never have to guess what is gong on activity wise they always have it posted on the website so the kids love it
kraushad wrote: The biggest advantage for members from what I can tell is the fact that you can stay for free - so you don't have to worry about setting money aside for the site each time you go in the monthly budget. ....
Free? What about that pesky yearly "maintenance fee"? And then there is the initial cost of purchasing the contract which will take a lifetime of camping to amortize.
Most weekend campers with full-time jobs do not spend that much money normally at campgrounds or RVparks yearly. Only fulltimers are out enough, and spend enough on camping or RVpark fees to make the "maintenance fee" with a campground membership make any sense.
joyjohnr wrote: I blew it! I paid the transfer fee and assumed my parents dormant account. I was obligated for three years. I've paid my dues. I've been very unhappy with the quality, service and upkeep of their obviously very old and out-of-the-way parks.
I've followed TT/Nacos' rules and opted out in writing and rec'd a letter from them confirming my final obligation date. But I can't get a pro-rated billing from them or their billing company. Nothing but harassment, phone calls and letters, demanding a full years dues.
If this company was in our area, I'd kick the door down and demand some customer service. Nothing else seems to work.
DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE I MADE! DON'T GET INTO A CONTRACT WITH THIS COMPANY! I FEEL THAT THE WAY THIS COMPANY DOES BUSINESS, THEY DESERVE TO GO BANKRUPT AND BE SHUT DOWN.
Wow!! This is like a nightmare revisited. We got ours as a wedding gift, turned out to be the worst thing to happen to us.
I can speak from experience when I say they have problems and their customer service s***s! My dad managed three preserves(Idyllwild, Palm Springs, and Tyler Texas) for them throughout the years and did nothing but battle with the Higher Ups in getting funds to remodel and upgrade. their main concern was to purchase failing campgrounds, do minors repairs and sell more memberships to fill their pockets.
My wife and I decided that the membership was not working for us due to my several deployments to Iraq. We made a call to TT to see about selling our membership and they said that since I was deploying they would suspend our membership and dues while I was gone. Yea right, my wife received non stop harassing phone calls and letters from their "collection" department. I even sent them a copy of my orders to prove that I was in Iraq and they promised that we were taken care of, NEVER HAPPENED!!
My dad made several phone calls to the higher ups with promises to fix this, nothing worked until the threat of legal action on our part did things get fixed. We are now membership free.
Give me a KOA or Yogi Bear. We have used many a campground over our years on the road. After our second year of owning a tent trailer - now a 5th wheel I will only stay at a KOA or Yogi Bear - and oh ya Moose Hillock in Waren New Hampshire.
Far too many dives out their and I am not willing to gamble (my money and time)again on a picture of a campsite - that was taken 25 years ago - when it was new then I show up to find out that the "recent" picture was taken 25 years ago. Give me a KOA or Yogi Bear (& Moose hillock) - more money - but I know I, my wife and my kids will be happy with what we just spent our money on.
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There will always be those who don't care for the resort type places, but I personally wouldn't go out in the forest somewhere.. to each their own, right?
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