ReserveAmerica Holdings, Inc.

Review: Refund Complaint Issue surrounding Reserve America's inability to offer effective service/dispute resolutions...and ultimately offer a refund.

For my girlfriend's birthday I booked, through ReserveAmerica.com, camping sites at Malibu Creek State Park on Oct 4-Oct 5, 2013. Reserve America's refund policy states that cancellations MUST be made by 5pm the day prior in order to qualify for a full refund. The REAL problem here is that Malibu Creek State Park calls me on my cell phone at 6pm the day prior to our stay(Oct 3) and states there is a "high wind advisory" but the park is still open. With this new information I attempted to cancel our Friday(Oct 4) reservation. After all who can pitch a tent in 30 mph winds...NOT even Bear Grylls. This cancellation attempt was unsuccessful as it was outside the allotted time...but due in NO part to our own negligence. I spoke to [redacted] at Reserve America (XXX-XXX-XXXX) and her only advice was to have the park attendant send Reserve America authorizing this refund. Do you believe the ineffective and unprofessional nature of this archaic policy?? In fact, upon check in on Sat(Oct 5) both park attendants, [redacted] and [redacted] had absolutely NO idea of this process and we had to tell them what Reserve America told us. Again, do you believe that patrons are telling park employees the refund process? [redacted] and [redacted] assured us that our names were on a list that gets sent out at the end of the month. Three weeks later I get my credit card bill with FULL charges for both days (totaling $98). After calling Reserve America and speaking with [redacted] who was absolutely NO help whatsoever, and her colleague, [redacted], there ONLY advice was to call the park and speak to a Park Supervisor. I have called the Dept of Parks & Rec at XXX-XXX-XXXX and spoken to a few overpaid associates AS WELL AS the Ranger Station XXX-XXX-XXXX where I have left a few voice messages...to no avail. So here it is in plain English: The Dept of Parks will not issue a refund b/c the park was technically open and Reserve America will not issue a refund without authorization from the park. Does this sound strange to anyone besides myself? I booked through Reserve America and was charged by Reserve America!! Also why am I, the patron, having to call both of the parties involved? Isn't that Reserve America's job in servicing complaint resolutions?? I refuse to be charged for Fri (Oct 4) b/c the "high wind advisory" was communicated to us outside Reserve America's allotted refund window. More importantly I feel I should be refunded the entire trip b/c of the stress and the dozens of phone calls I have had to make since Reserve America, more specifically, [redacted] appear to be extorting money from tax paying citizens like myself. Reserve America needs to get with the Dept of Parks so that there refund policies and procedures mirror one another's. This situation could have been avoided. Desired Settlement: I refuse to be charged for Fri (Oct 4) b/c the "high wind advisory" was communicated to us outside Reserve America's allotted refund window. More importantly I feel I should be refunded the entire trip b/c of the stress and the dozens of phone calls I have had to make since Reserve America, more specifically, Janelle, appear to be extorting money from tax paying citizens like myself. Reserve America needs to get with the Dept of Parks so that there refund policies and procedures mirror one another's. This situation could have been avoided.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

This is ReserveAmerica's response to Revdex.com case #XXXXXXXX.

Our investigation shows that the reserved facility, Malibu Creek, was open for the reserved dates. The high wind warning restricted campers from having a fire on their site.

Since this did not prevent the customer from using their site, the facility staff has denied a refund of any fees.

All notes on [redacted] account also state that the customer was advised each time they contacted us that we could not issue a refund until we heard back from the facility. Once we received word from the staff that the refund was not approved, we did convey that to the customer on more than one occasion.

While we do apologize that the customer would not have been able to have a camp fire, the facility was opened and their site was held for them.

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

Reserve America still has yet to address the root ofcomplaint. Regardless whether the "facility" was open on the date in question, the ability for us to cancel our reservation was taken away by the "high wind advisory" call that we received at 6pm the day before our stay. And once again, this is one hour outside the policy for cancellations. I still have a screenshot of this call and the date and time it was received. My next email is being addresses to the [redacted] of [redacted] to alert him personally of this situation as I feel Reserve America has zero complaint resolution capabilities and extortion is still a punishable offense.

Final Business Response

Good Afternoon,

This concern was escalated to the California State Parks office. They have reviewed this request and have also consulted with the supervising ranger of the campground. The decision to not refund stands. They do not feel that a refund is warranted in this case.

While this is the policy enforced by ReserveAmerica, the policy and decision are made at the State/Park level.

Review: Selling fully reserved and paid site to other party and keeping the full amount is a theft.

We made reservation in WI state park, paid in full for 3 days for 2 sites. Due to weather, we showed up only on the 2nd day and found that our sites were sold to others, and we receive no refund, which was more than $100. This is in the policy of RA. We believe that having such policy is a theft. The usual business practice is that whatever is paid in full, belongs to the customer; when there's possibility of cancellation, that's what deposit is for, a fixed small portion of the whole amount. What if the reservation was for 10 days, would they keep thousands of dollars? If this is their policy, it has to be reviewed. If this is the policy of the state park, they have to work on it, being practically the monopolist and heavily involved with all state governments all across the country. We called the state and received the refund, while ReserveAmerica insisted on keeping our money.Desired Settlement: The policies that are clear theft need to be amended.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

This is ReserveAmerica's response to complaint ID XXXXXXXX.

Our recordings indicate that the campground, Kettle Moraine State Forest (southern unit), listed reservation numbers X-XXXXXXXX and X-XXXXXXXX as No Show's due to failing to arrive by 3pm local time on the day after arrival.

Per policy, if a customer fails to arrive by 3pm on the day after arrival, their sites are forfeited and no refund is warranted. This is the policy of Wisconsin State Parks, which we are to enforce. The reasons for this policy are not always known to us but could include the resources used to prepare the site in advance and the loss of potential revenue for the site not being used for the requested timeframe if no other campers arrive.

We received a notification from the State of Wisconsin to issue this customer a refund of 2 nights camping fees per reservation on 5/29/13. The appropriate refunds were issued to the customer as a courtesy. The no show policy is readily available on our website and the customer must agree to the policies before payment will be accepted.

Please let me know if there is anything further that I can assist with.

Thank you,

[redacted], Associate Manager of Customer Support

Consumer's Final Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

As we indicated in the complaint, we know that this is indeed the policy, and this is exactly the reason we filed this complaint. For the remaining two days, our site was already sold to other people, so apparently there was no loss of revenue. The only loss was for the day when we did not show up, and keeping the cost for that day is reasonable; but keeping the money for the days that were resold to others, is not.

The fact that policy stipulating de-facto theft is "readily available" does not make it any different.

As we specified in the complaint, the resolution we expect is not the refund, but review of your policies. Also as we indicated, you are de-facto monopolist on the reservations in state parks nationwide, you even operate .gov website, and using this monopoly to rob your customers is not what we expect.

The page at http://books.dreambook.com/antigone414/reserveamericasucks.html lists hundreds of people who all feel that your company has robbed them. The response "we can do it because we published it", which you had the nerve to post there, and in your reply to Revdex.com, is not acceptable.

Business' Final Response

Hello,

This concern has been shared with the state of Wisconsin. As the reservation agency handling reservations, transfers and cancellations, we are in no position to alter the policy as provided to us.

While I cannot say that any changes to the policy will be made, the State is aware of this feedback and will communicate with us if there are any changes to be made.

Thank you,