There is a thread on the Escapees forum that every RVer needs to read before they ever consider buying a campground membership. It can save you a lot of money and aggravation.

This is not the first time I have heard complaints about Timber Lodge RV Resort, and a website called the Ripoff Report shows 20 complaints against the company. The crux of the situation is that once you buy a membership in Timber Lodge, you are obligated to continue paying dues for life, and they will apparently dun you right into your grave to collect, and then apparently go after your estate. Timber Lodge says this is a “standard industry practice.”

What a bunch of bulls&%$! Any business that uses practices such as these obviously knows that they cannot keep customers by virtue of their facilities or customer service, so they try to bind them to financial servitude for life. There’s nothing like sticking it to unwary consumers to maintain a healthy bottom line!

Contrary to what Timber Lodge wants people to believe, this is not an “industry standard practice.” But just as many membership campground sales representatives will lie, cheat, and steal to make a sale, apparently once they get your name on a contract, they will be just as underhanded to keep you on the hook.

We had our own bad experience with a membership campground chain; Western Horizons, one of the biggest and best known in the country. We joined as greenhorns soon after we hit the road (always a mistake) and made a huge down payment, with a series of quarterly payments due on the balance. Soon after we joined, the company placed a series of advertisements in the Gypsy Journal, which they never paid us for, in spite of repeated collection calls on my part.

When Terry was diagnosed with cancer and we didn’t know if she was even going to survive, we had a payment due, and I called to ask for an extension, since money was tight and we were off the road. No dice, it was either pay up or else.

I pointed out the fact that while our account was not past due, they had owed me more than I owed them for over a year, and suggested we both wipe the slate clean and go on from there. No, they wanted their money, they ignored (again) my request for payment of what they owed me, and basically told me to go to hell.

Just like Timber Ridge, they made all kinds of threats about what they were going to do to us, and I told them to stick it where the sun don’t shine. They cancelled our membership, and we never heard another word. So we got ripped off for what we had already paid, but I can assure you that it has cost them much, much more in goodwill over the years. That old saying “Never pick a fight with a man who buys his ink by the barrel” is so very true!

This is not to say that all campground memberships are bad or unfair. We feel that the used Thousand Trails/NACO membership we now have has been a good investment, and while not all of their campgrounds are as pristine and perfect as their promoters would have you believe, and while the system has its own warts, we are pleased with it.

If you are going to purchase a campground membership, be sure to read every word of the contract. Remember, it’s the fine print that bites you in the butt! As for places like Timber Ridge, or any other company that uses such sordid tactics, my best advice would be not to even stop at their locations. There are plenty of reputable businesses out there who deserve your patronage.

Thought For The Day – Whatever hits the fan or rolls downhill will not be evenly distributed! 

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A while back I wrote a post about discount camping clubs, such as Passport America and Recreation USA. Today, let’s talk about membership campground systems.

The first thing we should do is understand the basic differences between a discount camping club and a membership club. A discount camping club consists of a large number of campgrounds owned by different people and companies, who agree to give RVing members a discount, usually 50% off of their regular rates. Membership in a discount camping club is much less expensive than it is for a membership club, no home park is required, and there is usually no long term membership obligation. You just pay your annual dues and use the participating campgrounds.

A membership campground system on the other hand, is usually a more expensive proposition, and (according to the folks who sell the memberships) comes with benefits and privileges not available to the general public.

If you have ever attended a membership campground sales pitch, you probably know that the people hustling these memberships have hard sell down to a science. I’ve known more than one RVer who has walked out of the room after being pushed too far one time too many.

Years ago, after we attended one such sales presentation at a membership campground in Oregon, the sales rep came to our motorhome at 10:30 p.m. asking if we had made a decision yet, and telling us that if we did not purchase right then, we’d be “blackballed” and would never be allowed to purchase a campground membership from any company in the future. Can you guess where we told them to stick their membership?

When you join a membership campground system, you are assigned a home park, and then you can stay at any other campgrounds in the system for a given period of time. Depending on your particular membership, that may be one to three weeks, and again, depending on your membership, you may be able to go directly to any other campgrounds in the system, or you may have to be out of the system for one or two weeks.

Campground memberships can be very expensive, up to several thousand dollars, and annual dues can be $500 or more a year. The salespeople will assure you that your membership is an “investment,” and that if you ever decide that you no longer want it, it is a valuable asset that you can sell. Yeah, and once you do, I have a bridge to sell you with all of that money burning a hole in your pocket.

Used campground memberships are a dime a dozen, and with just a little research and effort, you can pick up a used membership for pennies on the dollar, or sometimes even free, because the current owner is tired of paying the dues. For example, a few years back we bought a used nationwide Thousand Trails/NACO membership with all the bells and whistles for $100, plus the transfer fee of $750.

You have to be careful when purchasing a used campground membership, because there are dozens of different memberships out there, and most membership systems have offered many different levels of membership, with different benefits, over the years. Do your homework before you buy any new or used membership.

The two biggest membership campground systems are Thousand Trails (TTN) and Western Horizons. Both have campgrounds in several states nationwide. The Thousand Trails website says that between all of their affiliated campgrounds, they offer over 80 camping locations in 22 states and British Columbia. This includes NACO and Leisure Time Resorts (LTR) campgrounds, two smaller memberships that fall under the general Thousand Trails umbrella. (Not all TTN members can use the NACO or LTR campgrounds.) The Western Horizons website says that they have 22 camping resorts nationwide, and one in Mexico.

We belonged to Western Horizons for a short time years ago, and while we found most of their campgrounds to be more than adequate for our needs, their business practices left a lot to be desired, in our opinion. We soon left the system.

As I stated above, we picked up a used Thousand Trails/NACO membership a while back. We have stayed at TTN/NACO campgrounds in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee. Some of the campgrounds are very nice, and others are outdated and in need of major upgrading.

I always tell new RVers not to obligate themselves to any membership campground system until they have been on the road at least a full year. It will take you that long to get out of vacation mode and begin to define your own traveling style.

When and if you do decide that a campground membership is right for you, research the different systems, and then look for a used membership. We found ours by putting a simple post on the Escapes forum saying that we were looking for a used TTN/NACO membership. I had over 15 different memberships offered to me by the next day.

You can also find used memberships in ads in the back of RV magazines, on campground bulletin boards, and even on eBay. But again, don’t spend a lot of money on a used membership. The seller may believe he really has an “asset” to sell. Wait until you find someone to whom the membership and its annual dues have become a liability and you can get a heck of a deal.

Thought For The Day - Let each day be your masterpiece!

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