| Question | Answers |
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| Price / Value |
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| Appearance / Cleanliness |
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| Hospitality / Service |
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| Scenery / Environment |
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| Insects / Bugs |
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| Family Friendly |
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| Pet Friendly |
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| Location |
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| Overall |
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| Site Type |
Tent
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| Do you plan on coming back again? |
No
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| When Did you go Camping? |
July 14-16, 2006 |
| Short Summary |
Mediocre Campground, "interesting" business practices. |
Comments:
My family stayed here last weekend and unfortunately we will not be going back.
I did quite a bit of research to find a good spot to take my family and some friends camping over my birthday weekend. Rangeley Lakes region is a beautiful place, and the idea of renting out an entire island really appealed to me, so we went with Cupsuptic Campground, on beautiful Cupsuptic Lake. On their website they advertise the availability of renting out Birch Island for $85 per night (remember that number), which has six campsites and two outhouses. I tried to find out more about the place, but found no camper reviews on the net. OK, no problem, so I decided to try it out.
I called the campground in early June, first to inquire about the availability and the next day to reserve the island. When I made the reservation, I stated that I wanted to rent the entire island for a family gathering and all was well - for about ten minutes. Ron, from Cupsuptic called soon thereafter and explained that one of the sites was already rented out. OK, its a slight inconvienence, but honestly more for whoever rented the odd spot than for us, so I told him that was no problem. He explained that he would discount the the rate appropriately and I agreed. He also mentioned that we would have the spot with a lean-to, the "best" site, he said. The next day, a charge appeared on my Amex card: $75. Cupsuptic's advertised deposit policy is half down and I reserved for two nights, so the deposit should reflect the daily rate. $75 sounded about right - about $4 more than I would have thought (85*(6/5))=~$71), but I was not going to bitch about it. I thought it was all settled, and really looked forward to getting there and out onto the island with my family.
OK, fast forward to mid-July. On friday we arrived, a mix of seasoned and novice campers. I checked in, arranged for them to shuttle several people and some equipment to the island. I paid upfront for the site, one shuttle ($25), and one canoe for two days ($50). I signed for the charge (it came to $181 - I did not think to do the math at the time) and we all headed out. On the way out of the store, Barb mentioned that we did _not_ have the lean-to site, which the other campers had reserved. Dammit. Oh well, glad we brought a screen tent.
For those of you wondering about the campground itself, I can only say it was packed tight with RVs, obviously long-term residents. Tenting there would be unpleasant unless you are looking for company. They also have several wilderness sites up the river, but I did not see them.
When I got to the island, it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. Remote enough to enjoy ourselves, room enough for some privacy and a mostly empty, beautiful lake. As I explored the island, I was somewhat dismayed. The island is a neat place, but it seems to be in dire need of maintenance. Trails between the sites are overgrown and indistinct, the result of which we were unable to even find two of the sites until the next day when I circled the island in a canoe. The site we picked to center our activities in was large enough and had several picnic tables, but two of the four tables were broken and were only partially useful. The sites we found were nice enough, mostly even and somewhat rooty, but adequate. Worse was the outhouse. I have been in many outhouses and this was
near the bottom of my list. The stall itself was clean enough, but the stench was simply unbearable. A can of Clorox wipes was left there, probably not so much to clean it as to hold it over your nose when you had to use the facility.
OK, so the place was a bit run-down, but I have camped in far worse. Friday afternoon, more of our pary arrived, requiring another shuttle, which I assumed was paid by the "shuttlee". I have not yet found out from him if he paid. We settled in, ate dinner, paddled around, slept, and had a generally good time until it was time to leave on Sunday. The other campers were pleasant and kept to themselves. We cleaned up the campsites and general area, leaving nothing behind.
We arranged for a shuttle ($25 ka-ching) to take everyone and everything back to the campground and a few of us paddled our canoes back to the campground. I went to the store, paid for the shuttle and some drinks for the ride ($31 on Amex), and as I had my wallet out noticed the earlier receipt for $181. Something was wrong with the math, and I asked if I had already paid for the return shuttle, Barb replied (with much certainty) that I had not. I had a 19 month old son, wife, sister, mother, and friends waiting for me so I left it at that and decided to go over the numbers when I got home and call them if I had a problem. "These places rely on repeat business - they'll be happy to resolve the dispute.", my wife said, and I agreed. We had even tossed around the idea of making it a yearly thing for my birthday and had inquired about reserving the island next year at the store before we left.
After I got back. I simply could not get the numbers to add up. $281 had been charged to my account. My calculation; $150 for the sites, $50 for the canoes and $50 for the shuttles added up to $250. We paid $10 in tax so $20 is still missing. I called the next day to inquire as to what happened, and Ron said he would get the card and call me back. I gave him my cell phone number, explaining that no one would be home during the day and to call me on my cell.
I got home the next day, and there was a message on my home phone from Barb, itemizing the charges and here is the kicker: they charged me $85 dollars per night. They called it a discount because it was discounted from the single site rate of $18/night. The result: the charge for 5 of the 6 sites on the island was EXACTLY the same as the whole island! I called them right away and explained the issue from my side, apparently raising the ire of Barb who quickly passed the phone to Ron. I explained that from my perspective I never asked for "five sites", I asked for the "whole island" and when he mentioned he would "discount" the rate due to overbooking, I naturally assumed he would be discounting the "whole island" price. I was trying to be as polite as possible, but he got very defensive and was obviously not
going to budge. I explained that I would not be coming back there. "Fine" was his reply. I explained that I would be calling American Express and before the sentence was out of my mouth he had hung up.
The key piece of evidence here is the fact that the initial deposit was $75. An obvious sign that Ron had originally offered me a
discount at the "whole island" price of $85. Simply put, I cannot imagine how these people can do business that way. I called Amex and have filed a dispute for $20 of that $181 bill. Its the principle of the matter to me, and for $20 (which they may not even end up getting), they have lost a customer who would have come back yearly.
Oh well, time to find another island.
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