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If you want to be able to touch your neighbor’s camper from inside your camper, you’ll be at home at Rock-a-Hock Campgrounds in Lanexa, Virginia. If you want to be told you have to relocate your camper on a regular basis, or if you want septic tanks to break on a regular basis, if you love smelling raw sewage for weeks on end, while waiting for the septic tanks to be fixed, if you love being told one thing by the owner and something completely different by the office staff, well, you’re in for a treat at Rock-a-Hock Campgrounds! What’s better than that? Being told by the office staff that the owner doesn’t care about the countless number of complaints lodged by campers, or would-be campers as they pull away disgruntled, because his theory is that there is always someone pulling in just as that unhappy camper is leaving. The owner repeatedly tells his office staff to "pack ‘em in tight", and when that starts happening, people begin packing up and leaving. Just as they leave, though, someone is right behind them. And then the other people leave, and then someone is right behind them. It is a vicious circle. How about safety issues? Cracked and broken sewer caps, big enough for small children and animals to fall into. (The neighbors have been complaining about at least one of them since November, 2006.) Eyesores? There is always construction going on; loud noises from heavy equipment all day long, construction equipment left all over the campgrounds everyday, tons of timber piles (the owner has cut down most of the trees), dirt piles, septic systems, rebar, and other equipment. Why so many bugs? There is so much standing water, and stagnant water holes, plan on spending at least $200 this summer on bug sprays, zappers, fog lamps, etc. We found a smaller camper in our yard one Friday, sitting between us and another camper. We contacted the owner, and were told that those people pulled into the wrong site. The owner promised he would have them moved on Monday, after the weekend. On Wednesday, the following week, the camper was still there. We went to the office to find out why it had not been moved, and the person in the office told us that that was an actual site, and the little camper was where it was supposed to be. We explained that the owner told us differently, and that there were plenty of sites open for either them or us to move. The office personnel told us that this kind of thing happened all the time, where the owner often tells campers one thing and tells the office staff to tell campers something else. When we, and other campers, have complained to the owner about our situations, he tells us what we want to hear, and does nothing. When we have gone to the office and asked about the status of our situation, they tell us something completely different. When we tell them what the owner has told us, they tell us that he just says what we want to hear to get us off his back. You don’t know how many times I have been in the office for whatever reason and overheard the office staff taking the heat from a very unsatisfied customer. I have not talked to anyone that has ever had anything good to say about the owner and his mistress/manager, including the office staff. And, since we have had to relocate several times, I have been in contact with quite a few people. Why do I care, and why don’t I just leave? Well, when my husband, then fiancé, first moved there, he actually lived in his camper (a relocated Texan due to Army.) He was there for almost a year before I moved up with him. We stayed there, happily, incident-free, for about 4 months, during the summer. We moved into an apartment with our children after summer was over, and put the camper and boat in storage until the following April. We were promised a certain camp-site when we returned. My husband and I looked forward to April during the winter months, and it couldn’t get here soon enough. We had plans to relax and enjoy, just like we had the previous year. And now that it is here, we have had one bad incident after the next. Now, every Friday when we pull up to the camper, there is some new incident, situation, or whatever that we have to deal with. It is no longer a pleasure to be at the camper. And the part that makes me so mad is that the owner doesn’t care, and customer service means nothing as long as the money continues to roll in. I am usually a pretty laid-back person, and I believe in picking your battles carefully. I haven’t been this mad in a long time; I think this battle picked me. So, my goal is to ask all my fellow campers to help me let people like this owner know that we don’t want to or have to put up with crappy customer service like this. If we stick together, we can make quality outweigh quantity to these campsite owners. Heck, I would even be willing to pay a little more for better service and more space, wouldn’t you? I just recently found out that the owner has never camped, nor has he ever owned a camper in his life. He just doesn’t care, and now my summer, so far, is a disaster! So, if we want to make a difference, we have to show people why customer service is important. The key: as long as the money continues to roll in, who needs customer service? There are billions of people in the world! He, and those like him, will always make money off of us if we continue to let him take advantage of us. So, please avoid this campsite; boycott Rock-a-Hock Campgrounds with me. I want to encourage special-interest groups, investors, etc. to relocate their events, make other investments to help us make a difference.
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