We WON!!

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SilvrT

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Sep 6, 2016
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116
Sound Pacific RV Campgrounds

We entered a draw while at the RV show in Feb and got a call today that we won a free membership in this "private" campground system who is affiliated with other similar entities. Included in our "free" membership is a guaranteed space at any one of their or their affiliate facilities for $10/night.

They even were going to give us $50 to drive down to attend one of their introductory "meetings" for one hour.

Well, being the gullible and naive person I am (yeahsureright) I just naturally figured this was some sort of a "come-on" scheme to get us to sign up for something we didn't really want and that probably didn't deliver on all their so-called "promises".

Anyone here have any info about this that you'd care to share?

Frankly we're not falling for it. We almost got stung once before with Holiday In Resorts.
 
You are surely right about the come-on. Whether it is worthwhile to endure the sales pitch top get whatever introductory incentive they promise is up to you.

Membership campgrounds can be a good value IF you in fact will utilize them regularly. Some RVers do and others do not - it's a lifestyle difference.
 
Spent some time digging up reviews of this "outfit". Some good, others quite bad and all of those seemed to speak of similar things.

The "freebies" are to get you in the door so they can up-sell you using high-pressure tactics. (This is exactly what happened to us with Holiday Inn Resorts... thankfully we cancelled within the time limit)

If you take the hook, they don't always deliver on what is agreed.

If you take the hook and don't fall for the up-sell, they hound you.

Many of the affiliated campgrounds don't always adhere to the "arrangement" as promised.

Some of the campgrounds are poorly run.

As for the good reviews, I'm wary that some are fake. The reviews seem to be either really good or really bad. Not much in between.


 
If it sounds to good to be true.............

Very few things are free - especially when a business in need of a profit is involved.
 
Kinda like getting the free 3 day/2 night stay at Massanutten in Virginia. You only have to take to 90 minute tour that lasts for 4+ hours, and put up with some serious attitudes when you say you're not interested.
 
Heh-heh...yeah...we "won" a membership to K&M Campgrounds here in western WA a couple of years ago. Unrestricted access to one local "home" park, (they got to choose which one...and it wasn't one we would ever use) then preferred access to the parks in their system. Plus, as an "added incentive," for a "small fee," we could have access to all the parks in a couple of the big campground systems.  Of course, we would have to spend at least 10 nights per year in one of their parks just to break even on the annual dues...but we're not "let's go camping at the same place each time, just to get out of the house" people. We MIGHT hit the same campground once or twice each year...as we're traveling to someplace else, but NEVER the same park as a destination time after time.

Beware...these "You WON!" deals aren't always as good as they make them out to be.
 
BoomerD said:
Heh-heh...yeah...we "won" a membership to K&M Campgrounds here in western WA a couple of years ago.

I think this is the same one.
 
As long as you go into it knowing what it is and what they're goal is, if it is a place you wanted to go to anyway, go for it.  We did this with Thousand Trails, twice actually, and came out with a nice weekend on them.  They did try to pressure us, but once we finally said NO (about 4 times), they left us alone for the rest of the weekend.  We had a good time and saw some of Texas we hadn't seen before.  A win/lose (win for us, lose for them).
 
  We went through the same Thousand Trails  in Verde Valley AZ but walked away with a free 13" TV and the 4 nights.
 
Take the "Timeshare style" tour and when they try to close you, just say. "Were lucky we can camp, because its so cheap, since we lost our jobs it works out great for us"
 
Triple Slide Jayco said:
Take the "Timeshare style" tour and when they try to close you, just say. "Were lucky we can camp, because its so cheap, since we lost our jobs it works out great for us"

Thing is, we would still have to pay appx $365 annually in order to take advantage of anything. Problem with that is, it's quite limited and if you want full benefits, then you have to pay a few thousand dollars.  This is how I understand it from the various write-ups/reviews I've read. THAT is the high-pressure "up-sell" that they want you to buy.

 
SilvrT said:
Thing is, we would still have to pay appx $365 annually

And how many nights could you camp for that amount?  Some places charge less than that for a Month.

Do what you want - But I would RUN away from an offer like that.
 
SilvrT said:
Thing is, we would still have to pay appx $365 annually in order to take advantage of anything. Problem with that is, it's quite limited and if you want full benefits, then you have to pay a few thousand dollars.  This is how I understand it from the various write-ups/reviews I've read.THAT is the high-pressure "up-sell" that they want you to buy.

Years ago, We WON too !

Went to the Promo.. Toured the Park.. listened to the Pitch, herded in to some Tents (the chute).

When we told them we couldn't afford to join.. at that time.. they said they would, or could, accept any Valuables we might have.. as a co-laterable down payment.. or arrange financing against our home equity. They wouldn't let up (the squeeze).

We (I) had to get Ugly to break away. Collected our Prize (a $10 BBQ), and left.  :mad:

NEVER been to another one of those.
 
RedandSilver said:
And how many nights could you camp for that amount?  Some places charge less than that for a Month.

Do what you want - But I would RUN away from an offer like that.


Perhaps you're not reading me correctly... we ARE RUNNING AWAY (or in this case, we're not going to attend their "intro" or take them up on their "offer").
 
We won and accepted the offer three times with the same company.  I don't remember the name of the company but we put our name in the drawings at three different RV shows and we were called and told we won all three times.  ;D  They have about 15 properties but we could only select one of five to stay at for the free trip.  The first one we stayed at was quite crappy and way too close to a major freeway for our liking.  We stayed for two nights and we attended the sales pitch for 2 hours and we told them we weren't pleased with what we saw at this property.  They showed us pretty pictures of other properties and told us how glamorous they were so we asked if we could stay at one they showed us in the brochure and they told us we could after we signup.  After that, we told them we weren't interested and we enjoy camping without hookups so we can be away from other campers.

We did this two other times at two other locations but still not impressive.  The funny thing is each time we attended the sales pitch they told us at the end that this was the only time we would be allowed their promo offer.  ::) 

At least we had the opportunity to camp somewhere new for free which allowed us to visit the surrounding areas and check them off our bucket list.  ;)
 

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