Answer: Dear Glen and Mae: (Continued): There are many reasons people join camping clubs. The age of the people buying the membership and the kind and age of their RV has a lot to do with park use. Many young families like to camp without having to travel. Many seniors are past wanting to pull a RV and many people in between just like a close-by getaway. Camping clubs serve all those purposes well.
It is a great place to store and protect a RV when it’s not on the road, first of all. People like to put a roof over their RV to get it out of the weather, once they have chosen a lot as part of their membership. In most clubs, if not all, there are covenants that involve a permit and inspection process regarding building new structures…whether roofs, decks, gazebos, sheds or add-on rooms.
Some retired people make a camping club their home, either year round or seasonally. In Port Susan there are many “Snow Birds”. Some move one RV from their summer site in the North to their winter site in the South…and some have one at each destination. In addition, there are couples who buy two lots in one park and spend the maximum of six months at each location. Some, again, do that with two RVs while others move one back and forth. We even know a couple that lives in Hawaii in the winter and in Port Susan Camping Club in the summer! “Sea Birds”?
Elderly care is often factored into whether retired people are stationary or seasonal camping club members. Some have a caregiver spouse and some have caregivers who come into the park to render them assistance. This often postpones or even eliminates the need to move into assisted living facilities.
The assortment of ages, needs, focuses and inclinations of its diverse membership often makes a camping club a very interesting place to reside or visit on occasion. We love to take long walks just to see how differently people develop their lots and we also enjoy meeting and talking with the people who come and go on a regular basis.
Our personal choice has been to live in a senior living community while parking our RV at the Port Susan Camping Club close by. Yet another option. Blessings, Luise
Dear Luise: My family has recently been forced out of Port Susan Camping Club. Our family purchased two lots about three years ago with the hopes of living and raising our children in the seclusion of the old growth forest and out of the city. Things were great at first, but over time our happiness was pecked away at by water shortages, ridiculous amounts of power outages, unprofessional staff, overbearing rules(which take all the fun out of camping related activities, i.e; no bbq’ing, no campfires, pool closures, unpleasant members who don’t like young children, and Nazi-like park rangers. My husband received a $249.00 fine for reckless driving when the throttle got stuck on our truck and ended up in the ditch. One of the rangers was forced to write up the ticket against his own will. He was threatened to lose his job if he refused to do so and if he were to side with my husband he will be fired!! The staff doesn’t like my husband because he stands up to their unprofessional and fraudulent way they conduct business. There are many, many unhappy members at this club. I warn anyone considering buying a lot there not to do so. You will regret it! D.
Answer: Dear D. I have had a very different experience over the last twenty years. That doesn’t mean I doubt you, it just hasn’t been that way for me or my son, who still has two sites there. Blessings, Luise
Dear Luise: Thanks for your concern and the opportunity to respond to the comment you received. While no response will ever satisfy everyone, and certainly not someone who feels they have been unjustly treated, I will nevertheless respond to the best of my ability.
First of all, it should be noted that the rules & regulations and by-laws were written and approved by the members of the club. Administration is held accountable by the members and the board of directors for the enforcement of these rules and by-laws. When a members appears to have run afoul of these rules and/or by-laws, a ranger has the discretion to provide a verbal warning, a written warning and/or a violation. There is no quota for rangers to warn or write-up members and there is certainly never any threat of loss of a job, for failure to write a member a warning or violation. This simply is not something I nor the Board of Directors would tolerate, and is just wrong. Could a Ranger have made this statement to a member in an effort to avoid the wrath of the member at the time and re-direct it elsewhere? Absolutely, and this would be just plain wrong and a real personnel performance issue.
To ensure the rangers and/or staff are not over stepping their scope of authority, a member who receives a violation then appears before a Violation Review Committee (VRC), comprised of park members to hear the member’s story about the violation. The VRC has the board granted authority to either uphold the violation, to dismiss it and/or pass it along to the Board of Directors for a decision. When the board hears a member’s position on a violation, it also has the authority to either uphold it, or dismiss it. If either the VRC or the Board sees a pattern of abuse by staff or Rangers, the Manager is brought into the picture to determine if a problem exists and to determine a corrective strategy. To date, I have never been contacted by either the VRC or the Board of Directors to deal with an out of control Ranger or staff member. While members who find themselves with violations, sometimes view the Rangers as a problem and/or violators of their personal rights, the vast majority of the park members see them as helpful, friendly staff members whose primary mission is to be ambassadors of good will and to provide some level of park security. The Port Susan Camping Club has 2500 camping sites and I would dare to say, that the vast majority of the members staying on these sites would disagree with the feelings and charges delineated by this particular disgruntled member.
I would like to close by letting you know, I frequently and regularly remind my staff that the members of the Port Susan Camping Club are their customers and their ultimate bosses. They are to be treated at all times with respect and courtesy, just as they would like to be treated.
Respectfully,
Don Franks, Manager – PSCC
From:
Dear Don, Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on the above. Your input is greatly appreciated. Blessings, Luise
My wife and I toured the PSCC last summer, and again last month. We have chosen not to consider it further due to our own experiences with Rangers and the sales staff. As the ones who bear the burden of first impressions with potential buyers, they should be the most careful about how they treat people who may partake in their paychecks. However, they do not.
PSCC Rangers are 50/50 nice and obnoxious, on power trips with authority over members, or so they think. Little do they know members have other ways of dealing with such problem people. If you are fortunate to visit PSCC on a day when a nice Ranger encounters you, you will leave with a good impression. If not, well, you get the point. However, the dozen or so members I have spoken with over time tell me they know which Rangers are nice and which simply act as wardens. Half of them, seniors, told me they wished they could leave, but financially they were stuck there.
With such glaring testimonies about PSCC from their own members, there is no way I would subject my family to condo-assn irresponsibility and callousness. No amount of money saved can buy happiness when you have to deal with such people on a regular basis. Just not worth it.
There are several other camping clubs in Western Washington, and we elected to buy up in Sequim. Not cheap, but the reviews by members there were more 90% good/10% bad, instead of 60% bad/40% good. A much better combination.
Good luck in your decision to buy. R.
I have belonged to PSSC since 1978. I’ve seem some of what you report but not anywhere near that %. My son has had a place there for seven years. They live in Kauai and come over for the summer every year because they don’t like the heat. (Thank heavens!) They too have had a mostly positive experience and since life isn’t perfect that works for them. If you have found a place you like better, good for you. PSCC isn’t for everyone. Blessings, Luise
I was seriously considering buying one of these lots, but after reading so many negative reviews on several different sites regarding Nazi park rangers, I think I’ll pass. V,
There are 2,500 lots in Port Susan but you just never hear from the happy people. My son has two lots there and loves it.
We drove by PSCC a while back and thought it may fill the need for us to have someplace to camp very early in the season and late into the fall. The summer time being left for travel to various state CG’s we like.
I was surprised by how many sites are for sale (good thing) and how much info is left off the web-site. Missing details like dues. transfer costs, utility fee’s (sewer pumping, elect if any) and their desire to view my personal finances alarmed me. A credit check is fine but you have no right to see my finances. Also in viewing the properties for sale, it is apparent that a few members don’t take very good care of their sites. (A rule banning blue tarps would go a long way). Some site look like they’re just used to store excess trash and vehicles.
The final nail in the coffin is all the bad reviews I’m seeing on-line. With all the reports of rangers bullying members and utility issues, you have real problems. These issues will not be remedied until they are recognized and addressed.
Due to these issues and all the poor reviews that I’ve read here and elsewhere, we’ve reluctantly decided not to buy into PSCC. S.
S. – You might want to take a look at Lake Connor Park.