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Papa smurf · 08-01-2021, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richw46

Why not just challenge the charge with your credit card company? I would do that rather than wait for a refund. Make them prove that you owe the money, which you don't.

Because with my credit card and I would imagine with most credit card you can not challenge a charge after 3 months and in that case the reservation was made more then 3 months ago.

Rich W · 08-02-2021, 07:13 AM

The limit is 60 days. Just to cover my bases I would still call them and ask if there's anything they can do. You could also contact the state attorney general and file a complaint. I have done that before and received my money back from a business.

Papa smurf · 08-02-2021, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richw46

The limit is 60 days. Just to cover my bases I would still call them and ask if there's anything they can do. You could also contact the state attorney general and file a complaint. I have done that before and received my money back from a business.

I did call them and there is nothing they can do at this point. As for contacting the state attorney general I would hope they have more important things to do then help a Canadian get a $50 refund. The only reason I posted this is to let people who might be expecting a more important credit like 14 days in one of the most expensive park know that they might have to wait a while before receiving their credit unlike before where it was done right away.

n2916s · 08-02-2021, 07:45 AM

In fairness, this one is beyond Reserve America’s control. Yes, they processed the reservations but, after taking out their $6.70 fee, they sent the money off to the State of Florida.

Then, they lost the contract to service the reservations, thus losing their ability to claw any refund money back from the state.

The new reservation company is certainly not going to pay you as they weren’t involved in the original transaction.

That leaves one holding a virtual “I.O.U.” from the Florida treasury. As we all know, paying the government is easy. Getting a refund is a whole other thing…

I just canceled $190 worth of reservations (July has been ridiculously hot and August doesn’t promise to be any better) at Sebastian Inlet SP. I hope to see the refund check by Halloween…

Rich W · 08-02-2021, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Papa smurf

I did call them and there is nothing they can do at this point. As for contacting the state attorney general I would hope they have more important things to do then help a Canadian get a $50 refund. The only reason I posted this is to let people who might be expecting a more important credit like 14 days in one of the most expensive park know that they might have to wait a while before receiving their credit unlike before where it was done right away.

Sorry then, I'm out of ideas

. It's been a long time since I've had to use the attorney general and even then it was about a 6 month turn around time for each of 2 complaints. I hope someday the refund happens to come through for you.

GetawA-S · 08-02-2021, 08:42 AM

It is a mess, but then, what do you expect from the state of Florida?
We tried to change a date - the call center told us the site was unavailable, the park office would not book it, and the website loaded the reservation in the cart, would not accept the change and forced her to cancel completely. $ down the drain, refund who knows when…

Jim & Susan · 08-03-2021, 04:15 PM

We usually take a trip to this same campground once or twice a year since around 2007. Susan's family is from this area. So we've done this a dozen times or so. We have had to cancel twice that I remember and there was not a problem either time.. This was with Reserve America. Money was refunded right away with no issues.

And that's my point here. The new guys seemed to be more interested in getting me off the phone when they couldn't explain the problem. They clearly wanted to pass the buck on to some other group of people (the Rangers at the campground in this case).

As to the contractual obligation between a vendor and a state government, a couple things. The State of Florida is acting as a retailer in this arrangement, no different that Walmart or Walgreens, regardless who collects the money on their behalf. My rights as a consumer should not change just because a state agency is involved. Additionally, in a normal business arrangement, when one business succeeds another in a contracted service, the new business generally has to have some process in place to deal with the old businesses obligations. (Call this number, email this person, or business unit, etc). The transition between companies and the state of Florida appears to be haphazard at best, non-existent at worst.

I challenged this with my bank (USAA) and they refunded my money while they investigate.

I don't appreciate it very much when bureaucracies don't take care of the people they are there to serve. It's only $100 bucks, but it's my $100 bucks.

Jim

Jim & Susan · 08-05-2021, 06:45 PM

I made a couple more phone calls to try and resolve this over the last few days. End result is nada, nicht, nyet, no.

From what I was told by several people, the State of Florida Environmental Protection Division has decided to issue ALL refunds related to State Park matters in check form from the FLEPA HQ in Tallahassee. Regardless of who handled the reservation. Expect a refund in 2 to 4 MONTHS. I'll be over in the corner holding my breath......

If I were a resident of this state, I'd be raising hell about this. Clearly, bureaucrats are in charge of this agency. No thinking allowed. One of the Rangers I talked to was in agreement with the campers, things were running fairly smoothly, now he has to deal with mucked up reservations and other problems everyday. Good luck to that guy.

That $7.00 per day utility fee is actually set to take effect later in the year, tho he didn't know the exact date. This is in every campsite in the state park system where you might park a camper, regardless of what you might see on the state park's website. If you're headed to Florida this winter, expect to get tagged with that when you get there.

Good luck to everybody. Susan is actually a Florida native (yes, that really is a thing). We won't be using the state parks down there for a few years. Give them some time to fix their Cranial-Rectal inversion problem.

Jim

GotTaGo · 08-05-2021, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

I made a couple more phone calls to try and resolve this over the last few days. End result is nada, nicht, nyet, no.

From what I was told by several people, the State of Florida Environmental Protection Division has decided to issue ALL refunds related to State Park matters in check form from the FLEPA HQ in Tallahassee. Regardless of who handled the reservation. Expect a refund in 2 to 4 MONTHS. I'll be over in the corner holding my breath......

If I were a resident of this state, I'd be raising hell about this. Clearly, bureaucrats are in charge of this agency. No thinking allowed. One of the Rangers I talked to was in agreement with the campers, things were running fairly smoothly, now he has to deal with mucked up reservations and other problems everyday. Good luck to that guy.

That $7.00 per day utility fee is actually set to take effect later in the year, tho he didn't know the exact date. This is in every campsite in the state park system where you might park a camper, regardless of what you might see on the state park's website. If you're headed to Florida this winter, expect to get tagged with that when you get there.

Good luck to everybody. Susan is actually a Florida native (yes, that really is a thing). We won't be using the state parks down there for a few years. Give them some time to fix their Cranial-Rectal inversion problem.

Jim

There are a couple of corrections needed in your statements.
1) If the reservation is booked under the new eDirect systems, cancellation refunds are credited back to the card that the site was originally booked with. The credit is issued immediately. I’ve had to cancel multiple new reservations so I know this for a fact.
2) The new $7 daily utility charge is in effect for all new reservations. Booked a site now and you’ll be charged the fee.

Jim & Susan · 08-06-2021, 07:01 AM

To recap MY RECENT experience with eDirect:

I made a reservation for 6 days at Fred Gannon State Park on July 16, 2021.
I cancelled that reservation on July 18, 2021. My account clearly shows that reservation as cancelled. I have NOT received a refund of any kind for that reservation to date.

I was NOT charged the $7.00 per day utility fee.

The whole point to my ramblings is that eDirect seems completely unable to get this right, and the Florida state government doesn't seem to care.

Your mileage may vary.

Jim

Papa smurf · 08-10-2021, 02:12 PM

We got in touch today with the reservation company to find out about the refund for our campground cancellation. We were instructed to call 1-850-245-3029 where we talked to a girl named July. She told us that they mailed yesterday ( August 9 ) the cheques for all the cancellations that were made before June 4. When we wanted to verify that our cheque was indeed mailed since we cancelled on June 1st we were transferred to a voice mail where we left a message . We will give them a day or two to get back to us and will report back.

Papa smurf · 08-10-2021, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

To recap MY RECENT experience with eDirect:

I made a reservation for 6 days at Fred Gannon State Park on July 16, 2021.
I cancelled that reservation on July 18, 2021. My account clearly shows that reservation as cancelled. I have NOT received a refund of any kind for that reservation to date.

I was NOT charged the $7.00 per day utility fee.

The whole point to my ramblings is that eDirect seems completely unable to get this right, and the Florida state government doesn't seem to care.

Your mileage may vary.

Jim

The Floridastateparks.org website mention that the $7.00 utility fee charge was only effective July 27. That might be why you were not charged

Papa smurf · 08-15-2021, 09:33 AM

Finally got in touch with someone. Our refund cheque was mailed on August 7. For the time being they seem to be short staffed and overwhelmed by the amount of refund they have to process so expect 6-8 weeks delay for your refunds .

jondrew55 · 08-23-2021, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

Why?
The problem is the St. Parks (some) are too popular.
Hello Topsail Hill? .

Hello Topsail. Just booked two weeks for next summer

Jim & Susan · 09-14-2021, 03:49 PM

Just to close out my rant......

I received two checks in the mail today from the State Department of Environmental Protection. So it took about 8 weeks to process the refund. Total refund was $50.10. I originally paid $109.42 for the reservations. I followed all the rules, did everything by the book, and received less that half the money as a refund nearly two months later.

To say the least, I'm very disappointed to see a government agency that has done so much for the folks who visit Florida suddenly take a turn for worse. Everything was running along just fine for years, from a consumer perspective. Now it's just a mess.

Good luck to y'all.

Jim

susans69 · 09-14-2021, 07:14 PM

But they cannot charge the electric fee for people who already have their paid reservations?

ROBERT CROSS · 09-15-2021, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

To recap MY RECENT experience with eDirect:

I made a reservation for 6 days at Fred Gannon State Park on July 16, 2021.
I cancelled that reservation on July 18, 2021. My account clearly shows that reservation as cancelled. I have NOT received a refund of any kind for that reservation to date.

I was NOT charged the $7.00 per day utility fee.

The whole point to my ramblings is that eDirect seems completely unable to get this right, and the Florida state government doesn't seem to care.

Your mileage may vary.

Jim

But Jim it is Florida afterall....A terrible waste of a perfectly good swamp.

Bob
🇺🇸

Papa smurf · 09-15-2021, 11:18 AM

[QUOTE=Jim & Susan;2537558]Just to close out my rant......

I received two checks in the mail today from the State Department of Environmental Protection. So it took about 8 weeks to process the refund. Total refund was $50.10. I originally paid $109.42 for the reservations. I followed all the rules, did everything by the book, and received less that half the money as a refund nearly two months later.

To say the least, I'm very disappointed to see a government agency that has done so much for the folks who visit Florida suddenly take a turn for worse. Everything was running along just fine for years, from a consumer perspective. Now it's just a mess.

Good luck to y'all.

Visitors pay a $6.70 nonrefundable reservation fee when making reservations online or through the call center. Visitors pay fees of $17.75 to cancel and $10 to change a reservation. How many reservations did you cancel?

Jim & Susan · 09-15-2021, 07:16 PM

[QUOTE=Papa smurf;2537832]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

Just to close out my rant......

I received two checks in the mail today from the State Department of Environmental Protection. So it took about 8 weeks to process the refund. Total refund was $50.10. I originally paid $109.42 for the reservations. I followed all the rules, did everything by the book, and received less that half the money as a refund nearly two months later.

To say the least, I'm very disappointed to see a government agency that has done so much for the folks who visit Florida suddenly take a turn for worse. Everything was running along just fine for years, from a consumer perspective. Now it's just a mess.

Good luck to y'all.

Visitors pay a $6.70 nonrefundable reservation fee when making reservations online or through the call center. Visitors pay fees of $17.75 to cancel and $10 to change a reservation. How many reservations did you cancel?

One. These people are idiots. Which has been my point all along, they apparently have no idea how to make this work properly.

Jim

Mollysdad · 09-15-2021, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jondrew55

Hello Topsail. Just booked two weeks for next summer

Summer? Try reserving for the period between Christmas and Jan 10th or so. Prime time in the panhandle.
There's no other park I work so hard to book.
I was worried because I booked under reserve America, but will arrive under the new regime. At least my reservation is there, and I printed everything.

[QUOTE=Jim & Susan;2537975]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Papa smurf

One. These people are idiots. Which has been my point all along, they apparently have no idea how to make this work properly.

We do that to keep the New Yorkers out.