Watkins Glen / Corning KOA Resort — Attraction in Town of Dix

Most horrific place I have ever camped. At check-in, the female front-end staff immediately said if you don't like your site, we have plenty of others. The only other site she gave already had someone staying on it. She then said that if I leave within 1 hr I get a full refund. Both comments sent off red flags but didn't want to over analyze it. Another site in that area was not level, so we went back to our original site (right next to the trailer dump station). The front desk woman clearly has no idea which sites are taken. The trailer dump station was the center and focal point of the camp. I told the woman that we went back to the original site. I then went about trying to enjoy our vacation. We were not able to be outside of our camper at all since all we could smell was the dump station. The bumper cars area doesn't exist- it was a swamp, and the truck rides was just a park truck with a flat tire parked in high weeds. Both the bumper cars and the Army truck rides are still advertised on their website as well as on their printed map that you receive at check in. This is a perfect example of false advertisement (which is illegal). The mini golf was small, tilted and should be relocated away from the road. Visitors drove down roads at 25 mph stirring up gravel dust all over. We were on an upgraded patio spot that was not cleaned before we arrived. There was mud all over the patio. We were enjoying the many things there are to see and do at Seneca Lake such as the State Park and the Glass Museum. On the last day of our vacation- every camper's worst nightmare occurred. The worst part was our family was out and about enjoying Seneca when my husband gets a call on his cellphone. This was about 414pm. He says hello and the female caller says we have someone here waiting to get on your site. My husband says what? We are booked to stay for 7 nights which includes tonight. We had this written on our truck tag as well as email confirmations. We went to the front desk upon our re-arrival back to the campground and tried explaining to the 2 ladies at the front desk the situation. The one that checked us put her hand up towards my face and told me to stop talking. I told her “no,” I booked a week and we were not informed of any changes to that. The front end staff was neither apologetic or sorry for any confusion, upset or aggressiveness towards me and my family. When I tried to explain, the woman at the front desk told me to leave and she yelled, while I continued to talk, she ran and screamed into the walkie talkie "security". I walked out and informed security, which consisted of the male manager and another male staff member that it was me she called about. I explained my situation to the manager and he said alright let me look into this. I told them I would be at my site helping my husband to pack up my family. We were all hitched up and about to pull out when the 2 male staff including the manager who then informed me we could stay our last night. I told him not now. We are all packed up(1 hr) and after getting told to leave we don't want to stay. We informed him of how we were spoken to and the aggressiveness of the front staff. He said that he would speak with her and would also refund us the last night plus 10% off (which has yet to occur). Upon looking at the credit card statement the lady who checked us in canceled our last night and refunded the last night plus 10% discount but FAILED to inform us of this at check in. As a wife and mother I was appalled that someone would speak to me like this with my children present. My children were disguised with how she treated us. They were wondering why this mean lady was ruining their vacation. If you are not able to handle your job as customer service, don't take that job. Also be mature enough to call for your manager or team leader if you need help with a situation instead of demanding a customer leave because you made a mistake and refuse taking blame, or trying to solve your problem that you created. Shame on you!!! We will...

This was our 3rd stay at the KOA and unfortunately we may not be returning. Our first two trips were amazing. We are lazy campers – we rent the premium cabins so we have water, electric, air conditioning and even all linens are provided. We spend most of our day between the water slide, bounce pillow, rock wall, pools and the activity center. Here are some things that happened on this recent trip that will make us think twice before spending over $300 a night to stay here. Like I said we are lazy campers. We bring food for breakfast and lunch but often order dinner. Last year we ordered from the Trails End food truck at the campground. We planned to do the same thing this year but when we arrived we learned this no longer existed even though it is listed on the website and still even promoted on the campgrounds map. The pirate playground has (or had) a fun component to it when we began staying at the campground. The staff would hide gold coins each morning for the kids to find and they could spend up to I believe $1 at the store. We asked if coins were still being hidden and we were told there were coins out there. But one worker laughed and said we better bring some heavy machinery. The sand is very hard and you can no longer sift it. You need an actual shovel (not a kid’s plastic shovel) to dig. I get that things change and maybe they no longer wanted to do the gold coins but then take down the sign and do no promote it on your website. The Activity center is not open on Mondays or Tuesdays. This year we stayed Monday to Wednesday and we were really disappointed about this – I wish it was listed on the website this way because having a craft loving daughter we would have changed the dates of our stay. The Army Truck Rides that are promoted on the website don’t actually exist. There is an army truck you can climb on and go in but I don’t think the truck has moved in years. During this most recent stay there was a terrible storm that took down several trees and left the campground with no power, internet or water. I understand that the campground had no control over this or really the restoration efforts. What makes me upset is what the campground management did – which is nothing. They have no back-up plan for a situation like this. The registration building was shut down because there was no power and they locked the door and placed a short note stating that no refunds would be given due to weather. They did not answer emails or the phone. They were not there to help any campers with questions. At one point I found a worker who was clearing trees and asked if there was a plan for bathrooms (I have two kids so this is an issue for me). He told me that Watkins Glen had power and I could drive when needed. Almost 24 hours after the power and water went (it was out for almost 48 hours in total) we got a text message about port-a-potties being delivered. That was the only communication we ever received. What I would have liked to see was management available to help with questions, going to campsites and checking on the guests, bags of ice and gallons of water being offered to those who needed it, but they did nothing. I could care less that all the amenities were shut down but they left us. It is now five days later and my email still goes unanswered. Another worker stated that they tried to get a generator this summer but then shrugged his shoulders. I got the impression that ownership said no to this. Having a generator for the store/registration building which also has two bathrooms would have solved many of the issues we faced. You need to do better for...

Never staying at a KOA again! The staff was very nice, but the Matt Bush, the general manager was a petty tyrant who escalated a situation needlessly. The very nice lady who checked us in, said we were the second spot directly behind the pool building and circled it on the map. We parked in the spot we believed was correct and set-up on Thursday around noon. That evening many employees and the security patrol passed our campsite with the hang tag in my truck facing out. The next day at 12:33, I received a call from another worker who explained we were actually in the third spot in that row, and that it is a mistake that happens a lot since people miss the fact there are two spots at the top of the hill. She explained that the spot we were in was reserved, and we would need to move. I apologized but told her we had just sat down at our tasting event at Dr. Frank's (You MUST go to Dr Frank's - wonderful!) which would take about an hour and the drive back would take at least an hour. She told me not to worry, and they would work something out on their end. I returned to our table and explained what the call was about, but that we did not have to worry since the KOA would be able to handle my mistake. After our wonderful tasting, we were driving back and I get a text from a person cell phone number timed at 12:40pm (right after the phone call). It didn't come through until almost 2pm because of the spotty reception in the Fingers Lake region. The text identified the sender as Matt Bush, the GM of the Watkins Glen/Corning KOA and demanded that we return immediately, and if we did not get back before the other guests arrived, his refund for a night's stay would be charged to my credit card. I had been heading back to move the camper even though it was a major change to our plans, but after reading that text I was disinclined to help in any way. We finished our day, and returned back to the campground at 5:30. I went up to the office and asked to speak to Matt Bush. He was standing at the desk, and I suggested we speak somewhere privately because I did not want to chastise him in front of his employees. I stated off by apologizing for our mistake, but he cut me off. He told me I needed to move immediately. I explained that we had made an honest mistake, that the spots are not well marked, that the patrol had passed us several times in the 24 hours we had spent in that spot...He again cut me off, and told me HE HAD WATCHED ME park in that spot. I asked why he didn't say anything at that time, and his response was, "I never check the hang tags." I told him he could just charge me the extra night's fee from his threat, but his response -in a very aggressive tone- was that "I'm not going to lose this power struggle." I said it was a discussion not a power struggle, but again he cut me off and said, "Either you move right now, or I am calling the Sheriff and have you arrested and towed out with no refund." I was flabbergasted to say the least. I told him that I would move but I would be contacting his boss and leaving a review. He told me that the owner was a 'silent owner' and let him do as he pleased, and he hears people tell him ten times a day that they will leave a bad review and no one ever does. Well, Matt Bush, here is...