Dogwood Springs Campground — Hotel in Harrison

Here’s a good story for you. So me and some friends were headed on a trip down the Buffalo River a few weeks ago. Our camping place fell through for the night before we were to leave. We showed up to the Dogwood Springs Campground and met the camp manager. Thankfully, he told us they had two campsites available for $20 each. We happily and immediately agreed. However, in the time that it took for us to move our cars, the gentleman working there and the owner who he was on the phone with the whole time decided that those campsites had literally just been reserved and that instead we could only camp in front of their sign which was brightly lit and right on the side of the road for $100 instead of the $40. We were kind of in a bind, and they were obviously giving us the runaround, so we tried to negotiate something a little closer to the initially agreed-upon price. I started at 70. I thought it was a good deal for all. The camp manager seemed like a nice enough guy, and very apologetic but said he was powerless. The owner was quite rude the entire time we dealt with her. She did not have anything of the sort of demeanor a camp owner should have. It was rather strange. But, again we were in a bind. We reluctantly paid the $100 in cash and never got a receipt for our stay. Needless to say, those other two campsites were never occupied the night we stayed there. Never. So gross. In addition to that completely shady business practice, the place was disgusting. The bathrooms were filthy, the pool looks like it had been abandoned years before, the roads were almost impassable. I would have thought that the actual campsites were merely debris on the side of a broken down road. Avoid this place at all costs, river runners.

Response to Dogwood springs campground:

You say we arrived after hours, we arrived at 5:30. Your receipt would have reflected that had you given me one.

You say we were rude, mouthy, etc. That is laughable. We were an Eagle Scout reunion group. If you find calm and kind discussion about a price you just spiked 150% to be rude, I don’t know how you are in customer service. I can’t imagine any consumer would be okay with that. We never said anything disparaging or harsh to anyone, and indeed were mostly happy and excited about our upcoming adventure. Even you folks couldn’t break our happy and positive vibe.

You say that people camped at the sites you initially offered to us.Nobody ever stayed in either of the campsites we were initially offered. There are plenty of time stamped photos to prove it. You can say what you want, but you know what’s true, I know what’s true. Nobody stayed there at all that evening. Lying is bad.

There was six of us. Six. We could’ve absolutely fit in the two campsites and paid you a fair price.

Again, to accuse us of any malice or untoward behavior towards anyone at your campground is pretty desperate given the circumstances. Learn from your mistakes and try to be a better host. Create a space where people come to seek memories and joy. You’re probably much better than this day if your life!

Response to Tinners Art:

There was no picnic table at our $100 “campsite”. We asked the camp manager if we could take one from the site we initially agreed on and he said we absolutely could. Nobody ever camped at the site we took the table from that night. Nobody was without a picnic table. We figured that for $100 the management could move the table back the 50 feet themselves.

We were told to park our cars on the side of the road, right where we did, by the camp manager. We then watched numerous RVs drive by our cars just fine, so I have no idea what you are talking about.

You were clearly never an Eagle Scout, and it shows.

I find it interesting that as of this moment, your rebuttal to me is your only review. In fact, for a lot of the 5 star ratings of the Dogwood Springs Campground, it’s the only review that person has made, and it’s been made in the last year since the new ownership took...

It's hard for me to leave a less than perfect review, but we got eaten alive by flies.... We had the closest RV spot to the office and couldn't even sit outside to enjoy it because of all the flies. There is a hackberry tree (or similar) dropping little blackberries all over our campsite, truck and RV. The tree is feeding every fly in the county right now. Definitely not a tree you would want in a campground. I understand it's summer and there will be pests, but different story when you're welcoming them with a food source. I grew up on a farm with livestock and we didn't have this many flies. Every time we open the door to our RV or vehicle it lets in about 20 of them. First night we tried to sit outside, had flies in our drinks, food etc. We learned quickly we were not going to be able to do that anymore, which is why we go camping; to be outside. I spoke with the owner second day there and expressed the issue. What saddened me was that his response was he has been here 8 years and never noticed it..... It's 50 yards outside of your office/ house door, and you've never noticed it???? Never wondered where the purple bird poop comes from either that's on your vehicles? I would have felt better if he would have told the truth and just said yes it's a problem and we will look into it instead of telling me that. I welcomed him to come by and look at it, don't think he ever did and there was no follow up with us on it. He did however state that they have an automatic bug spray mister of some sort by their office door because of the flies, but blamed it on the trash dumpsters (which are also overflowing and full of flies)... Upon our check in, we could not get any help in the office. Could hear ppl talking/laughing behind the door. Rang the (loud) bell a few times, no response, had to call on the phone and finally had a couple young girls, one with bright blue dyed hair and a flannel (in July) and one with orange dyed hair pop out from behind the door to help us. One said they didn't have us down for that spot, the other said just pull in there. It also appears they let the locals just pull in, hang out, smoke and use the swimming pool. One night even had a car sitting in our RV spot that were there just for that reason. Between the groups of ppl hanging out with bright multi-colored dyed hair, nose rings, or the one that had the hat with the unicorn horn coming out the front of it, I'm not sure which makes my family more uncomfortable: them or the flies. I don't want to paint the worst picture in the world, because with a little effort it would be a decent place, however this is the honest picture. We own vacation rentals so understand the importance of good feedback which is why we bend over backwards to take care of our guests, and any issues they have. It also let's us experience getting to see different campgrounds when our homes are full. This is the 9th campground we have stayed in the last 45 days, and least desirable. It was a tough decision between giving this a 1 or a 2 star. I gave it a 2 because it could have been a worse stay I'm sure. We didn't get shot or robbed, but we won't be back. Again, had the owner attempted to do something about the issue or at the very least followed up with us to show that he cares about his paying customers/ guests it would have been a way different experience, but that...

Stay away, stay away, stay away! We booked four sites for a family canoe trip on the Buffalo River. This was the only campground we could find that had space for the four of us. When we placed our reservations owner lady was very nice and asked the usual questions about length of unit etc., she never asked the height of our units nor has anywhere else asked for that mater. Three campers arrived simultaneously which pretty much filled their driveway but we fit. They had a sign that said park here to check in, when one of our folks asked if they should move up to make more room owner lady said "what does the sign say, can't you read?" Our site was at the top of a knob but we could make it work. The other two campers were told they've been repairing underground water lines (they never said if it was fresh water or sewer) and their site had some mud in it but they could put down tarps so mud wasn't tracked into the campers. This site was a long site and they were going to put two campers in it, both facing the same direction (very odd, tow vehicle #2 would be trapped). My brother-in-law went in first while being directed by owner man, on his way to the site he hit a low hanging phone wire that broke a 4x4 fence post it was hanging off of. My B-in-L asked owner man if he was watching and he said I wasn't looking up, shouldn't an owner of the campground know height limitations in his facility? My B-in-L crawled on top of his camper to get it off while owner man ran off to who knows where. Once done he proceeded to the site only to find his self sinking in the mud, see photo. He put it in 4 wheel drive and was able to drive out of it. At that point in time we all decided that these two sites were not workable and the two that were in these sites went to the office to ask for a refund, owner man said no and you're going to pay for damages to the post. One of us told him he would not leave until he gets a refund so owner man pushed him and he would have fallen if a fence would not have stopped him. At that point the local police were called and we did get refunds for the two sites that were a mud hole but not the other two. Sorry for the long story but I think it's important to know this is not you normal campground. It's old, and I'm okay with old and I understand the downside of some older campgrounds but the owners bring this place down, not the facilities. If you have a fifth-wheel, Class A or larger Class C you won't fit, longer travel trailers will have a hard time as well. Some folks camping there told us these owners have only had it for a couple of years, and it shows. Owner lady is very rude and condescending and owner man is prone to engage in physical attacks (there is a Facebook review out there with the same claims) plus they really have no idea how to run a campground. The location is great but it's not worth the convenience. So stay away, stay...