Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Brooksville FMCA Rally – thumbs down!

Sweetwater Rv Park – Zephyrhills, Florida

We really didn’t feel like going anywhere yesterday, but wanted to attend some seminars at the FMCA rally in Brooksville, Florida.

We drove the 40 miles to Brooksville and  saw a lot of rv’s entering the airport where the rally was to be held.  We got to a security gate and were told the rally didn’t start until tomorrow.  Huh?  There were tons of rv’s going in?  Why couldn’t we?   We told the gatekeeper that the website showed a list of many activities and seminars for Tuesday.  He pulled out his activity sheet and he noted there were seminars scheduled, but said it didn’t start until the next day.  Okay, we get it.  It doesn’t start until the next day, but there were lots of people there and they had seminars scheduled all day.  Okay.

He said to go on in and ask someone inside.  We spoke to a lovely??? lady who happened to have my maiden name and she  insisted the rally didn’t start until Wednesday and we could NOT attend the seminars.   She was the webmaster.  I explained that since there were seminars, we assumed we could attend, but she kept saying the day pass people were not allowed in until Wednesday.  

Maybe we’re stupid, but in reading the website, I didn’t understand that.  The sefmca website wasn’t put together well in my opinion as far as info on the rally.  You had to go to several pages to get the info needed for the rally. There was a map but no address.  You had to go somewhere else to find an address to put into the GPS and I wasn’t even sure if that was the correct address for the rally.  If you check the schedule, you will see seminars starting on January 31st.   There was a page that said “Go Western at SEA”…which I assumed they were all going on a cruise together, so I didn’t click that link.  Somewhere buried in there was the date of the rally which was Feb 2 thru 6th.  How many of you know the date?  I just figured it was Tuesday, there were seminars on Tuesday, and we would go if  we paid the $7 daily rate.    Wrong!

A very nice gentleman happened to overhear the conversation with the webmaster lady.  He sided with us and told the woman that “we have membership that is declining and we are trying to increase it and what do we do, but make people mad.”   He said the same thing happened last year and they pissed a lot of people off.  I told them that we were FMCA members, but she just walked away and said we could come back tomorrow. 

I don’t know if we’ll go back or not.  We certainly got a bad taste in our mouth for FMCA.  We would like to see the Picasa seminar by Geeks on Tour, and Mac the Fire Guy, but I really don’t want to give that organization another dime of my money.

I guess this was another learning lesson.  We have never been to a rally and evidently they have additional days set aside for people that are there with their rv’s.     They have another one in Perry, Georgia next month.  I wonder if it’s run by the same group? 

We may  go back tomorrow…..still po’d and undecided!

17 comments:

  1. I'm with you. We don't belong to FMCA because I have heard several people who were very disgruntled with the club and the rallies. Makes no sense that they would have a "special" day for those who didn't bring their rv. But the Geeks give a great presentation.

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  2. I would email the geeks and mac and let them know why you were unable to attend their seminars. If enough vendors complain and tell them that they are not happy that people were prevented from attending, they may force them to make a change in the way they run things.
    Then I would call FMAC and explain why I'm cancelling my membership, they're not the only game in town and you can attend these seminars at many different places during the year where you'll be welcomed.

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  3. We have had somewhat similar conversations with FMCA rally folks. We have gone to several where they say it starts on a wed and we when we arrive on the appointed day, where surprised that they had seminars and other events as early as Monday. More important for us, many of the seminars were already fully booked for the event by those who came in early.

    The response we got when we asked why it did not advertise for Monday, the response was -"everybody knows how these events work." we also were not very happy with their attitude.

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  4. Wow what is wrong with people that they can't bend a little... The website was wrong or misleading so they should have let you in. We use to work the day parking at the Brooksville Rally and there were so many politics going on we decided it wasn't worth it. So I see they are still having issues...Too bad the seminars are GREAT!
    Travel safe
    Donna

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  5. I've never been to an RV Rally and after reading your post, I most likely never will go to one.

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  6. Doesn't sound like a good group.

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  7. I went to the website and it clearly states Feb 2-6. So then why wouldn't a person show up on the second?
    Mind you, I can usually judge the "cleverness" of the people by the design of their website, and it's a poor excuse for a website.
    Maybe that's a sign.
    I think I'm with Rick on this one. Never did think of myself as much of a "Rally" type. Now my suspicions have been confirmed.

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  8. We have gone to the SEA Rally the past 7 years as actual attendees and twice as day visitors only. I agree that their website and communication is sorely lacking. I know last year they asked folks to leave the vendors area because they had their dog with them-said no dogs in tent??? Well this year they communicated that better(no dogs in tents) and even go on to say don't leave pets in vehicles or they'll call authorites. Talk about making friends and increasing membership-NOT. Some seminars are great and we like shopping (or looking) at vendor tent. Now that we have the 5er we'll no longer be FMCA members. We do plan to visit tomorrow (Thursday) anyway.

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  9. Kevin and Ruth has left a new comment on your post "Brooksville FMCA Rally – thumbs down!":

    Organization is the key to success, and it seems the FMCA are not so organized. Almost sounded rude, to me.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  10. Karen, sorry you had a bad experience with FMCA. Their website does clearly state it starts on 2/5 and there are seminars so not sure why they didn't let you in. We have worked the one in Indio CA for the last 3 years and I know people come in with their day passes on the 1st day.

    It always amazes me how people in this type of organization can be so rude. Certainly no way to get new members.

    You can get email addresses for the SEA Rally officer's off the website I would certainly email them and let them know of your experience.

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  11. Us too. Same thing. Had convoy from Palm Coast. Four rigs. Three going to join FMAC. Guy named Charley turned us around/away. Used to be a cop. Said leave or get arrested. We gone.Out of Egypt. Motorhome Nazis.
    40ftgym and a Gifted Dog

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  12. Since you are FMCA members you can go to their website, log in and navigate (using the menu at the top) selecting: Members | Governance ... Below the first link that comes up, "Executive Board" you'll see a link "Read More..." and when you click on that a complete list of all the FMCA officers, along with email addresses so you can contact them directly. You can let them know of your opinions directly.

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  13. You can use this email address:
    To: executiveboard@fmca.com

    It will go to the 15 EB Members. But don't get excited. The Board does not read their email,,They pay the staff to read it for them. And guess what? The Board only gets the good ones. What could possibly go wrong with this organization. They could mess up a 2 car parade. jClint

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  14. A previous poster said: Since you are FMCA members you can go to their website, log in and navigate (using the menu at the top) selecting: Members | Governance ... Below the first link that comes up, "Executive Board" you'll see a link "Read More..." and when you click on that a complete list of all the FMCA officers, along with email addresses so you can contact them directly. You can let them know of your opinions directly.

    The flaw in this logic is that FMCA people don't care. They have been treating us like crap for years. Thankfully, their membership is declining. the webmaster should e fired on the spot.

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  15. A previous poster said:

    Since you are FMCA members you can go to their website, log in and navigate (using the menu at the top) selecting: Members | Governance ... Below the first link that comes up, "Executive Board" you'll see a link "Read More..." and when you click on that a complete list of all the FMCA officers, along with email addresses so you can contact them directly. You can let them know of your opinions directly.

    The flaw in this logic is that FMCA executives are the same people who allow this to happen every year. They treat vendors and members like dirt. They are losing members. Gee,what a surprise.

    Well written blog, by the way.

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    Replies
    1. Love Your blog.

      Anybody besides me get insulted again this year 2013 in Brooksville. WHO are these people. AND the poor starving vendors. ALL 3 of them.
      Heard FMAC is moving the SEA Rally to Paradise Lakes next year.

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  16. anybody besides me get insulted at Brooksville (again) this year 2013?

    WHO are these people. AND those poor starving Vendors.

    I heard they are Moving To Paradise Lakes next year

    40FTjim@gmail.com

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