La Posa West LTVA

As a retired former employee of Department of Agriculture, I have always known about BLM, USFS, NPS, COE and Dispersed Camping locations. As a result, I sold my Maryland home and became a full-time motorhome dweller and national traveler in 2018, spending a lot of time in Arizona and New Mexico.
In the past, I just showed up at a BLM Long-Term-Visitor campground check-in booths; registered my vehicles, paid the required $180.00 for my 7-month pass which was placed on my windshield by a check-in station worker. Then I left the check-in station; drove around the campground to find my special homestead spot and settled in until it’s time to leave or move to other BLM campgrounds in various areas for short stays; until it was time for me to return to my home state motorhome campground for the summer.

I had never had a problem obtaining a pass from either BLM or New Mexico long-term stay campgrounds which was hassle free until now. This year based on BLM’s requirements for customers to purchase campground passes online from Recreation.gov rather than pay at campgrounds has caused a lot of problems and frustrations for former and new campground users due to Recreation.gov computer system not completely generating and printing the required documents needed to retrieve campground passes from check-in offices upon arriving at BLM Campgrounds. Which I was not aware that anything else was needed until I arrived at the campground window.

For instance. I ordered my 12-month non-resident New Mexico Permit online September 7, 2023, via https://newmexicostateparks.reserveamerica.com. As usual for $231.50. My signed letter of thanks from the State Parks Director and the permit was received via main on September 12, 2023. I immediately displace these stickers on both of my vehicles. No problems as usual.

Therefore, upon visiting BLM website and discovering BLM campgrounds had transferred from its usual arrival at preferred campground check-in, register vehicles, pay the $180.00 for a 7-month long-term-stay-pass on the spot; display the purchased sticker on your vehicle windows; found a space, settle in and enjoy your stay routine. I figured this purchase process would be similar or the same as New Mexico's but discovered I was wrong based on the following: I clicked on BLM's website link to purchase my 7-month long-term-stay pass as directed by completing online documents and paying the $190.00 fee on October 26, 2023. Resulting in a computer-generated receipt which showed: (1) My order number, (2) The receipt of my $190.00 Payment, (3) Reservation Details: Start date 15, 2023, Valid through Apr 15, 2024, (4) A picture of a Black Barcode, (5) Indication that this receipt was page 1-of-1; received from Recreation.gov.

After roaming around from state-to-state and city-to-city for a while, I finally arrived at La Posa West in Quartzsite AZ on November 11, 2023, and presented my recreation.gov receipt to retrieve my 7-month-visit pass which was denied because I didn't have a page-2 which was needed for check-in staff to give me the pass I had previously paid for. Otherwise page-1 was invalid without page-2. Upon leaving the check-in window I returned to my motorhome and called Recreation.gov. I explained the situation and requested a refund since I was denied access to the pass I had purchased. Then the games begin of who was responsible for determining if a refund was warranted and who was responsible for issuing it to customers.

Further, I requested my $190.00 refund twice from Recreation.gov (on November 11, 2023, and December 7, 2023). Followed by contacting BLM Yuma Office on December 7th upon being told by two Recreation.gov employees that the Yuma office was the ones who determined if refunds to customers were warranted. Basically, we at Recreation.gov only documents the reason refunds are being requested by customers and we send it to the Yuma office. As a result, I contacted this office and explained the denial for the retrieval of my pass which was purchased on October 26, by check-in staff at the campground.

I was asked for my order number which was provided. The female puts me on hold, then returns to tell me her computer was offline. She would call me tomorrow which would have been Friday, December 8th. No later than Monday, December 11th, she said. This person never called to discuss my requested refund.

At this point, I felt Recreation.gov, and the BLM Yuma Field Office was ripping customers off by pocketing money from customers and not honoring request for refunds although, customers were denied the retrieval of paid for passes upon arrival at BLM property check-in locations and presenting computerized receipts of payment. Further, I had no intention of walking away from a $190.00 payment made for a purchase I never received. So, I filed a complaint with Consumer Protection (The Arizona Fraud Squad) on 12/31/2023.
Suddenly, a $190.00 refund was issued to my bank on 01/09/2024.