Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/16/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In March of 2022 I signed up for a year with Harvest Hosts.
  March of 2023 they charged my credit card for another year without notice.
  I have tried to seek cancellation but they do not respond to the online service they offer and in addition require answers to questions that are irrelevant to the request for cancellation. Customers should not be required to answer these questions in order to cancel their membership.
  I am requesting a refund of $79.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/01/2023

  We see Mr. ***** initially started three help sessions but never completed them to submit a ticket.  About 15 days ago, Mr. ***** completed a ticket in which a customer service agent canceled and refunded his account.  Mr. ***** also spoke to a customer service agent who sent Mr. ***** an email verification that his account was canceled and refunded. We do ask customers for cancelation reasons so we may improve our service offerings in the future.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/06/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ******* *****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/07/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We have been trying to cancel our harvest host membership. When we login there is no tab to "cancel membership" The only way to communicate with them is via bot chat. I submitted a request months ago requesting for them to cancel and delete our account. It contains personal and credit card information. Our membership was suppose to cancel in March. However, they changed the cancellation date to April 15th.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/08/2023

  We appreciate Ms. ***** reaching out.  I've attached a screenshot of the tab to cancel membership.  It is located under the "Membership" tab, "Manage my Membership" selection. 

  Harvest Hosts offers multiple ways of contact, including online bot resolution, live agent chat, email, and phone.  We see that Ms. ***** started an online chat but never completed the bot questions which would have allowed her to reach a live agent and submit a request.  Because the questions were not completed, the chat timed out with no further action.  Additionally, one of our representatives reached out to Ms. ***** on September 28, 2022 to review an NPS submission and offered a free month of membership, hence extending the life of the membership by one free month.  We are also able to see that Ms. ***** chatted with another of our agents the morning of March 7, 2023, the same day the BBB complaint was filed.  Our agent told Ms. ***** she had access to her account until April 15, 2023 at which time it will cancel and not renew.

  Harvest Hosts also honors requests to delete account information.  This BBB complaint is the first request received from Ms. ***** and we will undertake the process.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/08/2023

  Hello: I was able to get HH phone number when I filed the complaint. I called them this morning and left a message.  I got an email stating they have cancelled our membership and deleted our credit card information. But she was no able to delete our account.  I believe every online company should allow customers to delete their account.  Oh well. At least most of my request was done.
  
  Thank you for your help. This was great.
  *********

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/22/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up to Harvest Hosts on Dec 21, 2021. I found that their "properties" were far more booked up than their advertising led one to believe. I did NOT sign up for auto review.
  
  I checked my account after I saw a charge, it it was STILL NOT signed up for auto renew. However, Harvest Hosts charged the $99 fee without prior notification on the 19th of Dec, 2022.
  
  I want the charge of $99 for Dec 22 - Dec 23 reversed. Since the membership did not expire as expected, I canceled today. I have never used the service as it was not convenient.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/09/2023

  Ms. ****** reached out to our Customer Service department on December 22, 2022, the same date as the BBB complaint.  Our Customer Service team assisted her and responded as follows, "Hi Jacqueline, I will be glad to assist you. When you joined, your membership was set up as automatic renewal and that was stated during the registration process both on the Membership Summary and Terms of Use pages. Members are able to turn the automatic renewal off in their member dashboard so it will not renew.  I have canceled your membership and refunded your account. You should receive an email from our processor letting you know that we sent it from our system. It may take 5-7 business days for your bank to give you the credit.  Please note that this would be a one-time refund. No further refunds will be given if the account is reactivated in the future or a new account is opened.   Thank you for giving our membership program a try. We wish you the best moving forward!" Ms. ******'s account was immediately refunded and her membership canceled on the same day requested, December 22, 2022.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/10/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ********** ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/19/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I became a member of Harvest Hosts in October 2021 for $119 annually. I didn't use the membership, but I did receive tons of emails from Harvest Hosts about promotions. Then in October 2022 I was charged again $119 without my knowledge or consent. Harvest Hosts had automatically enrolled me in their auto charge program, again without my knowledge or consent. I received, on average, at least one email per week but never did any of them mention anything about the $119 impending charge. I work very hard for my money and to have a company come in and take my money without my consent is aggravating. When I login to Harvest Hosts website there is no obvious toggle to turn off auto renew. I have checked every single page and cannot find it anywhere so, if it exists, they have it pretty well hidden. After I was charged, I did manage to find the button to turn off auto renewal but think it was just a stroke of good luck. I did this no more than 24 hours after I received an email about the charge. See, they can email you after the charge but no heads up will be given about the charge because Harvest Hosts will lose money and they know it!! It's these kind of underhanded, low-life business practices that give companies a bad name. Sad, old, pathetic tactics of extorting money from customers to stay afloat. Maybe this is the only way for Harvest Hosts to profit. I don't see how it's legal. I am also now finding their website ironic, bordering on hilarious. A landing page has an actual banner that says "3 Month Happy Camper Guarantee" stating that they want you to be "happy" with your membership and if not, they will reimburse you if you cancel within the first 90 days. Well, they steal from me. I went thru my BANK to try to get my money back!! It was a 2 month process! They said NO to my BANK!!! Now when I login a banner pops up stating my membership is expired and it will cost $1`19 to renew. Grifters will grift. Please stop. I want my money back, please!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/09/2023

  This is the first outreach Ms. ****** provided for Harvest Hosts to resolve the issue.  It appears Ms. ****** did not reach out for assistance from our customer service team but rather filed a dispute first with her credit card company.  Once we received the chargeback notice, our customer service team promptly refunded the fee on October 31, 2022 and disputed the chargeback, as the account had already been refunded and closed.  We encourage our customers to reach out directly to us via our online chat feature or ********************* before initiating a dispute so we may promptly assist and provide the best outcome.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/16/2022

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I found the service to be misleading and needs to be upfront with its customers. I paid 120 dollars for yearly access to its 7000+ locations you can stay at. What I found was most of these locations either are booked for months or have only a few days a week open for you to stay making traveling on the weekends or for more than a few days at a time difficult. They also take your credit card information before mentioning a critical detail. Almost every location seen has a 1 night maximum. I did not use the service once as I found it impractical and they did not refund me. They claim to have a 90 day return window. Unfortunately, by the time I got to actually try to use the service to realize it was not what was described my time window had passed. Instead their solution is to offer to transfer your subscription to a friend. Why would I give something I myself wouldn't recommend to a friend?

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/22/2022

  We appreciate Mr. ******'s outreach. 

  Harvest Hosts provides easy-to-find information about how our program works, prominently highlighting the program is for overnight parking for 24 hours or less.  The program description is included here: https://harvesthosts.com/faqs/. Particularly this FAQ explains the concept: How long can I stay? Harvest Hosts is set up as an overnight program with stays of a maximum of 24 hours. At your Host’s discretion, he/she may invite you to stay an additional night but we discourage multiple night stays as to not “wear out our welcome.” Please do not ask if you can stay additional nights. This is to be an invitation from the Host.  Further, the program description may be found here: https://harvesthosts.com/code-of-conduct-2/.  Code of conduct item 7 indicates Do not stay longer than 24 hours.  A stay longer than 24 hours must be by Host invitation.

  A quick review of our Terms of Use (https://harvesthosts.com/terms-of-use/) provides a clear summary of our refund policy, which is as follows:  During the initial subscription period, you will have ninety (90) days from the Service Commencement Date to cancel your subscription, in which case Company will refund your Service Subscription Fee.  With the limited exception of this refund during the ninety (90) days from the Service Commencement Date during your initial subscription period, upon any cancellation thereafter, you will not be eligible for any full or prorated refund of any portion of the subscription fee paid for the then-current subscription period.  All refunds are one-time refunds, available during your initial subscription period only.  If your Account is reactivated in the future, or you open a new account, such subsequent subscription periods will not be eligible for a refund, and Company will not issue any further refunds if you claimed a refund during your initial subscription period.  Refunds will not be given if two or more stays have been completed within the 90-day period from the Service Commencement Date of your initial subscription period.  If your account is refunded, all membership discounts or benefits that may have accrued will be forfeited, and any future reactivations will be subject to then-current membership rates.  Special event promotional rates are not eligible for a refund.  

  With regard to availability, we have approximately 7,500 hosts who do manage their calendars based on seasonality.  For example, if Mr. ****** was hoping to visit Montana in December, many of the hosts will be closed due to winter conditions.  However, if Mr. ****** was looking for a host in Florida for December, we have about 300 of them with many dates available.  Additionally, about half of our 7,500 hosts are peer-to-peer hosts (i.e. Boondockers Welcome) and provide parking for up to five days.

  When Mr. ****** reached out to our customer service team on November 11, 2022, they provided similar information and politely indicated that we were unable to make an exception to our refund policy and he was welcome to continue to use the program through the remainder of the subscription period or transfer the remaining period to another RVer.  He did not engage further with our customer service team.

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/30/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Harvest Host describes their policies as easy to find, that may be true if you are looking for them, however I did not see them before I signed up. This prompted me to retry the sign up process to see what I missed. Yes it is correct their policies are on their website, if you scroll down several pages to the section they are located at. This should be something made more prominent. The website is designed to rush you through the sign up process offering little information on the screens you are are immediately presented with  during the sale process. On top of that, there is a countdown clock on the website, inferring that if you don't checkout within 15 minutes you will lose out on a deal, questionable tactic in my opinion on a subscription service with restrictions. I suggest if customer satisfaction is important, change your refund policy window to start when the service is first used. I want to reiterate, I did not use this service one time, and they still refuse to refund me. I have gained nothing from the money that I have spent. A simple resolution would be to refund a customer who is unhappy and did not use the service to benefit from it in any way.
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  **** ******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/30/2022

  The Company has submitted all relevant information and has no further comment.