Our experience at this ranch was very disappointing, and we left early when we were fed up and could not take it any more.in no particular order, some of our complaints are as follows:
1. The photos of the ranch property on the Wit's End web site at www.witsendranch.com are deceptive, and do not show the large volume of trailers, mobile homes and sloppy and unkempt residences that are on or adjacent to the ranch property, and which you spend most of the horseback rides staring at. The owner is more concerned with developing his property and selling off parcels of land than with running a solid ranch environment.
2. The food varied from average to lousy. They could not even pack a sack lunch right and messed our orders up twice, even after we complained. The cook remarked at one point that he had just fired one assistant cook and was going to need to fire the next one he had hired. At one dinner (Native American night) virtually every course was inedible. The ribs were raw and full of fat at the cookout. Our breakfast waiter each morning was incompetent. We ended up eating out several times, to avoid the ranch food.
3. While the horses were good, the wranglers were inexperienced and it was dangerous. We lost confidence. They took us (me, my wife and 3 children) on one ride up the side of a mountain and when a lightning and hail storm moved in on the way down the wranglers took us down a steep trail while the horses were spooking as opposed to getting us off the horses to wait out the storm. The wranglers did not even have a radio for emergencies, because (as they told us later) they had given their radio to some guy who was assigned to sit at the front gate and provide the appearance of security for the celebrity guests who were there during the week of our stay. During activities day in the Corral there was a runaway horse while young children were present; the senior wrangler told me afterward they knew that the particular horse spooked easily. Half of each trail ride was spent getting out of the unsightly ranch surroundings.
4. I had specifically reviewed the location of our cabin on the phone with the lady who handles Wit's End's bookings, named Lara, and when we got there the room was not in the location we had been promised, and did not have anything like the view we had been promised. It was at the shabby back side of the property and had an ugly large propane tank next to it. After we complained they moved us to two connecting single rooms that had a better location. But we sacrificed a lot of space in doing so, and they did not provide us a rate credit. We were fortunate, however, that we had not booked the south Streamside cabins as some of the other guests had. The cabins were not streamside, and required approximately a half mile walk or bike ride to get to the ranch facilities. We listened to one outraged guest argue at the front desk over how his family had been chased by dogs and irate landowners in trying to walk to the main property, before the owners finally moved them into the unit in the main property we had originally booked.
5. While the youth and activities staff at the ranch were enthusiastic and fun, they were inexperienced. Several guests remarked, and I observed, how the kids who drove us to fishing or other activities were fairly careless, frequently driving with one hand on the wheel and talking on cell phones while our lives were entrusted to them on swervy mountain roads.
6. We complained several times over the mice running around our room, and it became a joke after a while. The night before we finally decided to leave my wife could not sleep because she spent the whole night listening to several mice run around the room. She is afraid of mice, and was afraid to get out of bed to deal with them.
7. There was not enough hot water in our cabins for our 3 kids to take baths in the evening when they normally do, before dinner. I always got the last bath or shower and it was typically cold.
8. We were not provided nightly turn down service, even though the web site advertises twice daily maid service.
9. The ranch owner remarked to one of the guests who was there our week that he never bothers to learn people's names because he never gets repeat business.
10. We complained about one thing or another during our stay to the cook (several times), some of the wranglers, the fishing guides, the activity directors, to a lady who was introduced as an assistant manager, and to the front desk. The typical response from most was that they knew what we were talking about and that they were used to hearing gripes like this from guests. Most people apparently do not leave, however, because the owner requires people to pay in advance before they arrive, and refuses to refund money for dissatisfied guests.
11. We were finally fed up at the end, and left a day early. We went somewhere else and had to pay to stay there. After we left early we were told that the owner or someone had made a paper trail record that we had left early because of the weather, which was not true, and that we had never complained, which was also false. While we had some afternoon showers while we were there, I had no problem with that, and it was sunny by the time we left the day we checked out.
12. The owner knows exactly why we left, was dishonest, and insulted us by telling us that instead of refunding the last night of our stay we could apply the credit against a return visit next year, knowing that neither we nor any other guests who were at the ranch that week planned to return.
13. Our conclusion that we had been duped into overpaying for this experience was confirmed by virtually every other guest who was there that week.in conclusion, this ranch was not as advertised, and even after sticking it out for most of the week we left early and had to pay to stay in another location because we simply could not put up with it any more.
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