Campers Unhappy Over Ticket Snafu : Outdoors: Callers trying to make reservations at state parks invariably find phone lines to La Jolla-based Mistix jammed.

As Valley-area campers have discovered this summer, the one thing that is more difficult than getting reservations at a state campground is getting through to the company that takes the reservations over the phone.

“It’s almost impossible,” Carol Hayward of Van Nuys said. “The line was busy all the time. I must have made more than 50 calls before I finally got through. It was very frustrating and maddening.”

The state Department of Parks and Recreation acknowledges that “we’ve been hearing that complaint quite often,” said Jim Kruger, the Parks and Recreation reservations program manager who is the department’s liaison with Mistix, the La Jolla-based company that handles the computerized phone reservations for the state’s 82 parks.

Connecting with the Mistix 800 number has been particularly maddening for campers in the 818 and 805 area codes--the problem is worse here than elsewhere in the state--and Mistix officials are at a loss for an explanation.

“Maybe they’re all calling at once,” said Denise Dechaine, Mistix operations manager. “Or maybe a larger percentage” of the state’s campers “are from there.”

Kruger theorized that state-of-the-art telephone speed-dialers, which will redial a busy number ad infinitum until the number is no longer busy, might be contributing to the snafu by “clogging the lines.”

Dechaine originally suspected a computer virus was affecting service--phone systems throughout the country have been hit with breakdowns recently--but declined to say “there’s a problem with the phone lines.” Dechaine now speculates that an unexpected increase in customer demand has been the real culprit.

“There wasn’t a decrease in the number of people getting through,” she said. “It just seems that everybody held off camping last winter and now they all want to come at once.”

Mistix has been processing an average of 12,000-15,000 calls a day this summer, an estimated 30%-40% more than last year at this time, Dechaine said. Mistix has hired more operators--bringing its total to more than 100, Kruger said--and now can answer an additional 1,400 calls a day.

Despite campers’ complaints this summer, the state “is happy with Mistix,” said Kruger, who is now in the process of analyzing the company’s performance.

Mistix’s five-year contract with the state expires in December, 1992. Mistix was a controversial choice when the state awarded the $15-million contract in late 1985. Aside from being a new company with no track record, its winning bid was selected over a lower bid from Ticketron. A subsequent investigation turned up fake financial statements submitted by Mistix and shoddy review practices by state officials.

The state was forced to put the contract back out for another bid, but in August, 1987, Mistix, with the low bid, again was awarded the contract.

Kruger said the state has not decided if will accept new bids in 1992 or whether Mistix will simply just have its contract renewed. “My guess is we’ll put it out for bid,” he said.

Ironically, getting through to Mistix doesn’t guarantee a campsite. With Mistix taking family-camping reservations as many as eight weeks in advance, California’s 8,500 campsites are full virtually all the time in the summer. Beach campgrounds are sold out through Labor Day and popular inland locations are all booked on the weekends. Showing up without a reservation is not advised.

In the Valley region, only Malibu Creek State Park “has space on a fairly regular basis,” said Dan Preece, superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains District. “Camping there is a well-kept secret.”

Preece said he has heard complaints about Mistix. “We’d like them to do a good job,” he said. “The people who are calling are our customers.”

The toll-free number for Mistix: 800 - 444-7275.