Sorry to hear about your negative experience.
As you know, a I used to go war-driving around SoCal looking for both GMRS and Ham Repeaters and then keep a log for the input codes to see if I can hit them from home. I also decode Morse code IDs and research from there.
Most are receptive to my inquiries about "rules" for using their repeater and offers to "join." A few literally never respond to my verbal requests for information, and so I lost interest with no one else to talk to. I note in my log "available" repeater pairs in these instances.
On a slightly different note: After driving to the top of Chatsworth Peak to hunt down the repeaters located there, I became aware of the Rocketdyne Santa Susanna Field Laboratory now owed by NASA and Boeing and after further research discovered the nuclear accident there back in the 50s. This information was made more widespread by public interest groups and the Kardashians after the 2018 Woolsey Fire started there and potentially spread radioactive smoke
I take the position that since they are using public spectrum, if they refuse to at least respond to a reasonable request for access, that the answer is "yes" until told otherwise. Then I politely make a request for more information about the repeater on the air.
