camping and caravan club - waste of money

[mikey72]

We have just tried to book 5 days on a club site, but as it is a late booking for next week, it's on 4 different pitches on the same site, St David’s, but as we are a motorhome it's no problem to us or them to move, especially as we're out for the day anyway normally.

 

So we rang the campsite directly, and was told it was full for the period.

 

My wife pointed out that the website showed spaces, for all the dates, and read them off. She was met with a change of tone, he became quite abrupt, and refused point blank to take a booking. It was the site manager himself we were talking to, as my wife took his name. Effectively he wouldn't move us from pitch to pitch, but if someone came in off the road he said he would give them the pitch.

 

I rang the club reservation service, I pointed out that I had been a member for some years, and wanted to book a club site, and the response was that member or not, the only people that could book it was the campsite directly. It was admitted the this wasn't the only complaint about this, but other members usually just accepted it.

 

He put me through to the Club site manager, and I got a message stating that it was outside office hours, and they were open from 9.30am onwards. As far as I'm aware it's well after that. So I rang back, and oddly enough got the same club reservation man, he couldn't get any customer service, any manager, any director, to answer.

 

He has now gone to pass the message on personally, but no-one has rung back yet.

 

I think this is abysmal service, and I will be wanting a refund of my membership, as I can't see what I get for it. I have been told the Caravan Club is much better, both at customer service, and the attitude of club sites in general, so guess where I'm going.

 

 

 

[Klyne]

From the sound of it pitches are pre allocated which results in the potential problem of moving pitches. I am a member of the Caravan Club and theydo not preallocate in advance and give you a free choice of the available pitches when you arrive. They only tend to reserve a pitch if you have a disabled person in the party and need to be near the toilet block. In my view the Caravan Club are much more geared up to meet members needs in this respect and of course they don't take deposits when booking either and will book a pitch just for one night, a gold star in my book!

 

David

[mikey72]

The latest update, we did eventually get a call back from customer services, but they had no power to do anything at all, she agreed she could talk to membership to see if we could get a pro-rata refund, and not surprisingly no more contact since.

 

However we have joined the Caravan Club over the phone this afternoon, and then booked a week at a Club site in Devon online. No deposit required, and they will accept bookings for one night as well, so ideal if we're touring in the future.

 

 

 

[SAS]

We are members of both clubs and have had nothing but excellent service from the site managers at them both. If the website showed spaces for the dates you wanted I would have booked them over the net. The bit I can`t understand is that he said `if someone came in off the road he would give them the pitch` Why?.. unless the pitch was pre-booked? That`s confusing, I don`t understand how it could it have been if he was going to give it to someone who `came in off the road`?! Just lately though we have found that the nightly fee of both clubs has become very expensive and we now prefer to camp at CL`s or a CS site. We have a solar panel so don`t want to pay for electricity and if we want a shower we use the motorhome stop-off at a club site or facilities at a leisure centre. Otherwise out come the baby wipes and on goes the anti-pong! We don`t use the shower in the motorhome as we have learnt by experience that water and motorhomes just don`t mix! :-|

[mikey72]

The problem with the C & C Club is that the website lists different pitch types by category, eg 1 line for pitches with awnings, then 1 line for pitches without etc. Each of these categories had 1 night only, so as the C & C Club will only accept 2 nights or more, the online system won't accept the booking. The only way is to phone up, and book, but the site manager then refused to accept it, no reason given, but he stated he would have been happy to acccept anyone to drive in, and wanting to book for the night, but not for us to move pitch if we were there. Again no reason given.

 

[colin]

I've said this time and again.

C&CC "the unfriendly club"

 

I turned up on a wet day to be refused camping as there wern't any suitable pitches because grass was wet, drove along to commercial site we where offered parking next to shower block, canceled membership at next renewal date.

[Guest Tracker]

We are members of the CCC and although we very rarely use their sites and even less often do we book - like once in 20+ years - and we have never had a problem getting on a site - even arriving at 9.00 pm unannounced sometimes!

 

Our main reason for the CCC is the Motorhome Section and their various section weekend rallies and temporary holiday sites which, although basic camping - which suits us non electric types - they do give very good vfm camping and are usually populated with friendly and often like minded people.

 

Long may it continue, and a hearty thanks to all the volunteers who give up their own free time to make it all happen.

[mikey72]

I quite agree the rallies and temporary holiday sites are excellent, as are the certificated sites.

The volunteers are excellent members, in fact the members are the heart of the club, sadly it's the running of the club which does not support the members, and that's why I believe it has now become a waste of money.

 

By the way, if you turn up before 12.00am nowadays at a club site, there is a surcharge payable.

I have also arrived unannounced a few times in my motorhome, in the past, at club sites, mainly as no-one has answered the phone on the site, when I've been ringing to see if they have pitches when we're touring. Some have had space, some haven't.

[kelly58]

The thing these site managers fail to realise is that as members of the CCC we are all part owners of the club and the staff are in effect our emloyee's its our hard earned cash that pays their wages without campers they would be working for the government drawing their job seekers allowance.

As for the local DA volanteers who give their time to hold weekend rallies I say thank you and well done its these people that give the club a good name and the title of "The Friendly Club" and at the same time raise hard earned funds for local charities.

[Klyne]

colin - 2008-08-01 8:05 PM

 

I've said this time and again.

C&CC "the unfriendly club"

 

 

I have always thought using the term 'Friendly Club' is a bit silly as it opens you up to derision everytime something goes wrong. I can't help thinking, at the back of my mind, that it is just a snide poke in the ribs to other Clubs!

 

David

[George]

Although some people regard the Caravan's Club policy of not asking for a deposit as a positive aspect, the downside is that some members make bookings and then don't turn up or cancel.I was recently at York Caravan Club which was showing as 'fully booked ' on line, but had some empty pitches. The warden said that this was members not showing up. I think the experience on either club site depends on the wardens, I've found good and not so good on both.

[sunbeam]

Yes George but the c&cc needs to rethink its policies as it doesnt cater very well for the motorhome with its no fewer than two night stops at sites even when we book ahead and pay this is why i have moved to the cc *-)

[Klyne]

George - 2008-08-02 6:43 PM

 

Although some people regard the Caravan's Club policy of not asking for a deposit as a positive aspect, the downside is that some members make bookings and then don't turn up or cancel.I was recently at York Caravan Club which was showing as 'fully booked ' on line, but had some empty pitches. The warden said that this was members not showing up. I think the experience on either club site depends on the wardens, I've found good and not so good on both.

 

Yes, but the Caravan Club is a Club and why should members expect to pay a deposit? They pay £30plus a year to belong is that not a large enough deposit? They used to take them and their response to this question of people not turning up is no worse and persistant offenders are tackled. To me its a powerful reason for belonging to the CC.

 

David

[colin]

sunbeam - 2008-08-03 6:18 PM

 

Yes George but the c&cc needs to rethink its policies as it doesnt cater very well for the motorhome with its no fewer than two night stops at sites even when we book ahead and pay this is why i have moved to the cc *-)

Has the rule changed? when I was member the two night rule only applied if booking.

[sunbeam]

Yes Colin it only applies when booking but what is the point in having a booking system if you cant plan and book your holidays ahead i got an email back from c&cc saying that if i had booked one night it means that if the site was full and somone was looking for a full week they couldnt get it well i think that if they booked earlier they might have got it but as everyone payes members fees it should be first come.Sorry for my rant but this is one bone that has got to me because i like to plan ahead and this system wont lit me but problem solved as i have joined the cc

[little-jack]

If C&CC have a minimum 2 night booking policy, how come when I tried to book 3 nights on a hardstanding pitch, on a site with 15+ hardstandings, ONE night in the middle of the booking showed no availability, with ample spaces available on either side. Phoned customer services as instructed on on-line booking service, who were predictably no help at all.

 

little jack

[colin]

I suppose that depends on what was 'ample', if say you where booking tues,weds,thurs, then if 8 people booked tues,weds and 7 booked weds,thurs then no availibility weds but plenty either side

[Ina]

colin - 2008-08-11 9:06 PM

 

I suppose that depends on what was 'ample', if say you where booking tues,weds,thurs, then if 8 people booked tues,weds and 7 booked weds,thurs then no availibility weds but plenty either side

Reading this with interest. Happened to us when we wanted to book 2 nights one weekend: Friday had pitches available, Saturday showed full, Sunday had availability again.

So I rang the site direct, as we weren't bothered about which 2 nights we stayed (wanted to join friends who were there for about 4 nights). Was told there WAS availability on Saturday, on a MANAGER'S pitch??!!??

I accepted and on arrival tried to find out what exactly a manager's pitch was. Didn't get a proper answer though, but it was just an ordinary pitch in between the others. So came to the conclusion that they must keep 1 or 2 back, which don't show on the website, and if you ring them direct, you may be lucky.

Ina.

[mikey72]

Well as an update, we have received a cheque from the Camping and Caravanning Club for a pro-rata refund, which is better than nothing.

We have now joined the Caravan Club and have just been on our first site with them and the difference was amazing. I wish we had moved years ago.

 

[Ina]

mikey72 - 2008-08-12 7:10 PM

 

Well as an update, we have received a cheque from the Camping and Caravanning Club for a pro-rata refund, which is better than nothing.

We have now joined the Caravan Club and have just been on our first site with them and the difference was amazing. I wish we had moved years ago.

Well done you.

We are members of both clubs, but tend to use the CC sites much more, so will probably not renew the C&CC next time. I also find that CC sites tend to be better on the whole, not least because of the fact that you can pick your own pitch. On some of the C&CC sites we have been put right by the toiletblock. That may suit some people for very good reasons, but we'd rather not be so close to it, so we'd rather choose our own pitch.

One CC site we really like is the one at Hawes, Brown Moor. We're into walking, and the walking around there is superb. Also Wharfedale, Grassington is a favourite of ours.

Hope you enjoy staying on the various CC sites.

[benson]

Hi everyone,

 

thought I might add my own experiences of the Caravan Club. Over a period of many years as a member - 20+ I have found both the office and site wardens(mostly)very helpful and polite. I really like the practice of choosing your own pitch on arrival as you can choose a shady pitch,sunny one, near the toilets, well away from the play areas, etc., all depending on how full the site is of course. I can honestly say, however,that I have never been disappointed with the choice even on a recent visit to Longleat when it was a very busy weekend. Having had a caravan all these years, we have now bought a MH. Every year, we spent 2 weeks in France and arranged all our booking, ferry, sites,etc., through the club who could not be more helpful. They saved me a lot of money on the ferry rates last year by recommending just one day different from the dates I had chosen and we have never been disappointed with their site recommendations. But what about this! We are touring to Italy next year in the MH and by early booking of the ferry (Norfolk Line to Dunkerque) we payed ONLY £38 return in June/July!!! That makes paying my club membership fee all the worth while. I look forward to many more years with the club.

Benson :->

[duffers]

there seems to be a lot of adverse comment about C&CC allocating pitches, the implication being that you're on one you wouldn't have chosen. Has any one actually objected to the imposed pitch and selected one they would prefer - ???

The only time we've been stuck on an unsatisfactory pitch has been with CC when we've been stuck on a small pitch 'because you've only got a small van' - in other words shut up or s*d off.

 

ray

[Tertia]

Hi.

The CC suits us nicely for the quantity of CL's they offer and the Cand CC suits us for good value winter stays. There free nights points system is good and we benefit from the age concession. However, sometimes the staff do make us feel as if we are a barely tolerated annoyance and I sometimes feel as if I should apologise for wanting to book in. I agree with others who have difficulty geting through to sites even when the office is supposed to be open.

 

Keep on camping.

Tertia. :-(

[el-d]

I guess I must just have been lucky! I've never suffered any of the problems mentioned here. I use Clent Hills a fair amount because of needing to be in Birmingham regularly and often phone up the site and book a single night, just a few days in advance, as I need it. The site managers have always been friendly even when we arrive a bit late due to other commitments over-running and seem to manage a smile even when siting us in the pouring rain!

 

We were also very pleased a couple of years ago when we happened upon the rally at Playa Tropicana unintentionally and were invited to stay and join in although we hadn't booked. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming and we stayed for a month!

 

Like I say, maybe I have been lucky but I speak as I find.