Caravan Club sites - wardens know best?

[David France]

We recently stayed at the CC site at Looe and I was disgusted to find the wardens insisting on everyone siting their caravans and motorhomes in such a way that half of the folks on a full site could not take advantage of the sea view. On return I emailed the Club and had the following reply:

"The Club's rule relating to pitching does state that caravan outfits may

be positioned on the pitch in any way, provided that there shall be left

a minimum clear space of 3 metres (10 feet) between adjoining outfits in

any direction and 20ft between facing caravan walls in order to restrict

the spread of fire. Therefore, I have spoken to the Regional Manager

and he has apologised, as pitching should be as stated above, except on

the pitching area at the top of the site, where it is essential that

everybody pitches in a certain way so as not to break the fire pitch

regulations. The Wardens were new to the site this year and took it

that the whole site had to be pitched in a certain way, this has now

been resolved and I apologise for any inconvenience this caused during

your stay." I then asked if all those denied getting the best from the site location would be compensated since Looe's charges are sky high this year....it was turned down. The CC is in danger of becoming "The Un-Friendly Club", don't you think?

 

 

 

[Basil]

David France - 2008-08-10 11:12 AM

.......................The CC is in danger of becoming "The Un-Friendly Club", don't you think?

 

 

 

An isolated error on behalf of 'newly' placed wardens doesn't make the whole club unfriendly. No I believe a slight over reaction on your part IMO.

 

Never had a problem on any of the sites we have ever used and only ever had one grouchy warden (female) in the whole of our near to 35 years use. I still believe it has more to do with how an individual approaches a situation than anything else.

 

Bas

[GJH]

Basil - 2008-08-10 11:52 AM

 

David France - 2008-08-10 11:12 AM

.......................The CC is in danger of becoming "The Un-Friendly Club", don't you think?

 

 

 

An isolated error on behalf of 'newly' placed wardens doesn't make the whole club unfriendly. No I believe a slight over reaction on your part IMO.

 

Never had a problem on any of the sites we have ever used and only ever had one grouchy warden (female) in the whole of our near to 35 years use. I still believe it has more to do with how an individual approaches a situation than anything else.

 

Bas

I agree. We're all human and we all make mistakes. Just bad luck that the wardens misunderstood the situation.

 

We've never had a problem with any CC wardens.

 

Graham

[Klyne]

The CC meets its obligation to you by providing a pitch so how come you are entitled to compensation? At least you would have had the opportunity to leave the site and claim a refund on pitch fees paid, unlike another club! You have also had a full explanation from the Club HQ accepting the warden had been mistaken, very rare indeed! I recently e-mailed the Club pointing out that there seemed to be some confusion about the price charged for the internet access. As it happened I had been slightly overcharged by £1. I did not ask or demand a refund but they very kindly sent me a site voucher for one night worth many times the original amount. I thought that very business like and made me glad to be a member.

 

David

[mikey72]

I agree that a bad warden is stressful on what should be a peaceful holiday, but when he was insisting you all parked the same way in error, due to a misunderstanding of a rule he had been given by the Regional Site Manager, was he aggressive or was it just a polite insistence? If he thought his hands were tied I’d be more inclined to forgive him, it’s the instant confrontation from some wardens that upsets me.

I'm much more impressed you have gotten a response, and an apology, with a correction to the admitted mistake in future from the Club itself. Now that is listening to the members.

I have just joined the Caravan Club after years of being with the Camping and Caravaning Club as the warden wouldn't even take a booking for us. (Have a read of

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=12642&posts=15)

We just been on our first site and the difference was amazing. We could pitch were we liked, so we had a nice quiet pitch away from the roads, but a short walk to the toilet emptying point, and park forward or backwards onto the pitch to suit ourselves (our back is slightly higher than the front, so it usually saves getting the chocks out if we can go on forward in some cases). Very friendly wardens, that didn't treat us as a nuisance in their tidy park! I wish we had moved years ago.

 

[Rayjsj]

We have ,this year joined the C & C C as well as still being members of the CC, mainly because of the 'age concession' price advantage, we have stayed at 6 of their sites and make these observations: We prefer to be able to make our own choice of available empty pitches (if we get it wrong we only have ourselves to blame,so we don't feel 'hard done by' and enjoy our stay).On several occasions we felt that we had been 'placed' on a certain pitch ,for reasons that the warden (sorry Manager) didn't want to share with us ??? Some of the sites are a bit 'Rough at the edges' compared to CC ones (although 6 sites is maybye not a fair example).

Apart from those things I found not much differance,folk who go to the sites are much the same..some friendly,some not so.

The Managers/Wardens are much the same (indeed some have worked for both clubs). You pays your money and takes your choice ! (or,are told what your choice is.....C&C C.) the 'Age Concession' IS a good money saver though. :D :D

[Basil]

Rayjsj - 2008-08-11 3:34 PM

 

......... We prefer to be able to make our own choice of available empty pitches (if we get it wrong we only have ourselves to blame,so we don't feel 'hard done by' and enjoy our stay)............

 

Would you clarify for me please, probably me being thick, that this comment and the others of course is referring to the Camping & Caravan Club sites. As we were considering looking at re-joining them, after leaving many years ago, for the same reason as you i.e. the old age discount B-) B-) but if that comment is the case I think we will remain out of it.

 

Bas

[Rayjsj]

Basil, I would'nt want to put you off of re-joining the C & C C, my comment concerned my experience on 3 of the 6 sites stayed at, I think because we are used to being told which pitches are available and then sent off to choose for ourselves (the Management,the missus does the deciding to parameters only known to herself). Being Taken to the pitch by the 'manager' (small ' m') can be a bit intimidating, you sort of have to make a choice (if there is one) of the pitches available under a bit of 'duress'. Perhaps the failing is mine in not telling him to 'Shove Off' while we choose ? The comment about 'Tatty around the edges' involves signeage, One way systems not clearly marked, Water points :same, Chemical empty point :same, Toilets although 'Spotless' not quite upto CC in layout and design and quality of finish. BUT the CC sites are now very expensive to stay on,even in 'Value' season.....so The 'Age concession' is very tempting. Back to the original bit of the thread Looe CC site,we stayed there late Sept. 2007, and was told that the only pitches available for 'Motorcaravans' were the very sloping grass pitches directly opposite the loo block !!!! as they were closing the site down and needed to 're-seed' the pitches where caravan awnings had killed off the grass...

I thought the reasoning was a bit illogical and said so, the 'lady' warden got 'miffed' with me,but i stood my ground and got a Level Hardstanding,

which made more sense for me,and I would have thoght them ?? Most of the other motorvans that arrived after us though,had to 'Chock up' on the slope, while most of the hardstandings stood empty, Funny how the BAD experiences are the ones we remember. :D :D

[Rayjsj]

Basil, I would'nt want to put you off of re-joining the C & C C, my comment concerned my experience on 3 of the 6 sites stayed at, I think because we are used to being told which pitches are available and then sent off to choose for ourselves (the Management,the missus does the deciding to parameters only known to herself). Being Taken to the pitch by the 'manager' (small ' m') can be a bit intimidating, you sort of have to make a choice (if there is one) of the pitches available under a bit of 'duress'. Perhaps the failing is mine in not telling him to 'Shove Off' while we choose ? The comment about 'Tatty around the edges' involves signeage, One way systems not clearly marked, Water points :same, Chemical empty point :same, Toilets although 'Spotless' not quite upto CC in layout and design and quality of finish. BUT the CC sites are now very expensive to stay on,even in 'Value' season.....so The 'Age concession' is very tempting. Back to the original bit of the thread Looe CC site,we stayed there late Sept. 2007, and was told that the only pitches available for 'Motorcaravans' were the very sloping grass pitches directly opposite the loo block !!!! as they were closing the site down and needed to 're-seed' the pitches where caravan awnings had killed off the grass...

I thought the reasoning was a bit illogical and said so, the 'lady' warden got 'miffed' with me,but i stood my ground and got a Level Hardstanding,

which made more sense for me,and I would have thoght them ?? Most of the other motorvans that arrived after us though,had to 'Chock up' on the slope, while most of the hardstandings stood empty, Funny how the BAD experiences are the ones we remember. :D :D

[davenewellhome]

The only time I've encountered a CC site that wanted 'vans pitched a certain way was in Ulrome several years ago. I inadvertently pitched facing the "wrong" way and when the site staff spotted this they asked me to repitch, I declined and they asked again, a little more insistently so I told them to go get a tow truck 'cos I wasn't about to repitch just to keep them happy. They conceded and we spent several more days there without any problems. Apart from that one tiny incident I've always found CC site staff to be friendly and helpful.

 

D.

[gadjo]

Funny you should mention this we stayed at Looe a couple of weeks ago and found the wardens some what keen to the extent that I was asked to move a full 10 inches forward because we were too close to the marker peg *-). We were told it was council rules etc and I moved with out any fuss as rules is rules.

 

we have stayed at a few CC sites this year and the rest have been fine very freindly and helpful and to be honest the staff were freindly at Looe just a bit keen.

[malc d]

These postings remind me of the first time we took our van onto a C&CC club in Devon a few years ago.

An assistant ( possibly Mrs.Warden ) directed us to a grass pitch on a fairly empty site.

Later 'the boss' turned up and said we may have to move next day as we were on 'a caravan pitch' and a lot of caravans were due in.

 

I asked him what exactly 'a caravan pitch' was. He didn't answer that but said it was much easier to move a motorhome than a caravan because "m/homes are designed to move on" ( !!!)

 

In the event, we heard no more from him, and were not asked to move, but it did give me the impression that there is (or was) a certain bias against motorhomes in the club.

 

 

(I should add that that is the only time we have had such an experience with the club).

 

 

:-(

[Rayjsj]

I find that the 'Hint' of how you are going to be treated by the Wardens/Managers is in what THEY have parked in the Wardens/Managers living area, if it's a Motorhome they are more aware/sympathetic of our differant needs/requirements.

Sometimes it's obvious that that person finds motorhomes a Nuisance.

(in my experience both clubs are the same in that respect). :D :D

[Tomo3090]

We're members of both but in the main we only use CL/CS sites. The people running them are friendly, helpful and generally can't be bothered to even check membership cards as they are usually genuinely glad of the revenue. The biggest plus though are the prices.

 

As we vanners are self sufficient we don't need all the bells and whistles of "proper" sites and so can survive without electric, showers, loos, rules about pitch sizes, washing up areas etc and can come and go as we please.

 

We stayed on one in Devon last month and after heavy rain I got my van bogged down. After some very helpful "tuggers" tried to help with their 4X4s, but to no avail, the site owner got her son up out of bed and made him pull us out with their tractor!

 

 

[Sambosson]

I have stayed at Caravan & Camping Club sites all over the country and have had no problem with any of them - always very helpful – often a choice of pitches – site managers always available – I did on one occasion think about changing over to the Caravan Club but after visiting a couple of sites I decided, no-thank you because the sites were to regimental and as I only have a 1986 vw it would look completely out of place along with posh caravans, anyway CCC members are more friendly from my experience plus the age concession is a big plus.

[Brock]

I have noticed a growing tendency for CC sites to have more green signs than trees (or so it seems). I guess this is a mix of health & safety and in the interest of fairness to all given some people moan loudly, some suffer in silence, and a few just get on with life, but we all want that perfect site. I have noticed the ground signs are used extensivly by dogs to mark their territory so at least they serve some purpose!

 

I've just come back from a CC site where we were asked to reverse up a slope into a pitch because it was easier for motorhomes to do this than caravans. I saw this as commons sense not bias although I am glad I do not have the latest Fiat underpinnings. The site and wardens were great.

 

19 years with the CC and only two grumbles, both dealt with to my satisfaction so they must be getting something right. However, I do believe that they are reliant more and more on the goodwill between users and wardens. Maybe now is a good time for it to sit back and ponder whether we need such a regimented approach.