The Caravan Club Annual Fiasco

[Janine]

I didn't know about this rule -

c) We ask that members unable to take up their site bookings give as much notice as possible when cancelling or amending a booking so that others can take advantage of the pitch. The minimum notice required for any pitch cancellation is 72 hours. Members who cancel inside 72 hours, or fail to turn up at a booked pitch, three times during 2012 will be contacted by The Club and will forfeit their ability to book for 14 days and any forward bookings will also be cancelled.

Perhaps this will help stop bulk bookings/no-shows.

 

[jonandshell]

A non-refundable deposit would be a better deterrent!:Angry:

 

[motorhomelover]

We are members but we never book in advance and have always got in where we want when we want. The worse one is Rowntree park York every time you try to book its full at weekends but on the 3 occasions we have stayed there we have just phoned and got in each time.

Dont think the mag is great for motorhomers but we have used a few CL sites and used them for booking ferry a few times each time saving more than the years subs.

Next time you try and get in to the york site just try saying you have an RV then you willl not get on the wardens are like little Hitlers !! i stopped a member ship after almost 20 years when i changed to an RV and got a very nasty reception from the wardens there

it is the caravan club and they make it clear any thing that is not a caravan is not welcome on their site
so i save the money and the trouble at the same time :thumb::thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

We are new to the caravan club and have so far only stayed at Durham, Stockton, and Melrose. We have found them all to be very clean and accommodating. The wardens at Durham Grange even rang to tell us our missing gas cowl had turned up and posted it to us.

Can it really be this bad? I thought that you could only 'no show' a couple of times and then you were banned from booking for a while?

We are not members of the CCC only the CC do people recommend them both?

We had our first taste of a CL last weekend and although it was a lovely setting and the owners were wonderful the shower block wasnt quite what I wanted!! Freezing

if this is correct then it is meaningless anyway Chris.

selfish members book as many sites as possible for the whole season on the first day of the booking period, whether they intend arriving or not.

they then have the option of turning up at any of the sites on the dates they chose during booking if they feel like it, or just dont show if they dont feel like it.

the problem then is, the pitch is booked and cant be 're-let' whether they show or not.

a £10 per booking, none refundable, fee would stop this selfish practise overnight.

£10 is a small advanced payment amount for a genuine booking but not for a 'we might turn up' booking

 

[rangi]

Yea! I agree, if the CC charged a Non Refundable Fee THE SAME AS THE CCC ie £25 That would stop the Wanna stays!

I find the Membership fees of both clubs good value, because you only have to stay for a week and you have recovered that amount.
AND YEA! Before you cheap skate wild "freedom" campers start!, I like my civilisation, If you want to p*** in a field ? go for it! Each to their own!

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[Jim]

I didn't know about this rule -

c) We ask that members unable to take up their site bookings give as much notice as possible when cancelling or amending a booking so that others can take advantage of the pitch. The minimum notice required for any pitch cancellation is 72 hours. Members who cancel inside 72 hours, or fail to turn up at a booked pitch, three times during 2012 will be contacted by The Club and will forfeit their ability to book for 14 days and any forward bookings will also be cancelled.

Perhaps this will help stop bulk bookings/no-shows.

That's a new rule for this year Janine. It looks like thay have at last acknowledged the problem, but whether the punishment will be enough to stop the block bookings completely we'll see.

 

[Jim]

Yea! I agree, if the CC charged a Non Refundable Fee THE SAME AS THE CCC ie £25 That would stop the Wanna stays!

I find the Membership fees of both clubs good value, because you only have to stay for a week and you have recovered that amount.
AND YEA! Before you cheap skate wild "freedom" campers start!, I like my civilisation, If you want to p*** in a field ? go for it! Each to their own!

Cheap Skate!
I'm sure for some, wild camping is done to save money. But for many, like me, money has nothing to do with it. YEA! each to their own

 

[moandick]

I find the Membership fees of both clubs good value, because you only have to stay for a week and you have recovered that amount.

Now this I don't understand - when you go to Caravan Club Site you have to have a paid up Membership to stay on the site AND you also have to pay pitch fees and per capita fees -so how do you save your membership fee by staying there for a week?

Dick

 

[sedge]

Because it's cheaper for members - on those sites where they also accept non-members.

If you ONLY stayed on 'members only' sites then I spose you don't save money. But when we go to an area we wish to visit, we mainly stay on CL's because that's what we like, for which we definitely need membership - so we save the difference between the CL price and that of nearby commercial campsites.

 

[JockandRita]

Hi all,

We've been members for over 22 years now, and our main reason for remainig so, is because of family locations, ie, mine in Ayr, and Rita's near Swansea. Both these locations have CC site close to our relatives, where we can stay and visit family.

Some years ago, the CC did charge a £10 deposit per booking, but they dispensed with that, which is probably one of the worst decisions club management have ever made.

Also, at one time you could book a pitch at more than one location, on the same dates. That's when folks would check out the weather before deciding at the last minute, where to go. That loophole in the booking system has not been available for some time, and if you try to make a booking now, for the same dates that you already have a booking, you'll be refused. :thumb: And not before time too.

Cheers,

Jock.

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[robnchris]

pitches

If we have one complaint about the Caravan Club it would how the pitch is allocated.
We went to Castleton (Losehill) and were told the usual drive round to find a pitch and then come and tell us where you are.

Typically there weren`t many pitches left as we are over 8mtrs we need a bigger pitch, we eventually found one that we could fit on but how annoying when you drive past some of the bigger pitches to find a small Volkswagon camper nestled in the corner of the pitch whilst you try to struggle onto a smaller pitch.
Surely it`s not beyond the scope of these wardens to ask the smaller units to choose a smaller pitch so the bigger units don`t struggle.oh:

 

[Welsh girl]

If we have one complaint about the Caravan Club it would how the pitch is allocated.

Surely it`s not beyond the scope of these wardens to ask the smaller units to choose a smaller pitch so the bigger units don`t struggle.oh:

Thats our thinking , it would be easy enough to tell campers to go on a smaller pitch, We like the cc and the ccc club in the winter as they are a lot cheaper normally than the cl's in the winter, not to be used in the peak period as they are too expensive.
We are 23ft and have sqeezed into a smaller pitch when bigger ones were taken by smaller units.

 

[JockandRita]

clipped...... We like the cc and the ccc club in the winter as they are a lot cheaper normally than the cl's in the winter, not to be used in the peak period as they are too expensive.
We are 23ft and have sqeezed into a smaller pitch when bigger ones were taken by smaller units.

I know what you mean. One of our fulltiming members on here, gets midweek pitches with hookup for less than £9.00 a day. That's less than we've paid for some CLs.

An advantage of the C&CC over the CC, is that you can book a pitch suitable to the size of your outfit, especially if booking through the site managers.

This "first come first served" policy of the CC is really annoying, especially where "non members" have taken up large hard standing pitches with the likes of a small trailer tents, :Angry: leaving unsuitable grass pitches for large outfits.
But hey, let's all remember it's our club....................not. It's nothing other than a profit making organisation, ie, a business.

Regards,

Jock.

 

[TheTwoOfUs]

OK, so we are probably in a minority of one, but we like the CC because we know that we are going to get a good standard of amenities. Can't say we've ever found these gestapo styled wardens everyone else seems to rant about - most go out of their way to be helpful. We joined the C&CC for a year but found the sites sub-standard compared to the CC sites (just our opinion). As for small vans on large pitches, come on now, they've paid the same money as you so why should'nt they have a pitch which might have the view they want or the right location for the amenity block? Can you imagine being told that you can't occupy a pitch because a larger vehicle might turn up and want to use it only for it to remain empty. The size of van you use is your choice, don't expect others to bend over backwards to accomodate you. We tow a large trailer which gives us an overall length of 12 metres which does cause us problems but the problems are of our making, so we live with it.

Neil

 

[JockandRita]

OK, so we are probably in a minority of one, but we like the CC because we know that we are going to get a good standard of amenities. Can't say we've ever found these gestapo styled wardens everyone else seems to rant about - most go out of their way to be helpful. We joined the C&CC for a year but found the sites sub-standard compared to the CC sites (just our opinion). As for small vans on large pitches, come on now, they've paid the same money as you so why should'nt they have a pitch which might have the view they want or the right location for the amenity block? Can you imagine being told that you can't occupy a pitch because a larger vehicle might turn up and want to use it only for it to remain empty. The size of van you use is your choice, don't expect others to bend over backwards to accomodate you. We tow a large trailer which gives us an overall length of 12 metres which does cause us problems but the problems are of our making, so we live with it.

Neil

Hi Neil,

The point I was trying to make, is that if as a paid up member, I have booked a pitch, using the very same details that the CC have on their database, including the length and weight of the MH, then A......I don't expect to arrive and not be able to find a suitable pitch, and B.....I certainly don't expect a "non member's" needs to have taken priority over a member's.

Regards,

Jock.

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[JohnM]

OK, so we are probably in a minority of one, but we like the CC because we know that we are going to get a good standard of amenities. Can't say we've ever found these gestapo styled wardens everyone else seems to rant about - most go out of their way to be helpful. We joined the C&CC for a year but found the sites sub-standard compared to the CC sites (just our opinion). As for small vans on large pitches, come on now, they've paid the same money as you so why should'nt they have a pitch which might have the view they want or the right location for the amenity block? Can you imagine being told that you can't occupy a pitch because a larger vehicle might turn up and want to use it only for it to remain empty. The size of van you use is your choice, don't expect others to bend over backwards to accomodate you. We tow a large trailer which gives us an overall length of 12 metres which does cause us problems but the problems are of our making, so we live with it.

Neil

I go along with you on this.I have been a member now for 29yrs and have never had an issue with the wardens some are more friendly than others but thats the same all over.I only tend to use c/c sites out of season as they are generaly cheaper and quiter.Having said that we are going to a club site for 6 nights over christmas.

 

[scotjimland]

OK, so we are probably in a minority of one, but we like the CC because we know that we are going to get a good standard of amenities. Can't say we've ever found these gestapo styled wardens everyone else seems to rant about - most go out of their way to be helpful. We joined the C&CC for a year but found the sites sub-standard compared to the CC sites (just our opinion). As for small vans on large pitches, come on now, they've paid the same money as you so why should'nt they have a pitch which might have the view they want or the right location for the amenity block? Can you imagine being told that you can't occupy a pitch because a larger vehicle might turn up and want to use it only for it to remain empty. The size of van you use is your choice, don't expect others to bend over backwards to accomodate you. We tow a large trailer which gives us an overall length of 12 metres which does cause us problems but the problems are of our making, so we live with it.

Neil

absolutely agree .. outfit size is our choice..

I had a 36ft RV with a MAM of 8.5t and used several CC sites.. but many were not suitable..... that's not the clubs fault ..

CC sites were designed for caravans and cars , not only in size, but in weight.. heavy motor caravans can damage access roads and hard standings which may have been designed for a max axle load of 2tons .

Over the years campers have grown in size.. as too have caravans.. and we now have 5ers looking for pitches on sites that never envisaged such heavy large outfits.. a line has to be drawn somewhere... so there is now a max of 28ft on many sites.. this of course does not take into consideration the axle loads.

 

[robnchris]

pitch allocation

might[/I] turn up and want to use it only for it to remain empty. The size of van you use is your choice, don't expect others to bend over backwards to accomodate you. We tow a large trailer which gives us an overall length of 12 metres which does cause us problems but the problems are of our making, so we live with it.

Neil

We can and have to go along with this mindset, though our thoughts are it`s not very good business sense if all the large pitches were taken up by smaller units leaving it so that that when the bigger units arrive they have to be turned away because they can`t fit onto the smaller pitches left.

We very rarely book in advance being a couple that spend our time touring around, the joy of having a motorhome for us is the freedom to travel where we want when we want, so an advanced booking for us is usually no more than 4 days ahead.
So we accept that when we phone to book and tell them we are over 28ft and they say they can`t fit us in we just look for somewhere else, so far we have always managed to get in somewhere.

Surely the thinking behind the Caravan club putting in the larger pitches was they would fit the larger units.

 

[GJH]

Whilst there is obviously a demand for larger pitches it has to cause a dilemma for the CC and any other site owner. The total area available for pitches on any site is finite so making them larger might reduce the number - and lead to complaints of sites filling up too quickly

 

[robnchris]

Whilst there is obviously a demand for larger pitches it has to cause a dilemma for the CC and any other site owner. The total area available for pitches on any site is finite so making them larger might reduce the number - and lead to complaints of sites filling up too quickly

Morning Graham, it`s alright you saying that now you have shortened your van`s length, have to say we thought it was a tad drastic measure to fit on the smaller pitches...oh:

On a more serious note, really sorry to hear about the accidents, hopefully all will be taken care of by the offending drivers and you get it all fixed soon.
Merry Christmas Rob and Chris.

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[Bill123]

We are fairly new motor homers having only got our little motorhome in August, so have only really had weekends and one week away. We have stayed mainly on CC Sites - Tewkesbury (been there a lot as it's less than an hour away from home), Warwick, Cheltenham, plus some car park overnighters. Being fairly new to the whole thing, we've just found this easier. All of the wardens have always been more than accommodating, the chap at Warwick even lent us some of his tools when Mr Bill was making some modifications in order to put up his new tent. The only time we've been told which pitch to use was at Tewkesbury when it was dark and she didn't want people driving round and round the site for safety reasons, which seemed fair enough. The Warden pointed at a row of pitches on the map and said choose whichever one of those you like.

I have booked ahead for 2012, mainly because we mostly use the van at weekends and you can only go so far, and like to go somewhere with easy access to the pub. We've planned round the beer festivals and the bank holidays, because sites in the town get booked up quickly. At least with a CC site you know what you are going to get.

I would like to try a CL site, but there just doesn't seem to be enough weekends to fit it all in!!

Mrs Bill

 

[Travelbug1]

Only members for the CL's as said main site bookings are a farce, they need to listen to their members and charge deposits.

Well said Jim, a bloody fiasco:Angry::Angry::Angry:

Hate Hate Hate this club's booking system. Have joined & left several times when we were tuggers and never ever managed to book a club site for a weekend when we wanted.
Wardens are on a power trip and everyone has to keep up with the Jones's apparently or no one talks to you.:Angry:

Never again will I join them. Loads of better & cheaper clubs that you can actually book pitches with !!

 

[JohnM]

Hate Hate Hate this club's booking system. Have joined & left several times when we were tuggers and never ever managed to book a club site for a weekend when we wanted.
Wardens are on a power trip and everyone has to keep up with the Jones's apparently or no one talks to you.:Angry:

Never again will I join them. Loads of better & cheaper clubs that you can actually book pitches with !!

:Sad:Idont doubt you are right about their booking system,but hopefully the new system they have put in place will help As i have said earlier i have been a member for many years and have not met any realy bad warden.If you look at the membership numbers they must be doing some thing right.

 

[callumwa]

:Sad:Idont doubt you are right about their booking system,but hopefully the new system they have put in place will help As i have said earlier i have been a member for many years and have not met any realy bad warden.If you look at the membership numbers they must be doing some thing right.

What would be interesting to know is what the CC membership turnover figures look like.
Many Funsters have already commented they were members but they let it lapse.

There are many newcomers to caravaning and motorhomes every year, and I think a lot of them join the CC at the outset, as its thought of as the "biggest" nationwide club.

That's why we joined in the beginning, we did not know any better.

We are still members, but rarely use their sites these days. We have an excellent insurance deal at the moment through the CC, but if that goes we will probably let membership lapse.

Callum