This month would have been the start of our third year of membership to the Camping and Caravan Club. Today we received our renewal notice, along with out membership cards for the forthcoming 12 months.
However, back in March we had booked in to Braithwaite Fold C & CC site at Bowness for three nights starting on Saturday 23rd through to 26th. The weather at the start of the week was not good and by Thursday there were travel advisories out for Friday and the Weekend with winds forecast 50+ MPH and on checking again on Friday, the advisories were still in place for the weekend and our friends that we were due to meet at Braithwaite Fold also had similar weather problems with gusting winds over 50 MPH in the Yorkshire Moors where they live and there was no way they could get across to the Lakes.
Although a late call, we decided early Friday morning that it would be silly to even attempt taking the van out when Thelwall and Barton high level bridges reportedly closed to high sided vehicles and on a couple of exposed stretches of the M6 gusts were reaching 65 MPH according to the local weather. So a quick phone call to the Camping & Caravan Club was made to cancel our booking (I did originally post about it in “Our first weather cancellation…” )
I was a bit surprised when I phoned to cancel to be told that we would lose the £25 deposit. I did query this when I explained that as there was a travel advisory issued by the police that the club could not make allowances. After a bit of “Hmmm” from the person I spoke to, She put me on hold and spoke to her supervisor ( I think) and said we could book in again at Braithwaite Fold and use the deposit on the new booking. Great I thought. There was one fly in the ointment, the booking would have to be before a date in June. Right what about…. and I gave her a date….. “Sorry it’s fully booked”. OK what about…. “Sorry it’s fully booked” OK try…… “Sorry it’s fully booked”.
Those were the only three dates that we had free between then and June and they were fully booked. So that was that, we lost our £25 deposit.
Sue made the remark at the time “There is no point in booking sites that need a deposit when the weather is so unpredictable“
The story doesn’t end there though. Our friends P & J were also in a similar situation and wrote to the club… and received a written reply… which I’d love to be able to publish here, but I’d probably end up in trouble. The tone of the letter was something I would not expect from “The Friendly Club” and one important fact was wrong…. the date they quoted as being “OK for travel and lots of other members made it there” was actually the wrong weekend!
P & J wrote back pointing out this error…. but in a reply from “The Friendly Club” they considered the matter closed.
So, all that said, I rang the Camping & Caravan Club today spoke to the membership department to cancel our membership. Which is a bit of a shame really as the C & CC was the first club we joined and six months later we joined the Caravan Club (mainly to spread the cost of memberships over the year) but we always felt as we joined the C & CC first, we had more of an allegiance to them… I guess it’s like your first car or your first caravan… it always has that ‘something’ by being your first.
So I now have to start the search for caravan insurance as that was through “The Friendly Club”….. I wonder how much the Caravan Club Insurance charge?
One thing that did cross my mind when I just re-read what I’d written. It made me think that it’s not a club anymore… it’s the Camping & Caravanning Company.
Ho Hum
S
PS…. At least with the membership fee saved we can have an extra couple of nights in the van somewhere! Every cloud etc…… right, our next adventure is to Old Oaks at Glastonbury then back to Warwick Racecourse!
We are also members but feel they have got very greedy even the phone no is 0845 and I can understand and don’t blame you for what you have done.Les
There is a landline number. 0247 6475442
Simon
We have just joined the C&CC mainly to vist the Horsley site which is close to our daughter at Guildford.
I was not at all happy at having to pay a £25 deposit as we don’t have to with the CC and they seem to manage bookings very well. We are there at the moment and although it is a nice site it needs some money spending on it if we wanted to use the facilities. It also seems very clicky with half the caravanners knowing the other half. Not complaining as they are very friendly but we have never seen so many twin axles £25k vans in one place.
Don’t think we will be using any of their other sites. The CC is also a company these days so what’s changed.
John
You would think the C&CC would be able to absorb a small deposit like that in extraneous circumstances. Pretty poor form. I understand under normal circumstances rules are rules etc. But having driven over Thelwall in high winds, you made the correct decision, and I would have thought some common sense over members safety would have prevailed with the C&CC.
Thanks for your comments Les, John & Tony
I can fully understand why some sites or clubs require deposits. When we first started out, we only ever knew of deposits being required and it wasn’t until six months down the line when we joined the CC we found out not all do request a deposit. With independent sites, I don’t mind a deposit, at least you have chance if anything goes haywire to be able to negotiate a reasonable alternative other than total loss (unless someone knows otherwise!)
What got me was mainly was the inflexibility of the C & CC ‘system’. Sue and I leaving (and most likely our friends P & J) will not make the slightest difference to the balance sheet or to the ‘system’. Me writing about it in my blog will achieve nothing either.
It’s not a money thing, £25 is not a vast amount, but to some, on limited budget or fixed income it could be the difference between having a week end away in their caravan or not.
Thanks for reading my blog by the way.
S
We also made a C&CC last-minute cancellation earlier in the year, when the forecast was below zero both day and night, and some major roads around the Peak District were closed by snow. Resigned ourselves to losing the deposit, as we assumed it would be non-refundable. But I agree totally with your sentiments – for the sake of being inflexible to a reasoned and logical conversation, they’ve lost a customer. Surely customer retention is an overriding consideration in the current climate?
Hi Stuart
Thanks for the comment.
I agree, membership retention is all part of running a successful club or business. At the moment I guess it’s easy to get new members with the increase in popularity of camping and caravanning (and motor homing.. didn’t want to leave you guys out!) but at some point it might all change again.
S
What a pity! Shame on them! We’re out of this now, having moved away 9 years ago (France), but we were members of the Caravan Club. We found the membership to be great in those days (we had been members since 1986), always helpful on the phone with travel or technical advice. A couple of times we stayed on CC sites where there was a C&CC site nearby which took our fancy as an alternative. Clumber Park was one instance where the C&CC site was inside the old walled kitchen garden, and looked so appealing, so we often thought about being in both clubs. Actually the CC Clumber Park site was very good in any case, so there was no real need to change!
I’ve been hearing many similar tales of woe from lots of our customers, it seems like everything else nowadays all the caravan club seem interested in is making money
We are getting very high winds as at 17-00 hours 31 March2015. I would not venture on the road on a day like this. Would the CC allow me to stay on one of their site if it was as bad as this. I would vacate my pitch but expect I would be allowed to stay somewhere.
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On viewing the new sites book for the C&CC they have moved not only the goal posts but the whole pitch. Age concession rates moved back to age 60 where they were before apparantly not to my memory as a member for the last 10 years. Now trumpeted as a big concession but the % has dropped from 30% to 25% . An extra season “SHOULDER” what a nondescript name but its “pay more money” by any other name. The cancellation policy has gone from 7 days to 30 days this is because they intend to put offers onto sites with low bookings so if like me you would be aware of this and cancel and rebook to get the offer under the 7 day rule you would not be able to as you can guarantee that the offer will not be advertised before 30 days. So I will not be booking anything more than 4 weeks in advance. This policy will also mean that you will have members on pitches next door to each other who can/ will have paid a different price to each other apparently you have got to compare it to booking a seat on an aircraft. This club is a not for profit organisation that does not mean that the bosses cannot award themselves high wages and good pensions
I get the impression that members are expected to follow like sheep and in any case what can one member do to affect them members wishes seem to be at the bottom of the pile.
Hi Alan
WOW !
Not being members anymore we don’t get info from the C & CC so were unaware of these changes.
It seems like maybe the accountants (or ‘business consultants’) have taken over now rather than grass roots caravanners. Such a pity as this is usually a downward spiral. Members decide to book less days because of the costs or reduction in benefits or even look for alternatives elsewhere… which leas to increased fees to maintain a ‘bottom line’ which leads to…. go back to the start of the sentence and repeat.
We have found a few really nice independent sites via Tranquil Touring Parks and Best Of British Campsites that do give the two clubs a run for their money in both value and quality.
S
Alan
There are loads of comments on all the forums about this. Cannot see how they are going to get away with it. We have only been members for one year just to use one site which is near our daughter in Guildford, an area which is sparse for caravan sites.
We will not be joining again as a protest against this stupid policy and will continue to use the CC site at Slinfold. Further away but I will not be party to such an unnecessarily complicated policy. I think the C&CC have decided they are an hotel chain!
I agree that both clubs seem to be tightening their rules on things like cancellations…and I think in the long term it will have the opposite effect than what is intended…we are members of both clubs…that gives us a huge choice of club sites and certificated sites. We never book in advance any more…we simply call our first choice a day or so before we’re due to set off and if they’re full, we move on to the second choice…but there’s always more than enough choice so we don’t lose out. If cancellations policies get tightened, more people will simply take their chances on availability, so the clubs will lose out in the end as they’ll have far fewer advanced bookings and will end up offering more ‘last minute’ deals….
Also, a top tip…we always try to book with the site direct if possible…then if we ever do need to cancel (and I think we’ve done that twice in the last 2 years), we go back to the site direct..they’re usually much more accommodating that club call centre!
Hi Annette
Thanks for the comments and the top tip! I’m sure others will find that very useful. We will certainly book direct next time… just in case!
S
Off topic i know !!
There are other ways the camping and caravaning club are trying to make extra cash now !!
We run a certified location and as of the 1st March 2014 we can no longer allow non members to have one visit with us before joining ! They must now be a member , which for us is bad news ! As a lot of people who come here do end up joining so that they can return to us, However we feel from now on they will just go elsewhere .
Even worse is we can now only advertise with them exclusively and on our own website. No longer can we place adverts in local magazines or on other online camping websites so that will be another major blow!
As a result us and many other site owners we know are now looking into leaving the camping and caravanning club which is a great shame as we have been with them for over 15 years 😦
We feel the club has lost it’s way and let us down this will backfire for the club we are sure .
George
Hi George
As we are not members of the C & CC any more and I don’t know the details of how CL’s contract to the club, It would be unfair to offer any comments on that side of things.
What I have noticed though is there are a number of existing independent ‘umbrella’ groups expanding or new ones appearing on the internet that seem to be promoting former CL’s (& CS’s) and I was wondering why. Your post has given a possible reason.
Limiting advertising to the main club and the sites own website is shortsighted in my opinion. Google offers up search results based on a number of factors (no one outside Google really knows how they do it) but the more places you are listed, the higher up the search rankings it seems to put you – I know there is a lot more to it than just that though.
I wonder how they would enforce the no advertising on other websites or web listings? If people left comments about a site, it is not the site owner that is advertising. Therefore logically they would have to request sites be removed from Trip Advisor and other similar sites and forums. If I visited a site and posted a review, with photos and a map with a link to the web page of the site… would they consider that an advert?
I do wonder in what direction the two big clubs are heading sometimes.
I do hope you find a solution which allows you to continue offering your site for people to visit and remain viable as a business.
Regards
Simon
Could you swap side and go with the Caravan Club? Nt sure if they are so restrictive.
Hi thanks for the comments , We are quite annoyed that they have made all these changes ! As it happens the caravan club have a member only policy and also only allow 5 caravans and no tents ! They may soon need to loose “the friendly club” slogan
It’s not the way to welcome potential new campers! they will just go to your standard caravan sites !
Believe me they are restrictive. Thou shalt park with Thy rear offside corner to the pitch peg so that we are all nicely lined up in orderly fashion. I was parked across the pitch and was told to turn my van through 180 deg. Fortunately my wife had ok’d it with Mrs Warden. What a load of bull! A pitch is a pitch and you should be able to park as you want on it to get the best aspect for sun etc.
I’m not sure what’s involved getting planning permission for a small site if you leave the club’s “cover”, but it might be worth looking into. I know there are sites such as http://www.bob.org.uk/ and http://www.adultstouring.co.uk/ that offer viable advertising and have a very strong existing customer base.
Just arrived at your blog as we have decided to leave the CCC due really to two rather nasty and unsatisfactory stays.
I feel sorry for the contributors above who have seen a change in ethos of the organisation over a number of years. That must feel quite lamentable….
For ourselves, we just found the club in what appears to be its present malaise and have simply not had a ‘good experience’ with CCC sites. Certainly not what we want to associate with during our valuable leisure time.
On the other hand, if you want a preview of what a tyrannical socialist utopian dictatorship would be like to live in, then it seems many CCC sites are able to provide that experience.
A waste of money when there are so many lovely independently run campsites out there. Thanks for the links to other options,
Stephen
Have to agree with you Stephen. We have also decided not to rejoin the C&CC this year. We have only used one of their sites at Horsley and we don’t think the facilities are as good as the CC and many private sites. There are CLs charging half the price that are better.
Like others on this site we didn’t renew our membership after 10 years, owing to the new booking system and money grabbing attitude of the ccc plc, not the friendly club we joined. I did notify them the reasons we would not be renewing, the only reply I received was an acknowledgement of our email. In other words they DON’T GIVE A DAM ,so much for the friendly club .
we joined the club again after 2 years without a caravan, but due to illness have not been able to use the van so now sold, i asked the club [sorry company] for a membership refund but no luck, i thought trading standards say that a refund is the law
Just joined as a new member and cannot access their forum. Not looking good and highly unlikely to be renewing membership after the first year. If you give poor service, you don’t deserve members.
just cancel your membership. the ccc only cares about money , the members having paid there yearly subscription no longer exist until the next rip off fees are due. try using the net to find sites that don’t require you to be a club member, there are thousands of such sites out there…who needs the ccc
I fully sympathize with you. Both clubs really annoy me. I have a small campervan and like to travel around but when you try to book anything all you get is fully booked come up. Why can’t they keep pitches available for people who like to be on the move and don’t like to book. This is why I love being on the Continent and use the Aire de Camping Cars. We have just returned from a 6 week trip to France, Spain and Portugal staying on Aires. Some of them had beautiful views you wouldn’t find on a campsite and fees for 6 weeks was just under €60.
I have been a member of the CCC for 26 years and never cancelled a booking until this week when I made a genuine mistake and booked Keswick for the 28th instead of the 21st May. Calling the following day to rectify the error I was amazed to be told I had lost my deposit of almost £35. Needless to say I have cancelled my Direct Debit for next year.
Hi Elizabeth
I’m sorry to hear this, it seems amazing that this sort of customer service exists in this day and age. You are not the only one though, I receive quite a few emails, which I can’t post that tell similar stories.
I do hope you find a suitable alternative for your holiday.
caravan camping club are a bunch of greedy thieves, take your complaints up with trading standards like we did and won
Ever tried to book a site to find it full because of folk greedily booking all and sundry on the off chance they’ll go? There is a reason for no refund deposits to make it fairer for all. Perhaps caravan club could do same. Seems that a few selfish (often retired with time on their hands) types spoil it for the majority. If deposits are one way of resolving so be it.
Hi Jasper
Agree. I don’t have an issue with deposits….. just that they should be refundable if the travel advisory due to the weather means we can’t tow on the planned dates and the caravan site cannot accommodate changing the booking to alternative dates….. or put a time limit on doing so.
We regularly use Tranquil Touring sites and pay a booking deposit.
CCC CLUB ARE GREADY CRAP, MUCH BETTER NOT BEING IN A CARAVAN CLUB AT ALL AND USE THE INTERNET TO FIND GOOD SITES, AT MUCH BETTER VALUE,
THE CARAVAN AND CAMPING COMPANY SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT, WE HAVE JUST ABOUT HAD ENOUGH AS WELL.