Why is it so difficult or is it me CC&C booking system (1 Viewer)

[RandallC]

Is it me

The CC&C pitch booking system drives me to distraction. As a member you still have to put in your rig details each time. You put in the dates you want and get a message back no availability. So you play about with the dates until you find out at no time your thinking of is there a free pitch. You can't look at the pitch booking and decide to spend a day or two here or there or mix and match between sites depending on availability.

Oh and having raised the BP to record levels trying to find a date you realise there is a size restriction so it always says "no availability"

 

[GAVLAD]

It's crap
I've complained several times and sent through real time examples to back up my complaints.
They're not bothered.
Write up descriptions are also inaccurate because some sites state they can't accommodate motorhomes over a certain length but if you phone direct, they have pitches and can accommodate.
What's the point of having an online web booking system if the operator tells you to phone the site directly when you ring them to advise them?

 

[Southdowners]

I always call the site direct

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[WinnieBago]

I thought it was just me as well!

It is the most pointless, badly designed search engine I've ever had the misfortune to encounter. It shouldn't be difficult for them to filter available sites based on rig size and dates but obviously it is. Think I'll have to go back to using that quaint 20th century invention called "telephone"!

 

[MR. FUSION]

I just use it to find a site and a phone number, anything else is just not worth the effort and yes it often does not work properly.

 

[hilldweller]

Is it me
The CC&C pitch booking system drives me to distraction.

I too have complained, I get "Your message has been passed to......".
Who presumably deletes it.

If it were a normal sales outfit they would be bankrupt.

And thank you. Good to have a moan about them in public.

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[rickwiggans]

There was something I wanted to do on their site a while ago (I forget what exactly). I called by their stand at one of the shows and asked them to show me. Their "expert" couldn't do it either! Yep, it's rubbish.

 

[Theonlysue]

Call the site directly.
It's a lot more fun

 

[Landyguy]

It is "not fit for purpose" and whoever built it or thinks it is OK at the C&CC should be sacked as it us members who are paying for this.
It is completely useless in this day and age - maybe years ago it was the latest thing but now it is so outdated.
Glad it is not just me.

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[Doctor Dave]

I have never had a problem with booking CC&C sites on line - so what problems have folks had?


Dave

 

[hilldweller]

I have never had a problem with booking CC&C sites on line - so what problems have folks had?


Dave

Searching for a suitable site. It may display a load on the map but much later you find they are full, or closed or you must book 2 weeks. Always the rejection is at the end of the process rather than when decent software should detect failure. All too often we have to keep entering the same data over and over again.

Surely it's not too much to ask "find me a site in Cumbria from 1/1/2016 for 3 nights" and get a list. NO.

Their region idea is poor, just what is "north Midlands" ? Many sites, I'm thinking of Autotrader right now, you can enter a town and a radius, that works a treat.

 

[RandallC]

Thank you, having complained a couple of times was beginning to think I'd missed something.

Anyone going to the AGM who could raise the issue?

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[GAVLAD]

I will write to Robert Longden MBE - Director General of the C&CC and will include your comments from here.
After all, it's a membership club and he's obviously unaware of lost business, otherwise he'd have sorted by now.
I shall keep you posted of any response.

Should there be any further constructive comments you wish to be added, please post on this thread before Monday 23.Nov. As letter will go thereafter.

 

[sdc77]

It's rubbish ... but because our daughter is disabled and has special membership we have to call.. thankfully

 

[Khizzie]

I must be doing something wrong as I have never had any problems booking a,site with CC&C ...

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[RandallC]

Had a reply to my feedback on the CC&C booking site and been advised they have a new feature.

Below hopefully is the detail as advised. HOWEVER they simple forgotten detail is you can't check the availability at a particular site until you have found at least 1 day with an available pitch. So still remains useless.

Sorry just checked and the calandar images don't copy over, but I guess you get the idea if you give it a try

QUOTE.......
With the launch of the new on-line booking website, we have created an availability calendar to provide a view of pitch availability that is also fully interactive to allow searching and booking by pitch type and month, with visible prices of that pitch on that day, while at the same time keeping it easy to use.

Using the availability calendar

We have taken careful consideration to how you will use the calendar functions offered and have made the interaction easy and intuitive.

From the homepage, enter all the relevant information in the search facility. Please choose a region from the drop down menu do not select “Member Quick Book”. Once you have entered all the information click search. Click on the “+ “symbol to expand the site view next to the site you are interested in.


The campsite page will expand and the calendar will be shown

Broken Link Removed

The calendar allows you to change pitch types by selecting the type from the list on the left hand side. You can also change the month by using the forward and back arrows on the ‘month’ bar at the top of calendar view.

In the above example the 18th 19th and 20th are unavailable.

When you have found availability, click or tap the day on the calendar grid selects an arrival date

In the above example the campsite has a minimum stay rule in place (min stay) of two nights and you can only select the 16th or 17th as a departure date.

Broken Link Removed

In the above example the 17th has been chosen as the departure date, making the booking a three night stay.

Now the arrival and departure dates have been selected, the ‘Continue with booking’ button is shown. Selecting this will take you to the next stage of the booking process.

 

[f6c]

The Site is CRAP

 

[andrewjw]

The site is not so great for booking ferries etc online directly....I agree.

BUT the lovely ladies who pick up the phone when you ring the numbers easily found on their website are knowledgable , friendly , British and get whatever you have rung about sorted out PDQ.

It doesn't cost anymore...if anything the LL [lovelyladies] will point you in the direction of any discounts going.

I know...

I've booked crossings to France for 2016 [ er and back ] today and saved at least 30% on the online price quoted directly by the ferry company.

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[rangi]

Must admit we gave up our membership of the C&CC because of the website . It was a nightmare, you only found out the cost /availability right at the end. AND THE 3 nights minimum on some sites too. We gave them the flick couple of years ago now, when the new booking system started
,

 

[Puddleduck]

I've never had a problem booking the C&CC via the website (famous last words) but don't get me started on CC !!!

 

[RandallC]

I've never had a problem booking the C&CC via the website (famous last words) but don't get me started on CC !!!

Hi, depends entirely what you plan to do.
What brought it to head for me was when planning a tour 3-5 sites at 2-3 days in each. Had some idea of the areas we wanted to visit and things to see. In practice the plan required a mix and match with the CC. Very difficult and frustrating to fit dates and locations when all you want to do is see when there are free pitches.

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[GAVLAD]

Letter sent.
Will post any response as & when....



Robert Louden MBE

Director General

The Camping & Caravan Club

Greenfields House

Westwood Way

Coventry

CV4 8JH



23.November.2015


Dear Sir,


Re: Membership online booking system on C&CC


I wanted to take this opportunity to advise you personally of a growing frustration, which in my humble opinion, must be costing the Camping & Caravan Club financially, judging by comments made by other members.


First and foremost, I am a member of the Camping and Caravan Club, amongst other clubs and, I am also a member of numerous active motorhome internet forums/clubs.


Since changing my motorhome last year, I have found membership with the Camping & Caravan Club very frustrating.

So much so, that I am now considering whether to renew my membership.


Your sites are good, pitches and facilities good, on site staff good, locations of sites good, but your internet booking system is sub-standard.


I have given examples via your online feedback showing live/current availability problem examples, but to no avail of a fix.

Examples range from site descriptions advising motorhomes of a certain length can not be accommodated. But then by contacting the site directly confirms that they do have large pitches and that are available to accommodate my request.

Examples of general availability showing from a map, only to get to the latter stages of making the reservation to then receive a ‘no availability’ response.

These are just a few examples from a frustrating 2015 season.

Unfortunately for you, I ended up booking with your competitor on many occasions and experienced no issues with their online booking facility.

And, I see that I am not alone with experiencing these issues.

As a member of Motorhome Fun – one of the fastest growing internet motorhome forum club’s in the UK, I was disappointed to see fellow members expressing their views which match my sentiments.

So much so, that I decided to forward their comments for your perusal.

You will note that some members have raised these issues on numerous occasions, whether directly through the web, contacting by phone and even in person at shows.

It was then that I decided to contact you in person to highlight these issues.

You will also note that some have openly confirmed terminating their membership due to your below average booking system and lack of action to rectify these issues.

I find this unacceptable and question whether the Camping & Caravan Club do actually value our business?


I appreciate that the majority of members are content with the system, but it is obvious that not everyone is finding this to be the friendly club when it comes to trying to make a booking online.


I enclose a print from the forum pages and will post any response for their reference.


Yours sincerely,

 

[Huwmari]

We NEVER book anything, partly because the website is useless and partly because we don't know where we will end up day-to-day, just make a phone call, usually to a C&CC CS when we are within striking distance and have had no trouble at all. (We also have an old CC sites book from prior to our falling out with them and have used the same tactics on CLs, also with no trouble.) To us, booking in advance is a completely unnecessary constraint on the freedom which motorhoming gives us. Happy motorhoming to you all!.

 

[Beacons]

I always call the site direct

Me too saves time and its yes or no
straight away .

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[GAVLAD]

Morning all,

It's now over three weeks since I wrote to Robert Louden at the C&CC.
In that time, they've had their AGM, where such issues referred to the Director General should have been discussed in their any other business section.
Unfortunately, to date, I've had no acknowledgement or response.

Those that have raised issues on here may now wish to forward these to Mr Louden and will then see if he's too busy for all of his motorhome members?

 

[namwaldog]

When we were doing our 'Coast of Scotland tour earlier this year we had meandered up the Ayrshire coast, crossed the Erskine Bridge and got as far as Garelochhead and decided to look for somewhere to stay. Tried different sites using 'Search for sites' with no success but noticed that there was a C&CC site at Luss on Loch Lomond west shore. We were not members of C&CC at the time so rung up the Luss site and asked if we could join and stay the night if they had any room. "Yes you can join, Yes there is room but you cannot stay tonight as we have a policy of having to be a member for 24 hours before being able to stay"
'Is this a general rule', I asked; "No we are the only site that it applies to"
So we ended up way off course at a CL at Drymen for the night.Before we settled down we decided to go online and join the C&CC as there were several of their sites that were handy for our continuing tour and we wanted to stay at Luss as it sits on the cycle track that runs the length of the Loch. Having joined, we then had a look around Balloch and the East side of the Loch and then went to Luss in the late afternoon. Asked if they had any room and they said "Yes, are you members?
'Yes we joined last night' we replied
"If you are on the system you can stay, if not you will have to wait until you are on the system.
Turns out we were on the system so vehicle details and sizes taken, money paid we were guided to our pitch by Peter the Warden who said "You can have pitch 26, 28 or 29, take your pick."
We decided on pitch 26 and Peter went away on his bike. Pitched up got the kettle on etc when Peter cycles back and very apologetically says "You cant stay on 26 as the computer says it is not big enough for your van"
So we moved to 28 and enjoyed two lovely nights there.
The moral of these ramblings is that I think the administration does not really understand the day to day logistics of the sites and the Wardens have their hands tied a lot of the time.
I hasten to add that Peter and his wife are very good at their job and we enjoyed a good natter with them. We have stayed at Luss several times since and always enjoyed it and them.
I think the Temporary Holiday Sites are one of the main reasons we continue our membership with the C&CC

 

[GAVLAD]

Hi everyone,
It seems I spoke too soon yesterday, as this morning's post has delivered the C&CC Director General's response.
Please see below letter.

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[RandallC]

Similar response when I replied to the advice given (posted earlier in this thread) in how to use the new search facility.

So sent the following,

Thanks for the information, however the site remains largely useless as the availability search can't be applied until the site appears in the search results because you found an available date.


As advised in my original feed back have a look at the caravan club booking system and try and do something half as useful.

Many members want to visit a specific site and may not have a specific date, with some sites there is more chance of picking the lottery numbers than an available pitch in order to then check availability at other times.

Do not understand why this is so difficult to achieve

Had a reply of,

Thank you for your reply and for the feedback you left on our website.

I have passed your comments to our website team, who use this kind of feedback to improve the site, and make a better experience for our users in the future.

If you have any further suggestions on how we may improve your online experience please get back in touch.

Kind Regards

So replied offering to test run any beta booking system for them as I retire Christmas Eve and could give user prospective.

Alas didn't get a reply.

One question answered, It's not just me the other remains WHY is it so difficult.

Can I urge everyone to use the feedback tab to complain.

 

[Emmit]

I'll go further.
C & CC operate a system of 5 van sites. We all know this.
However, are you aware that the Club (laughingly) do not allow the owners of those CS's to advertise their site on anywhere other than the Club (there's that word again) website.
That's why you will find less and less CS's on sites such as UKCampsite or 5van.
UKCampsite write to the CS owner after someone puts a review on that site and invite them to link their website onto UKCampsite. I assume a fee is involved.
Should the Club??? find out they write a letter to the campsite owners and demand that they in turn write to UKCampsite telling them to remove the link and tell them not to advertise their site externally.

From personal knowledge, the C&CC's higher echelons are money driven, to the detriment of their members.

 

[Khizzie]

Sorry but the way I see it ,is if you don't like the way a club or association is run . Vote with your feet . However I prefer to use c&cc where I can as I get a discount for being over sixty and also get charged single person ,not per unit....i agree the website is not the most user friendly ,but if I can use it successfully being over 70yrs old so all you youngsters should be totally intune . I think the issue of not being able to see what dates are available until you put the ones in you would like quite trivial . ...Roy

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