Unhelpful Caravan Club (1 Viewer)

[MattR]

Most if not all of the club sites are owned or rebted by the club. The wardens are employed on a salary from the club. It cost them personally nothing to allow someone to empty/fillmup with water, but does cost the coub something.

It seems that the cost of providing water and possibly black waste disposal would have been consideraby less than the outcome from debates like this when people discuss their disatisfaction wiith the "Club" and vow not to subscribe or renew membership.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Excuse the ramblings of a novice, and please correct me if I'm wrong ... but are not most of these sites just people trying to make a living? Presumably there's a deal between the clubs and them to let members on cheaper or exclusively, but I doubt any real money changes hands towards the sites anyway.

Why should they provide anything to club members that turn up for freebies? That is probably nowhere in the agreement at all.

The Caravan Club actually own and operate the vast majority of their sites themselves.

It's not a deal or agreement between them and privately owned sites.

 

[wizzer59]

Isn't it amazing, I've just come back from a fantastic two weeks in France with free or very cheap water and waste dumps around every corner.................nearly

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[The Silvers]

Eventually, I have a reply or should I say the expected waffle that we all expected from the Caravan Club head office. As expected they went on about the 'Wild Camping' aspect and how the club does not condone it and how allowing Motorhomes into sites to use the service points has the potential to increase the the levels of vehicle movements, do you know I never thought of that!!!!! In addition visitors staying on the site will not appreciate the increase in vehicle movement. What a load of rubbish!
They do say there is perhaps an argument for them to consider the design of future sites with regard to the siting of Service points. Given that their main argument is against Wild Camping I don't expect anything in the design to change. The reason behind it is clearly in the name, 'Caravan club', if it wasn't for the CL's which are also affordable it would't be worth being a member.

I will write back and counter their arguments knowing it will not get me anywhere but it will allow me to tell them that their 'reasons' are pathetic.

Thanks to all of you who contributed, I didn't expect it to generate so much interest.

Mike

 

[Anthea M]

I am a member of the CC and want to say a big thank you to the wardens on the Seacroft Cromer site in Norfolk . At 1 am on our first night we were called by a family member to return home immediately. We packed up as quickly and quietly as possible wrote a note apologising incase we had disturbed anyone ,to put with our barrier key and placed it in the post box.later that day the warden phoned us and was kindness herself and said they were repaying the 3 days we had paid for and not used.
We had not expected this and am grateful for their kindness at this time.

 

[colyboy]

I some time wonder if it worth joining CC or the CCC just to use CL type sites. I am a member of the CCC and stay in quite a few of their sites. I don't think I have every been asked if I am a member or shown my membership card. I also have stayed in CC sites and again never been asked for any details.

Most of these sites are run by "poor farmers" who are pleased to have your tenner slipped in their back pockets and never offer a receipt.

colyboy

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[Jaws]

We do not do much travelling in the UK..
However.......
When we first started MH'ing membership of either the CCC or the CC seemed to make sense .. Signed up for CC but withing a VERY short space of time decided CC was def not an organisation we wanted anything to do with.
We had never met so many obnoxious folk in such a short space of time !!! They do not have rules as such, more absolute dictates, many of which are pretty petty..
After several years we joined the CCC as it offered us a decent discount on insurance and ferry crossings.
We did a UK tour during the first year of membership and could not believe the difference between the two outfits ( CCC and CC )
Never once had cause to whinge about anything the CCC folk did.. and never found anyone that was not prepared to go the extra mile if need be..

We eventually left CCC as insurance did not so much creep up as take a giant leap.. And the so called ferry discounts virtually disappeared .. Meaning the cost of membership was no longer met by savings elsewhere

I do think it is very sad that organisations in the UK cannot begin to match those on the continent for service and attitude..

 

[GJH]

I do think it is very sad that organisations in the UK cannot begin to match those on the continent for service and attitude..

Obviously never dealt with Amsterdam based TomTom then John

 

[Feltwell]

I some time wonder if it worth joining CC or the CCC just to use CL type sites. I am a member of the CCC and stay in quite a few of their sites. I don't think I have every been asked if I am a member or shown my membership card. I also have stayed in CC sites and again never been asked for any details.

Most of these sites are run by "poor farmers" who are pleased to have your tenner slipped in their back pockets and never offer a receipt.

colyboy

Couldn't agree more - I've only ever been asked for a membership card at a CL once, and I don't think it would have been a problem then if I hadn't got one. I didn't bother renewing CCC after a year, I wasn't getting anything out of it. The campsites are nice enough but very overpriced if you have to use them in peak periods (we're restricted to school holidays). The "CLs" all seem to be on the UKCampsite.co.uk website anyway. Originally we took the RAC breakdown through the CCC, as it was one of the few that would take our size of van, then we found Nationwide Flexplus account was a better deal for the breakdown, with travel insurance thrown in.

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[Jaws]

Obviously never dealt with Amsterdam based TomTom then John

Umm.. yes I have .. but I was refering specifically to camping related organisations ( such as camp sites or Knaus group.. which happens to encompass our favorite site anywhere. Bad Durkheim .. A place I would recommend to all ! )

 

[Organplayer]

After 26 years membership of CC, earlier this year decided to quit.
For some years I wondered what this outfit did or provided.
On one of my rather unpleasant dealings with them, I had merely enquired if any of their insurance 'set ups' would provide breakdown cover for Morocco. The guy litrally hollered down the phone 'Thats North Africa and we do'nt cover there'. In the end I had advice from a Fun member to contact ADAC, which I did and got the more than the cover I needed at a very good premium.
As folk have stated on here, CC is no longer run for the benefit of members but for the benefit of it's Company owned shareholders. If this is'nt so perhaps an executive of the CC will say so on here.
As for so called cheaper ferry bookings, I found no difference to booking directly with ferry companies.

 

[Silver-Fox]

Not being a member of CC or any other club I have no axe to grind.

As an observation maybe these "clubs" would do well to take some pointers from the NZMCA in New Zealand.

They own or lease land for the BENEFIT of members.
Most sites are just plots of land with hard standing or flat grassed areas. Some do have water on tap so to speak and some have dump areas. The sites are exclusive to its members and if you don't have your membership wings on display you will be challenged and rightly so.

After joining which is fairly expensive the annual fee is around 40 NZD.

We found all the sites to be very good and well kept with its members very thoughtful of others and mindful of keeping them tidy.

The cost for the sites was 6 NZD per person per night and no wardens checking things with an honesty iron maiden to drop your payments in.

We found many filling stations with water and dump facilities, you didn't have to fuel up at these but we did as thought it rude to use the facilities without spending a few dollars there.

There are plenty of dump stations with water provided at the side of the road or in local communities.

As this was our first Mho experience all I can say it was very positive and can only hope it will be a similar experience once we get our Mho here in the UK, very soon hopefully

Just as a note some one mentioned that tuggers would be supporting Mho owners if a levy was added to the club subscriptions. Is this not the case when you pay your council tax you support libraries, schools etc even if you don't have direct use of them. Would it be a hardship if say £2 was added for the general good, just saying like

Maybe as I'm not fully conversant with traveling around the UK I might be pleasantly surprised but reading some comments on here I don't think I will be.

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[Yorick]

CC & CCC sound like great fun. Thankfully where we live,we can camp anywhere and everywhere for free

 

[Silver-Fox]

Should have said plenty of wild camping in NZ and its not around on either

 

[Tea Bag]

Hi.
The FREEdom of Wild Camping,no pegs to reverse onto/over lol,park up in the most scenic places and pay nothing... Now,why is it free ? Clue 1. Nowhere to dump your loo unless you scout around or........yes. 2. Fresh water has to be begged or take a risk and use any old tap you can find. Thats just for starters,we camp off grid,but plan ahead,the loo mostly last 3 days before it needs emptying,some funsters carry a spare cassette,good thinking.
How to stop people getting upset,when they cannot access a site water and or dump station.
Are you reading this East Grinsted?
Put a sign up at the gate of sites that cannot/will not allow passing members to call in on chance to empty/fill.
"Please take note,this site does not allow passing members to call in and use the Water or dump point,this sign is here,because refusal can often offend.Thank you in advance CC/Cc&c etc.
Tea Bag.
PS. I wont go into the minefield of Sueing actions being taken against any of the clubs,should something go wrong,while a unit not booked onto the site proper gets damaged.
PPS. Silly me,i forgot "Human rights" as well. Can humans dump their poo anywhere,dogs cannot....LOL

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[Khizzie]

C

Hi.
The FREEdom of Wild Camping,no pegs to reverse onto/over lol,park up in the most scenic places and pay nothing... Now,why is it free ? Clue 1. Nowhere to dump your loo unless you scout around or........yes. 2. Fresh water has to be begged or take a risk and use any old tap you can find. Thats just for starters,we camp off grid,but plan ahead,the loo mostly last 3 days before it needs emptying,some funsters carry a spare cassette,good thinking.
How to stop people getting upset,when they cannot access a site water and or dump station.
Are you reading this East Grinsted?
Put a sign up at the gate of sites that cannot/will not allow passing members to call in on chance to empty/fill.
"Please take note,this site does not allow passing members to call in and use the Water or dump point,this sign is here,because refusal can often offend.Thank you in advance CC/Cc&c etc.
Tea Bag.
PS. I wont go into the minefield of Sueing actions being taken against any of the clubs,should something go wrong,while a unit not booked onto the site proper gets damaged.
PPS. Silly me,i forgot "Human rights" as well. Can humans dump their poo anywhere,dogs cannot....LOL

C&CC allow passing motorhomes the use of all their facilities for a fee .the CC donot .