Help with Camping-Car Park

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emjaiuk

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I'm going off the French :rolleyes: Hot on the heels of Sanef not letting me use a credit card for Libre-t, Camping-Car Park have just told me they are stopping the Liberté option. This worked the same as Libre-t, you just used the aires as you wished and they simply took the payment afterwards, simple! Now I've got to give them an amount in advance, they suggest €80!!!!.

My question is does anyone know if you need credit on your Pass'étapes to ENTER an aire? If possible then I can just add the amount to cover my stay when I leave. I've really got a thing about paying in advance for services I haven't yet used.
 
I suppose I'll have to, it was so simple before
chaser said:
Simple answer, don't use them, stick to proper Aires while you still can (y)
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I happen to think they're excellent value for money, and La Barre-de-Monts is one of our favourite stops


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It's weird, well it was last year, if you have a credit as has been said pop your card in and it takes from the balance. However if you book a space online to ensure you get one you cannot use the credit balance but have to pay by CC. Or had this changed?
 
To be a little pedantic you don't actually pay in advance with CCP. The money is not deducted from your card until you leave the site.
 
Dorset Diver said:
To be a little pedantic you don't actually pay in advance with CCP. The money is not deducted from your card until you leave the site.
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It’s gone from my bank as soon as the pass is credited. I can’t do anything with it until I stay at a site
 
emjaiuk said:
It’s gone from my bank as soon as the pass is credited. I can’t do anything with it until I stay at a site
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That's true, but you can recredit to your bank if you wish and it is not debited from your Pass Etape card until the day you leave the Aires which is what I meant. We keep a balance of about 50-80 Euro on the card and have done so for years. If you don't like it don't do it, there are other ways to pay or just don't use CCP.
 
sallylillian said:
It's weird, well it was last year, if you have a credit as has been said pop your card in and it takes from the balance. However if you book a space online to ensure you get one you cannot use the credit balance but have to pay by CC. Or had this changed?
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No it hasn’t changed and does seem very odd as having credit balance of €€€ means nothing and yet they encourage you to book, when looking at an Aire via their App it advises the spaces available the logic being if only a couple or so are you would book to ensure your space.
We still keep booking though on occasion.

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We have a balance of 11 euros on ours. I tend to add money to it when we are in the first aire. I put 50 euros on last year and added another 30. I like these Aires. We stayed in one with a free washing machine. I think it was 8 or 9 euros a night with electric and WiFi.
 
We only have a balance of around 15 euros on ours but will top it up once we're allowed back to France. We've only stayed on a few CCP aires but if they are where we want to be we use them.
 
Dorset Diver said:
That's true, but you can recredit to your bank if you wish and it is not debited from your Pass Etape card until the day you leave the Aires which is what I meant. We keep a balance of about 50-80 Euro on the card and have done so for years. If you don't like it don't do it, there are other ways to pay or just don't use CCP.
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What other ways to pay? As I said I like the CCP aires, and I wouldn't cut off my nose to spite my face. It's just I don't like the principle of pre loading cards/passes etc (Unless it's me going the charging :smiley: ). What's wrong with paying or being charged as you go?
 
C-C park does seem to have a complicated system.

We arrived at one site and tried to buy their card to get in, but it seemed not to accept my Polish (Dutch bank) € debit card.

A Frenchman in a MH waiting to get out kindly offered to help. Even with his help including calling to the helpline it was not possible.

So we gave up and have never considered them again. Plenty of other aires - at least for now.

Geoff
 
Lenny HB said:
If I stop at one I just top up the card with enough for one night so it lets me in, if I stop longer just top up with the exact amount needed to let me out.
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In our experience the machine at each CCP gives an option to top up roughly the nightly charge for that CCP - or other larger amounts. We tend to just top up what we need for that night. Never had a problem with them ourselves - although quite amusing watching French MHers get flummoxed and go away again. Even when the payment machine at one CCP was out of service, very straightforward to ring up and the guy took payment by phone, in excellent English.
 
Just had another email from CCP saying the suspension of the Liberté option is temporary, due to technical issues, and they are working on an alternative which will be available as soon as possible. For those not aware, the Liberté option debits/debited your account, in my case a Clarity CC, once at the end of the month for that months use. Full details of usage were available on their website. Simple and foolproof.
 
Lenny HB said:
If I stop at one I just top up the card with enough for one night so it lets me in, if I stop longer just top up with the exact amount needed to let me out.
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Sometimes they are an "Oasis in a Desert" if you've had along drive and need somewhere for the night especially in the winter, sods law will come into play. I always keep a few euros in credit on my card because when your tiered and stood out side a tkt m/chine in the middle of winter you can guarantee 10 other M/homes will pull up behind you and laugh at your frustration.
I quite like them myself.
 
Lenny HB said:
If I stop at one I just top up the card with enough for one night so it lets me in, if I stop longer just top up with the exact amount needed to let me out.
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We have often entered with little or no credit on our card. Don’t think you need credit to enter, just to pay before leaving.

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Used one last year - no credit on CCP card but it still let me in.

Paid to leave next day by telephone - very easy and polite - in English.

Will use again - if I ever go to France again
 
Question about obtaining these cards. I see I can order one online but as we are intending to leave in a couple of weeks I am concerned about whether it will arrive in time. How reliable is it to obtain one on arrival - particularly at this time of year (Early October)
 
VXman said:
Question about obtaining these cards. I see I can order one online but as we are intending to leave in a couple of weeks I am concerned about whether it will arrive in time. How reliable is it to obtain one on arrival - particularly at this time of year (Early October)
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I certainty would try to get one before leaving. Back in the day it took us and two Frenchmen about 40 minutes to get cards at an aire, even with the French on the phone to support. You can speak to them in English on the phone.
 
I got one out of the machine at a CCP as I joined but this is a few years ago .

I think this is still the case but perhaps someone who has joined recently will confirm .

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VXman said:
Question about obtaining these cards. I see I can order one online but as we are intending to leave in a couple of weeks I am concerned about whether it will arrive in time. How reliable is it to obtain one on arrival - particularly at this time of year (Early October)
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emjaiuk said:
I certainty would try to get one before leaving. Back in the day it took us and two Frenchmen about 40 minutes to get cards at an aire, even with the French on the phone to support. You can speak to them in English on the phone.
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Pre-planning our trip, I ordered one in July and it arrived about a week later.

Paid and put €30 credit on it using my FairFX Euro MasterCard. (y)
 
We got ours out of the machine with no bother, but again it was som years ago. Because machines can go out of order, I think if you were passing near a CCP en route, I ‘d be inclined to try to get the Pass’Etapes before I needed to use it properly?

Incidentally, our experience is that French motorhomers seem to make far more of a performance of getting in than any other nationality? Last week we were stuck on a fairly busy road waiting for a French couple to get in, must have taken them 5 minutes. And several times we’ve watched a French motorhone give up after several tries and go away.
 
I also ordered one and it arrived a few days later.
I understand that you can currently get them from the machines at entry point.
However it will take a bit of time and faffing about loading a/c details.
Ideally I’d do it prior to setting off.
 
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One issue I found, and I don't know if its changed, but when you load the card with Euros those can only be used for adhoc arrivals. If you look and see there are say 4 spaces and you decide to book, you have to pay by card online it will not use the credit you have loaded. Also you needed to pay for the ability to book. The Aires are great in my opinion,and the ability to view availability and book is equally convenient. If they have changed the ability to pay for booked spaces from the account loading please sing out.
 
I got mine at an aire about three years ago. I was grateful that there wasn't a queue behind me as, like Captain Oates, I may be gone some time. Haven't had occasion to use it since so I may be equally inept next time round.

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