Rip Off Britain

[david price]

Hi,due to the euro rate and present financial climate we were considering having an holiday in the uk.Something we havent done for the past 8 or nine years,other than weekends and short breaks.
Rang a site in woodhall spa lincoln with swimming pool,sauna etc looking to go this saturday.Price £260 plus £2 each a day to use the swimming pool.There would be four of us for 10 days so i would have spent £260 on site fees plus £80 in pool fees,not to forget the rip off prices they usually have in on site bars.
Also how can they get away with saying anyone over 12 is an adult?
Needless to say ive booked the ferry and we are off to spain.By my calculations,even with ferry cost and extra diesel i will only be a couple of hundred quid worse off,money well spent.
Dave

 

[peter marshall]

Hi,due to the euro rate and present financial climate we were considering having an holiday in the uk.Something we havent done for the past 8 or nine years,other than weekends and short breaks.
Rang a site in woodhall spa lincoln with swimming pool,sauna etc looking to go this saturday.Price £260 plus £2 each a day to use the swimming pool.There would be four of us for 10 days so i would have spent £260 on site fees plus £80 in pool fees,not to forget the rip off prices they usually have in on site bars.
Also how can they get away with saying anyone over 12 is an adult?
Needless to say ive booked the ferry and we are off to spain.By my calculations,even with ferry cost and extra diesel i will only be a couple of hundred quid worse off,money well spent.
Dave

Hi David I could not agree more we hoping to go to Spain as well at least the cost of living should be cheaper there. Peter.

 

[thehutchies]

We are going to a site in Wales the week after next.
For two adults and four children, with free admission to the swimming complex, free entertainment and free art and craft sessions for the kids, it costs £28 for four nights.
Its cheaper than staying at home!

 

[Douglas]

Hi David, I feel the same as you, some time ago I posted this:---
---------------------------------------------------------------------
We have only ever been in 2 camp sites, one was Crystal Palace, London and the other Formby and they were the same. The want to give you as little as possible and charge you as much as possible (Rippoffs) and you get a mouthfull if you complain.

That is why we wild camp 100% and 100% out of the UK.

Doug..
-------------------------------------------------------------

Of course I was jumped on by a couple of members, one I think owned a camp site and another had never been out of the UK. The UK has been a rip for years added to that the corruption is so high that you would have real difficulty in finding a honest organization in the UK.

Doug...

 

[Braunston]

Hi,

I understand the point you are making but I don't totally agree, some of the sites in Spain are up around those sorts of prices certainly the £20+ if you stay less than 30 days in most cases, and I am sure there are a lot of sites that are charging a lot less than £26 per night in the UK.

I have never been to the site you mention but you must compare like with like you certainly would expect to pay more for a Hotel with a swimming pool and Spa etc than you would for a Boarding house type accommodation and that doesn't matter what country you are in.

We are looking to head towards Spain also, well certainly France as the Aires do in my opinion make more a compelling financial argument ?

Hi,due to the euro rate and present financial climate we were considering having an holiday in the uk.Something we havent done for the past 8 or nine years,other than weekends and short breaks.
Rang a site in woodhall spa lincoln with swimming pool,sauna etc looking to go this saturday.Price £260 plus £2 each a day to use the swimming pool.There would be four of us for 10 days so i would have spent £260 on site fees plus £80 in pool fees,not to forget the rip off prices they usually have in on site bars.
Also how can they get away with saying anyone over 12 is an adult?
Needless to say ive booked the ferry and we are off to spain.By my calculations,even with ferry cost and extra diesel i will only be a couple of hundred quid worse off,money well spent.
Dave

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[Braunston]

Hi,

On the subject of "Rip off Britain" can the people who shout this statement please tell me how they think they are not part of it,

Some Examples

If you own you house or you are selling one why do you think it should be worth more than you have originally paid for it plus any improvements less a fair rent, if you don't work on that calculation, are you part of the "Rip off Britain"

If you work for yourself do you only charge exactly what the materials cost and what exactly you need to live on, or do you include a profit, if you do include a profit how much profit and I can tell you what ever that profit is someone will say its to much , are you part of the "Rip off Britain"

If you work for a company that makes or sells things, do you base your wage rises in perhaps the past on the level of profit that the company made, I know that is what unions base their/your wage bargaining on, doesn't that make you part of the "Rip off Britain"

I am sure you can add more and more item to this list as we are all part Britian and if there is any Ripping Off we are all part of it, so please stop knocking YOUR COUNTRY.

 

[WillH]

We too are going to holiday in the UK this year, and I expect we shall spend around the same. Our deciding factor is the 880 mile round trip to Dover to get to France in the first place. Over the years we have found touring in Britain to be more expensive than France, and I'm going back 20 years. Biggest difference is eating out, France is so much cheaper for the same food.

Rgds
Bill

 

[Mark&Sue]

Hi David, I feel the same as you, some time ago I posted this:---
---------------------------------------------------------------------
We have only ever been in 2 camp sites, one was Crystal Palace, London and the other Formby and they were the same. The want to give you as little as possible and charge you as much as possible (Rippoffs) and you get a mouthfull if you complain.

That is why we wild camp 100% and 100% out of the UK.

Doug..
-------------------------------------------------------------

Of course I was jumped on by a couple of members, one I think owned a camp site and another had never been out of the UK. The UK has been a rip for years added to that the corruption is so high that you would have real difficulty in finding a honest organization in the UK.

Doug...

I beg to differ! Thats the most blinkered view that I have ever read on these forums.

 

[Lincolnshire Rover]

Last June we camped south of Montpellier on a fantastic site fully serviced with swimming pool with jaccuzi only 150 mtrs from a fantastic beach wall to wall sunshine and local shops all for only 14 euro pn find me somewhere in the UK to match it for 2 weeks @ around at total cost of £350 and I will not bother to cross the water .

 

[sinbad1]

We are going to a site in Wales the week after next.
For two adults and four children, with free admission to the swimming complex, free entertainment and free art and craft sessions for the kids, it costs £28 for four nights.
Its cheaper than staying at home!

Sound really good value do you have a link to that site?

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[ccl]

Hi,due to the euro rate and present financial climate we were considering having an holiday in the uk.Something we havent done for the past 8 or nine years,other than weekends and short breaks.
Rang a site in woodhall spa lincoln with swimming pool,sauna etc looking to go this saturday.Price £260 plus £2 each a day to use the swimming pool.There would be four of us for 10 days so i would have spent £260 on site fees plus £80 in pool fees,not to forget the rip off prices they usually have in on site bars.
Also how can they get away with saying anyone over 12 is an adult?
Needless to say ive booked the ferry and we are off to spain.By my calculations,even with ferry cost and extra diesel i will only be a couple of hundred quid worse off,money well spent.
Dave

Its a question of comparing like with like I guess. I have just booked into a camp site in the south of france thats costing about 60 Euros a night peak season for a family(£56 a night at todays rate.) So its costing me nearly £300 for 5 nights. Its got an outdoor pool but no sauna. However its a good location and each pitch has its own private bathroom! While this is the most expensive I have found so far, I have seen a lot of sites at 30 Euros+ a night.
If you want a pool and play areas for the kids, I find you generally have to pay for them no matter what country you are in. With the exchange rate a lot of sites in Europe are looking increasingly expensive! Still got a bit to go to match UK prices though. I have just booked a site for the summer in the UK and its £29 a night to park in a field (a nicely mown field I hasten to add!).
For example, looking at the eurocamp website at sites near me, over the border in Holland, 25-35 euros is the norm in peak season but you do get a lot of facilities on the sites for a family.

 

[haganap]

Move to cheshire

I have just returned from sticking in 20 miles cycling thorugh the cheshire countryside, the sky was blue, the farmers were doing their bit, people walking and cycling were so friendly, lambs were rearing, rabitts running, I stopped at a coffee bar for lunch for less than £4 including a pudding and a drink.
Days like this make me proud to be alive, but more than that, days like this make me realise how fortunate I am to be an Englishman/British. That i'm afraid can not be bought at any price any where in the world in only my opinion. I love touring the continent so much, but for me you can't beat home...

Good luck everybody, regardless of how YOU choose to spend your money this year, after all we are all different and all have different sized pockets.
Paul

 

[michaelc]

In answer

Well sorry but the UK is a rip off big time, I know sites in germany, france and italy that cost 2 euros a night and an extra 1 euro for elec, there are showers and toilets all free and clean. There are 1000,s of sites all over europe that are just great and don,t cost the earth or are free. the reason being that the towns, villages etc want people to visit and of course spend money in the bars or shops. In the UK its rip off after rip off, I ask you whats the point in buying a motorhome with its own shower/WC, bed etc and then paying £30 a night for the same on a site, you may as well buy a tent or get an hotel room.
Add in the cost of fuel to get to the place in the first place which is going up again by 2p and the cost of the motorhome, road tax and insurane, mots etc and it works out to 100,s of nights in nice hotels.
My Hymer is on french plates with no road tax, saving £165pa a two year mot at £25pa and insurance at £220 pa, so its costs me £245pa, what would a UK plated motorhome be.
yes the UK is a rip off.
And to the man who states that its wrong to sell ones house at an higher price, Can I please buy is house for the same price he paid for it.
michael

 

[haganap]

Well sorry but the UK is a rip off big time, I know sites in germany, france and italy that cost 2 euros a night and an extra 1 euro for elec, there are showers and toilets all free and clean. There are 1000,s of sites all over europe that are just great and don,t cost the earth or are free. the reason being that the towns, villages etc want people to visit and of course spend money in the bars or shops. In the UK its rip off after rip off, I ask you whats the point in buying a motorhome with its own shower/WC, bed etc and then paying £30 a night for the same on a site, you may as well buy a tent or get an hotel room.

michael

based on the information you give, whats the point in paying 2e a night? There are places that you can stay in the uk that don't charge, its called wild camping.

But please let me ask this. Its in no way meant to be provocative in any way, but just a matter of interest. I note your location is Normandy and exmouth, now providing thats not Normandy Surrey, if the UK is such a rip off why are we all still here?

 

[russ]

Hi,due to the euro rate and present financial climate we were considering having an holiday in the uk.Something we havent done for the past 8 or nine years,other than weekends and short breaks.
Rang a site in woodhall spa lincoln with swimming pool,sauna etc looking to go this saturday.Price £260 plus £2 each a day to use the swimming pool.There would be four of us for 10 days so i would have spent £260 on site fees plus £80 in pool fees,not to forget the rip off prices they usually have in on site bars.
Also how can they get away with saying anyone over 12 is an adult?
Needless to say ive booked the ferry and we are off to spain.By my calculations,even with ferry cost and extra diesel i will only be a couple of hundred quid worse off,money well spent.
Dave

What is the point of having a motorhome and staying on a site for ten days,you might as well get a caravan or tent or even bed&breackfast.I thought the idea of a motorhome was to tour other places,have i got it wrong.

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[michaelc]

In answer

Hi, Why to countries, will at 52 I am to young to stop work full time, so my partner and i work 6 months of the year here in the UK, she is a radiologist and her french is no way good enough to work within france, as for me I play around and do some odd work for an old mate. Also even with owing the house in france for 9 years both of us are not sure about living there full time and we missed the boat on going to canada due to age.
so that answers that,
As to do you need a motorhome to travel, well the answer is NO.
There are many reasons for rip off britain and most lay at the foot of the tax man, I just had send from the USA a fishing pack, cost here £125, cost in the states £35, both the same item and both made in china for pence, so why the mark up. well higher import tax here in the UK and higher mark ups in the shops who also have higher wage bills and taxes to pay, Why higher wages, well we need lots of money to pay lots of tax, and the tax man needs lots of money to pay for all the people not working or have never worked or will work.
so we have a few remaining tax payers who are just being taken for a ride, so rip off britain.
michael

 

[geoff1947]

Rip off Britian

Currently on site at Roquetas de Mar until Sunday. The daily charge is Euro 24.24 but reduce by 45% for 31 days plus and even cheaper for long stay. We will pay Euro 428 around £13 per day for a 32 day stopover. Food isn't as cheap to buy as it used to be both in supermarkets or in restaurants but on the plus side we visited the fort in Almeria last week for FREE. Just image how much that would have cost us in UK! Diesel cost .83 cents. Add together all of the costs, ferry and fuel to get here I dare say it isn't that cheap but we do have blue skys and SUN every day Just back from the market and will be enjoying a beer in the sun in a moment. I love UK in the summer but get away for the winter as it's too grey and dismal!!!:thumb:

 

[hilldweller]

You want Rip Off, how about £181 for Thu afternoon to Monday morning.

That is what I've just paid The Earl of March to camp on his site for the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

That does not include entry to the event.

 

[lady jann]

phew!!!! hope they don t charge to get out !!oh:






rayval


for ever young :thumb:

 

[haganap]

You want Rip Off, how about £181 for Thu afternoon to Monday morning.

That is what I've just paid The Earl of March to camp on his site for the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

That does not include entry to the event.

But Bryan, you and others still pay it and tehn complain, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO it is optional
when peple don't go the event organisers then have to look at why. as for your camp guys field? was it fenced in for that money

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[hilldweller]

But Bryan, you and others still pay it and tehn complain, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO it is optional
when peple don't go the event organisers then have to look at why. as for your camp guys field? was it fenced in for that money

We aren't going 'till July so don't know the field except that it has EHU.

It was one of those embarrassing phone calls "Can I book....." "Yes Sir, that will be £181". Well, suffering from deep shock is was a sort of spluttering "OK".

Special event, special price. We did it a few years ago ( stayed in a hotel that time so probably cost more ) and it was firmly logged as "must return". Where else can you stroke a £3M Bugatti or an ex-Fangio Mercedes, and many other treats. We missed hearing the BRM V16 that time.

 

[russ]

But Bryan, you and others still pay it and tehn complain, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO it is optional
when peple don't go the event organisers then have to look at why. as for your camp guys field? was it fenced in for that money

I agree with this post it says it all.

 

[Diabalo]

But Bryan, you and others still pay it and tehn complain, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO it is optional
when peple don't go the event organisers then have to look at why. as for your camp guys field? was it fenced in for that money

Don't rise to the bait Paul, they are on a wind up no one can be that tight.

 

[Bulletguy]

If you own you house or you are selling one why do you think it should be worth more than you have originally paid for it plus any improvements less a fair rent, if you don't work on that calculation, are you part of the "Rip off Britain"

Its called current market value....simple as that.
Property increases in value whilst , for example, vehicles (with the odd exceptions) decrease in value.

If you set your property price above its market value it either won't sell at all, or you will certainly wait a long time for a buyer to come along.

 

[haganap]

. Where else can you stroke a £3M Bugatti or an ex-Fangio Mercedes,

err on my drive way:Blush:

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[Bulletguy]

A few example i've had personal experience of.

Looking around for a quality coffee machine a few years ago i decided on a Gaggia. Best price i could find in UK was £270. Scoured the internet until i dropped on a site best-of-italy.com - Italian products online shopping, coffee machines, fashion, designer lamps and more. Price of the identical machine ordered from them was £180 including trackable delivery. It took just three days to arrive.

Imported a brand new Sony digital camera from the USA. UK price was £400....i paid less than half that including tax.

Oddest of all was a Lowepro camera bag. At the time Jessops had the 'best price' i could find in the UK at £260. Did a worldwide search on eBay and found a dealer in Canada selling the same bag at just £85. With postage and import duty it still only cost me £110. Where was the bag made and exported from?
Wolverhampton!! Less than 40 miles from where i live!

 

[eddie]

Well at £13 a night we are a bargain and everyone is welcome (unless you have a plus 38 foot RV of course then we suggest the motorway services next juction down and a bargain at only £17.50

Doug, You said you got jumped on by two guys, on the forum, actually it was most of the other people on the forum because of the daft things you said.

The site I was going to in Spain is Nautic Almata and it worked out about £55 a night, with the cost of fuel so high I shall probably be staying in good old rip off Britain this summer.

Do some people suspend sense when they post? I have paid £30 for a site, two minutes later some one esle comes along with a site for a £1.00 and tries to make comparissons oh: "Ah, I must be being ripped off Grr!" states poster one

It does make me laugh, I see now why Jim called this fun, reading these types of posts

 

[haganap]

A few example i've had personal experience of.

Looking around for a quality coffee machine a few years ago i decided on a Gaggia. Best price i could find in UK was £270. Scoured the internet until i dropped on a site best-of-italy.com - Italian products online shopping, coffee machines, fashion, designer lamps and more. Price of the identical machine ordered from them was £180 including trackable delivery. It took just three days to arrive.

Imported a brand new Sony digital camera from the USA. UK price was £400....i paid less than half that including tax.

Oddest of all was a Lowepro camera bag. At the time Jessops had the 'best price' i could find in the UK at £260. Did a worldwide search on eBay and found a dealer in Canada selling the same bag at just £85. With postage and import duty it still only cost me £110. Where was the bag made and exported from?
Wolverhampton!! Less than 40 miles from where i live!

well are you not lucky that you live in a country where you have the freedom to order these goods at such a knock down price?
It might be a rip off, but only if your allowable to be ripped off, by your post you obviously are not.:thumb:

As eddie says, as much as i hate to defend him after the last posts he made regarding RVs and refusing to give me a discount for not emptying my waste. Comparrisons can be made everywhere.
We know a great site in the south west of france that we have toured to for about 4-5 years. I honestly can say that this is a top site but now is charging e60 a night this year, no discounts for the likes of us whom have returned year on year, result is we will head for an aire nearby, the camp site will be a pitch lighter (its rarely full) and we will resort to somewhere cheaper. Bargains can be found in whatever country you are in.

 

[eddie]

As eddie says, as much as i hate to defend him after the last posts he made regarding RVs and refusing to give me a discount for not emptying my waste. Comparrisons can be made everywhere.

Hey Haganap, What have I done to upset you

Eddie

 

[haganap]

Hey Haganap, What have I done to upset you

Eddie

nothing eddie, you just wont give me a discount for taking my waste home. I thought it would be encouraged, before this thread and a more recent one i thought i was paying for the land i sited on with a bit of EHU. now i understand you campsite owners have to charge because of waste emptying, for years ive taken it home with me when i could of been dumping at the elsan point with the others and enjoying the shxt thats talked about. Now I feel ripped off, now i want to go back to every site ive been over the past 7 years and claim at least 50p back

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