Filling my Fresh water tank.
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so all these new MH members are going to reject their membership/leave once they arrive on a site to find their needs are not met? They just joined on the new colour scheme, or the name change?
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in my post, to which steve was responding, i suggested the EHU be optional.....a meter would acheive a similar result.
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i think its the potential members (the ones the club are 'gearing itself up for') that will have to weigh up whether it is providing what they want.
of course existing mambers arent going to suddenly leave in droves..for them, nothing will have changed.
its really about understanding if the 'theory' behind the rebrand (attracting a new generation of vanners, the greater proportion of which are likely to be MHers) can be put into practice and showing that the club is as equally focussed on MHs as it is on caravans.
otherwise, what was the point in changing a well recognised brand (at great expense and fanfare) and changing it for something that doesnt really mean anything in regard to those new customers its trying to recruit?
adding a new word to the club name isnt going to attract many new MHers if the ethos of the club is 'caravan' through and through....
which it currently is.....
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CC members....cheating?.....wash your keyboard out, Peedee
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no, they can pay an optional top up which includes electricity for their night's stay? With either method, meter or extra, the bollard has to be switched on or unlocked?
Also the meter will mean paying before you leave (more chance for cheating there actually) and so block up the site office when people are arriving if after 12, or when the office is closed. I also assume a padlock is cheaper to install than a meter and paying someone or a machine to read it.
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.....as you relentlessly inform us....
however, your club seems to think differently, in that they think its necessary to ensure the 'differences' are catered for.
perhaps the name change should have included all the categories you refer to, totally inclusive then...
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Don't even need a padlock CS, the breakers are aready underlock and key so I guess nothing is really involved except the wardens time.
Metering may or may not save that time depends on what system was used. Suggest you google card operated electricity meters Corners to see how they work. The Club already has one on the Brighton site for charging electric cars..
peedee
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I'm not convinced that the differences are that great but I'm equally certain that they aren't being catered for at this stage in the rebrand.
Other than a long overdue improvement to most MHSPs what would be motorhome specific? We'd happily use a small overnight pitch at a reduced fee. What else would MHers need that caravanners couldn't benefit from? Equally what is caravan specific and of no use to MHers?
I'd like to see a 'can do' attitude prevail. I suppose I'd like to see one of the new four aims put into action rather than on paper but I've just had a look so I can quote it and guess what? Can't find it anywhere
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I think you will find that the breakers on the latest replacement EHUs are available to all who overload the system,
ps i wonder if the electric car hook up is used as have notice that Hybrid cars tend to use their c/van outside mains socket to charge the batteries
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bearing in mind Jay's point about a 'can do' attitude,
...in a nutshell we have all the reasons why these debates end in the same 'cant do' way...
...the unerring determination that no change be made to any of the clubs processes which, of course, prevents any larger change being implemented....
ergo, XXX cant possibly be accomodated. Next, please.
any change to the way any company does something inevitibly means a supporting change to certain underpinning processes....a change in working practice, hours, responsibility, rewards etc, etc
however, should a company decide that some/all of these supporting processes 'couldnt possibly be altered' then no change will ever be properly delivered...
so often we hear that reasonable suggestions couldnt possibly work within (the current) CC environment due to office being closed or the wardens doing other things like cleaning toilets or mowing grass.
sometimes, things actually do need to be done differently.
perhaps the time has finally come (with the new enlightenment of the club) to revise a few more elements of its offerings, and begin the journey to become a much more flexible provider, in terms of offering, hours and responsibilities.
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I've sort of been following this thread but it grows apace, especially by what has become normal postings for CT these days! I don't want to scroll through all the pages but has any comment been made by staff?
Rowena has started a couple of threads and commented on at least one over last few days so someone is obviously looking at CT 😉. Is it the usual ignore and it might go away? Or silence is golden? Again seems to sum up the can do attitude of the club - it could be picked up and run with...... proving that the club really wants to move forward and embrace the future. A little like all pitches on the national will be ehu take it or leave it.
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If pitch prices are to be increased because of greater electric use for vehicles it would seem grossly unfair on those who don't charge electric vehicles. Not something that would have been factored in when pricing - or was it? After all we don't have a whip round so that Joe Blogs can buy fuel 😉
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I don't think they are that great either JayEss, I think you have nailed the two most obvious on the other hand I think there are differences in the degrees to which services are used or could be used. Caravan owners are unlikely to use the Enterprise car hire service similarly motorhome users are unlikely to use serviced pitches. They are also more likely not to require electric hookups because they move on regularly or go off site for the day and have engines which recharge batteries in doing so. The last difference becomes less apparent if both fit solar panels. Given there may be a good MSP, motorhome owners are less likely to use the SP points scattered around the sites.
In wet weather motorhome owners are more likely to want hardstandings
Perhaps the best way to answer the question is to think how you would design a site for motorhomes only. I guess it would look something like a barrier controlled French Aire. using your Club card to gain entry and charging on exit.
peedee
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Thanks peedee.
I would be happy to use that sort of site as a caravanner.
I think the differences aren't so much in the type of vehicle but the people that use them. You have described our site usage pretty well except we obviously leave the van on site while we're out for the day.
So perhaps the club should have spent more time understanding how people use sites rather than worrying about the vehicle they are in? I've seen them claim that some MHers didn't realise they could join the club until the name change but surely this must be a pretty small part of a huge potential market. Could it be that the club don't really understand the market they are in?
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Not sure if it's just coincidence, but I have made a couple of observations on Facebook about the lack of input/responses by staff on here and each time there has been a short burst of activity followed by the usual silence is golden.🤔
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Jay, the french can do this http://www.saint-martin-de-re.fr/fr/information/73122/aire-camping-car in the middle of a World Heritage site, simple easy parking, easy access, easy payment. right next to a campsite.
However, cant see this appealing to much of the membership.
certain campsites 'in other places' have a unit (like the linked) one bolted onto the outside, as part of the same 'complex', melding the two levels of 'service requirement' with neither impacting on the other.
of course, in France, users of the cheaper aire would still be allowed into the bar/restaurant and to use the showers/toilets which are usually sited on the 'other side' of the barrier.
no problem there but here......? not so sure.
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Hello Phil,
Just to let you know we do monitor Club Together and try and respond wherever we can, although due to the amount of discussions we can't reply to everything and we do also want members to have conversations amongst themselves so we don't want to be posting on every discussion. If you ever see a discussion you feel does need a response from the Club that we'vre not replied to, then please use the report link to notify us.
FYI I sent this discussion to the UK sites operations team earlier in the week and am waiting for a response. I will then post on this discussion.
Many thanks.
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Hi everyone, just a reminder to please keep this discussion on track, friendly and constructive as it's got heated at times. I have requested a response to the OP and will post here once I have further information. Many thanks.
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Are any of the members of staff caravanners, or members of the club?
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Rowena thanks for posting this now. But can I ask why when you reported it to sites operations team you didn't mention it on here?
I notice fb has staff comments far more often than CT and started a thread regarding club responses to each a while ago. Staff comments are generally acknowledgments. We don't need an immediate answer but acknowledgement that it's noted and acted upon would be great. 😆. Might even stops omega of the more unhelpful comments 😉.
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...quite so, Bugs, but doesnt it help to understand your product and your customers?
its fairly obvious that many caravan/MH designers arent 'in the hobby' as some aspects are virtually unusable.
similarly, id expect some of those who respond to 'process' questions (the sites team for example) to actually make use of the sites/processes being queried.
if not, how are we to regard their 'expert advice'?
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My apologies, I have in the past posted to advise that this has been noted but this has been missed here and I apologise. We also have the social team monitoring Club Together so I will ask them to post to acknowledge. Like I say, we don't however want to inundate discussions with staff replies as we want this platform to be for member discussion but I appreciate your feedback and it has been noted.
With regards to staff, yes there are many who are caravanners, although obviously not all. I am personally a member of the Club and have been camping since I was very young - family holidays in UK and Europe in the trailer tent.
Back on topic, I am about to post a reply to the OP.
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Hello artyboo,
It is not Club policy to allow members, other than those actually staying on site, to use the facilities provided. The facilities are built to cater for the number of outfits for which the site is designed to accommodate and it is felt that if these were to be open to people not staying on site then in all probability the site would be overwhelmed to the obvious detriment of the visitors who have paid the site fees.
This is a subject that has been raised and discussed in detail, where it was agreed that legitimate caravan sites provide necessary facilities. The Caravan and Motorhome Club’s concern was, and is, unauthorised ‘wild camping’. This is a practice that is discouraged by the Club. Allowing the use of facilities without booking, and staying on a pitch, would condone the practice of wild camping.
There is also the issue of the service points, which are not necessarily close to the site entrance, which if we were to allow people to call in to use the service points has the potential to increase the levels of vehicle movement on sites, when we are continuing to look at ways in which we can reduce those levels so that our sites are even safer places for pedestrians and cyclists. In addition, visitors staying on sites will not appreciate the increased vehicle movement arising from those just wanting to use the service points. There is, perhaps, an argument for us to consider site design and the location of those waste points, but it still brings us back to the wild camping issue.
Thank you for your comments and feedback which have been logged with the UK Sites Operations team and noted.
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good post, thanks
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Who says they don't understand their product or customers?
I'm sure the club take steps to train their staff and ensure they have an expertise in the subject they cover. Good for the club, good for the members.
I doubt if an advert for staff which specified "must be a caravanner/motorhomer and must be prepared to join the club" would necessarily ensure the best people were recruited, given all of the other qualifications, skills and qualities needed.
Such an advert might not even be legal as it might fail discriminatory laws(?)
It's a bit like saying a doctor can't be a doctor unless they have had personal experience of all of the conditions and diseases they will be dealing with!
Cheers
Bugs
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