Is it a club or are we just paying members?
My interpretation of a club is that the club and its members help each other out. I have been members of many clubs, a cycling club, a climbing club and the Caravan Club are just a few.
As a cyclist I have stopped to help others with mechanical's or punctures, as a climber I have helped injured walkers or those lost in poor weather and as a Caravan Club member I have helped other members when I can, including replacing a broken clutch cable in an elderly members tow car as he had no breakdown cover.
This to me is all part of being a member of a "Club".
So in my moment of need due to the hot water and heating failing on my 2015 Swift Corniche caravan, whilst stopping on a CL during this bank Holiday Weekend I thought, I know, I'm a member of a club they can help me out.
So I called Penrhos Caravan Club Site, Brynteg, Anglesey ( the nearest club site with facilities) to ask, as a club member, would you mind if my wife and myself came to your site to use your showers on just one occasion, and of course we would pay a suitable fee, whilst we are trying to sort an engineer (with some difficulty as its a BH weekend, and on going warranty issues with Swift) to repair our Truma heater.
The Warden I spoke to, whilst very polite explained that no we can't use their facilities, as it is against the rules and only members booked in to stay on the site can use the facilities.
This is in now way a criticism of the Warden as if they're the rules then so be it. However are the rules created by the Club and its Committee so strict that wardens are not allowed to use some personal judgement based on individual circumstances to help members out?
As I sit and type this post there is a banner on the right hand side of the page with the statement "Our Guide to Club Together".
The quote below is from the Caravan Club website.
"One of the reasons we’re making these changes is to better reflect our broadening membership; embracing our diversity and reinforcing our sense of community."
Are we clubbing together, reinforcing our sense of community or are we just paying members who get access to your facilities when we hand over the cash, because to me it doesn't really feel like a club.
Your Thoughts please.
Jeff Lloyd
Moderator Comment :-
Jeff I am not quite sure this fits into the remit of stories so I have moved it to Club Membership in the discussion area
Comments
-
It's a very similar issue to MHs wanting to call in just to use facilities which the club have explained is not allowed. Whether we believe that to be the tight or wrong decision has been thrashed to death on here many times.
Whilst I sympathise with you, Lloydies, I have to say that my first instinct would have been to boil the kettle to get hot water for a good wash. I don't think it would have entered my head to approach another site to use their facilities. Maybe that's due to having been vanning since before water heaters in vans had been invented.
9 -
I can only imagine you are very young campers. In my youth we were lucky to see a bath (or shower) for two weeks let alone a couple of days. OK so that thought even horrifies me now!!! However we managed with a bowl of hot water and a flannel and we lived to tell the tale. Whether we made any friends is open to discussion but I assume others were in the same position
On a serious note the Club have no provision for such a request. Had I been in that position I think I would have either made do or gone home. Obviously a bit more of a problem if your stay was part of a longer holiday. You chose to stay on a CL with no facilities so I don't think you can lay the blame at the door of the CMC
David
3 -
The strange thing about this thread is that the Page not Found is somewhat intermittent!!!
David
0 -
You are correct on both observations .....yes the CMC is a club(Limited Company) & yes you do have to pay to become a member.
The on site facilities aren't yet available to members on a as hoc basis , you actually have to be staying on a CMC site to qualify to use them.
There have been numerous posts regarding similar issues to yours in supply of water , waste & toilet disposal & use of washing & showering facilities for a extra payment for members not on site , it isn't available at the moment.
The C&CC do such a service for their members at a moderate cost .
2 -
The club has stated it does not approve of wild camping, nor will it help members to do it. No I don't doubt your word and you have a real reason for asking for what you wanted, however if such requests were granted by the club what is to stop those going wild camping to pop in to club sites to use the facilities perhaps using such reasons as you have given?
Yes it is a club but all clubs have rules and procedures. Yes we are paying members. But joining and paying are voluntary. You could stop being a member of the CAMC and you could join the CCC where what you want is permitted
4 -
Yes it is a club with members being voted on by fellow member to committees which are involved in the decision making processes. Yes, we are paying members too.
Like you, I have, and witnessed others on site, help out fellow members in their hour of need and I'd bet that will always continue. However, I feel to allow, within the rules, 'off roader' members to use the facilities would not be the wisest of moves as those from nearby CLs, nearby rally fields, those in transit and those wild camping would take advantage whenever and wherever required placing extra pressure on sites, staff, car parking spaces and as a result, those of us all ready on pitches.
As one who wild camps very rarely but tours regularly, on all occasions we do always manage to ablute, obtain water and dispose of waste and always do so responsibly. Sometimes our trips involve planning for this, that is why the club not stipulating a minimum number of nights, you can stay for just one night or up to twenty one, helps us greatly.
6 -
By coincidence I was in a similar situation in June last year whilst also staying on Anglesey. I could not use my water system due to a leak and was staying at non facility Cae Mawr. We had a four days left before moving and, as there did not appear to be much in the way of caravan parts suppliers on Anglesey decided to leave the repair until the next stop at Bromyard Downs.
I did consider moving to the Penrhos Site as it is only a few miles up the road from Cae Mawr. I did not consider asking to use their facilities whilst staying on the non facility site at Cae Mawr. We have plenty of space in the washroom and simply made do with a strip down wash instead of a shower.
Did the OP not consider moving onto the Penrhos site?
3 -
I understand your ire as you are approaching the C&MC as a Member of 'true' clubs that are set up to offer & get what you expect. The C&MC are a 'club lite' in that respect you are a member but only get what are in the strict rules, so you are just a paying member I'm afraid
once you accept you are a 'cash cow' you will then be able to enjoy your membership. Sorry but these are the cold hard facts. It would help everyone if the C&MC dropped the 'club' bit of the name & replaced it with 'organisation'The Caravan and Motorhome club-no☹️
The Caravan and Motorhome organisation-yes👍🏻
0 -
I don't want to enter into the pro's and con's of the actual issue and I acknowledge the Bank Holiday problem, but thought the following might be of practical assistance to you
I too had a problem when on Penhros a few weeks ago, battery charger failed. Whilst I did not call him, a fellow member with van difficulties had and whilst on site I intercepted him on his visit.
Details are:- Mobile repairer WCS Williams Caravan Service, The Old Police Station, Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, LL67 0LD Tele: 01407 711169 or mobile 07900193100.
I have absolutely no hesitation in making a recommendation, he really did know his stuff and the charge was I thought reasonable. He actually had the part on his van. Coachman had a six to weight week supply window!!
Whether he will come out to you and when is of course is a different matter.
Hope the above helps.
Bernard in Tring
0 -
Its a club in name only, the reality it is a limited company and commercially driven and has absolutely no interest in the individual 'member' unless they are buying the club products. No different to many other commercial organisation. Until the club is hit in the pocket nothing will change
1 -
Go to a butchers and buy some steak, take your steak along with your salad to a resturant and ask them to cook it for you and offer to pay a nominal fee..
2 -
Surely, as a CC member, you could just walk onto the nearest club site when somebody has their barbecue going and ask the fellow club member to pop it on the grill as a favour. Maybe if you play at a golf club and forget your clubs you could just borrow odd clubs form passing members. The possibilities are limited.
I read that some who live in vans etc in some of the American cities take out a gymn membership to enable them to use shower and toilet facilities. £49 a year for a CC membership might be a cheaper option
0 -
The butcher and the restaurant don't pretend to be a Club. CaMC should stop pretending too.
0 -
THe CMC ceased to be a proper club many years ago. It is a multi million pound retailer of goods and services relating to the leisure industry. There is nothing wrong with that, the CMC is successful at what they do.
I see nothing wrong with the CMC adding value to their income by allowing M/Homes to call in to fill and empty their tanks for a fee.
Unfortunately there are still too many elderly caravanners who are against motorhomes using "Their" CMC sites, This can be seen by the huge negative response to including "Motorhomes" to the company name.
K
1 -
yes, K, tis still the 'Caravan Club' and best not forget it....
CC has little idea of how MHs tour and why their needs are different, however the 'establishment' thinks they are caravans with engines and from that starting position we havent a hope of ever being able to use the club in the ways folk do where 'les differences' are understood.
we use the CC to get our ferry tickets (and access to CLs) but (apart from a few nights a year) we dont use CC sites much as they generally offer too much of what we dont want (showers, ehu....) and not enough of what we do (no bookings, cheaper site options, better MHSP, variable arrival times).....
however, we understand all this and make use of the club accordingly.
asking for any 'service' away from the 'rules' and the club has no way of dealing with the request....they cant do flexible....so, unfortunately 'computer (CC) says No......'1 -
I feel for the OP, it was not an unreasonable request and I feel sure the warden would liked to have helped (I've always found them approachable) however even if he had allowed it you can bet there would have been a curtain twitcher somewhere who would have been happy to 'report' it.
Quite why folk are so unhelpful/compassionate these days is beyond me, where has 'London blitz' spirit gone. We hear about it all the time when something awful (news worthy) has happened but what about the everyday helpfulness towards each other.
Before anyone jumps down my throat, I too started out camping long before there were heaters in caravans so was used to a strip wash, the fact that I know how to do it, doesn't mean that I wouldn't welcome a good shower and hair wash if it was available. Shame on the club.
2 -
as you said to a poster the other day BB, you have forgotten to write IMHO (or are your opinions facts and you're not humble - just a joke there BB
)Clubs sites seem to attract many motor homes and it's probably now approaching two fifths to half the units on site but I suppose as you: dont use CC sites much then you may not have noticed this?
also together with the fact that the significant number of new members since the rebrand being 50% motor homes I would say, IMHO, of course that the club does indeed have a very good idea of how motor homes tour and how to attract them? Unless of course these new people aren't 'savvy' (I remember you used that once to describe those using club sites?) enough to know otherwise.
have a nice trip over there
PS I realise this is probably a rhetorical post and I did promise myself to stop asking rhetorical questions, as what's the point?
1 -
I just wonder how many of us would feel we had been let down by the Club in the same circumstances? Personally it wouldn't occur to me to expect to use the showers on a site I was not staying on. The OP has been a member of the Club for several years so he can't claim not to know what is and what is not allowed on Club sites. It is also unfair to expect the wardens to use a discretion they don't have to allow what they are requesting. Now if the OP is proposing that the Club should offer this service I see nothing wrong with that but he has to make a case directly to Club Management to get that changed.
David
0 -
+1😇 If & it's a big if , the service did ever become available to club members , it wouldn't be free as someone as just indicated in a previous post.
Cloud cuckoo land .....me thinks 😜
1 -
I think your second sentence might more accurately say ".... how our MH tours and why our needs are different.." BB since the huge number of MHers we've seen on our two visits to club site this year appear to be more than content with what the club offers them!
3 -
I wonder if it is time to start a new club.
This would be a real "Club" that was open to those "members" of The Caravan and Whateverelse Club who wanted to join. No fees, no committees - just a willingness to be friendly to and help others in the same new Club. Perhaps a member might volunteer to make and sell window stickers - just so we could see who was NOT in the new Club.
It could be called "The Caravan Club Members' Club"!
1 -
'one' really has to be careful what gets put in writing, these days...
however, its refreshing (in this 35 deg lovely day nr Rennes as we break for a late luncheon) to note that CT's level of pedantry is right up there with the best
IMHO, of course
Bonjour, toutes les mondes
0 -
Thank you for the comments and I see some of you get my point.
In reply yes we can boil a kettle which is what we have done for the last three nights. No we are not new campers we have been members for nearly 17 years and were camping for many years before that.
I am not afraid of a little hardship and have bathed in mountain lakes and rivers.
This post was not about can we regularly use site facilities when not booked onto a site, it was about the what we as users, understand being a member of a "club" stood for.
I will continue to pay my membership to access the facilities and expect nothing more.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
0 -
Not a club. Its an organisation that now seems to be run for the benefit of the employees with us the customers as a nuisance. High salaried employees looking after their own interest and with a penchant for non essential issues, ignoring the basics.
1 -
enjoy your time away BB, heard you had a few problems boarding? sorry about that, hope Ian wasn't behind you in the queue
1 -
You're a real trooper, BB!
First day on holiday, not 12 hours into the journey, stopping for a late lunch in glorious sunshine and you still have time to check in on CT. Mrs BB must be such a patient woman!
Enjoy your "vacances en France" - keep in touch.
2
