Customer Focus
I have used quite a few club sites this year and have received some warm welcomes, however the norm seems to be that there is very little custom focus. That is wardens, not all of them, don’t seem to see members as customers. This week was the final straw as far as attitude is concerned. We arrived at the site half an hour before check in time, as we thought it would take us longer to get there but wanted to be on site a.s.a.p and off into town so no problem sitting in the van for half an hour. Well the warden was straight out saying “your too early you need to go park up along the road in the pay and display until 12” we told him we were happy sitting in the van but he was not allowing this, even though we were not blocking entry for others. Anyway we did as we were told, along with another van five minutes later who joined us in the car park. We returned for 12 to find that we were at the back of a que of about six and again instructions from the warden, this time to remain in the van until he told us we can go to the office.
I really think the club wardens need to think about who is paying their salaries and the club needs to think about bringing its customer focus trading up to date.
Comments
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You can’t blame the warden if you got it wrong, SW.
Why not take it up with head office if you think something is wrong at the coal face?
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We returned for 12 to find that we were at the back of a que of about six
So your gripe is really that having been too early to start with you found six others had managed to get in before you?
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I accept that it was my fault that I was early, I was not asking to be booked in, I was more than happy to wait for the office to open. Same as I would wait at the cinema if I was early. My issue was with the attitude of the warden and him not allowing us to sit and wait in an area that was for new arrivals. The area is for new arrivals, it does not block vans already on the site coming and going.
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So, tell the club. I’m afraid griping on the forum won’t change anything.
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I don't use Club sites so I don't know how they are staffed and managed - but at other sites I am sometimes politely asked if I would mind waiting a while till they are ready, and sometimes I find the site absolutely closed for lunch with no staff present and way of getting in - both those things happen. But I have never, ever had a member of staff at any other sort of site tell me to go away. I just can't imagine it happening.
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Personally I think the clue is in the confirmation email, which has wording along the lines of:-
New visitors are asked to arrive at site after 12 noon.
Note, not it is OK to arrive when you want and wait. On the face of it there does not seem to be much scope for confusion.🤔
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The problem is probably.....how many early arrivals can the new arrivals area take and where do vans park up to wait once all the space is full?
IMO, arriving 30 minutes early and queueing is too early, 5-10 minutes possibly OK. The warden may have had problems with very early arrivals in the past and has set his own cut off limit, you were just too early.
When you returned it is sensible that the warden told you to stay with your outfit, he possibly meant that at least the driver should stay with the outfit, no reason why passengers should not get out and stretch their legs.
When we arrive at a site, I stay at the wheel and my wife checks us in, that way I can pull forward as outfits are admitted. However we often see outfits where , for example, a couple have both gone to reception and the outfit is stopping those behind moving forward in an orderly manner. Even worse, sometimes they both go off to look at the pitches.
Surely it is not necessary for more than one person in the party to go and check in?
Yes, there are a few sites where you are instructed to leave the outfit and walk the site to choose a pitch, but these are very few.
And, If you are a solo camper, you do really need to wait until you reach the front of the queue before going to reception or the whole system becomes chaos.
The warden will know how it works best on his site so you should follow his directions.
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Does not a warden see you as a fellow CMC member rather than a "customer" and as such expects his visitors to understand the rules which have been in force for many years. Half an hour is pushing goodwill to the limit and had you arrived 5 minutes early probably nothing would have been said. I have been on sites where we have been asked to stay with the van in order to manage the order in which people book in. I have even been on a site where I was asked to go and find a pitch before booking in. I don't think you can push the entire blame onto the warden when by your own admission you arrived so early.
David
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Yes, agree. Last time we were at LMP, there were about 5 of us in the queue, we were number 4, and OH went to join the queue at reception. Outfits were being checked in strictly in the order in which they had arrived, car plates were checked against the booking as the warden marked off who had arrived, so no queue jumping.
This was OK until the first 2 outfits went through and it became apparent that the 3rd was going nowhere as both occupants were nowhere to be seen.
The warden asked OH if it was our outfit, then asked one of the other wardens to see if the owners could be found. They arrived a few minutes later, found wandering the site comparing pitches.
They then took ages to check in having a lengthy discussion with the warden as to where was the best place to pitch etc etc. Warden was most apologetic afterwards for the delay!
So there is a good reason why you should stay with your outfit as far as possible.
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Anyone who faffs about that much should be bypassed and the next arrival dealt with.
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Let me quote you how an award winning site, family owned here in Cornwall for the last 50 years, words it..
"0ur security barriers are open from 0630 until midnight ..between those hours you can park on our visitors car park and walk to your pitch....you are welcome to check in at reception from 9am. on the day you arrive and we aim to have all pitches prepared for you to pitch up by 12 noon at the latest.... If you decide to travel overnight to beat the traffic and arrive in the small hours of the morning simply pull into our late night arrivals area on the left...etc"
And of course you can book the sort of pitch you want, or the actual pitch you want, or the pitch they have remembered you had last time, or two pitches together for friends.
That's customer focus.
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Until the customers obey the rules/instructions then stuff like this will continue. If we are running early we just pull in somewhere and wait. Going to a CL this weekend with an arrival time of midday so ask the owners what time I could arrive, reply, as early as you like. CL's for me.
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Don't blame the warden for your fault Steve, when you new that you would be that early you should have phoned ahead and asked if it would be OK.
Room for you to wait but what about the others. Get to a site at 5 mins to 12 and find another six in front who have arrived too early and next time you might decide to come earlier yourself as that seems OK. That is when the problem starts. Better for the warden to nip it in the bud.
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Surely the point is that their blurb clearly states that provision has been made, so anyone arriving early would expect to be able to park up and wait.
Conversly the CAMC emails I receive clearly state the earliest arrival time. Some even include additional information, like there is very limited space in the entrance area. That being the case it is hardly fair to blame the warden if you arrive 30 minutes before and are turned away.
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Well, apart from the fact the stated arrival time at Hillhead is different, the barrier opening hours are different, the reception hours are different, the toilet closing hours are different, the welcome and space for arrivals during the night are different, and the ability to book a hard standing pitch or a pair of pitches together are different....almost identical as you say, JVB.
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I am not sure what this has to do with this thread? As members we book Club sites knowing the conditions and one of those is arrival time. If we don't agree with those conditions we go elsewhere. My experience of commercial sites is that most of them have same sort of conditions, if not more stringent, than CMC sites. So quoting one individual site in far away Cornwall which if previous comments are to be believed will only be full in the peak season is not really very helpful.
David
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DK, The OP was about customer focus. . Telling a customer to go away and come back later is from the Basil Fawlty manual of management .
This Club can learn from good commercial business practice - you must know that from your own retail industry experience. Your company would never have treated the OP like that.
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I have noticed on a few sites that the "free space" at the arrival and reception area is somewhat limited and is actually used for a number of purposes other than accomodating over-early arrivals. Perhaps the OP was correctly told to go away as they were interfering with one of these activities, such as space for a delivery lorry to turn, or for the skip lorry to back in to collect rubbish?
It is noon, or 1:00pm, for a reason - not just to keep members waiting in line.
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Selective choice of examples me thinks.......
If I arrive too early for my flight, I first of all get charged extra for car parking, then get no further towards the plane than the shops....
No early entry to the cinema.....
Or West Ham FC...........(who...
)Stop making apologies for someone trying to blag their way onto a club site first to grab the best pitch......
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I have great respect for wardens but sometimes they can appear to be a bit "officious". We were on a club site recently and our daughter came out to see us just for the day. She parked in the car park and I went to meet her with the dog but the warden was straight out of the office saying "book in your reg number at the office". Not a please or thank you and said in an "off hand" sort of way.
Wardens are the face of Club and we're customers but some of them are lacking in the customer service department when it comes to skills.
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I totally agree and we never arrive early, choosing to park in a layby somewhere en route if that's a possibility. As I've already alluded to, it isn't necessarily what they say but the way they say it. Politeness doesn't cost anything. Most long standing members know the rules but sometimes the rules can be inflexible.
The OP knew he was early and couldn't check in so was happy to wait. Why ask him to move particularly if he wasn't in the way. If he was in the way then, quite rightly, he should have moved, but he wasn't doing any harm. All clubs have to have rules but sometimes a bit of give and take on all sides makes your stay much better.
I stayed on a small site this year where there was a notice on the office door;
"if the office is closed and you have a reservation you'll find a named envelope stuck to the notice board with pitching instructions. Come back and pay when the office opens"
"If you don't have a reservation please find an empty pitch and come back and see us when the office is open".
It's a bit like the "no arrivals after 8pm" rule. Does it matter if there isn't a barrier and you have a booking? You know whether you've booked a blue, white or red peg so why not turn up anytime up to (say) 11pm, pitch and pay the following day? it isn't something I'd do particularly but I'm sure some members would.
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