New Booking System
Comments
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Well sadly the discussion get's personal again, and I say "sadly" because we are talking about an organisation that I have had over 30 years association with.
I do object when some people feel the need to refer to those that hold an opposing view as "a vocal minority", in this case a vocal minority that needs the club to tell them when and where to go to.
Well, I am a vocal majority in that case because I know exactly where I want to go, when and for how long, 13 sites over two months next year. As we will not be spending much time on site, mostly taking part in a long day of physical activity, the nature of the site does not bother us. EHU, preferably hardstanding, clean showers, and plentiful facilities is what we need most and for the last 30 years our route would almost be planned around the availability of club sites.
Not any more. Trying to book was a nightmare. We ended up with only 1 of 13 sites being a club site. The search engine I use now is Searchforsites, not the club site, and the majority of sites that I use now are small independents.
I accept the booking system is now much improved from the contemptible launch. However take last weeks laughter moment. I wanted to amend a booking at the one and only club site I am booked on. Multiple pages later, goodness knows how many key strokes, getting slightly irritated with all the faff, I now have to pay an extra deposit, having made sure first that I've unticked the "Pay full amount before arrival" box. So yet another page to enter more information on, another bank transaction to process, another approval process on my bank app.... for what? 30 pence!!
No thanks. A lot easier to just email an independent and say "hi, thanks for confirming my booking, can I just change the date of arrival please?"
Now, not a grumble., I'm no longer upset enough to bother grumbling. An observation. Compared to 1990 when I planned a substantial part of an 1,100 mile route around the availability of club sites, the club is now hardly worthy of a consideration as it has fallen so far behind in ease of search, ease of booking and outfacing customer service.
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The CAMC isn’t alone in its request for small amounts of additional money when you amend something. When I did it with the C&CC it was via a phone call, as I couldn’t see any way to do it online. Although the amendment was easy, it required a further 8p charge on my credit card.😂
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Presumably another device incompatibility issue. On an iPad I get this:-
PS how do you tow a tent, as it’s there as a separate option?
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DD, it may be that, with the club's obsession with small price differences from week to week, a change that's pushes back a three day stay by a day, may mean a small increase in the daily charge for one of those days....
when looking at the old price lists (no idea where they might be these days) it was apparent that prices changed week by week (if not day by day when a Fri/Sat/BH/R in the month etc)...
I've definitely seen adjacent days be priced differently by a few pence...10 in one instance I seem to recall🤷🏻♂️
with the advent of this new system and the choice of HS/grass etc (along with the many other pitch types) this was a great opportunity to rationalise (simplify) the price lists....but hey ho....on we go.
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Interesting to read that, and Jen's post about amendments involving an extra cost of a few pence.
So here's a cautionary tale for those who think the club's booking t&c are harsh .... yesterday I booked a holiday for next February with tui - you know, the company that features a huge smile in their logo. When the confirmation came through I spotted that my first name had been abbreviated (probably my fault using auto fill on my tablet!) So I thought I'd better check as obviously it wouldn't match the name on my passport. Rang tui twice (got cut off the first time ...) and eventually spoke to an actual human. "Ah, yes" she said "no problem, we'll just need to make a name change - it'll cost...wait for it .... £98 to do that".
She must have heard my reaction so she quickly said "or, because it's within 24 hours the alternative is to cancel your original booking and I can rebook it for you with your full name - that'll only be £49!"
Still think the club t&c are harsh!!
(Incidentally, does anyone know if I'd have got away with just "Chris" on the ticket rather than my full name?)
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YT, totally agree with you on CAMC pricing. Why not make it simple low, medium and high, that's all that is required. High season obviously would cover school, bank and public holidays. Medium would be the shoulder season either side of them and everything else should be low season.
I have also wondered about this extra charge it making a change to a booking. I saw it mentioned pages ago and have been awaiting an answer to pop up but nothing yet. Is it as you say or is it another method of extracting more money out of members.
I haven't played a lot on the new booking system but enough to know it's still not great. I was pretty nifty getting around the old one and could do a booking in less than 5 mins if I knew which site I wanted to use. The other day it took me 15 mins to get to the site I wanted, find availability and price for 2. I didn't book it as all I wanted was the price but if I had booked it it probably would have added another 5 mins to the time.
Sorry (not sorry) but I won't be playing those games. If this mess isn't sorted by the time my membership is due for renewal I won't be renewing.
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May I ask what you mean by paperless receipts?
I made several bookings some time ago, on the old system. The new system came in and my bookings were migrated. I paid them all online, before arriving at the sites (I really like the ability to do that, by the way, and I am very happy with deposits as well).
I received nothing back to acknowledge my payment. I'd expected an email. There was a message on screen after payment saying something like Paid in full (can't recall exact words), but that disappears into the either never to be seen again. Is that your paperless receipt? I like something I can go back to - some kind of record of my payment other than my bank or credit card statement.
There is a list of my previous bookings in my profile, but even that does not show "Paid" or something similar.
No record at all is not a paperless receipt. It is NO receipt. Perhaps, I am missing something?
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the new system is awful, I don't use the expensive club sites, but I am made to look at them,
the old system I could untick club sites and tick the C.L. s so I only loaded the C.L.s on my screen, but the new system won't let me untick club sites, but you can untick C.L.s
it looks like the club wants you to book Club sites and NOT C.L.s
and on the web site booking it won't display the price of C.Ls but it did on the old system
the only way to view the prices is to use my mobile app where the screen is fiddly and small
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I think at this time of year the prices do stabalise a bit (it is low season after all) it's more in the lighter months April through to October, as YT says the prices used to go up and down my tiny amounts almost daily.
It would be useful if the club could answer some of the questions that members have been asking. Not just here but on other social media sites.
The state of this new booking system is even a topic of discussion among Brits holidaying over here in Spain, no one approves and most have vowed to leave if it doesn't improve.
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May I ask what you mean by paperless receipts?
In our case it was paying for an old style booking on arrival. An email receipt was sent within seconds of paying. I just save them in an invoice file on my pad. I would have thought the same should have happened when you paid in advance. I would assume it’s another system malfunction. Certainly when the other club takes the balance before arrival you get an email confirmation.
I think it is something you need to take up with the club as it’s not acceptable.
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(Incidentally, does anyone know if I'd have got away with just "Chris" on the ticket rather than my full name?)
Might it be cheaper to change your passport . . . ?
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I have also wondered about this extra charge it making a change to a booking. I saw it mentioned pages ago and have been awaiting an answer to pop up but nothing yet. Is it as you say or is it another method of extracting more money out of members.
As I read the T&C’s it could be for one of three possible reasons. If you moved the booking within 21 days to another site for the same days, there would no penalty, but you might have to pay a few pence more deposit if the new site was more expensive.
If within 21 days you Deleted User the first day and added a day on the end, you would loose a proportion of your deposit and would have to replace that for the added day.
Whether outside of or within the 21 days, If you just added a day to your booking, you would have to pay the extra deposit for that day.
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That all sounds pretty logical to me. I suppose one might argue that losing money because you have moved the days is a bit harsh but in reality it's going to be a relatively small amount of money. If my calculation is correct on a £40 a night booking you would lose £8, plus a few pence of the original deposit?
David
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all the posts regarding paying a few pence additional deposit if the amendment is at a higher price is fine but as in my case it was the other way round ,my amendment reduced the cost and subsequently the deposit but no refund was offered or given!
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I would want a paper receipt if I paid on arriving at a site. I use it to check my card statement from the bank. Ditto if I paid in cash. If I go into a shop I get a paper receipt if I want one.
When I order stuff on line, and I do quite a bit, I always get a proper electronic receipt, and often a paper one with the goods. So if I pay in advance of arrival I would find a proper electronic receipt to my e mail address.
Anything less is not acceptable to me.2 -
When we arrived at York Rowntree having paid a deposit I was informed in the office when I went to pay that there was nothing to pay as the money had been taken from my account at 2am that morning, when I asked why when I wanted to pay on arrival they said I obviously hadn’t ticked the box, funny the other two bookings I had made were noted on my bookings as “pay on arrival” I didn’t argue no point as I had no record but also as previously said no receipt offered, I had to check my bank account to see what had been taken.
some people may for a one night stay wish to pay cash how’s that going to work if they are taking money from bank accounts whether you tick the box or not.
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If one is not given a receipt how does one know how the total amount was calculated?
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All this talk of varying prices bands is a bit of red herring in relation to this thread, for one thing it was there before this new system (and in fact in 1999 when I joined there were six prices bands so it's not a new things at all) and the prices are site specific anyway.
Secondly, and most importantly (for me anyway) you chooses sites, pitch type and dates and then the only decision is do you want to pay it?
I never work out what the individual days are costing or if they cross into a differencing band, it's where I want to be on holiday and so it's just the final price I look at.
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Good luck to anyone trying to do a booking while staying at FM as part of a tour
I have just tried another dummy booking with the system and have been on three different types on 3mobile Tesco which is 2mobile and the site WiFi and all lost connection with the time it took to input the data required
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