Club Membership
Hi. This will be my last post. We are letting our membership lapse and have sold our caravan. It is for multiple reasons but the main one is that the club is not what it was. Instead of a Club it is trying to be a business and not having a big success of it. Perhaps change the name. The sites are in the main scruffy (for environmental reasons they say -that's a joke - it's to reduce staffing costs methinks) and overpriced. Wardens are not so available and we have to move our own rubbish from one end of the site to the other. I was disenchanted especially with the free pass debacle that occurred which left a sour taste .I had good times but they got fewer and fewer. Good luck to all members in the future.
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@LPC Sorry to hear you are giving up your caravan. We sold our motorhome last year because my wife had serious hip problem, which fortunately has now been resolved by a hip replacement and she is on the road to recovery. We gave up not because we didn't like what we did but thought that we wouldn't get the use out of an expensive motorhome. Its probably a decision we would have made sooner or later as we are both in our late seventies. I have to say that none of the reasons you give played any part in our own decision. Camping is evolving and in ten years time could look different to what it is today. There is a world outside the club if you wanted to continue camping. Obviously the T&C's are never as good as the Club but there are some good commercial sites out there. Hope you adjust to not having a caravan. BTW we have retained our membership as we quite fancy trying some of the "Pod" accommodation on some sites, we may love it or hate but until we try we won't know.
David
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I can relate to some of what you say LPC, as the years have gone by I have also been using the Club's services less and less and remaining a member is a close thing. I think the C&MC only manifests itself as a Club if you belong to a centre and participate in it otherwise you are just paying to use its services. Over the years it's image has also changed, change of brand, addition of marketing, business pricing structures, purchase of Alan Rogers to name some. None of these come cheap and have only increased the Club's overheads which have had a knock on effect on site prices. Was it all necessary for a CLUB whose primary objective is to provide and run sites for its members?
peedee
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It's totally your choice and reasons @LPC but as you have posted them on a discussion forum, I'll give you my thoughts.
Your main reason for letting your membership lapse and have sold our caravan:
It is for multiple reasons but the main one is that the club is not what it was. Instead of a Club it is trying to be a business and not having a big success of it. Perhaps change the name. The sites are in the main scruffy (for environmental reasons they say -that's a joke - it's to reduce staffing costs methinks) and overpriced.
Apart from all the ones in bold being your opinions of course I can understand you not renewing your membership because of them but I cannot get my head around selling your caravan just because of those club related things?
If the club didn't offer what I want and need I would do the same as you and leave it, not renew.
However I would not give up caravaning and sell my caravan just on that, and you did say it was the main reason. I would simply find other sites and providers that would give me what I wanted.
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I think the problem is that given the size of the club it needs to be run on business lines by professionals. The club would be a substantial company if it was run as a profit making business and the same sort of desissions would have to be made. We still like the consistency of the sites and have had no problems with the wardens and are generally happy.
We do not find the sites scruffy and are happy that the over the top mowing and the like have been scaled back. It might not save the planet but it does help.
The idea of disposing of the bin bags and having a central disposal point is a major step forward and I have et to see a sensible argument against it. Most of the rumbling seems to be people not wanting to walk the few extra yards it might entail but the cost saving and saving a huge amount of plastic cannot be sensibly argued with. This also allows wardens to get on with other things and is an improvement in their safety.
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@LPC - sorry to hear that you have arrived at that decision, but like @Cornersteady and @Wildwood, I am surprised that you say that "it's because the club isn't what it was". Nothing is! Even the CLs - whch you're also losing access to have changed signiificantly over the years - and I have to say, that in my opinion, in most cases for the better.
I also totally agree with @Wildwood when he says that the Club is now such a big organisation, it would be irresponsible if it were not run in a business-like, professional manner. After retiring from the police, I moved on to become Regional CEO of St John Ambulance, and I was appointed to do one thing - bring it out of the 'dark ages' were there was no accountability and very little control and move towards a professionally-run, business-like organisation. Boy - did I get some resistance in the first two years - no one liked or wanted change - but eventually, I managed to turn the volunteers around and give them an organisation and new Headquarters to be proud of. When, 15 years later, all County CEOs were made redundant by National Headquarters - it was those same volunteers who tried to get me back in charge.
I also am a bit disenchanted at some of the changes the Club has made - especially recently - but I ask myself - if I were in charge - running that organisation - would I have done the same - and the answer is inevitably "yes'.
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I think the problem is that given the size of the club it needs to be run on business lines by professionals.
I agree it needs to be run professionally and I think it always has, at least in my membership time, but I do not believe the number of sites have increased in that time, if anything they have decreased. So what has got bigger? I do not think the level it is being run at right now is necessary (I have in mind marketting and pricing structure) unless of course they are planning to do like the RAC and AA!
peedee
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@peedee So what has got bigger?
The membership numbers.
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