Twin axle in France (again)
Having toured Europe with our twin axle Sterling Searcher for 8 years now, we have just had our first "twin axle problem".
Yesterday we drove from Germany into France and headed for Besancon, where we planned to stop for a few nights. We are using the ACSI discount card and had seen that the site (Camping de Besancon-La Plage) was suitable for large caravans, but did not display
the "O" in line one, to indicate that they accepted twin axles.
We therefor e mailed them the day before to check whether they would accept us, giving the size of the van, stating it was a twin axle, and that we were using Camping Card ACSI.
We received a very pleasant and welcoming reply so headed to the site, bypassing one some 30km out of town which did have the "O" symbol.
On arrival, OH went to book in and was told they had space, but the charge for a twin axle was some 48+ euros, the ACSI rate is 17 euros.
When she had recovered the power of speech, she pointed out that we were using ACSI, had e mailed ahead, and no mention of this inflated price had been made. If we had known the price, we would of course have gone elsewhere.
At first they claimed we had not said we had a T/A, but on checking their e mail admitted that we had given the correct information. Even so, on enquiring what the alternatives were, she received a typically French shrug of the shoulders and "pay the price"
!
Needless to say we left and found a nice site further south. So no money spent in Besancon, their loss
Lesson learned, should we ever make such an enquiry again, we will be sure to ask the price as well!!
Posting this as a warning to others, we have never experienced this sort of discrimination in France before, though had read about stupidly high charges for twin axles.
We are aware of why they do it, hence e mailing to enquire.
Comments
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Sorry you had the problem, and I can warn you of other places where it will happen - like Damazan and Ste. Anne d'Auray. Personally I would find it very limiting to have to stick to ACSI sites with the letter O, and then have to e.mail ahead some days in advance to check. If that's what it's like touring France with a twin axle van it sounds quite restrictive. I hope you have better luck next time, Kjell.
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I think members who come up against this should email ACSI to ask that they include EC (Extra Charge) against the entry for twin axles, if such a charge is to be levied. The Caravan Club too, ought to list this in the 'site facilities' part of the sites
guide.Another site where you will be charged extra is the municipal site in Vatan, Aux Rouelle des Loups, where I think the charge is 30 euros on top of the normal site price.
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Sorry you had the problem, and I can warn you of other places where it will happen - like Damazan and Ste. Anne d'Auray. Personally I would find it very limiting to have to stick to ACSI sites with the letter
O, and then have to e.mail ahead some days in advance to check. If that's what it's like touring France with a twin axle van it sounds quite restrictive. I hope you have better luck next time, Kjell.Thanks, duly noted.
We have had no problems in the past, I think it is only in the last 2 years that ACSI have had a symbol to indicate that T/As are accepted. Previously we have pretty much stuck with sites that said they were suitable for larger caravans/MHs and that had
decent size pitches.It seems that there are many sites all over Europe which do not show the "O", but are still happy to take a T/A, so it had not occurred to us to check the price. A few euros extra would not be a problem, but 30+ more was just OTT!
If a site does show the "O" symbol, there are quite a few that do so not too limiting, we are not e mailing ahead, so just hope we don't get any more nasty shocks.
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I think members who come up against this should email ACSI to ask that they include EC (Extra Charge) against the entry for twin axles, if such a charge is to be levied. The Caravan Club too, ought to list this in the 'site facilities' part of the sites guide.
Another site where you will be charged extra is the municipal site in Vatan, Aux Rouelle des Loups, where I think the charge is 30 euros on top of the normal site price.
Our thoughts too Val, we will be reporting the problem.
However, just having an" extra charge" symbol is not enough as it could be anything from 2 to 30+ euros, it would need to give a figure.
We are now going on the assumption that if a site has indicated that they accept T/As, there will NOT be an extra charge. Will see how it goes.
In 2009 we went to a site near Marseilles where they wanted an extra 2 euros, we did not stay as the facilities were rubbish anyway.
There's always an alternative, and generally a better one.
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It does mention in the Caravan Club Touring France Guide that they charge extra for twin axles but they don't mention how much. We were on a site in Trebes once and I saw a notice saying twin axles paid an extra €28 a night.
David
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