Unexpected cost on arrival
After a recent visit to a site in Cambridgeshire, I felt I must leave a comment. First of all, it was not a Caravan & Motorhome club site, so not complaining. Because it was not a club site I have since looked at Tripadvisor and see that one review states that it’s quite pricey for what there is. No real complaints except it became pricier for me on arrival. We have a motorhome behind which we tow a small Toyota IQ. On arrival we were told that we never told them we had a tow car and would be charged extra. Two things here, one is why, we take up no more room on a pitch than a car and caravan, in fact a caravan of equivalent size would have a much larger car towing it and secondly if you are going to charge extra why can you not show it on your website or adverts. This is the only site we have been to where this has happened! As tow cars behind motorhomes seem to becoming more popular I hope this is not the start of a trend. If sites want to charge extra please let me know beforehand so I can avoid them.
Moderator Comment - Moved here from the Story Section
Comments
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A lot of sites (not CC in relation to towed vehicles) charge for extra vehicles........
They do it because it's just one more way to make money out of you.....
When I book a non CC site I always tell them I have a trailer, if I dont like their reply, thats my opportunity to walk away....
Agree its poor of them to not say additional vehicles are chargeable though, but that is often the case non CC.....
Best not stray outside the Club network again.....
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Perhaps the motor caravan rates are lower than the trailer caravan rates?
Or is the charge to cover the extra use you could be making by driving the car at the same time as the motor caravan - assuming there are at least two drivers.
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It happened to me with C&MC. I booked a string of sites with the call centre and didn't realise at the time that they added £2 p/n for the toad to each booking.
It was later adjusted at each site we visited which caused the wardens hassle on booking in. At one site the warden argued with me and was quite stroppy but eventually relented when I said I would take it up with EG instead.
This was a case of the call centre not understanding the charging system and I emailed the club about it at the time to try to make sure it didn't happen again. That was in 2008 and I'm still waiting for a reply.
The big MH and toad have long departed and these days online booking is (usually) so much simpler.
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The fact is, all sites have their own pricing structure, presumably based on how much income they have to/ wish to make. However a site chooses to achieve that income is largely down to them. If they didn't achieve it by charging for the extra car, they could very well achieve it by other means e.g. charging more for a pitch, charging for use of showers, for awnings, dogs, individual people etc. It is what it is, unfortunately.
In my opinion, the poor thing is that you weren't made aware of this before you arrived on site, which would have given you the clear option of whether or not to book.
David
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What site was it?
David
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To me that sort of charging system is just an underhand way of hiding the full cost. Headline costs are often much lower than what you pay. On an affiliated site we stopped on there was an extra charge for awnings, even though it was an all hard standing site and everything was in the confines of the pitch. We have a roll out and that was OK but a porch type would have been charged extra. The most open way of charging would be to headline the cost for the pitch and up to six occupants. There could then be a discount per night if only a couple, or single occupancy.
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Do some people spend £60,000 + on Motorhome and towed car and then complain about the parking fee?
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Yes we do when its unjust ET, why should we pay more for the same space as a car/caravan/awning why should we have to pay more for taking a car onto the pitch.
We've come across this with Acsi sites in Germany, Spain and The Netherlands. Not all sites just some, they will charge for a trailer or a car on A frame. A pitch is a pitch and should be able to accommodate either a car/caravan/awning or car/caravan, so why charge more for M/H + car, just not on in my opinion.
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It's the site operator's choice to do it that way, I guess, just as it's my or your choice to go elsewhere. Much like choosing Aldi over Waitrose on the grounds of cost really.
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Pretty much what we do, go elsewhere. Still not right though, just another money making exercise.
Charging for awnings on grass sites I can understand, charging for dogs when providing a walk or fenced exercise area and shower also understand. Charging for an additional car (with car and caravan) again understand.
All of these either mean extra work/cost/space. Parking a car on a pitch that is designed to take 3 pieces of a unit ie. car/caravan/awning is not costing the operator anything extra, or inconveniencing anyone else due to lack of space.
No justification at all for the charge.
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Still plenty of time then for their response😂
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Whilst I understand totally what you say, TG, the site owner doesn't need to justify his charges. It might well be a money making exercise but that's the way it is.
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Two vehicles two Parking fee's😎
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Just tell them you will tow the motorhome onto site with the car...problem solved. In 16 years of towing I have come across three sites who tried this on and have had it waived on all three of them. Following a discussion two eventually saw sense, the third quickly saw the light and no longer charges for towed cars. We did start a black list of sites on a well known motorhome forum for everyone to boycott.
peedee
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