Bribery for leaving good reviews
We stayed at a CL site just outside Exeter the other week. The reviews all said how level the pitches were, picturesque views, peaceful etc. Sounds great!
The reality was far from that! While some aspects could be argued they are subjective, like noise, picturesque views, the pitch's flatness is fact. I wanted to warn other club members that all the pitches were not level, so I left a review stating this. We have a long, single axle, fixed bed caravan and our pitch had a 10" lengthways and 4" widthways difference.
A few days later I received a text message from the CL owner who was most upset that I had expressed my accurate and honest opinion of his site. He offered me a bribe of free nights if I left a favourable review! I'm disgusted at this kind of underhand behaviour and just wondered if anyone else has experienced this type of thing? It completely compromises the concept of reviews.
I send an email of complaint to the club last week, but have heard nothing from them so far.
Comments
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Seems a fair deal as he is noton the level. Tell us where it is and there can be hundreds of us going for a free night. I think the owner would quickly see the error.
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It's easy to trace. See -
The other reviews are completely different.
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GN, your review does seem to buck the overall trend regarding the CL, so I can to a certain extent understand the frustration of the owners. It clearly can't have been that bad, as you did stay seven nights? The only time we realised we had made a mistake with a CL, we stayed the one night and then politely left, as it was a noise issue to us, that didn't affect other users.
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I've stayed twice on this site and the review left by GlobalNomads is most unfair. The pitches can certainly be described as level and the complaints about the standard of the WC are just plain ridiculous. One reason why we like this CL is because the access is so good. Yes you might have to take a little care when joining the main road from the access lane but its no big deal. Mark and Linda are great hosts and deserve better.
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It's not uncommon for pitches on CL's not to be completely level, if we have had to use leveling ramps and blocks I will usually note that In the review, mainly to let other users know they may need to take some with them if visiting. Even some hardstandings on club sites aren't level. We have only ever had a real problem once on CL luckily someone left so we could move down the slope.
What does seem strange is that the OP says he was offered "free nights" as a bribe for a good review.😞
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Rarely are pitches perfectly flat and level, so it's the Caravanner's responsibility to carry levelling devices to ensure that the van is pitched to ensure that the fridge works and the shower drains properly.
I think the CL owner will regret offering free nights though, for obvious reasons. .
K
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Can any body say they have never needed to level their LV side to side? or front to rear, I do not think any LV dealer does not sell levelling ramps, ,even the majority of Sevel based motor caravans sit nose down even on a "level"pitch,any one thinking level is snooker table level on sites is not of this world
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The "free night" offer was in my view ill advised but as a CL owner I can understand the frustration felt by the CL owner in this case as it is not possible to post a response to a review that is plainly visible. Mark has responded but unless you follow the link given in an earlier post most would not see it. The ability to respond to reviews was something that was promised to CL owners with the new website but sadly it has not materialised.
Alan
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That activity has gone on for ever, and will continue for ever.
From a few begging words to a free night offer.......prevalent around CL of the year time
As a Land Surveyor in a previous life I never take my equipment with me on holiday but I'm prepared to lend it out to members, for a small fee of course!
PS. Doesn't the CC run caravan levelling courses anymore?
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The reminds me, I must buy a spirit level.
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This is a classic one person's opinion v another persons opinion. Best not speculated upon. Could do damage to either party. Surprised thread hasn't been closed pending investigation.
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Hi Alan
If you do have a review which you wish to respond to you can email us your response to communitymanager@camc.com and we can post it for you.
Thanks
Maddie
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That's not really satisfactory from a siteowner's point of view, Maddie. They must feel at a huge disadvantage. There again, the club never seems to do much in the way of visibly supporting CL owners who were treated shabbily when the website was down.
Like, TDA, I'm very surprised this thread is allowed to continue while the issue is under investigation. We have no idea who is correct and allegations which could affect either the CL owner's reputation and business, or the OP's credibility, help no one. Let's, please, put a lid on it now.
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I also think that any reviews left or even forum posts for that matter should be able to be edited at any time and not lock you out should the OP want to change it.
I'm on 2 other forums for my hobbies and I can log in and change anything I posted in the past without issue.
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what a well timed post GN,
I notice a review I made a week or so ago with 1 minor negative point which I was clear to state was in our opinion and should not detract from the beauty etc etc has since had a posting from someone going into great detail to point out the exact opposite of what I'd commented on - blatant attempt to redress the balance.
Far too obvious to be anything but contrived.
If that's how they wish to "monitor" their reviews we'll not bother to return.
Comment from Community Manager: Thanks so much for reporting your concerns. We have investigated this and the review is from a genuine member. We would also like to assure you that we appreciate your constructive review and feedback.
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I would have thought that the term "flat" was describing the surface only. I have yet to find any CL that is totally level, thats why I carry ramps and levelling blocks! I too have a long single axle with fixed beds but have yet to find a CL that I couldn't cope with.
One of the better things about CL's is that they are usually owned by very nice people, and I personally would not view the owners offer of some free nights, other than effort to placate an unhappy customer, Restaurants do it, shops do it, and pubs do it when the beer is off. So why not this CL?
TF
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Many thanks everyone for your feedback. As this is being investigated and dealt with as a complaint we will close this discussion. We are also looking to get a CL advisor to check the site and pitches and will then post on the relevant review.
We advise all CL Owners that they have the right to respond to reviews. To do this they need to email communitymanager@camc.com. This has always been the case and we feel it’s very important that CL owners have the right to reply. The response appears clearly within the review. This works in exactly the same way as site staff reporting Club Site reviews. We do however rely on CL Owners getting in touch with us to advise of any negative comments.
We don’t allow members to edit their posts or reviews after 10 minutes as people may have replied to the comment and as such the conversation may not make sense if the original text has been changed and altered. However, if someone really wants to change their comment they can email communitymanager@camc.com and we will always do our best to help. People are also able to leave another review if they stay at the site again so if anything has changed they have this option.
We hope this helps answer your questions and we will be posting a comment on on the relevant review once we have information from our CL Advisor.
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