Contacting CL Owners
We love using CLs and have stayed at some lovely locations with lovely owners and excellent facilities over the years. Normally we plan our route and phone to book the chosen CL ahead of the visit. However, we ran into some difficulties on a recent trip, when we had decided not to book far ahead and simply phone on a daily basis! Seems quite simple; allows for flexibility! Yes, but .... the problems arose when CL owners didn't reply. Not much use if you phone today to ask for a pitch tomorrow and get no reply, then find the site full when you arrive! I think it's implicit on CL owners, who advertise their sites, to make sure that they respond to queries on the same day. In this day and age it's quite possible to pick up landline messages on your mobile if you're away from home. Or to leave a mobile number as an alternative - but you do need to answer messages. Sadly for C&MC we stayed a few times with the Camping & Caravan Club!
PS the date entered is not an exact one - we were traveling for two weeks in September.
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I am delighted that you are frequent use of CL's and usually plan your visits well ahead and book your CL pitches in advance.
I agree with you, that in an ideal world CL owners should be able to respond to enquiries on the same day, but as an experienced CL visitor, you will know that the majority of CL owners run their CL as a sideline to their main business. It's not a priority.
If the CL is on a farm and it's harvest-time or an equally busy time of year, the farmer may be out of his or her office between 7am and 8pm or later. Yes, in an ideal world they might forward their landline to their mobile, but if you're milking, or shovelling grain, loading pigs onto a lorry, up to your armpits calving or shearing sheep, you can't really take a booking, or recall what the availability on your CL is today or next week.. other things (usually pretty smelly ones) are your priority.
I'm not defending CL's for poor customer service. I'm simply pointing out the reality that the income generated from a CL (currently restricted to 5 vans) means that it's unlikely for a CL phone to be manned on the same basis as a commercial site, or to be a high priority for them.
Hence many CL's (like ours) have implemented on-line booking. Visitors can then immediately view availability and book a pitch on a provisional or confirmed basis. Some systems will even take your deposit or full payment online.In our experience, we often had answerphone messages left where no phone number was given by the caller (I guess they assumed we had caller ID?), the number was given so fast that it is incomprehensible, or the message was from a mobile with poor reception. Thankfully 70-80% of bookings now come online, about 10% by email and 20% by phone.
My suggestion would be (and it seems you have normally done this) that if you wish to stay at a CL that is popular and on-line booking is not available, that you email or text (where a mobile number is given) your request at least 1 or 2 days ahead of your stay. In rural areas, where phone reception can be poor, having an email or text message is generally a better means of communication - and they can be read & responded to when driving a noisy tractor!
In rural areas, where phone reception can be poor, having an email or text message is generally a better means of communication - and they can be read & responded to when driving a noisy tractor (off road).. or at a break in the working day.
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I'm afraid the responsibility to contact any Cl owner is the members , I can understand that sometimes it can take more than a couple of times trying .
You cannot always assume that any communication will be answered immediately.
Most can be contacted by email or if time permits write , there's always the option of finding an alternative Cl or CMC site or as you've stated there are other providers out there .
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I'm afraid the responsibility to contact any Cl owner is the members
That's exactly what the OP did so their part of the 'bargain' was fulfilled, the second part of the bargain, the business owner didn't fulfil their part.
I hear what you say CG but if someone start a business it is incumbent of them to run it in a business like customer oriented manner.
A farmer would know what their busy times of the year are before opening the CL so should make some contingency. If an owner can't/won't then they should consider their options. (apologies for being blunt)
I have never understood why in common with most other businesses, CL owners don't publish e-mail addresses and mobile numbers after all those 2 features don't have any additional costs attached.
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What on earth as part of the ' bargain ' , got to do with trying to make a Cl booking , unfortunately in this day & age when peoples expectations aren't always fulfilled immediately it's someone else's fault .
I call it living in the real world ......😱
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In your first post you pointed out its was our responsibility to contact the CL and the OP had done that which you either missed or decided to ignore.
The fact is that the owner didn't then respond so the words part of the bargain was just a use of words to make the point.
Yes I would blame the business owner if they didn't respond to a reasonable request of mine where I wanted to spend money with them, and to be sure I wouldn't even bother again.
JVB of course I except that some areas have poor e-mail and mobile facilities. If someone leaves a message on our answering machine I can hear it as soon as I walk in the house.
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You will get a variety of response times and methods from CL owners, much as you will from any business. Some are run on a very business like manner, others may take longer because of other commitments, some, (we have yet to come across one,) may not respond at all.
We have just returned from a Wales holiday. All sites booked day before arrival, bar one. We phoned two CLs morning of departure. First one we had to leave a message, second one answered and we got a pitch that day. Within minutes, first CL phoned back to answer our enquiry. We just told them we had managed to get in somewhere else, but would be happy to visit another time. Can't ask for better than that, bar someone sitting by phone all day.
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+1😇 Can't ask for better than that, bar someone sitting by phone all day.
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If our first choice does not respond within 24 hours, we would try elsewhere, it can be incredibly frustrating, especially if you are not booking far ahead.
We also prefer to use e mail or online booking, so if there were 2 equally well positioned sites with good reviews, the one with e mail or online booking would be our first choice.
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We use CLs for the most of our trips. We will book a series of sites for the first 3 or 4 weeks of the trip and then book others as we go along, well before our intended arrival. I tend to phone my selected sites first, and if get answerphone messages will also send each an e-mail. By far the vast majority of owners respond within 24hrs, although we have had a couple who have not bothered at all to reply to both, so they're crossed off our "to visit" list.
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I give those sites with an on-line booking system priority; 'phoning around is a last resort.
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Have just been talking to a CL owner who has a new web site coming on stream shortly and he's going to add a bookings calendar, however he is not adding an on-line booking system as he believes in having personnel contact with those who wish to book a pitch. Must be doing something right as the site's full today, with 3 out of the 5 repeat visitors.
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dm, your fear of phones is to your detriment, lots of little gems don't have on-line booking.....
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The perfect set up for us Nellie. I can understand CLs embracing new technology, great. But I often require some more information before I book anything, and sometimes all the photos and descriptive words don't cover it.
Conundrum: if visitors are leaving early, if the CL has been booked online, might a small percentage be due to simply not knowing enough about the CL? All an automated booking system tells you is which dates are free. You have to do a lot more research to ensure the CL is the right one for your requirements. Obviously, automated booking is brilliant for repeat visits, and a lot of CLs get a lot of repeat visitors, so a win for both owners and members.
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Hi I run a small CL but both myself and my wife work full time. We always reply to booking enquiries as quickly as we can but its quite common to get a voicemail message at 3pm for a booking that day!
I would love to embrace technology more (and I am considering it) but it does all add to the operating costs which will, ultimately, increase site fees for members.
I think that members have to be realistic with expectations and understand that you will not always get an immediate response but good CL owners will always respond at the earliest possible time as we do!
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Good post Stuh. However I would suggest adding your site's name or a link to your site whenever you write a post on CT.
Edit. I see that you have added the very thing on your other post today.
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