Misleading Price Guarantee System
I have been looking at booking a ferry to France along with a site on arrival for 7 nights to gain the ITX rate. When I worked this out the site came out at £23.69 per night. However the same site in the ACSI book is €20 approx £17.30 a massive difference.
Step forward the clubs price guarantee system
Guaranteed best prices on European sites, Eurotunnel and ferry crossings
"Book an overseas site, caravan/motorhome Eurotunnel or ferry crossing through the Club and you'll get the best price - guaranteed! If you do find the same site or crossing at a cheaper fare, let us know and we’ll match it!
You will not find these overseas sites and services cheaper elsewhere; because, if you do, we will provide you with our Price Match Guarantee and match that cheaper price for you, subject to the terms and conditions."
Not so. They said the could not match the offer because the price was in Euros. They then added that they class ACSI as a closed group, whatever that means, which is stated in the T&C's
So the upshot is the club lose out as I take the better option and pay for the more expensive site with ACSI. A saving of £44.73
All a very confusing offer so beware
Comments
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I managed to get the ITX fare this year using 4 of the vouchers on the Hull to Zeebrugge crossing. Going out early May return end of June, it did reduce the cost of the ferry so the vouchers were free. I have also done it on the Plymouth to Roscoff crossing where the saving is considerable. Never managed it when we had the MH though.
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AllanandJean will be along soon. They really know how to work the system to their advantage and they make real savings. I genuinely compliment them.
Living here we are tied to using ferries from Plymouth, but I'm afraid I gave up on ITX fares and site vouchers last year - because I needed two vouchers in July and August for for one site overnight. So I paid big money for the initial cost of joining Brittany Ferries Club Voyage scheme last year - it gives 30% discount on base fares, two free breakfasts if we go overnight, or a free cabin if we go on a day time sailing, 10% discount on other meals, and £10 refund every time one of you good friends ask me to use the Friends and Family code I have - and enough of you did that to make this year's Club Voyage membership free. Thank you good friends.
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The Club’s response seems reasonable to me. To get the ACSI price you have to join their organisation, pay a subscription and pay extra for the app. You can’t expect to price match something where you are paying a joining fee to get a discount. The ACSI discount period is restricted as well but I assume you were checking for off-peak.
Insidentally, I am not sure whether you are arriving in Calais but there are now quite a few options with ACSI off-peak where the cost is substantially lower e.g. Bien Assise, and also they have added the site at Guignicourt this year which we use frequently as it is very close to the A26 about 3 hours from Calais. We normally pay around 30 Euros for the convenience but the ACSI price is 20 Euros.
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We also pay a subscription to join our club, over three times the price of ACSI and I would expect some benefits for that fee, . The club price for overseas sites is in some cases dearer than the sites own price. Now that can't be fair. Perhaps this is where the true reflection of the price guarantee comes in. I pointed this out to them and they said that if I sent proof they would look at honouring the difference. How do I do that I asked. Answer, send a screenshot. How does that work when trying to book on line. They just seemed to be intent on making it difficult.
I am travelling out to Poole and back from Roscoff and have gained the ITX rate by booking a site at Roscoff on my return which works out a much better deal than the one I applied for in Normandy on my arrival. I will use ACSI for that one now.
When you see the words 'Price Guarantee or Price Match' you automatically think of a better price than the one you are being asked to pay. Hence my enquiry.
The price of Bien Assise as you say is €20 this year about £17.40 Last year the price in the club brochure was from £23.24. Over £6 more per night and I notice this year they appear to have dropped the site.
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It does seem that most "deals" that the CAMC come up with will cost you more than doing the deal yourself, whether it be sites, sat-navs, outdoor clothing or whatever.
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The Club would only discount the site if the site owner gave the Club a discount, surely? To belong to ACSI the sites pay a significant annual fee: at least 1000 Euros I believe.
I guess that’s why the Club has the small print.
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When you see the words 'Price Guarantee or Price Match' you automatically think of a better price than the one you are being asked to pay. Hence my enquiry.
I agree with you, last year I got a better price for my Hull to Zeebrugge crossing through Forces Travel, I called the Club to see if they would honour the price match "no" they said we couldn't compete with that company. So WHO do they price match with?
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Hi all
We will match a publically available price for Eurotunnel, a ferry or a site, for advance bookings with car and caravan or a motorhome.
This means that if you can find a ferry, Eurotunnel or site like-for-like price that is cheaper with the operator directly, or on a comparison site, we will be able to match that price. Just give our Travel Team a call on 01342 316101.
We cannot match prices or special offers given to a closed group or members of other organisations; this is because those prices are part of a contract those groups have with the operator, just as we have ours.
There are full T&Cs for our Price Match Guarantee here, I hope this clarifies things
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You have to chuckle the club sold me an acsi book so do the club belong to the acsi closed group as they are there agent?
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I've always thought that any company that just offers to "match" a quote is being very lazy. Why should I do all the work for them when it's new business to both companies?
I can understand if it's something like an insurance renewal, but only to save you the hassle of moving. At least at someone like Go Outdoors they'll give you a discount off your found quote.
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And here we, belatedly are! I recently posted, on another forum, on the savings we have made and made it as clear as I could that the same may not be true for other routes.times etc etc.
We did consider the Voyage Club but it does not work for us. Getting an ITX with vouchers does and we always use the vouchers, as we will this year, on sites we want to stay at not just to 'use' them. I can see that club vouchers may appear expensive compared to ACSI rates but ACSI will not get you any savings on the ferry cost.
What I posted a week or so ago is below;
The club price is what the call an ITX fare and has to be ferry and vouchers or/and sites.
The two quotes below, first is BF direct the second via the caravan club,are for two adults ,car and caravan on BF Plymouth- Roscoff out June on a Thursday night and back on a Sunday morning with inside two berth cabin. going out.
The CMC price includes the cabin, you need to check as this is not always the case, and 4 site vouchers which cost £87.80. If you take off the price of the vouchers the ferry cost is £267.40.
This is a saving of £437.60.
Even if you did not use the vouchers you are still saving £349.80.
If you could get the 10% discount with Voyager Club the direct price is £634.50 so still a very large saving which may make this route viable for many who might otherwise not consider it.
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RachelV
Unfortunately the overseas price match guarantee is virtually worthless in my experience. I went to great trouble this year to fully research site prices and exchange rates in an endeavour to get the best for me deal. When I claimed the “price match” after a lot of delay (7 days plus) I was told by the Club that the exchange rate they were using was a €1.10 to the £1 and not the exchange rate ruling at the time of booking which at the time was €1.15+ (Clarity Card). On the number of site nights I was intending to book the £ difference was significant and it was therefor cheaper for me to book direct and take the risk that the bottom didn’t fall out of the £ value. On a slightly different tack I tried also to book Bonterra Park for next year to be told that my Kon-tiki 669 was too long despite the site accepting 9metre plus outfits - the 669 is 8.59metres long. It seems to me that I am probably better advised in future years to book direct with foreign sites and avoid the hassle of claiming on a price guarantee that doesn’t - price guarantee that is. I should add that I have been a member of the Club for something like 37 years and for every one of those years I have holidayed in foreign parts for at least 1 month a year and during the last 10 years for 3 months every year. Regrettably it appears that Foreign Touring booking via the Club no longer suits my needs and I would never have thought I would say that.
Ome ‘n’ Dri
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