New Booking System for Overseas Travel
Comments
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I have just been through the same frustration. Same error messages and just now I tried to book 4 site vouchers and a return crossing from Poole/Cherbourg return from Caen to Portsmouth. All went well until looking at the final basket. No site vouchers just the ferry fare. Tried again, same result.
Why also when you put in a 2020 date do you get a message saying, "you are booking a crossing for next year, please press here". You then are taken to a new booking sheet and the process starts all over again but in a slightly different format but same result.
I have a saying, "It is so difficult to buy anything" it's certainly true with this booking system.
Now the funny thing. Go to live chat and give all the same details and you get a price. If they can do it why can't we.
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As said previously with a twin axle you could book Online but now they discriminate against those that have a twin axle.
Also the combined length of our outfit is under 13m but when using the CC's booking system the length exceeds 13m adding on about £25 each way. Our British manufactured caravan is 8160mm in length but the vehicle is only 4822mm in length. The vehicle is measured at 5m and the caravan at 8.5m.
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Book the caravan in as 8M. Your outfit will be within the total 13M. When spot checks are done, they measure it that way. May be technically out of order but its simply common sense. If you get tangled up with a jobsworth measuring separately, pay the difference if required to. I know the argument is they may have to separate the car and caravan but that has never happened in the 5 decades I have been using cross channel ferries.
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More frustration.
I'm still looking at ferry bookings and just now have tried to book Portsmouth/Caen. All goes well until they ask for the vehicle height and it throws up a reminder, "Please provide vehicle height".
I would if I could but the box doesn't let me make an entry.
Like I said yesterday, "it's so difficult to buy anything"
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Harry, although it's very clunky, taking several attempts to input both date and route, it does let me put in height.
Easiest way to enter length/height is to select our current MH in the drop down and it auto fills the info I put in my outfits. It also works if I manually input lengths and heights, I also tried for a car and caravan.
Perhaps it's a browser issue. I am using safari on an iPad.
What I can't understand is why it then takes about 2 minutes to come up with an answer. Only BF operate on the Portsmouth Caen route. Possibly, it is because it is calculating lots of alternatives for other ports, in which I have no interest.
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SteveL
I have just tried again and no luck. The problem seems to be the new booking system. When you open up the Book Ferry page the software is running two systems, one for this year and a completely new one for next year. By using the present system it detects the date if for next year and flags up a box to tick for next year before you can continue. It is that new page that doesn't highlight the height box for the car. The present system till the end of the year (Is the present one really necessary for the sake of 6 weeks) works fine.
I have used the new page before today when just browsing prices and it has worked, just not now.
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Hi Harry, just tried and was able to add vouchers and input tow car details without problem. But, tried three times to get price for differing out and back routes and no joy, it just gives a return for same route.
Think AD suggestion is sound-I always book on the phone after my ‘research’ on line but may need to call to check prices or use the chat facilities as you have.
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Unfortunately the caravan club will not allow this to happen. It seems that they have the manufacturer's specifications and it defaults to this every time.
I guess a way around it could be to remove the details of the caravan from my profile? Never had to do this previously when we booked through the CMC.
BTW I raised this question with Brittany Ferries last year and they were happy to allow the caravan at 8m and at the docks they measured the combination and were satisfied.
Also with the roof box on we are over the normal 1.8m height of the vehicle however below the height of the caravan and again Brittany Ferries with quite happy with this and I incurred no additional charges.
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Hi
This new website ref booking of ferries is a major step back from the previous site why on earth when something is working well do you start to think of major changes. Some of the points raised here are mind boggling. It used to be a pleasure but it is now a chore. Please just dont feed us that the majority of customers are happy, get back to a sensible booking site particularly ref ferries. rant over
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for what dates?
i tried again yesterday (for nth time) for january crossing (incl vouchers) and it just disintegrates....
ive booked a site directly and will try CC later for the ferry/vouchers.
certainly not an improvement.
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Hi, After repeated failure to get a price for a return using different routes have now been able to.
I had been trying to do this on an ipad without luck but on my laptop it went OK but, as other have commented, why does it give me prices, when looking at a Plymouth crossing, for Poole, Portsmouth and Newhaven?!
Rowena said you would be able View your crossing by price and departure but this not the case as it does not give you any alternative timings for the departure that you have selected.
It may be linked to the loss of the ability to compare 'short crossings' and 'long crossings' against each other but it is frustrating and, for me, of no use whatsoever.
Whilst I have no exact figures it is now very, very slow waiting for a price and this be linked to the system having to check multiple routes.
Also, it has been the case in the past that many members were not aware of savings available with an the ITX package, now the combined fare, and it seems unlikely that this will be improved by the current system where there is no option to add vouchers at the start of the process unless you know that you have to 'click' on the map and then that option appears.
So far it is very difficult to agree with Rowena's comment;
"It’s been designed to make the booking experience simpler, easier and altogether better"
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Having now tried, and failed miserably, to get prices for crossings, i have completed the survey. What good it'll do remains to be seen.
Added Site Night Vouchers to beging with, then getting a price for a ferry, go to My Basket - where are the vouchers? Are they there or not, who knows? I certainly couldn't see them. Tried again, then couldn't input vehicle height (I could do that the very first time, so refreshed the page), and the same happened again.
How can anybody make a booking on this system, the old system worked so well, much more user-friendly.
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I tried again too and put in Plymouth - Roscoff 12 June out and 12 July back. Brittany Ferries themselves tell me there are two sailings on each of those two days in each direction but the Club booking page doesn't disclose that information at all. Why the secrecy?
But laboriously Club's new system gives me a price for one sailing in each direction on those dates, but knowing what I know about a second sailing I start again and ask for a price for the other timings on that routes for those dates. Eventually it comes out.
Then I wonder whether the day before or the day after would be better. So back to the beginning and start again. It's like getting blood from a stone. Drip by drip the information is releasd to me.
Did the prices include vouchers? - no idea. Would it have been cheaper with them or without them? No idea.
Should I ask again about that, or go out and rake leaves in the orchard?
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Thanks Ina. I did an hour, but the leaves were raining down on me far faster than the ferry fares.
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Had another go at getting quotes for crossings, but just can't input height of car! Have logged out and back in, to no avail. But can't get any further because it keeps telling me to provide vehicle height......
Talk about going round in circles
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I had the same trouble last night as InaD and Harryb. Had half an hour to spare so thought I would research some ferry prices. I managed one price but on my second attempt I got stuck on the height of car question. Wouldn't let me put the height in but refused to let me go any further.... until I put the height of car in! Restarted the tablet with no success. Stuck in same place.
I really don't get any pleasure in saying this but it is very poor. It should never have gone live.
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Hi All, noticed this morning that even if I log out the little basket icon reappears when I go back to the booking page.
I tried a couple of ways around this with differing odd results and in the end cleared cookies, twice, and I was then able to start again and managed to get a price.
It almost made me happy till I remembered that I should not be faced with any of this mess in the first place.
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Just tried again, after being logged out for some time, and it just won't let me input height, in fact, the drop-down box looks slightly less bright than the drop-down boxes which are usable. If that makes sense! I mean that you can see as soon as it comes up, it's not going to work.
I'm only browing crossings at the moment, once we've made our minds u on exact dates etc, I'll have to ring , if it still doesn't work. But unless the issue with whether you've actually got the vouchers you asked for, is resolved, I'll have to ring anyway.
Is this really the easier, simpler and better booking system? I'm quite good on all things computer, but this booking system defeats me!!
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i bit the bullet and contacted the call centre this morning....they seemed to know how to work this thing..
i got my ferry crossing which was nearly £100 more expensive if i took the vouchers (no thanks!) and got a great deal on the site for our fortnights chill prior to setting off to explore for a few months...
my thanks to the travel team but i should have been able to do this myself....shouldnt i?
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I haven't been back on here since I reported these problems.
What InaD says is word for word what was happening to me.
However yesterday I did beat the system. Instead of Night Vouchers I put in a hypothetical site and it worked. It gave two prices, one for the ferry and one for the site. In the basket it gave the price of the two items added together which did not include an ITX price. However this was later shown after going to 'final' basket. It was long winded having to put in vehicle details twice for both the site and the ferry but it got there.since then I have not tried the booking again with night vouchers.
Rowena, you said, "It’s been designed to make the booking experience simpler, easier and altogether better"
These recent posts have showed up a fundamental problem with the system and there has been no response from you.
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As "one of the first" being invited the new site is dreadful. The website now discriminates against those that have twin axle caravans. It’s has NOT been designed to make the booking experience simpler, easier and altogether better for members. That is a myth!
Prices being displayed seem to be very haphazard?
What inactive map?
How do you view crossings by price and departure as cannot see how to sort or filter this?
At the moment it is a lot easier to book using the C&CC website!
We are all sharing our experience on this thread and the majority seem to agree that it is several steps backward however one thing we can be assured of is that this thread will be ignored and it will take several months for the new booking website to be updated!
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. Are the club able to give us any update on when the system will work effectively?
