Excessive storage fees/increases
Does anyone else think that the club is charging excessive fees for caravan storage and that a 11% increase in storage fees for next year is EXCESSIVE IN THE EXTREME after a year when people,at best received 80% of their pay?
I called to ask for the reason for this and was told the increase was inflationary! What a crock; inflation is 1.7%.
I store in Ashwell in Hertfordshire and after the price hike last year, many caravans were taken off storage. The temporary warden told us that they had 'hemorrhaged' storage pitch members, so why another incredulous increase? It's not as if the storage compound is on decent ground either!
This is meant to be a club, run for the benefit of the members, but how they expect members to keep finding extra money when they are on fixed pension incomes is a mystery to me!
To top it all, the latest magazine has the AGM notes in it, which proudly states the £m's that the club has made in the last year.
There are NO grounds for the pure greed of these latest price hikes.
so after 15 years of storing on a club storage compound, I am going to take my caravan off storage and hope other members following suit if they are able to.
I will no longer use club sites either as they cost for these has become prohibitive while the pitches have got smaller.
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...11% increase in storage fees for next year is EXCESSIVE IN THE EXTREME
I personally would have to know what the original and after prices are before thinking anything
after a year when people,at best received 80% of their pay?
Well a few points there, not all people received 80% of their pay at best, and also how many people who stored their caravan with the club were on the furlough payment?
... when they are on fixed pension incomes is a mystery to me...
If they are on a fixed pension they won't have been affected by the 80% pay you talk about?
Are there grounds for the increase? No for you obviously but that doesn't make it the 'truth' or even pure greed? Personally I would look at the actual amount and decide based on that and other factors (like how close to home, security...) and assume others will make their decision rather than follow your hope?
Not sure what you mean by pitches getting smaller?
I have often said that if the club isn't offering what you want or not good value for money go elsewhere, just like any purchase.
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+ 1
Thanks, Corners, you saved me the trouble of writing that.
I'll just add that I'm not sure it should be the club’s concern whether members are pensioners on fixed incomes. Btw, is there such a thing these days when even the state pension increases annually?
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Until the access problems this year, for the quality of storage they provide the club look pretty good value for money. Ours is much more expensive, although very convient and we have had no restriction on 24/7 access. Personally I am not surprised they are trying to make a little more money from them.
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I am not sure why the club storage at Ashwell has increased by so much? we are in club storage and it has increased by £10 per year on last years prices ,which when looking at other storage in this area is although pricey , is as expected in this part of England it is over £100 cheaper than the ccc storage at Hertford at last years prices
Ps as others have mentioned where do you get the idea that pitches are smaller on club sites? can you expand on that comment?
or is it that LVs have got larger and as pitches on older sites may not be as big ,as newer and some reburbished sites , we have not noticed otherwise
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"We shall squeeze them until the pips squeak" ?
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Not sure that pitches have become smaller as such but depends on how far you look back. In about August 1995 I went away with my wife and youngest daughter for about 50 nights. We used around 16 sites. At least 3 were not C sites although maybe one affiliated site. I reckon that on at least 6 of the club sites I hooked up the night before for an easy early departure after breakfast. Very few sites to be able to do that now in main school holidays.. Many were grass sites and not very well defined without the hard standings of today. Far less competition for space as I normally phoned the next site the day before moving ad was generally able to agree arrival after 10.30
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Hi Paddie, I agree an 11% increase does appear to be on the steep side on the face of it and I think you have done the right thing by taking your caravan out of storage if you are not happy with it. I have done the same thing this year. I stored my motorhome at Salop Leisure in Shrewsbury for many years, but after yearly increases in the charge of well over the rate of inflation each year I have decided to move it. They wanted over £600 this year which I thought was too much. Having said that, there are still many people who are prepared to pay that sort of money since the storage compound appears almost full.
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What does surprise me in this particular thread, is there was a post on the CCC's forum about exactly the same issue with someone storing their caravan at the CCC Theobalds Park.
It just seems rather odd that both Club's storage fees have risen the same.
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Fozzie wrote "It just seems rather odd that both Club's storage fees have risen the same."
The philosophy is usually 'charge what the market will bear'.
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Just taken our motorhome out of storage - we were paying £500 per annum and to our dismay the price was increased to £960 per annum that was unbelievable so we have now brought it home and we can use that money for holidays.
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Not to big a shock as a mate who kept his caravan there warned us of the increase in fees and was arranging to move his van out so had time to sort things out and bring it home
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Old Ludlovian
I assume that this was a commercial operator and not Club storage.
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You are correct private storage
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We are on a privately owned park which has just changed hands and the new owners want us to renew our storage contract to start from 1st Feb on their new more expensive terms. Our present contract is due to run until July, and they have sent an invoice making an adjustment for the time we have already used. Can we decline to sign a new one until our present one runs out? We would like the time to judge whether we like the way the park will be run and whether it is worth keeping the c/van there.
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It depends on the wording of your contract. A contract, incidentally, that was with the previous owner so more than likely is now of no consequence.
Sorry but I think you either play it their way or leave.
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Have I understood this correctly? The new owners have whacked up the price but given you an allowance for the remaining 6 months of your current contract? In which case how much more expensive will it be to accept the new contract for 1 year. Might be worth bearing that extra cost given how sparse some storeage places are (in our area anyway). That way you'd also give yourself time to look for somewhere different if you don't like the way the place is run by the new owners?
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Thanks for your thoughts on this. Probably over reacting to losing the great people who ran the park before who always put their customers first. Now larger more commercial owners who if like their other sites will charge for everything possible.
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You could contact the club's legal department and see what they say. Just a thought!
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Your contract finished when the business changed hands, unless the new people agreed to extend it, only they will know this. This happened to us, lovely farmer there for years and then he retired. The price didn't rise too steeply but the new owner moaned every time we told him we wanted to use our caravan and he had to get it out of the barn. We didn't use it for just weekends only long holidays, all of the other van users also became tired of his complaining about people wanting to use their vans. Why do people run a business when it's not for them. It was one of the reasons we gave up and bought the static, along with the increasing cost of pitches. When I asked him to get it out the last time and he went off on one I took great delight in telling him it would be for the last time as we had sold it!
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Your main decision is whether you want to continue to store your caravan there. If you don't then I would sue the previous owner through the small claims court for breach of contract.
We had a similar situation 3 years ago where the storage owner sold up and the new owner did not want to continue with storage. We had around 9 months left of our paid storage. Out of the 40 van owners only 2 of us pursued him through the courts for our refund. He paid up when we signed the final court papers.
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My storage site fees at a private facility have increased by 15% this year with an explanation that the increase is for extra security cameras etc! The fees have been going up progressively over the past 3 years but I either pay up or move to another storage site! Caravanning is beginning to become an expensive hobby and with the electric car issue here to stay I shall hang on to my diesel 4x4 until it falls apart!
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Found this old post but have to agree with the price hikes - van is stored on the same pebbles as 4 years ago so nothing had changed. I called the club to ask where was their storage revenue in their end of year accounts and was replied with the staggering amount. Seems to me if you want to store within/around the m25 you suffer the costs, we don't all live in a rural area.
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