Foreign travel booking fee
I've just seen this in the foreign travel section. Anyone else seen this
"*From 8 February 2021, a £10 booking fee will apply to European holidays (crossings, campsites and Overseas Site Night Vouchers) which are booked over the phone via our Contact Centre. The fee will not apply when a trip includes holiday elements which cannot be booked online (eg: escorted tours, campsites that are on request etc)."
It seems to have slipped in by the back door, it's in the small print
Comments
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Not noticed that until you posted, regarding my foreign travel I have always felt the need to phone and speak/book via a real person. Probably all could be done online as I do the UK bookings, but felt an added security to my overseas travel bookings by talking rather than relying on an electronic avenue.
It's the way I have done this in the past. Red Pennant, Eurotunnel, first and last sites.
As you say, slipped in via the back door, and not an incentive of saving £10 by booking online but an additional cost when speaking to a real person.
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If no one is answering you will have to go online, assuming that is working, whether you like it or not
. I like to talk things through, and gather information and advice from various sources to help with my decisions but being charged for it seems wrong in this context.
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Our routine has been to get all the info on the website, then call to confirm there are no offers/deals/issues and book.I will just leave out the booking bit!
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Have I understood it correctly, it does not apply to online bookings, only phone? If that is the case they clearly want to discourage people booking by phone as it ties up too many people?
David
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Is the next stage to charge a fee for booking a club site over the phone. Is that not the same thing?
If they are trying to discourage booking by phone then what lies in wait for the contact centre which is a designated department is it not?
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Sign of the times Harryb, everything is going on line, apart from a pint of milk and newspaper each morning, cant remember the last time i was in a shop, oh! i did have a haircut today
The club is a business and as such has to make money if only to improve/buy new sites etc, with so many staff working from home and more of the business being done on line, they will I am sure have written a new business case to capitlalize on this, when did you last book a club site over the phone?, and further more, not sure how big the site is in EG, but fewer people may give them the opportunity to either make better use of what they have or maybe even down size.
They are not the first business to charge for what we used to know as personal service.
Dont like it myself, but this will be part of our new life after Covid
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We don't book anything these days other than the train/ferry but when we were new to 'over there' and travelled in high season we always booked by phone to the club and found the staff really helpful, often making alternative suggestions re times etc. It seems a shame that people will have to pay a fee for this service. However, with planning and help from staff, it may be possible to save the £10 (over booking direct with ferry companies etc) Allanandjean's advice above is a good idea.
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Harry
I suppose the answer is that if the Club provided a reliable and easy to use online system then they don't want staff distracted from dealing with other things that might actually be more important to members. Having a dog and barking yourself springs to mind! I notice your original post didn't mention insurance like Red Pennant. Probably it is still the case that many older people will have to discuss this with the Contact Centre because of medical conditions etc? At least you can still contact the Club by phone or email, try doing that with British Gas or Currys/PCWorld and a whole host of large companies!!!
David
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I understand that untill this virus is really under control (noted that the south africa strain is now on the rise in some London boroughs)social distancing will be with us for a long time ,which is having quite an effect on many companies, with staff having to work remotely ,which then as has been found ,is having an effect on services being provided,
And as for booking UK sites i have always found it better to ring the site concerned ,if there are any queries ref booking
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