Early arrivals - action at last?
I’ve said several times when we’ve discussed the issue of early arrivals that, in my opinion, the only effective way to deal with recalcitrant 'offenders' is to apply membership sanctions.
I’ve been reading elsewhere of a CAMC member who, it’s reported, has had his club membership suspended by the Site Manager due to arriving early at Hillhead and refusing to leave despite being requested to do so by that Site Manager.
In this case it seems to have been the member's own lack of planning and forethought which resulted in his early arrival so it’s not a case of there being any extenuating circumstances.
Obviously only one side of the story is given and we need to keep open minds but, if this is factual, it would appear that the club is using its teeth in an effort to enforce the no arrivals before 1300 rule. Perhaps this is what is needed to get the message across.
Comments
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It may yet trickle down to members that 1300 earliest arrival time means just that
there have been on numerous days LVs being refused entry here and being sent away ,even though it involves going through three barriers to exit
Not sure if a site manager can without consulting others withdraw membership
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I’ve been reading elsewhere of a CAMC member who, it’s reported, has had his club membership suspended by the Site Manager due to arriving early at Hillhead and refusing to leave despite being requested to do so by that Site Manager.
I hope it is true.
peedee
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JV, I have a recollection of JK confirming that site managers have the power.
PD, I too hope that membership sanctions being used is true insofar as it means the club is getting to grips with the problem
What a shame, though, that some members can’t simply do as they’re asked and arrive after 1300. 😥
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I spotted that too, as I read it they were asked to leave by two wardens and refused then asked again by I assume the head warden (site manager) and actually instructed to leave and they again refused and this is when their booking was cancelled and their membership suspended (on a later post they say it's a 14 day initial suspension and Head office been on touch). Also as said it was totally their own fault they knew the time it would take from where they were yet arrived early.
Well done wardens for me, and hopefully the message will get through.
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Not about arriving early ED, it's about their refusal to follow the site managers instructions. If they had left when asked there would be no sanction.
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2. Management
b. So everyone can enjoy holidaying on site, please follow the Site Staff’s requests and all notices and instructions. Your health and safety is important, so please take care of yourself and others on the site.
c. If anyone on site disregards these rules and disrupts the enjoyment of others, the Site Staff have the right to ask them to leave the site.
d. Compliance with our Club Site Rules is a condition of membership and a condition of site usage for members and non-members. Those not complying may be reported to the Head of Membership Services. Their membership and access to any of the Club sites and services may be suspended. This could lead to termination of membership. If this happens, refunds of site fees may only be paid by Head Office. Applications for refunds should be addressed to the Head of Membership Services at East Grinstead House
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Good, about time, i hope all site mangers read this post, and do the same
i must admit, early arrives really P me off. in this day and age with so many navigation aids, apps, devices etc, there is no excuse for being at most,10 mins early12 -
They're kinda linked. If you arrived 5 mins early would you really expect to be turned away with the instructions to come back later? An hour early, yes, but 5 or 10mins.
There was a MH sat at the gate where we are the other day at around 12:30 .... the barrier stayed down & as far as I know the wardens just let them stay there till 13:00
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Reading it again, Corners, I do wonder if there was an element of contrivance to arrive early, or on the dot of 1300, in this member's actions in order to get a 'best' pitch.
He broke his journey by staying the night at Exeter Racecourse which is only 23 miles and 30/40 mins from Hillhead. Why not continue to Hillhead that day, or would that have meant arriving late in the afternoon when only unfavoured pitches remained vacant?
It doesn’t add up somehow🤔
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You’re going off at a tangent, ED. The topic is about the club apparently getting tougher with early arrivals and not about nit picking over what constitutes early. We've done that before and you can always resurrect the old thread if you wish.👍🏻
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Well not to me, and yes I would be expected to be turned away if anytime early and I would certainly follow any instructions but then again I wouldn't arrive early.
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Yes. It’s all or nothing-a fudge leads to anarchy, which is what has been ongoing🤷🏻♂️
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So we're discussing something that would never happen to me? But yes turned away even for 5 minutes, because (as been discussed before in the last thread) 5 minutes becomes ok, so what about 7? 8...
It' simple don't arrive early. ED you're taking this off topic it's not about the time it's about using sanctions.
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There will probably be quite a few folks like this, (although of course we don’t know the full story) It’s going to be a learning curve for a few, but my guess is this will be a lesson well and truly learned.
Everyone with a Club Site booking gets an email/text reminder that the earliest arrival time is now 1pm. And it’s plastered all over various webpages now, so only the truly unconnected/ignorant can claim to be unaware.
If the Club is going to “make rules” then it does need to enforce them. 👍
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I’m afraid this Club and it’s wardens have a lot to learn.
But once we have a booking system where members have paid in advance under the new system.the HR department at Head Office will be urgently re training wardens about breach of contract law if they turn people away who have paid.
Whether they will ever learn customer service such as the better commercial sites have is another matter. For instance Polmanter site at St Ives says visitors are welcome to park free of charge from 0200 in the early arrivals area, to check in at reception from 0900, have breakfast on the cafe while they wait, and the staff do their best to have all pitches ready by 1230, but often earlier.
And of course visitors can book a pre selected pitch so they don’t have to race other people to bag the pitch they want.
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I think that pretty much sums it up, TDA.
As you said, we don’t know the full story (and probably never will) but it is an indication that the club is enforcing their arrival time rule and, if what we hear about membership suspension is accurate, the message will surely spread.👍🏻
Maybe we're even helping the news spread by discussing it here. 😀
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Or equally maybe the people who use club sites like this have a lot to learn?
Regarding breach of law? So all those people who have been denied flights, because they don't arrive on time for check in, or have overweight bags, or don't have the right documents..., or don't abide by Easy Jet's T&C (we've all seen the tv shows), or have been told to leave hotels because they have broken some T&C, have all had their money back? So what you're saying is because one has paid a deposit then you can arrive at any time? If you have paid and booked in you can ignore the wardens instructions? The rules state that you can be asked to leave at any time and to get any money back you have to apply to head office.
As regarding other sites, as always if club site customer service and arrival times, and procedures don't suit then why book them? Everyone will now know what happens on club sites so if you don't want this to happen to you go to those sites where you'll be accommodated? Have you ever considered that maybe people actually like what they get on a club site?
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We always use tom tom or google maps as a guide to how long will take, and the expected arrival time, and have never set off before the time they say we will get us there before 12. now 1PM
Most navigation aids are set up for cars, so with a caravan you tend to loss approx. 5 minutes an hour, there is a megger difference between arriving 5 minutes early because you have made good time, then in some cases hours early
Common sense tells you someone arriving a max10 minutes early, is a lot different to someone who arrives in some cases, over an hour early.2 -
Did not know pitch allocation was also to be included in the new booking system
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I don’t happen to like many of the rules and regulations that abound on Club Sites, but I appreciate they are there for a reason, mostly to protect the majority from a tiny minority. (That’s fundamentally how our society operates.)
I get around this by choosing places to stay that don’t have, or don’t need, as many hard and fast rules. Usually smaller, and more specialised than Club Sites.
But the thing that really irritates me is if I do go to a Club Site, and someone from the minority of spoilers blatantly disregards a rule, and nothing gets done about it. So, if the Club is allowing it’s staff to manage to the rules (albeit in as fair and reasonable way as possible), then hurrah. Otherwise, what’s the point🤷♀️
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It isn’t. Only choice between HS&Grass. Staff might still allocate for an unusual outfit, but they do now.
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As this concerns Hillhead which has arrival lanes and virtually no other parking for many miles I'm wondering what is going wrong. Judging by the many reviews referring to arrival incidents it appears to be a site related problem and is the responsibility of CAMC to solve without resorting to the conditions mentioned in the reviews (especially telling arrivals to turn left to the Dartmouth ferry which is totally inappropriate.)
We have visited Hillhead many times but the reviews now speak for themselves about this very busy summer site where arrivals at peak time were previously handled more flexibly and the area outside the site doesn't allow for safe waiting. This is a customer services and road safety problem, one size doesn't fit all in this case.
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" one size doesn't fit all in this case."
It may well be that Hillhead is different, Brue, and I can’t say as I’ve never been there but whatever makes it different, there is still no excuse for folk to disregard the arrival time. It’s not like Southland where people are somewhat governed by ferry timetables so encounter difficulties in adhering to the stipulated time.
The member who is the subject here reportedly left himself an hour to complete a half hour journey which was just plain silly and bound to result in early arrival. Nothing excuses that in my book which is why I think it’s a good move on the part of the club to hit the message home hard.
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If everyone arrived on the dot at Hillhead there would still be a traffic problem in the main holiday season TW. So I'm afraid this is an issue for CAMC and I'm not commenting here on customer actions that may or not be considered by some to be "plain silly."
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Wow!
Actually you’re right in that it is an issue for CAMC and I’m happy to see they’re dealing with it.👍🏻
Don't forget that if there was a mass influx at 1300, people would be booking in and the queue would be moving. It’s not so prior to 1300 when any queue would either remain static or increase, hence the need not to allow a queue - simples!
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