New Booking System
Comments
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I don’t think so, tbh. What matters more than who starts the thread is getting Ro onboard to agree to flag relevant points to the IT team. Why not email her and see what she says?
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I would agree with many that this 'upgrade' is a retrograde step. I find it cumbersome and 'clunky' (technical term) to use. The issue of depostits and 'no shows' is a separate matter but this is not user friendly in any way. I also find the need for DoB informaiton and car length a puzzling need.
The old system was easy to see availability and book a pitch. This one just makes it more difficult. It led to uis making a booking with another provider, not what the Club or anyone else wants. As with so many organisations the organisation's needs come far higher in priority than the needs of their customers.
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Many of the CL owners who contribute here are also part of Ted's separate CL booking website so I imagine they won't be as concerned as those CL owners who just rely on the Club site.
I'm on a C.L. at the moment run by a couple who mentioned their 60 y.o. son going down to London for the funeral, so it gives you some idea as to their age.
During a conversation I happened to mention the new system and they said they never go on the club website. I suspect there will be many C.L. owners of several years standing who will be in the same boat and won't have a clue as to how the system is potentially affecting their business.
If the club really isn't interested in C.L.s, and their attitude seems to be veering away from their current level of support, then pass over their licence to an organisation that is.
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The complaints have nothing to do with sour grapes for deposits. The new system is totally diabolical, and I was for deposits, however it also appears some people will always back the club and try to defend it .
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I think the issues of CLs is an example of the bad communications of the Club. There is clearly a lower level of useability in regards CLs on the new site. There is simply no link from the summary information to the full page. Yes I know there are other ways of getting the information, but that is not the point. It simply isn’t currently easily available within the Club site.
It has been expressed within the forum that hopefully this can be fixed. So a real opportunity for the Club to be up front, accept there is a problem and that they are trying to resolve it. This would probably reduce one section of the criticism. I won’t hold my breathe because experience tells many of us that the Club is really bad at PR. Please Poole me wrong, CAMC!
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I am all for deposits 100%..... However I have an issue which must affect many retired members..... We have been members since 1978 and as far as we can remember have only been forced to cancel once.
Now we are retired and for the last several years we book our trips for the coming year from January during the colder weather and this year we will have been away 82 nights exclusively on club sites..... I am entirely happy to pay a non returnable (inside 21 days of booking) deposit. However to charge 20% of a fortnight's trip is too much . If we booked all 82 nights on main CMC sites it would cost us around £480 in one hit!
We cannot afford to do this so risk not being able to have a plan for our year completed as we can only afford a smaller amount in one hit. I appreciate that we could cancel before the 21 day cut off but we, as very good numbers who do not play the system by overbooking and are definitely being unfairly penalised for other inconsiderate abusers of the system and it is not reasonable.
Please would management have a rethink and whilst appreciating the benefit of deposits for both members and club viability, please also appreciate the difficulties and upset a blanket 20% deposit on the total cost of a multi day booking is causing.
Thank you
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I've just commented on another thread that I found some old correspondence from the then Caravan Club, from 1999, indicating that I paid two deposits of £5 each for two site bookings, one of 12 nights and one of 8 nights. The total booking fee isnt shown so I dont know what % that was, but clearly the deposit was a fixed amount regardless of length of booking. On a longer booking a fixed deposit is clearly going to be less than 20%. I believe there is a minimum deposit, so presumably there could be a max deposit. And for those who say you pay the same amount whenever you pay, true. But cash flow matters to some people.
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Several options for you.…
.Book each tour separately rather than booking for the whole year in one go. Pay deposits for each separate tour on a credit card and pay them off in stages . Choose cheaper sites - independent sites as well as CLs, Travel flexibly without paying deposits, just making phone calls for availability as you go. Save Tesco vouchers to use on the Channel tunnel.
The Club is not going to change its system, but you could change yours.
Good wishes.
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Agree WN, (know where you are😉). Lovely little CL, been operating happily for decades. Not the kind of place to ever run a booking site, so likely to see a few issues if Members can’t find it via website.
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Some good ideas there.
I would add.....get a 0% interest credit card and use that for deposits. You can set up the monthly DDs to pay it off to suit you. Most give the 0% for 12-24 months, so ditch the card before then and apply for a fresh one.
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I don't find it totally diabolical at all, yes it needs some work on it but it does function, you are able to book and look for sites, CLs and late availability. The crux of the matter is some are having problems working out how just because it does not work like the old booking system! Quite why I have no idea, some of us manage quite well. Time and time and again I see posts in this thread where it is obvious the poster hasn't really a clue and hasn't made much attempt to help themselves. I don't think I am known as a defender of the Club, if trying to help others is called defending the Club then I am guilty as charged.
peedee
P.S. you forgot to mention about resistance to change
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Whatever you think about the new system, it is fairly lengthy and does require you to input credit card data at the end. Given that I would have hoped that the IT department would have made an effort and started warning about maintenance with a pop up. But no, same as always, last night they just pulled the plug without warning. Hope nobody was in the middle of a booking at the time.🤞
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SL, is it Credit card only or can a debit card be used. I ask because to use a debit card is less potential loss leading. Credit cards tend to have way more available funds.
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The club contacted me over my deposit over payment and have now refunded this, they did say there had been teething problems with the new system introduction.
At this point I would imagine there are both user and provider problems and yes it would help if difficult areas were pinpointed.
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I don't think they are wrong but probably reflect people having difficulties with the new system compared to the simplicity of the old?
It was bound to be more complicated with the facility to book and check the availability of types of pitch.
ppeedee
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Surely it’s only booking HS and grass that is different. You have always been able to book, service, awning / non awning, multi surface and non EHU. Given that quite a few sites only have HS pitches and a few are all grass, it’s not really a huge change.
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They do but dealing with CAMC & dealing with other businesses are way different. I use my CCards for everything over £100 but not CAMC because of the unpredictability of their IT systems, I worry re vulnerability of security. I realise everything is Bank backed up but my peace of mind is more important. Thanks for the info SL👍🏻
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Steve
To be charitable to those that are complaining about the new system it is very different to the old in the way it looks and feels. There are two major changes in what it does, as you say the booking of a specific pitch type and then the payment element. The layout is also different which for some will be daunting to some who don't have a general confidence in dealing with computer systems and can find changes confusing. It does take time for new systems to settle down as we all probably know from changes in work systems.
What can't be changed is the sudden realisation by some that to replicate their previous booking regime is going to cost them a lot of money up front. The only options there is to either bite the bullet or change the booking regime by either only booking ahead for the really essential future stays or just to get into the habit of not booking so far ahead?
David
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We use a credit card for all purchases, if something is going to go wrong, then it is initially the bank's money affected, not our account, and most card providers are "on the ball" when it comes to fraudulent transactions.
We once, and it was the only time ever, many years back, used a debit card to purchase some of those overseas site vouchers from that company associated with CAMC, it was the only way to pay. Some months later there was fraudulent transaction on our account, quite a large one, and it was allowed to go through and tied up money for several days till it was sorted.
We find that using a credit card is also much easier as it is only one payment to make each month, and you know when there needs to be money in your bank account to cover it. We keep our current account balance only a little above what is required to cover the various direct debits and standing orders that go out each month.
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KJ, see my 2nd reply to SL👍🏻
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This is what I see using Windows 10 and Firefox for my profile. I don't have any bookings so cannot say anything further.
peedee
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I did Rocky, but have more faith in our credit card provider to sort things out quickly!
Having our day to day account compromised would be way more painful than a credit card. We only have one current account in normal use, but have several credit cards to move between if required. And none of them have huge limits any more.
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I’m glad you are that confident in CAMC IT systems👍🏻 but I am not. Brue wasn’t the only person who suffered double costs removal from account. It’s not for me, my online security attitude is what it is & I will not change? I prefer not to be inconvenienced I’ve read the horror stories. One ended up with HMRC getting involved that froze an account for months due to tax issues. . .Not for me🙁
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as going via my profile takes me to bookings
