New Booking System
Comments
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I wish the system had not changed as I think this is not easy for the mature members
I think you do the mature members a disservice, as from posts on CT more than that age group are having difficulties. Personally I’ve not found the act of searching and booking that onerous, except during the initial roll out. However, it just isn’t anything like a complete booking experience, which is what we were promised. At a month after launch the likelihood of this ever being provided, is looking slim to non existent.
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I think even the CL search is very device specific. On iOS devices it doesn’t seem to have the issues experienced on Android. Although having said that, it has clearly been designed for a minimum of a pad, as trying to use it on a small phone screen is difficult. However, the same could be said of other similar web sites / Apps. I don’t find the ACSI one very easy on the phone, but is fine on the pad.
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"Personally I’ve not found the act of searching and booking that onerous"
well i am sure for many users this is certainly not the case, many who are away in their rv's will only have a smart phone to use, in my case android, all we want is to be able to jump into the system, book a site/pitch and jump out, no more than a few minutes at most, possibly from a lay-by along our route,
Are we now to be expected to carry Android/iOS, Note book, Laptop, semaphore flags, morse key ??, ridiculous state of affairs.
"as I think this is not easy for the mature members"
p.s. didnt i read somewhere that many of the senior posts will be filled with those who have been present during this debacle ?
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""as I think this is not easy for the mature members"
some for sure, as an ex Telecoms/IT/Satellite professional, i think it is outrageous that a professional company can roll-out such a heap of junk and expect the members to do the de-bugging for them, and there will be many out there who stuggle to use a smartphone, so are going to find it very difficult to navigate their way around this software, and the lack of comprehensive instructions is going to make it a whole lot more difficult, but i am willing to bet my shirt that in 12 months time the club will still be performing badly in terms of customer service but still bringing in the revenue. .
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As a family we have been members of the Club for more than 16 years and I've got to say that we don't like the new booking system at all. Horrible!! We got the shock of our life to see how over engineered the whole thing is and we don't like the look one bit! We thought that we had accidently clicked on the wrong web site at first and had to look twice to check that we hadn't clicked on some rogue poor-quality old-fashioned competitors site or some scam web site! Totally dismayed at the poor layout, extra unnecessary information required such as length of car, dates of birth etc. Simple is better!! Really disappointed to the point that it has completely put us off booking, especially having a basket (what's that about!) as though we are now buying a product! We'll have to leave planned bookings for now and perhaps even consider other alternatives, at least until we get over the shock of how bad this experience is now. What has happened to our straight forward, simple professional looking booking system with a pleasing professional layout? If this doesn't revert back to how it was, we may even have to consider cancelling the membership in the future. Who did the club consult with over these changes because we read all of the magazines from front to back and haven't seen the need or call from members for such a radical poor overhaul of the booking system? Caravan and Motorhome Club please seriously reconsider this move especially the over complex booking system and also charging of deposits and using baskets. If we can't get the usual level of trust and professionalism that we have come to expect as a service from the club then we might as well look at other options with other clubs or privately owned sites who operate how you have now changed this system to work like, with deposits and an unfriendly look and feel. Unfortunately, we feel that you have just lowered the standards significantly. Yours Faithfully, the Burnett Family.
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Burnett family….. (and others) whilst it’s good to see lots of Members responding on CT, most of the regulars on here know that what is said doesn’t get that much of a response. I would suggest putting a review on Trustpilot (scroll to bottom of page) because this is the Club’s shop window to the World, and it getting far more attention. And it’s tumbling each week. It virtually the only place that Members can really influence, the Club responds daily, and out there in the big wide World, folks can see and read what has been going on.
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Yes, and also use the response facility in the Your New Booking Experience part of the web site. Also submit a question to the AGM. Doesn’t matter if you are there or not.
Also on the CL booking thread on this forum, the CLs have been pretty much told by the Club that they will not publish CL prices because too many are out of date and they seem to also be afraid of unfair comparisons with club site prices ( if I have read it correctly).
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I agree it’s not good enough. It should work on all devices. However, that doesn’t negate the fact it works on iOS devices. Someone with an iphone should have no significant problems (apart from finger size) booking a site from a lay-bye on route. As long as they have 4G.
As to:-
Are we now to be expected to carry Android/iOS, Note book, Laptop, semaphore flags, morse key ??, ridiculous state of affairs.
That’s just being childish.
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especially having a basket (what's that about!) as though we are now buying a product!
Well you are buying a product, you are buying a holiday on a CAMC site. However, if you just buy the one holiday the basket doesn’t come into it, just opt for quick checkout. You only need to put your holiday in the basket, if you want to make another booking at the same time. Just how it works on Amazon, Tesco.com and many others others.
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Not so much that CL prices are out of date but more likely they compare unfavourably with CAMC pricing, yes it is beginning to look that way.
However it might be better for CLs if the search engine was actually functioning, which it isn't and the new system was launched with an incomplete set up for CLs.5 -
If you had used a 😉emoji I wouldn’t have replied so.
I’ll agree on flippant, which also applies to your comment about buying an iphone. After all I did say “I agree it’s not good enough” clearly it needs sorting, so those with Android phones can have the same experience as those with iPhones.
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But who are the people who are responding to the posts from people whom i assume are members, looks to me like a random bunch of people possibly assigned to Trust Pilot and others to respond to posts. to make it look like something is happening.
Do you think the club is particularly bothered re their rating for their booking software, when interlaced with this are glowing reviews re their sites, and as they have stated in a response on CT bookings are pouring in.
Not followed this post much over the last few weeks but reading some of the more recent it would appear that not a lot has been achieved by way of rectifiying many of the faults/bugs that are present on the new booking system.
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Oh!!! it will be there, this is a quote from Trust Pilot dated Sept 16 2016
"The "new" version is really very poor - the sites are still the same - but booking them is murderous. Over the last 2 years I've tried to book multiple sites on the web and been frustrated by recursive web pages (those that take you back to the start after filling in the same forms endless times"
"the more something changes the more it remains the same" Oscar Wilde
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If I was to construct a web site today (I have done so in the past) I would not try to write seperate versions for mobile devices. They are just so many of them and with continually changing variations. I would instead use commercial software to produce a slimed down version for the mobiles.
In fact, the way it is done now is that a "front end" determines what device it is dealing with and then in real time applies the necessary changes to make it all work on whatever device the user has chosen. This costs money - and no doubt there are web site authors that think they can save money on this and still write their own multiple variations.
Of course, no matter how high quality a front end is applied, if the underlying code for the website is not written to industry standard then weird things will happen. Has anyone seen examples of this here lately?
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I think I will still use the old method using Wales Scotland, England & Ireland, then the counties. which appears to be quicker , unless the Club removes this method and still have some idea of price structure, and then comfirming when a final booking is made.
I too will try to have a conversation at the club desk at Nec or at a forum
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Yes, go along to club day on 18th and take part in the live forums 😎
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In this case, Rufs, it has changed and is much worse than remaining the same.
To those few people who asked for a deposit based system to be introduced I say be careful what you wish for in future.
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Yes agree with most, but i suggested many weeks ago that the new system should have been on a new platform, expensive i know, and the old and new running in tandem until such time that all members had been migrated to the new system, this way relatively small batches of users could have been moved and faults/bugs/anomoiies identified and fixed without major disruption to service or users.
It would appear that the club have used the Overseas booking system and tried to tailor it to meet the needs of the domestic business.
not a problem for me in the short term, off to Spain for 3 months,
no i did not use the clubs overseas booking system0 -
Only read some of the posts but have looked at the recent update/link by Rowena. One FAQ there stood out for me - Quote - ”Why do I need to enter my Date of Birth for myself or guests (including children)? In order to provide the appropriate price for each stay we need to capture the date of birth for each guest. To select the date of birth, please use the drop down options, or if adding a guest simply press the year at the top of the date selection panel, and then select month and day. We are reviewing this process in order to simplify it for members."
Entering DOB’s of adults and children is not something I have come across when booking with other UK pitch providers that I can recall. Would prefer to enter number of adults and number of children rather than personal details. I have not yet needed to use the new system preferring to book with other pitch providers for now. Will keep checking back for info and Rowena’s updates.in the hope that all will be fixed soon.
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Has anybody experienced how the deposit system is working?
Our Booking Confirmation states: “You will lose the deposit paid for amendments and all cancellations made within 21 days of your booked arrival date”
Let's suppose we book 10 nights at £30 per night. I believe we'd pay a 20% deposit of £60 upon booking.
If, a week before we travel, we have to cancel the last 5 nights, do we lose, (a) the whole £60, (b) half the £60, or (c) nothing?
(a) would be pretty draconian,
(b) would possibly seem fairest, but contradicts the booking confirmation statement above,
(c) doesn’t penalise people for booking nights they aren’t going to take, which was the purpose behind taking deposits AND it contradicts the booking confirmation statement.
Anyone know which applies? I presume the Club has a policy to cover this situation, but I have no idea what it is in practice.
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We booked a 3-night stay at a club site, paid a £25 deposit. A few days before our stay I got a last-minute hospital appointment, so we had to put back our booking by a day, which we did by calling the site direct. The warden was surprised to see that we had been penalised £8.34, with no explanation. I still don't understand this - was it a third of the deposit because we booked three days? If so, if we'd booked, say 14 days and had to put it back a day, would we have been charged one fourteenth of the deposit??
It all seems a bit haphazard, and I haven't seen any adequate explanation of the Club's policy on this.
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It’s only been running 32 days so far, so the likelihood of anyone having done it and able to provide an answer will be low. After all most of the bookings taken so far would have been made under the old system and T&C’s. Your best bet is to contact the club, you never know you might get a definitive answer.😀
edit based on S&P’s experience. It looks like B.
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Thank you “takethedogalong” for pointing out that Trust Pilot gets a response, although rather bland. The club magazine letters page never publishes any criticism- which would make the mag more informative. It’s good to know where complaints are listened to!
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