New Booking System
Comments
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I’ve just had my first experience of trying out the new booking system, having been put off until now by the early teething problems. I’ve been staying instead at CL sites, mostly using the excellent CL Booking app set up by CL owners themselves.
But after reading assurances from CAMC leaders that things were now better after the outcry from disgruntled members, I decided to book one night for my camper van at Bromyard Downs. Everything was straightforward and speedy at first and I had no trouble checking availability, clicking on dates and confirming vehicle details. The trouble started when I tried to pay the £14.30 fee in full as it was just one night. The payment box directed me to my credit card app where I was asked to approve payment. I approved that but I received no notification email from the club that I had successfully booked and neither the club app nor website had updated the “my bookings” section to show Bromyard Downs. I waited a while to no avail so went through the same procedure again. Still no email and no updating of my upcoming bookings. Eventually my credit card app showed one payment of £14.30 to CAMC and another pending.
I phoned the club late afternoon on Friday and spoke to a very helpful adviser called Stuart who told me that other members had experienced the same issue as me. He confirmed that two payments had been made by me but the club had not registered any booking for me. Stuart manually booked me into Bromyard Downs and I was sent the normal confirmation email while my upcoming booking section was updated with my stay. He promised to get the pending payment stopped by the financial department after the weekend and to phone me on Monday to confirm this.
It would appear the new booking system still needs improvement.
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The above post does highlight a significant problem. As the club does not have a weekend presence, anyone making a late booking for Saturday / Sunday, or Monday if a bank holiday, has nobody to ring to sort out such an issue. They can’t really wait until after the weekend, as that would be after their booking.
This non weekend cover is by no means unique to the CAMC. I have just made a C&CC booking and noted that it said, if you do not receive a confirmation email in 30 minutes contact us and we’ll get your booking confirmed, open 9:30 to 4:00 Monday to Friday.
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Just tried to extent a March booking. First thing, original booking (old system) is for 11 nights, but system says 10, but the dates quoted do add up to 12 (i.e. 11 night stay). Impossible to extend without payimg a deposit. Why? This is AN OLD SYSTEM BOOKING, i.e. before the disastrous idea to charge deposits. Also, is it really fair to increase the price by £11.70 per night just because it is approaching Easter? As someone else has said, no help available at weekends so Monday I will try to get someone to make the amendment for me.
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Why? Because you wish to make an extra booking/extension under the new system, I guess. If you pay the deposit you'll not lose money and you'll have secured your stay.
As for price rises at peak times, twas ever thus and is the same throughout the industry.
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We have our first experience of the new booking system and find there are some fundamental issues and issues.
There is a fundamental data security risk. The system requests, totally unnecessarily, dates of birth for all members of the party. All they really need to know is whether you are adults or children. In this day of cyber hacking and identity fraud this is totally superfluous. As a result I enter fictitious dates in the boxes requested.
My surprise to find on the morning of arrival that the balance of the site fee has automatically been taken from my debit card. This despite my booking confirmation stating balance of payment on arrival. Fortunately this payment did not cause me an embarrassment on my bank balance. I now realise there is a tick box on the booking page which one has to untick to stop automatic payment. It should be the other way around.
Data we had previously been quite happy to have on file, caravan type and length and car details, now seems to have disappeared and be entered manually every time.
As previously noted lack of weekend support has caused an issue this weekend. A medical issue meant we could not travel on the day and there is no way to amend the booking over the weekend.
Overall the system is very clunky and needs refinement.
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https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90487485/Booking-Capability-feedback
This is still available to use if needed regarding the new booking system.
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So many people are still finding problems and I feel that link should be given greater prominence on the website.
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I and others had a similar problem at the start of the new system. I only needed a one night booking but two full payments got taken and no email confirmation. I cancelled everything and waited for a response then rebooked. It was sorted after a flurry of emails from me as I was unhappy that any financial dealings should go awry. CAMC will undoubtedly clear this up for you but I'm wondering why this is still happening as I would expect financial dealings to be watertight. There is obviously a blip as payments go through, whether this is a timing issue or not it shouldn't happen.
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Kintad said "Overall the system is very clunky and needs refinement."
Refinement? A decent burial and start again from scratch would seem more appropriate.
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However were they to do that it would cost even more of our "membership fees", reducing the amount that the "club" could spend on essential site refurbishment, and there would not be any guarantee of the new system being any better that the poor current one.
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It would be better if we got a decent professional team to do the IT. I get the impression that this tweaked 'bolt on' system from somewhere else smacks of 'doing it on the cheap'.
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I've changed an old system booking without having to pay a deposit and yes, my number of nights compared to dates was incorrect too.
You do have to click the 'deposit' tab rather than full payment so I thought I was going to get charged, but it comes through as a £0.00 payment.
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We are booked in a site from tomorrow and the final payment isn't very clear. On the email it says it will be taken from my card the night before as per my instruction which I think I ticked when booking but on the website it says pay on arrival, I haven't received any email to say payment has been taken and it isn't showing on my card so I guess I will just pay tomorrow on arrival. Are people having payments taken from their cards automatically the night before?
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Hi
Not sure of the details but when you get to the payment page where you have the drop down bit to pay a deposit or the whole lot there's a tick box that's already ticked that says you'll pay before arrival. Unless you untick that box, payment will automatically be taken on arrival day, usually around 2.00 am. When you arrive on site to book in your booking page will clearly tell us whether you've paid or not. Hope this is of help.
JK
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Our email re-payment was timed at 02:31 on the morning of arrival and my online banking showed the credit card charge when I checked first thing.
The email however could be much better structured. It is titled your holiday confirmation, then there is a whole page about introduction of deposits, canceling within 21 days etc, before you get to a downloadable pdf right at the bottom. Entitled your adventure begins. The only information that gives you on what you have paid is the total price, no mention about deposit and final payment, you have to check your banking App to check what they have taken.
In summary the system works OK but information could be made a lot clearer.
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What a shambles.!! .spent an hour trying to make a booking and view dates and gave up in the end so frustrated..!
PLEASE JUST REVERT TO THE OLD SYSTEM AND LISTEN TO YOUR ACTUAL CLUB MEMBERS
Why change it
Yours.. EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED Pete
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MangoPete, I am sorry to read your problem. If you would like to say which site you are trying to book and which dates I will look up availability there for you this evening. . If the dates are clear then you can go ahead and learn how to make the booking. I hope this helps.
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However you nor anyone else on here should have to go out of their way to help those that are having problems. This not the only time that members have made strong representations on here about how the new system is unworkable for them when there was a much better workable one in place before they introduced this sorry apology for a booking system!
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The new booking system is so frustrating.
A couple of weeks ago I made a booking for Easter - no issues.
Today I've tried booking 2 sites for June and it won't accept my payment via the website???
I also tried on the app and it won't allow me put input my partners DOB so can't get any further to see if issue with my payment via this route.
Tried calling, sat in the 'queue' for help for 20 minutes and gave up. Some of us have to work for a living.
I may have to re-think our sites for June and join the other club?
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There are comments from CAMC staff in response to Trust Pilot reviews concerning payment difficulties. They are aware of a problem but it's disappointing to hear. Our balance payment for a recent site didn't go through (the deposit went through earlier) but the automatic balance payment didn't work. I had noted that on my booking and on the email confirmation the payments were different, one said payment before arrival and the other said payment on the day! Others have mentioned this.
People need to be aware that the payments system is not fully functioning and CAMC should perhaps notify all members.
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Just another brassed off member with this “new improved” booking system. Arrived on site a couple of days ago on an old style booking from 7 months ago and paid our £160 on arrival, just checked bank account on another matter and found that the club has taken a further nearly £200 out the evening before arrival “ as agreed,” really! I don’t recall that on this old booking ! Now I’ve the hassle of trying to sort this out on site as the club in a call to them apparently can’t credit me the money back as it’s got to be done at the site office, don’t ask! Isn’t progress wonderful 😱
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Not sure how that happened on an old system booking. The prepayment thing isn't linked to them. But anyway, the training we had for the financial side is the site can only refund on the card machine if they took the payment on it in the first place.
I'd be interested to know the outcome of this.
JK
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I have just tried to amend a booking for August, so that we could go to another CAMC site. Tried to charge me £25 for the privilege. Ended up phoning.. waiting to be connected etc. I don’t like the ‘improvements’. When I look at My Bookings, I have to go to another page to find the details. We have been members for many years. I am beginning to prefer private sites and CLs.
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Do banks still operate the phone banking. I used to be able to phone and check balance and last few transactions, read out by an automated voice. Otherwise I would seriously suggest getting internet banking. It is secure and if you have a smart phone with finger print or face recognition takes seconds to do, with no passwords to put in. A laptop is a little more fiddly and you would want a secure WiFi connection, not the CC’s.
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There was no no need to phone. All you needed do was cancel the first booking, reclaim the deposit you paid, and make a fresh booking for the site you really want. It’s very simple - and far more generous on refunds than most private sites offer.
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+1👍🏻. I’d not have it any other way. Fingerprint & entry code is almost infallible followed by Banking code sent to phone before transaction is completed. Any scammer who can pass these firewalls are not looking for small fry like me. Internet banking is liberating.
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According to statistica 92% of people in the UK used some form of internet banking in 2022. Even taking those figures with a pinch of salt it would seem, if Club members are representative of the general public, that a high proportion of members would find it easy to track any banking transactions online? Most banks and credit card companies have Apps for Smartphones where it is easy to check things with a few keystrokes.
David
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Can’t agree more. I am very impressed with our Bank and how online banking and the security works. It was easy to set up, easy to make any changes, and instantly flags up any issues that might be of concern. I quite frequently make purchases from overseas, including China, USA, and even Russia in the past. Touching wood, never had anything untoward. Each transaction like this requires extra security hoops to jump through, which is good as far as I am concerned.
Even if all you want to do is monitor bank statements online, it’s well worth setting up, and is so much easier to see exactly what is happening without delays.
Good point from Steve, never use an unsecured network for banking👍
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