New booking issue
Just booked a single day and system would not let me add an extra adult, I continued and booked the day as me only does this mean wen turn up with the wife I will be charged for an amendment?
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Not sure how you couldn't add an adult when booking C but when you arrive at site inform the site staff how many people and they will be added on, the only charge will be for the additional people.
JK
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Don't wish to hijack the OP's thread but whilst on the subject of the new booking system. I am confused about whether you leave the payment box ticked or unticked if you are happy for the money to be paid the night before you arrive on site? I read it that if I left it ticked I would pay before arrival but the booking confirmation (via the web, no email as yet) and looking at site bookings via my profile it says pay on arrival?
David
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Box ticked means autopay DK. If you come out of that page for something then go back the box will be ticked so remember to untick before paying deposit.
JK
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I’m pretty sure on the bookings I’ve made this year that I unticked the box in order to pay on arrival, although I think people have commented that the tick can reappear at some point, so best to check and untick it again before you confirm the booking.
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Thanks for clarification JK. We might be using a Club Site late September, and I will be coming and going, so it’s our intention to only book for one person. I will pay for me on arrival each time.
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JK
That was how I read the instructions and I am happy for the payment to come out automatically but the confusing thing is that the onscreen confirmation, and the screen shot I have taken, says pay on arrival. As yet, several hours after booking, I have no email confirmation although I note from a previous booking they now seem to come overnight? It's not a major issue either way but there shouldn't be any confusion.
David
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Just an update. After I fired off an email to the Club questioning about the lack of email confirmation and confusion about ticking the box or not ticking the box, low and behold I received my booking confirmation, albeit two days after the event. It does seem that the left hand is not sure what the right hand is doing. Website booking reference say pay on arrival and the email booking confirmation says as per my instructions my CC will be debited with the balance before arrival, so as Bandgirl says leave the box ticked and it will come out before you arrive on site despite the mixed messages!
David
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The whole confirmation and payment process needs looking at in my opinion. I have had the same as you, in that it flags up payment on arrival at the end of making a booking despite the box being ticked for payment before. Whilst the email shows that I have opted for payment the day before. Although in my case the emails arrived soon after making the booking. Upcoming bookings always shows payment due on arrival, until they take the money. Payment so far has been taken the morning before, except when they apparently had an issue for a few days and nobodies was taken.
Even the email confirmation you get when they take the money is confusing. It is headed holiday confirmation and there is a load of information including details about cancelling before 21 days, that has no relevance. At the bottom, below a big green banner, there is a pdf which you have to open to get further info. Amongst other things this tells you the total price and that the booking has been paid in full. Nothing about what they have actually debited you that morning. It is necessary to check mobile banking to confirm they have only taken the residual not the full amount.
All in all not very well thought out.
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That happened to us during covid when automatic payment was obligatory. Phoned the C&CC and they took an extra £1 deposit and that updated the card details. They had to do it for each of our four bookings though. No idea if you can do that with the CAMC. Although given that receptions are open again, it’s probably simpler to pay on arrival.
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I think by and large the members on this forum do genuinely try to suggest changes and solutions that would improve the booking system. It is a shame that the Club have not invited a small group from amongst us to go through the booking system line by line so the Club understand the frustrations it can cause. To most of us it requires some quite simple changes to improve the experience. How practical those changes are we don't know unless the Club engage with us. I don't suppose its going to happen but we can live in hope!
David
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David K - I've had the same experience as you. I booked Sandringham for Christmas on Sunday and have still not had an email confirming the booking although it's shown in "My Bookings" in my profile. Bearing in mind my recent post about Sandringham previously being closed for refurb over Christmas / New Year, I rang Head Office this morning just to a) confirm the site was open and b) query why I had not received the usual email. I was told that there had recently been a 'glitch' on the system (surprise, surprise) and after confirming my email address, said he would re-send the email.. That was about three hours ago and I'm still waiting for it to arrive!
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I am glad that you mentioned the e-mail not arriving quickly as I booked this morning for Burrs and was becoming concerned when I had not received one as prevously, I had always received an e-mail within a few minutes of booking a site. Perhaps they are using the same company these days as the DVLA!
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Richard
When you book online on the website (I never use the App) the Thank You for Payment page actually says that "Confirmation and full details of your booking will also be emailed to you" although the time frame is not specified. If they were to add, within the next day or two, no one would be concerned. I have experienced other cases when ordering things online where there email confirmation does not arrive immediately but its usually hours rather than days. By comparison the old booking system seemed so slick!!!! I appreciate we are asking the new system to do more than the old. Perhaps its the creation of the .PDF file for the confirmation that is taking the time? I have to say that the .PDF file is more convenient as you can select more easily what you want to print if that is how you wish to do things. Glitches shouldn't really happen and if they do they should be sorted PDQ. I suspect the whole Club webpage is long overdue for an upgrade but I am sure we would all fear that happening
David
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does this payment system actually work has it made it quicker and easier to get on site and onto your pitch ,also has it stopped the 1oclock queue? after 46 years of using club sites and not really having any booking or site access problems we are now using CL s that have some facilities and there are some really nice ones about ,but I do hope that the club management can sort out the booking system ,,,,
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It's one less thing to do when you arrive and I think a lot of sites are using the opportunity to avoid people initially going into reception when they arrive by taking name details against their printed list and allowing people on site. They only need to return to reception to tell them what pitch they are one and if required collect a key fob for the barrier/toilets. It will be even more important as they introduce more ANPR sites?
As far as the system is concerns there are really two elements to it. From a practical point of view it seems to working OK, at least that is my experience. Confirmation emails seem to be taking longer than expected. The payment before you arrive needs some tweaks to the wording in my view but otherwise OK.
The other element is whether you agree with all aspects of the system. The deposit bit has been discussed at length. Some are not happy with how some elements of charging and changing regime introduced into the system. And the acceptance of Dynamic Pricing does not seem to be liked by many?
Other than that everything is Hunky Dory?
David
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I am fuming!!!! The confirmation email arrived last night at 22.30. I checked the pdf document only to find that the very last sentence said "We will deduct the balance the day before your arrival - in accordance with your instructions"
I actually opted to 'pay on arrival' and this is confirmed by the entry in "My Bookings" on this web page.
Notwithstanding the issue of the Club probably being in breach of GDPR in retaining my debit card details - without my authority - for this purpose - it just smacks of sharp practice - or at best, incompetence.
At our age and given the time of year we will intend travelling - anything could happen and therefore it makes no sense whatsoever to pay beforehand when I have the opportunity to pay on arrival. I also suspect it will only be a matter of time when payment 'up front' will be demanded.
Rant over
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I actually opted to 'pay on arrival' and this is confirmed by the entry in "My Bookings" on this web page.
It says that on my “My Bookings”, even though I opted for them to take it before, which is confined in the confirmation email. The whole system is a mess.😡
They don’t seem to take the money until 2am on the morning of arrival. Therefore I assume if you phoned to cancel the day before, it would stop the payment. Although I might be assuming too much.
Of course if you were arriving on a Sunday or Monday you wouldn’t be able to phone the day before. Canceling online would be the only recourse. Wether that would stop the auto payment 🤔 There are just so many unknowns.☹️
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We had that, the emails saying pay before while the website said pay on arrival. It turned out to be pay on arrival.
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I think you'll find whatever the circumstances that late cancellations mean all of the payment is taken. After that you'd have to fight your corner over genuine cancellation reasons and hope for a partial refund? The t&Cs are there to stop people cancelling at the last moment.
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If you cancelled the day before and had opted to pay on arrival, they couldn’t legally debit your credit card for the residual. It would seem a bit harsh to treat those who had opted to pay on the morning of arrival differently. There may be issues with when the third party that administers transactions is told about upcoming deductions. That could well be ahead of when they take the money. However, if I cancelled online the day before arrival I would expect any residual payment subsequently taken returned to my card within days. I certainly wouldn’t expect to have to fight for it. Their T&C’s say I can cancel within 21 days and just loose the deposit.
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On the point about retaining card details. If the Club think you have agreed to pay before arrival then of course they will because its an incomplete transaction until its paid in full. The problem seems to be is the Club don't seem to make it very clear whether you have agreed or not with often one piece of information saying you will pay on arrival but a later piece of information saying you have agreed to pay before arrival. Clearly work to be done there? Perhaps there should be an option in the amend booking part to change payment options?
I am surprised the Club allow a choice but maybe they felt that deposits were such a big move for the membership that demanding all site stays be paid for before arrival, albeit only a matter of hours, was stretching it too far?
David
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What is the end game for the Club re payments?
are we heading (glacially) towards a fully automatic payment upfront which, in return, can provide a silky smooth, no need to queue, or visit the office, have the barrier lifted automatically etc...
all elements of this end to end process need to work smoothly and well for customers to remain confident in what's being done, especially where their hard earned is concerned.
One aspect which still has to be considered and currently remains a 'near USP' (can you have more than one?) is that customers choose their own pitch, which is great and I prefer it.
however, for a really smooth, 'no need to check in' type of arrival process, you really need to look at CLs. Whilst each might be a bit different (certainly due to a different scale) for the most part they either have a board telling you your pitch or ask you to pitch anywhere.
the very nature of the owners not being around all the time means a 'wait at reception' isnt convenient for all concerned.
take this up a notch to some slick commercials and you can choose your pitch in advance, ANPR will check you in and open the barrier and you can glide onto your pitch unhindered.
yes, I realise that many like to drive round the site (a few times?) to find the perfect pitch, but we've found that many site maps and an understanding of geography usually suffice. If the pitch isnt to your liking, most sites are happy for you to move.
do we (the club) really need any more than ANPR to get in and then confirm our pitch with the wardens later?
the booking/entry system should allow those who've paid prior to arrival (should this be all?) to head straight onto site.
if the technical kit (ANPR) isn't available at a particular site then the 'warden with checklist' should suffice and folk in the 'paid' arrival lane should be waved through.
I realise this is happening at some sites but the tech is required at both the payment end and the arrival end to provide a seamless arrival experience and the roll out of ANPR will be a welcome technical improvement.
if customers are still confused/surprised at the way the booking system is actioning payments this soon leads to lack of confidence and, as Richard posts above, full scale annoyance. These simple 'glitches' need to ironed out PDQ as there's nothing more annoying than lacking confidence in how a business handles your money.
we've used several (commercial) sites thus equipped and a joined-up booking, payment, arrival system really does start the break off on the right foot.
I realise the club are trying to move in this direction but some of the simple issues experienced will rankle if not fixed quickly.
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But they can still debit your card whichever day you have agreed. It would be more unfair to all parties not to debit the full amount. Do some think they can avoid cancellation payment by opting for on the day deduction? It's a payment contract.
I'm editing but I'm talking about last minute cancellations and people who don't turn up.
I should add that the system is unclear and confusing so anyone involved in cancelling has my sympathy!
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Brue as I read the T&C’s there is no sliding scale of deductions as with some providers, where you loose 50%, 75% all as you get closer to the booking. The club say you can cancel within 21 days (which includes up to the day before) and only loose the deposit. The club have no rights to the balance of the booking and if it was taking ahead of time due to systems and processes they would have to return it.
If you just don’t turn up or cancel on the day, you are probably right.edit
just seen your edit. It would seem we agree.
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We have not yet seen any figures for cancellations a day or two before arrival on site where just the deposit is lost? Or indeed where people have opted not to pay before arrival and just don't turn up. I have just booked a Club site in Devon where I paid the minimum £20 deposit, I have a balance of £98 to pay. For the same trip I am using two commercial sites which I have had to pay in advance for totalling around £350 so I have no option to avoid payment but the Club site I could cancel the day before and lose £20 and the Club are out of pocket by nearly £100 and little chance of reletting the pitch. It does seem as if the Club are heading towards a standard 10% deposit with a minimum of £20, otherwise why experiment with 10% deposits? Inflation wise the £20 minimum is only about £3 more than when the Club last took deposits which were £10 a booking having previously been £5. One reason given for not continuing with deposits once the online system was set up was that people didn't bother to let a site know they not coming, the just took the hit of losing the deposit. I am not sure the Club should offer the option of paying on arrival in person. Pre Payment seems to work well with the C&CC and I have never seen anyone questioning that on their web forum.
David
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yt - I totally agree with everything you have said - especially re confidence. To cap it all, I have now had - not one, but two emails containing the pdf document, amended to show 'payment on arrival'
What really bothers me about this is the Data Protection issue and the security of my Debit Card details. Even with other companies I use regularly, I never opt for the 'save card details for a quicker checkout next time' because it is too easy these days for organisations much bigger and with more sophisticated cyber security countermeasures in place, to be hacked. CAMC must be storing card details if they have the ability to take the payment the day before without my express additional authorisation and given their track record on matters IT that I have seen so far, that really bothers me.
I am sitting here wondering whether to bother with a Subject Access request under the DPA
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