Expensive over charging
I am cancelling my subscription as it has got out of control on these sites they are all regimented and very costly especially when you factor in the cost of joining.
Comments
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To me the sites vary considerably, some can be regimented and others more spacious and some a bit of both. There is choice and you can choose either if you check them out.
On price what we look for is value, this is difficult to define as we each have different ideas on the subject. What you get with the club are clean well run sites which can be a bit samey but they suit a large number of people. If they are not what you want there are lots of other operators and it is personal choice as to what you take.
It is fair to say they are not cheap, to me they are a little over average in most areas and comparable with most large operators. There are cheaper options which are normally smaller family sites which do not have the overheads and need to employ many others that can undercut the club sites but you have to understand they operate in a completely different world. We do often use a private site which can undercut club sites but it is family run and does not have to cover many thinggs the club do.
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@SYDGOUGH Value like beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. Like Wherenext I have been on commercial sites which are just as regimented, I think it comes with the territory. I suspect the demand now for hardstanding pitches, plus serviced pitches, tends to make a more random setting of pitches more difficult? Of course you will also be experiencing much harsher T&C's when not using Club sites in that deposits will be higher and payment often required 4/6 weeks in advance. As far as membership is concerned is £1.29 a week that expensive? The trouble with posts on this subject we generally have no idea how often the poster actually uses their unit and how much they travel rather than sticking to one or two areas. It would be very interesting to know which sites you will use instead of Club sites. At the end of the day its your money and only you can decide how to spend it.
David
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Regimented? Of course some sites, not all, are regimented, can’t be anything other than. It’s all down to layout, nature and the topography of the ground on which they were originally planned and laid out. I’m not exactly sure what has got out of control either, prices and costs generally across the economy have increased considerably in recent years, not specificity just C&MC.. However, renewal or not is down to the individual, if there are alternatives out there which better suit so be it. Folk are all different, that never changes and I’ve heard similar things said over the many decades I’ve been a member.
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Why not make your feelings known to CAMC @SYDGOUGH? We are mere forum members here and can do no more than discuss your post.
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As been posted, your money and your choice. I'm not sure how the cost of membership comes into it, it's the same price whether you use one, ten, hundred… sites or one night stays, if fact the more sites you use the lower the 'cost of membership', not that I view it like that as I want to use club sites as I see them as the best for quality and value for money so I pay the fee.
Also if you use the various offers like certain parentages off certain shop and the free night offers like I do the cost of membership is virtually zero. I once got £1000 of tow bar and electric off my tow car just by showing my card.
Club sites prices are still middle of the road but it is totally your choice.
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Yes, it’s horses for courses and as Hja says, the network of CLs is a real asset to us being members. I was talking yesterday with the CL owner of the site near Scotter I was staying on who was at pains to point out that his, and other CL site fees, have had to go up recently due to the increased costs, particularly electricity. He said that a bill in excess of £800 pounds was paid for last years electric for the site. At £20 a night that’s 40 bookings needed just to cover that element of his costs of running his site. Sometimes a few folk think that increases to bills and the like only apply to them. We are all in this together, as he pointed out, he was not in the ‘business’ to make a living from running his CL but it was an enjoyable sideline that he hoped fellow members would appreciate as much as he too enjoyed his shared pastime of visiting C&MC sites and CLs around the country in his caravan. He kept a cracking site too, no negatives I could notice except for a row of 5 pitches if that is what is meant by being regimented, not a negative for me mind. He and his partner were rightly proud of their contribution to the C&MC network.
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I guess it is what value you place on neat tidy sites, the facilities and the safety of knowing what you are going to get for your money. We are a little more adventurous and are quite happy to try unknown sites and use our own facilities. For a desired location we do look for cheaper suitable alternatives and very often find them. As a consequence our take up of Club sites is quite low, less than 25 percent of the total nights we are away in any one year. However, location is paramount and we retain our membership for the occasions when the location of a Club site turns out to be the more favourable. So far this year, we have only made one trip which used a Club site for two nights, there are a further three trips planned totalling in excess of of 60 nights of which only three nights of these will be on a Club site.
peedee
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I've lost track of how many times this has been covered. We are all members of the club for different reasons.
Like others I have my gripes. I find the club sites often resemble manicured car parks, but with nice facilities. I'm confused by the dangerous [to me] conclusions when large vans with pathetic payloads have glowing reviews in the club magazine. I'm not interested in the extensive bird watching articles or the likes of dog basket reviews. £100K tow car revies are beyond the dreams of the majority of members, although when 2nd hand may have a wider audience.
My main gripe is insurance. How can such a large club not have buying power when it comes supplying insurance, admittedly as an agent/third party and secure policies at more competitive rates.
I'm a member for the CL's and Red Pennant. so each to their own.
Colin
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Peedee, I was just about to ask who do you use to get the two way and caravan away from car cover, then I saw your image of a motorhome.
Colin
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