Caravan Club Bookings check them

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

I went in to check me bookings earlier and when i went into my hillhead booking the notes that head office had put about my outfit and annex and also the section to confirm if you have a disabled person in your party had gone. i rang hillhead and it had gone they know me from last yeaqr and put it in again. i also rang longleat and they said the same the disabled confirmation had disapeared. they also had a customer today who came in and the same thing. longleat have stopped doing disabled pitches anyway they told me.

check your bookings about the disabled confirmation. i know it doesnt always guarantee you a pitch but sometimes it does help.

it looks like in place of the disabled confirmation they have put like a pdf form for you to read instead. nice of them to give us all warnings about the changes.

im goning to ring HO on monday to double check and ask why?.

jo-anne

 

[Jennifer2]

Yes, I have checked ours, and exactly the same has happened, I have sent them a query.

You say Longleat no longer do disabled pitches, I presume you mean they no longer set aside a few for those that make such requests? Is it possible that this is a new policy on all sites? If so it is a retrograde step.

We are not long back from a 2 month trip where we had requested pitches close to the disabled facilities, and on all but our last site we did get a suitable pitch. This was Lady Margarets Park, where we unfortunately ended up having to stay 20 nights as our car had to get a new gearbox fitted.

We had rung them to say we had broken down and would be late, although it was only 17.30 when we arrived. We were directed to the last remaining hardstanding, which was probably the pitch furthest from the toilet block and also was a long way from a water/waste point. When I reminded the warden we had requested a "disabled" pitch, he offered us a grass pitch right next to the toilet block, which (a) was too short for our van, and (b)would have been impossible for the transporter lorry to take the van to.

I did consider sending a query on this to the Club, as this was the second time our request had been ignored at Lady Margarets Park, but didn't in the end as the wardens were very helpful in accommodating us on a virtually full site, and cancelling our 2 remaining bookings.

 

[Tapestry]

Hi Joanne

Longleat cc I'd make sure the wardens know the exact length of your outfit with the annex. The site is flat and pitches easy to get onto. There are 2 toilet blocks. I have a 6 berth single axile caravan, there are a few pitches, in our opinion on the outer edge, just the other side of the hedge from the minature railway, that we consider would to be a bit tight length wise for our caravan.

We were at Longleat cc Spring Bank holiday. Another thing to be aware of is that if you are on hard standing then the whole outfit has to be on the hard standing. They are extremely strict about the position of your car, caravan and awning.

Longleat is a lovely flat site site. Hope this is of some help

Good luck and have a lovely holiday

Annette

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

jennifer, will you also be ringing the cc about this aswell?. the more that phone to mention it the better.

jo

 

[Jennifer2]

Hi, I will give them a few days to reply, see what they say. If it is not satisfactory I will be ringing them.

 

[Dustydog]

What happened Jo-anne?

Are you still going to Hillhead and Longleat??

Cheers

Dustydog

 

[Jennifer2]

Here is the reply we got....

Thank you for your email.

We initially had a box online in the booking process for members to make special requests. This was mainly intended for the use of members with a disability who would like to be located near to the on-site facilities, however this box was misused and the large quantity and range of requests coming through meant wardens were unable to meet a large proportion of them. We then had a problem with members thinking that they would get their request when they arrived at the site and this was not always possible.

We therefore took the decision to amend this to a tick box, where members could tick if they had a disability. We then had feedback from some members suggesting that they although they were disabled they did not want to be placed near to the facilities.

The decision has now been taken by The Club to remove the box altogether and simply provide access statements with all the required information for disabled members. For any additional requests, the best thing to do is give the wardens a call who will be more than happy to assist.

I hope this helps to explain our reasons for removing this from the website booking, but please feel free to get back in touch should you have any further questions or comments.

Kind Regards

Helen

Web Contact Team

The Caravan Club

 

[Jennifer2]

So, from the above it seems people were probably requesting, and assuming they would get, all sorts of things. Not sure what, but that is what they seem to be saying.

The "tick box" for disabled was then objected to by disabled members. This does not seem sensible, they did not need to tick it if they did not want to. I never saw this box as we have been away for 2 months, it cannot have been there very long.

The tick box could have said......

"Tick here if you have a disabled camper and wish to request a pitch close to the facilities."

Longer, but unambiguous. Surely nobody could object to that text?

So now, if you want to request a "disabled" pitch it seems you need to ring the site direct. Makes a mockery of on-line booking!

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

jennifer, thanks for that. when i spoke to a Helen this afternoon she didnt know why it had been changed so was gonna ask the powers of be.

she has gone into all my bookings and manually put stuff in and also ticked the disabled box aswell.

i agree with you if they dont wanna be near facilities then dont tick the box.

this is gonna cause problems isnt it.

jo

 

[Jennifer2]

I have sent a reply to Helen, suggesting they should review the decision and suggesting the text for the tick box. Will report her reply.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

jennifer can you tell me what email you used and ill email them aswell.

thanks

jo x

 

[Jennifer2]

webcontactteam@caravanclub.com

 

[Poppasmurf]

I'm in a club and frequently use CC sites. We always used to use the box to say we were memebers and could we be sited nearby each other. Apparently, this is too much for the CC to cope with, in addition to requests for disabled pitches.

One would think it's a local council we're dealing with, not a members club where members should be put first.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

jennifer, thanks for that. when i spoke to a Helen this afternoon she didnt know why it had been changed so was gonna ask the powers of be.

she has gone into all my bookings and manually put stuff in and also ticked the disabled box aswell.

i agree with you if they dont wanna be near facilities then dont tick the box.

this is gonna cause problems isnt it.

jo

the helen i spoke to was in the bookings.

 

[Jennifer2]

I can see why they would not want to know about several vans being sited together.

On CC sites you choose your own pitch, first come gets the best choice etc. Setting aside a group of pitches just because a few people wanted to be sited together would make the rest of us annoyed, and would be very difficult to achieve anyway. On a busy site there are a lot of vans leaving/arriving and free pitches are usually well scattered.

Setting aside 2 or 3 pitches for disabled use on a permanent basis is an entirely different matter. These pitches were (are?) kept till last, if they were not required by a disabled member then if the site was totally full the last people to arrive would get them.

However, wardens usually keep 2 or 3 spare pitches for emergencies, so often the disabled pitches are not needed to be used by anyone else.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

jennifer i sent the email and also spoke to the web dept. they can put on your like profile what caravan you have, what size and you have a blue badge. this will then go to the sites for all your bookings.

jo

 

[Jennifer2]

Thanks for the info, will follow that up soon.

No reply to my second mail yet.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

jennifer i havent had a reply from my first one yet lol.

jo

 

[Jennifer2]

Jo.....They don't seem to accept e mails on the address my reply came from, my second e mail was not delivered.

I have now resent it to enquiries@caravanclub.co.uk

will let you know if i get a reply from them.