David Klyne
I don't understand your comments about surcharges. If you have a Gold Card and use the French web site you can pay by credit card and the only charge is about 3 euros in total for administration. By paying in euros using a Nationwide or similar no fee credit card it generally works out significantly cheaper than the £13.95 charged by Caravan Club and Alan Rogers, but of course you have to watch the exchange rates. The Gold Card is a modern electronic method of payment, very quick and easy to use compared to the old fashioned paper method used by the Caravan Club. As I said in my post, you can top up on line, anytime, or you can do it by phone and it is more or less instant. You automatically earn loyalty points for using the card and, if you use the card regularly, these easily cover the renewal fee every three years and you can cash them in for more cheques,which they will credit to your card. There is no language problem in dealing directly with the Camping Cheque centre in France as they have fluent English speaker to answer your phone calls or e-mails if you don't speak French, so I don't see the point in dealing through an agent in England, unless you obtain a package deal to include ferry crossings.