Disgraceful behaviour by major club

[PaulHull]

Not going to mention any names of any clubs here but myself and my friends are both members of the same major caravanning club.

My friends booked a 2 week holiday to france and paid up in full. They have recently received a bill for £51. On telephoning the club they were told that this is due to the strength of the euro and its in the small print - pay up or you don't receive your tickets.

It would appear that this is legal although very immoral - if the situation was the other way around they wouldn't receive a refund would they?

I for one won't be renewing my membership - I doubt they will either!

 

[Guest]

We are all sympathetic to you having to pay a surcharge but you do realise that the Club in question has prebooked certain facilities for you at an early date at a cretain amount of Euros. If the Pound drops then they have to find more Euros. I do agree it never seems to work the other way, but you do get extra Euros to play with.

You really need to take your concerns up with g brown who over the last 10 years has bankrupted the country, ironically with the electorate's blessing. So as they would say 'Tough cookie baby'.

 

[trucker]

Scotch Lad im sorry but that is just plain wrong. If a price is agreed up front for a product/service that price should be honored. You wouldnt expect to buy a Renault today pick it up in 2 months time and have to pay an extra

 

[KnL]

Paul,

I pre booked a French holiday via (probably the same club you refer to) at a time when the exchange rate was around 1.46 Euros.

In the months since booking, the rates have fallen to around 1.26 Euros.

If the club pay that extra cost of my holiday and the thousands of others, who have pre booked, it's the members that will end up paying in the long term, while I enjoy my 'cheap rate' holiday.

The club have kindly absorbed the first 2% of the increase and I will be paying the remainder.

I am not happy at the increase but with my hand on my heart I cannot lay the blame for the increase at the door of the club, nor would I expect my fellow members to subsidise my holiday.

However, if at the time my holiday was paid for, the rates had returned to what they had been, I would have expected the original price to have been honoured.

It's always your choice, but I think withdrawing your membership is a bit short sighted or would you have preferred the club to have said nothing and just increased next years fees and the non foreign travelling members fully subsidise those that choose to travel abroad ?

Ken.

 

[Gumbo]

Fair comment Ken.

We have seen our fare to Australia increase by

 

[KnL]

Fair comment Ken.

We have seen our fare to Australia increase by

 

[PaulHull]

There is absolutely nothing shortsighted in not renewing your membership with a club which increases the price of a holiday once it has been booked and paid for.

Their holiday was paid up in full and yet this joke of an organisation sent a rather threatening letter to them making them out to be in the wrong - no apology for ripping them off.

As I said they would be quids in if the euro went the other way and I'm sure they will be if it does. If I buy a product or service here and now I expect to pay the price I am quoted and if the cost to the supplier goes up that is the risk they take, you do not expect to be sent an additional invoice especially after you have paid in full.

If this affects next years prices then so be it at least I am then able to shop around for the best deal.

 

[KnL]

Paul,

I too got a letter from the club, except I would describe it as apologetic about the increase, but not in a million years would I describe it as threatening.

I am the first to admit that if I felt so strongly about a subject, I would make an issue of it and I re-iterate, "it's your choice", therefore I have no problem with one or two members cancelling their club subscriptions if they feel strongly about this issue.

However, I maintain that this is not the Clubs fault and such increases would would be borne by the membership if not passed back to the individual.

Personally, if I could not afford a foreign holiday this summer, I wouldn't be too happy at subsidising other peoples holidays abroad.

 

[PaulHull]

I hope we're talking about the same club! This one turned out not to be so 'friendly' after all...

 

[Happy-Lappy]

I hope we're talking about the same club! This one turned out not to be so 'friendly' after all...

This sounds like the club that allows Tents,

I've only booked the Ferry crossing through my club, as we always deal with the campsites ourselves,

best regards, Martin

 

[MartinJ]

I agree with Paul there is no way the price should be increased after the holiday has been booked in my view.

Currency risk is a factor when dealing with any overseas company and the club in question knows this when they offer a price. A line has to be drawn somewhere when quoting to customers and in my view that should be at the time of booking not some unspecific date in the future when the club gets gittery about the exchange rate.

I have never heard of a refund being made to anyone of the euro goes the other way and becomes weaker against the pound. if there is s sudden switch in the exchange rate over the next month or so can we assume that a refund will be made then. I doubt it vey much.

 

[davedee]

This sounds like the club that allows Tents,

I've only booked the Ferry crossing through my club, as we always deal with the campsites ourselves,

best regards, Martin

It's got the word 'Camping...' in it's title. Maybe that's why they allow tents ??

Dave

 

[PaulHull]

It's got the word 'Camping...' in it's title. Maybe that's why they allow tents ??

Dave

it might have - im mentioning no names tho cos I am a 'friendly' person, unlike the club

 

[Oklahoma]

it might have - im mentioning no names tho cos I am a 'friendly' person, unlike the club

This is the club that lets our disabled son go with us free and gives discounts when you reach a certain age at some times of the year so I'm not complaining

 

[Guest]

As I am currently in a service Company supplying goods and services, all our Contracts have a clause in there that states if our suppliers costs to us increase by more than a factor of say 2% we reserve the right to agree an increase in turn with our customers. Has been that way for years, no business could survive otherwise. Similarly you go to a supermarket one week and the price has risen for the same commodity the next. What do you do, you know it is the same stock.

I agree that unreasonable profiteering is something to abhor, but fuel prices have risen drastically as the strikes are displaying. On this one I think you are on the rong side unfrotunately.

 

[Clubman1]

Read the small print!! I also got a letter from the friendly club and fully understood where they were coming from! The small print in the contract makes it quite clear that they can increase the "fees" under certain circumstances, the rising strength of the euro being one and, unless I was singled out as an exception, had the choice of cancelling my booking and getting a full refund! I chose to pay up. As a matter of interest when I booked for a winter rally last year they quoted me a price which I accepted and paid a deposit for, a few weeks later they wrote to me to say they had made an error in the costings and I owed a further

 

[Chrisbee]

Am I missing something here? If the trip was paid for in full last year at a certain exchange rate then that is the rate that the club would pay to the campsite/ferry company etc if the club paid for it at that time. If the site recieved "x" euros then they won't be asking for any more. The only reason for a suppliment because of an exchange rate change is because the club have held onto the money and are trying to pay for the site at today's exchange rate. Where has the money been all winter?

 

[RogerP]

I had the same thoughts as Chrisbee.

It sounds like the Club booked the site and took full payment up front. Then they pay the supplier (i.e campsite etc) at a later date upon invoice.

Most companies do this , they'll take upto 3 months to pay 'the bill' and in that time the money sits in their accounts and gains interest. (it also works the other way as well , they could wait 3 months to get payment for services they provide).

Begs the question for future , why would you book through the club in question when , had you booked direct with the suppliers , then you'd have paid the price on the day and not be getting hit later like this.

 

[PaulHull]

As I said it's not us it's our friends who have been hit with this - we have joined the club but have no so far used it and after this do not intend to either.

We booked 4 weeks at Haven Parks this year and with one holiday down (Week at Blue Dolphin - toilets could have done with a bit more cleaning but other than that was very happy) and three to go we're glad we did!

I work in a printing company and if the cost of material increases during the production of a job we do not pass that cost on as we stick to the price we quote and are surviving perfectly well

 

[ProfJohnL]

When booking ahead try insisting the agent purchases all the facilities you want to use whilst you wait. Then they cannot apply a surcharge as the holiday is ALL paid for. Alternatively, insist that for the time they have your money between you paying and you they supply the guaranteed tickets, charge them the interest on the loan you have given them.

 

[PaulHull]

Nice idea I might suggest it!

 

[MartinJ]

Scotch lad, you are correct in saying that they are within their rights to add a surcharge im sure, my view however that its wrong for them to do it.

We have two weeks in the Loire booked in August. Its now fully paid for. If they add a surcharge but offer me the chance to cancel with a full refund, what chance have I got of booking a suitable alternative holiday in this country at that short notice during peak season. Next to none would be my guess.

What annoys me is that its all one way traffic here. No price reductions are ever made due to exchange rate fluctuations so why should the buyer cover the cost of exchange rate fluctuations when it goes the other way?

Im not a member of said club but I'd cancel my membership if I were and it happened to me.

 

[PaulHull]

They weren't offered a refund by the way - they were just told to cough up or forget their holiday - nice eh?

 

[KnL]

IMHO every comment made above is valid, however it only truly involves actual or potential members of the said Club, and why shy away from the fact that we are discussing the Caravan & Camping Club (Carefree).

Try to remember "CLUB" being the relevant term, this is not some LTD Company with some fat cat director or group of shareholders demanding every penny of profit.

This is OUR club, with a group of board members elected by US, who will spend OUR money (hopefully) in the best interests of the long term interests of the club and it's current or future members.

I agree that in an ideal world no increases would occur, but in the current difficult economic climate I am pleased to see our club money being spent wisely and not used to subsidise individual holidays abroad, the cost of which have increased well in excess of the anticipated.

If the Caravan & Camping club were a limited company, then I would agree wholeheartedly that booked prices should be honoured and the losses borne by the company.

When it's our own money it is a totally different story !

 

[PaulHull]

If YOUR club is incapable of arranging adequate overage in its pricing to prevent such occurences then perhaps YOU should be should be electing competent board members.

What happened to the cash made from when the euro heads in the opposite direction? Champagne for the board meetings?

Joke situation, joke organisation.

And I still haven't mentioned any names btw.