Allocation of pitches on European sites

Having just returned from Camping Bel Ombrage in the Dordogne, I have a query about how pitches are allocated when booked through the Caravan Club. 

I booked my holiday in November and requested that I have a ‘sunny pitch’. On arrival at Camping Bel Ombrage I was allocated a pitch which was an awkward shape next door to the toilet block. I was assured by reception that the pitch was ‘sunny’. However over the next few days I quickly discovered that the pitch was far from sunny and that there were much larger and sunnier pitches throughout the rest of the site. 

Yes I could have asked to change, but the site was full and I really didn’t want to take down the awning and move so soon after I had arrived. In the end the pitch did not spoil my holiday, but was not what I had requested. 

I had, perhaps naively, assumed that booking in November I would have been allocated a prime pitch, especially as booking through the Caravan Club was no cheaper than booking directly with the site. 

Does the Caravan Club have any control over the pitches that are allocated to them for sale to their members and if so how do they ensure that they are decent pitches and that requests are taken note of? 

If the answer is ‘no’ then I see no point in booking through the Caravan Club in future.

Simon