Book Soon!
353 replies
JVB66 replied on 06/12/2018 17:06
InaD replied on 06/12/2018 17:59
Posted on 06/12/2018 17:02 bySame here.
Two of my UK site bookings, made well before 5th, are showing a higher price since yesterday, and different from the price in the confirming emails (luckily I kept them).
I rang the UK sites booking line and they could not understand it; they contacted the Sites Admin Dept who could not understand it; no-one could find my original confirming emails.
I was asked to forward the emails, which I did.
Just had an email back saying that the original price will be honoured. The 'error' is because, and I quote,
"Our Website is showing prices incorrectly as it is not able to cope with two sets of pricing."
Yet another thing that the IT Dept is unable to do.
It might be as well to keep your emails if you booked before December 5th so that you have proof of the original price.
Posted on 06/12/2018 17:59
That's what I meant in my post yesterday. Despite the fact that their email stated: Don't worry if you see an updated price in 'My 'Profile' - for any bookings made prior to 5 Dec 2018 you will pay the original price quoted on arrival at site, is it really possible the system can see when those bookings were made? I find the whole thing utterly incompetent, especially in view of your contact with the club. Not sure I've got the email, as that is a hit-and-miss issue, sometimes I do get one, sometimes I don't.
Takethedogalong replied on 06/12/2018 18:41
Posted on 06/12/2018 18:41
I thought I had saved my email for next September, but cannot find it in my saved file. I think our booking was showing around £2 more now in my profile records. I have got the other for York saved, but don’t think price has altered on that one as it is early in year. Bit of a fiasco, I can see there being some very upset customers if they have a long break booked, and price has gone up by a significant amount.
InaD replied on 06/12/2018 19:33
Posted on 06/12/2018 19:33
I've just found the confirmation email, and the difference in price is £4.50. That is mostly due to that first night which has gone up by well over £3. I agree there will be a lot of unhappy customers, I certainly won't be paying the extra £4.50, but I have an email to prove it; I still maintain that I can't see how the "system" can see on what date a booking has been made, given the problems yesterday in uploading the new prices, as well as what Deleted User posted.
ABM replied on 06/12/2018 20:15
young thomas replied on 06/12/2018 20:36
Posted on 06/12/2018 20:36
this is a difficult one for IT....which doesn't bode well as they don't do the easy stuff particularly well.....
as in many businesses, price is a key element of the buying experience.
when i was working in IT (and I'm sure it hasn't changed at my company since then) the prices charged were 'the prices ruling at the time of despatch'...
price files were updated periodically (as is life...) but when it came to producing the invoice, there was only ever one price per product, and it was that price (the one on the packing note at despatch) which was the one that got carried forward to the invoice and then the (monthly) statement.
carrying two prices....the price at order time and the one at despatch time just couldn't be coped with....
our customers (retail shops) knew when prices changed and therefore whether they would get the 'old' price or the 'new' price...
what we have here, is a requirement to carry the 'price at order time' all the way through the system until the holiday is taken (despatch time) and to ignore the price ruling at that time....
i wouldn't have a clue as to whether, before rolling 12 mth booking, the prices I paid were those ruling at the time I booked or those ruling at the time of arrival, but im pretty sure with the 'frenzy day' system all bookings would have been priced the same as it applied for the whole available booking season.
we are now in a different scenario of different prices at order time and at arrival time....
depending on where the CC system currently does its price look up (the anomalies) it may require a fundamental change to the order processing system where the original orders must do the price look up and carry this through to the invoice point, ie where we pay our fees in the office....even if there has been a price change in the meantime.
the system does not need to carry two prices, merely to maintain the price ruling at booking time...which may well be what the old sytem did.
however, its clear that the implications of rolling prices (and the change point now sitting between order and arrival for many) haven't been fully thought through.
i now see what's gone wrong and how it can be resolved, but it's not a five minute fix....
my day rates are pretty favourable these days.....
RowenaBCAMC replied on 07/12/2018 11:01
Posted on 07/12/2018 11:01
Hi everyone,
With regards to the different emails, there were indeed two email versions, this is due to the email preference regulations. As we were sending the email to all members, anyone who had opted out of receiving emails from us or opted out of UK Holiday emails was sent a pure service email that only directed them to the FAQs or the contact centre.
The issue regarding duplicate price line entries which caused the pricing error on bookings, has now been rectified and we apologise for the confusion this caused.
While you will see that the booking total has increased when you view your bookings on-line (this applies to bookings made pre 5 Dec), the site staff will be notified on their system at point of arrival that the booking needs to be manually discounted.
I hope this helps clear up any confusion. More information can be found here FAQs
Takethedogalong replied on 07/12/2018 11:01
Posted on 07/12/2018 11:01
Or as we used to do it, at point of sale, key in the total to be charged, ignoring presets, honour the price given at time of booking (after checking proof) and send away quickly a happy customer, no waiting, no quibbling!
Agree with what you have said above by the way, Club have created this fiasco, they will need to live with it for this year. But the lesson is, don’t hike your prices mid way through a new booking season! And more importantly, don’t try and use it for attracting more customers!
PoS units could carry two lots of presets? Pre second price hike, and post second price hike. Operatives check when booking was made, unless visitor has email proof, then charge old price. Created a lot of work for Wardens booking in, going to cause queues no doubt while things are checked. It’s an own goal of quite staggering proportions. Followed by an open net policy emailed to lots more folk!😂😂😂
Edit: posted as I typed Rowena. So things can be done at POS, that’s good for visitors.
young thomas replied on 07/12/2018 12:07
Posted on 07/12/2018 12:07
the issue is that, with a rolling 12 mth booking 'period' the club will always be doing a 'yearly price change' between customers' bookings and their arrivals in many, many cases.....even more so with more members cottoning on to the fact that they can get on popular sites by booking well in advance.
the problem now is that, despite the promise to honour this year's promise of the lower price if booked before a certain date, this is a rolling, ongoing issue...
what about all those who will have booked for (say) June 20 in June 19, which price will they pay if the price rises around Dec 20?
in offering a rolling booking system that straddles the fixed annual price rise, there will members arriving on site (say June 20 as my example) who might have booked at different times and will be expecting to pay different prices.....won't they.....
so the club need to state that the 'ongoing' policy is that which has been given this year (or not), and if so, find a better way than 'discount/proof' at the till to obtain prices in line with that policy...
to do it smoothly and have the correct (booked) prices come up on the till at arrival, it needs a proper system change to carry that price to the POS kit.
other wise we could have a 'yes we did, no you didn't' situation at the till (not good) and even if agreed, it makes the booking process longer to verify those proofs and to apply (what?) discount at the till.
far better to do it right before next year....and on....
SteveL replied on 07/12/2018 12:15
Posted on 07/12/2018 12:15
It isn't ever so easy to check what I should have paid for some of mine, to see if they apply the discount. Although I have all the confirmation emails sent saved, these are no good where you have amended a booking. As despite what it says, I have never received a confirmation re an amendment. So for those of my bookings that fell across a month change, necessitating additional days to be added a month later, I have no proof.
Personally I think it wrong that the price has updated in the my bookings section. This should have remained at the price I accepted the booking for, not be a rolling figure at the CAMC discretion.
Tinwheeler
Campervanner