New booking issue

We had that, the emails saying pay before while the website said pay on arrival. It turned out to be pay on arrival. 

I think you'll find whatever the circumstances that late cancellations mean all of the payment is taken. After that you'd have to fight your corner over genuine cancellation reasons and hope for a partial refund? The t&Cs are there to stop people cancelling at the last moment.

If you cancelled the day before and had opted to pay on arrival, they couldn’t legally debit your credit card for the residual. It would seem a bit harsh to treat those who had opted to pay on the morning of arrival differently. There may be issues with when the third party that administers transactions is told about upcoming deductions. That could well be ahead of when they take the money. However, if I cancelled online the day before arrival I would expect any residual payment subsequently  taken returned to my card within days. I certainly wouldn’t expect to have to fight for it. Their T&C’s say I can cancel within 21 days and just loose the deposit.

On the point about retaining card details. If the Club think you have agreed to pay before arrival then of course they will because its an incomplete transaction until its paid in full. The problem seems to be is the Club don't seem to make it very clear whether you have agreed or not with often one piece of information saying you will pay on arrival but a later piece of information saying you have agreed to pay before arrival. Clearly work to be done there? Perhaps there should be an option in the amend booking part to change payment options?

I am surprised the Club allow a choice but maybe they felt that deposits were such a big move for the membership that demanding all site stays be paid for before arrival, albeit only a matter of hours, was stretching it too far?

David

What is the end game for the Club re payments?

are we heading (glacially) towards a fully automatic payment upfront which, in return, can provide a silky smooth, no need to queue, or visit the office, have the barrier lifted automatically etc...

all elements of this end to end process need to work smoothly and well for customers to remain confident in what's being done, especially where their hard earned is concerned.

One aspect which still has to be considered and currently remains a 'near USP' (can you have more than one?) is that customers choose their own pitch, which is great and I prefer it.

however, for a really smooth, 'no need to check in' type of arrival process, you really need to look at CLs. Whilst each might be a bit different (certainly due to a different scale) for the most part they either have a board telling you your pitch or ask you to pitch anywhere.

the very nature of the owners not being around all the time means a 'wait at reception' isnt convenient for all concerned.

take this up a notch to some slick commercials and you can choose your pitch in advance, ANPR will check you in and open the barrier and you can glide onto your pitch unhindered.

yes, I realise that many like to drive round the site (a few times?) to find the perfect pitch, but we've found that many site maps and an understanding of geography usually suffice. If the pitch isnt to your liking, most sites are happy for you to move.

do we (the club) really need any more than ANPR to get in and then confirm our pitch with the wardens later?

the booking/entry system should allow those who've paid prior to arrival (should this be all?) to head straight onto site.

if the technical kit (ANPR) isn't available at a particular site then the 'warden with checklist' should suffice and folk in the 'paid' arrival lane should be waved through.

I realise this is happening at some sites but the tech is required at both the payment end and the arrival end to provide a seamless arrival experience and the roll out of ANPR will be a welcome technical improvement.

if customers are still confused/surprised at the way the booking system is actioning payments this soon leads to lack of confidence and, as Richard posts above, full scale annoyance. These simple 'glitches' need to ironed out PDQ as there's nothing more annoying than lacking confidence in how a business handles your money.

we've used several (commercial) sites thus equipped and a joined-up booking, payment, arrival system really does start the break off on the right foot.

I realise the club are trying to move in this direction but some of the simple issues experienced will rankle if not fixed quickly.

But they can still debit your card whichever day you have agreed. It would be more unfair to all parties not to debit the full amount. Do some think they can avoid cancellation payment by opting for on the day deduction? It's a payment contract.

I'm editing but I'm talking about last minute cancellations and people who don't turn up.

I should add that the system is unclear and confusing so anyone involved in cancelling has my sympathy! 

Brue as I read the T&C’s there is no sliding scale of deductions as with some providers, where you loose 50%, 75% all as you get closer to the booking. The club say you can cancel within 21 days (which includes up to the day before) and only loose the deposit. The club have no rights to the balance of the booking and if it was taking ahead of time due to systems and processes they would have to return it. 
If you just don’t turn up or cancel on the day, you are probably right.

edit

just seen your edit. It would seem we agree.

I was referring to last minute cancellations Steve and the hard to understand partial payments. Which I can't recall just now. 

We have not yet seen any figures for cancellations a day or two before arrival on site where just the deposit is lost? Or indeed where people have opted not to pay before arrival and just don't turn up. I have just booked a Club site in Devon where I paid the minimum £20 deposit, I have a balance of £98 to pay. For the same trip I am using two commercial sites which I have had to pay in advance for totalling around £350 so I have no option to avoid payment but the Club site I could cancel the day before and lose £20 and the Club are out of pocket by nearly £100 and little chance of reletting the pitch. It does seem as if the Club are heading towards a standard 10% deposit with a minimum of £20, otherwise why experiment with 10% deposits?   Inflation wise the £20 minimum is only about £3 more than when the Club last took deposits which were £10 a booking having previously been £5. One reason given for not continuing with deposits once the online system was set up was that people didn't bother to let a site know they not coming, the just took the hit of losing the deposit. I am not sure the Club should offer the option of paying on arrival in person. Pre Payment seems to work well with the C&CC and I have never seen anyone questioning that on their web forum.

David

yt - I totally agree with everything you have said - especially re confidence.  To cap it all, I have now had - not one, but two emails containing the pdf document, amended to show 'payment on arrival'

What really bothers me about this is the Data Protection issue and the security of my Debit Card details. Even with other companies I use regularly, I never opt for the 'save card details for a quicker checkout next time' because it is too easy these days for organisations much bigger and with more sophisticated cyber security countermeasures in place, to be hacked. CAMC must be storing card details if they have the ability to take the payment the day before without my express additional authorisation and given their track record on matters IT that I have seen so far, that really bothers me.

I am sitting here wondering whether to bother with a Subject Access request under the DPA