Answer machines

We are planners, our trips are usually preceded by checking we can get into the site of our choice on the day we want. More often than not, my phone call is met with a recorded voice asking me to leave a message and they'll get back to me. Yes, but when    I phone at reasonable times of the day, so why does it take them so long to get back to me?  One call I made to a site was done just before lunchtime on a Saturday and the owner called me back at teatime........the next day    The guy seemed a little unhappy that I'd moved on and booked another site in the area. 

I know folk running sites are busy people, but is it unreasonable to expect a message left with them during the working day is replied to within a couple of hours. Perhaps they are all making so much money they don't need the business 

It does make it difficult to plan ahead if we have to wait for confirmation of availability. Moving round freely (that's what a motorhome is for) means that we often do not know where we will be stopping that night, so a prompt reply from the site is really helpful.

When we use CL's and the telephone is answered by Metal Micky, do we take a chance and turn up, or look for somewhere else?

The service providers need to have a think about all aspect of their service, methinks.

The C&CC is one of the worst offenders. I was told by one site manager when I said I'd rung but got the answer machine that I was 'supposed' to leave a message and they would ring back. I had actually rung them about 10 times over 2 days and they never answered so I just turned up.

Just to add to the comedy aspect, place I phoned yesterday eventually got back to me today at 11.17am (son), 11.35am (mother) and 12.02pm (father)   I have booked with them, but just the once..........hope they don't want three times the pitch fee

You book? Never done that.

Having said that, we went to St Davids last weekend and it was so busy we couldn't get a pitch anywhere. But then, it was so busy we didn't really want one. So we went to Manorbier instead. To us, that's what a motorhome is all about.

I get the planning thing though, and it would be nice if people got back to you.

Don't bother to leave a message if they don't answer when i call i move elsewhere.

In ten years of motorhoming I've only ever booked ahead on one occasion, that was last summer at a busy site in Newquay. The only reason for that was that we were meeting up with family staying at a nearby hotel, no other options were available to us. It was a right pain getting someone to give us a firm booking on the phone, eventually they advised us to book online.
I love the spontaneity of travel in the van, booking just ties you down.

Bikeralw, I get that. Perhaps in years to come we may do the same but, for various lifestyle reasons, it suits us to fix up places in advance of our trips away. Our principal hobby is walking so we want to be parked close to the routes we want to do. Works for us anyway.

Well it would if people would phone us back that is 

Askit wrote:. . . . . .

I know folk running sites are busy people, but is it unreasonable to expect a message left with them during the working day is replied to within a couple of hours. Perhaps they are all making so much money they don't need the business 

Don't you mean that folk running sites are employing too few staff to run the place properly?  Equals more profit.

I do hope their answerphone announcement didn't mention that "your call is important to us"!  So important that we can't be * Inappropriate Word * to answer it!

SteveUK wrote:
Don't you mean that folk running sites are employing too few staff to run the place properly? 

By properly, do you mean employing someone who does nothing but sit by the phone all day?

Equals more profit.

Having a full time receptionist would push the wage bill up and the cost put on the site fees. Might not be significant on a large site with hundreds of pitches and many employees but one where a guy and his wife are just trying to make a living, that extra wage could be make or break.

Frank

boxerman wrote:

SteveUK wrote:
Don't you mean that folk running sites are employing too few staff to run the place properly? 

By properly, do you mean employing someone who does nothing but sit by the phone all day?

Equals more profit.

Having a full time receptionist would push the wage bill up and the cost put on the site fees. Might not be significant on a large site with hundreds of pitches and many employees but one where a guy and his wife are just trying to make a living, that extra wage could be make or break.

Frank

Usually someone running a small shop as well as the reception as well as answering the phone. 

If the site needs no reception, presumably as it is so small, why not use a cordless phone and carry it around? Or even give a mobile number. 

Not difficult if they actually want to be contactable.

This topic touches a raw nerve!

I find it beyond belief that people who are out and about during the day or may be away from home for weeks should put an answer machine on a landline.

If a caller leaves a message on a machine they have emotionally transferred an obligation of reply to the owner of the machine and become irritated if they do not receive a response in a time frame they consider reasonable.  This is not good for either party!

I never leave a message on a landline answer machine and if after a couple of tries I don't get to speak to anyone then I give up and go elsewhere.

I trust people to have a mobile phone with them and will leave a message if they can't answer, mostly that works.

As a one-man airport taxi service, before retiring, I always left the answer phone on the landline when I was away. It was one with remote access and always rang home twice a day to pick up any messages. I also had my mobile with me. I needed work to come back to. All too often though I would ring people back, often within minutes, only to find they had gone elsewhere, so why bother to leave a message if you don't give a chance to call you back.

Paulmold wrote:It was one with remote access and I always rang home twice a day to pick up any messages. I also had my mobile with me

If everyone took such as responsible attitude my nerve would not be so raw; unfortunately Paul, you are in the minority.

SteveUK wrote:
Usually someone running a small shop as well as the reception as well as answering the phone. 

If the site needs no reception, presumably as it is so small, why not use a cordless phone and carry it around? Or even give a mobile number. 

Not difficult if they actually want to be contactable.

That is not employing extra staff though - is it? which is the point I was referring to.
Whether or not people should carry mobile or cordless phones about with them is a different subject.

Frank

I don't have problems with householders using answer machines if they are out, or even just want to filter calls to weed out the "Microsoft technical department" ones   I also get that small businesses can't always have someone dedicated to answering phones, all I ask is that they call back within a reasonable time.


People phoning a campsite are unlikely to be doing anything other than making an enquiry about booking a pitch or, perhaps, a static. The one that really got me was the one I mentioned earlier when I called (a busy Yorkshire site) on a Saturday morning and got a call back around 30 hours later. I could hear the guy was huffed I had gone elsewhere, but he was not half as huffed as me that my message had been ignored until the next day.

At the very least, any answering machine message should state the probable response time.  If you need an answer within the next half hour (e.g. you're waiting at the gate and it's locked!), then it's no good if, like many multinationals' auto-response to emails, saying "we aim to get back to you within ten working days"!