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We travelled to Cornwall last week to a site that we had pre-booked and paid for in advance.I dislike this practice but due to the location and seemingly good facilities we went ahead.On arrival we went to reception and were shown our pitch.What a joke! It was in a tight corner  very muddy and had a slope on it that would have been good on ski sunday.I refused the pitch as we were told that it would be level and enough room for the van and a tent outside.The girl in reception was very rude so got her dad (the owner) to talk to us.After much talking he offered to give us our money back.We took it and found a great site just outside Helston where we had a great week.Moral of the story is despite all the info sites are able to put on their websites we must still be careful and if we are not happy we MUST say so and stand up for ourselves.

It seems to be very rare these days that I am happy with the state of the first pitch I am offered. I don't know if I am getting more particular or whether campsites are not maintaining and rotating pitches as well as they used to.

There is nothing more annoying than arriving at a campsite after a long and tiring drive to be offered a rough patch of earth upon which to live for the next few days! I have been offered pitches with no grass on them at all, pitches flooded with standing water, rabbit holes, molehills, and even covered in blackthorn hedge cuttings! Usually, after complaint, I have been offered a better pitch but on a couple of occasions I have had to ask for my money back and go elsewhere...very stressful and ruins the trip. 

Are you going to tell us which site it was that you left and which one you booked onto.

Quote: Originally posted by jazyjeff on 04/9/2011

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Are you going to tell us which site it was that you left and which one you booked onto.

 

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Why the rush to 'name and shame'?

The OP had a full refund, I don't see what else the site owner could have done.

Its good to know that you found an available pitch without pre-booking though. How did you find the Helston site - did you take a list of back-ups just in case?

Quote: I don't see what else the site owner could have done.

we booked a site in Beverley.(no money changed hands). when we got to the site we found it to be a travellers site. what a state. i'd have had to sleep in the car with my wheels in my lap.  

the reviews we read about the site painted a picture of beautiful site. definitely not this one. 

we made our excuses and left.

The moral of this story is always ask the good folk on this site if anyone has any info on sites you are interested in. you will be surprised what info you can gather about sites and places from this site. better to go prepared than blind.   

Often on  weekends that we are not camping, we often have a run out to see other campsites and check them out. I dont go 'on speck' anymore.

Like to see the loos and showers.

Nothing would be worse than booking and it being awful. Obviously we only visit sites not too far away, as we usually just go away for weekends.

So now we have a few favourite sites which we use on regular basis, mainly North Yorkshire.

The problem with rough pitches on campsites is that what seems rough to one camper may be adequate for another. Pitches of mud are little problem to wheeled units because it is usually underneath the unit out of sight and out of mind but a tent has to be pitched on top. Likewise a sloping pitch is little problem to a wheeled unit which can use it's jockey wheel and levellers but you can't level a tent.

Whenever I read campsite reviews there never seems to be much comment, if any, about the state of the pitches...plenty of comments about the state of the loos but the most important thing, the pitch, doesn't seem to get a mention.

I dont want to name the site as it does not seem fair.I had a reserve site in hand so phoned and got straight in.It was very quiet so i guess that made it easier.The site i stayed at was Lower Poladras in the village of Carleen.Great site and well worth a visit.The real point of my post was to say dont pay up front just a deposit will do.