Last week I made an overnight stop on the way to our final destination. Upon arrival (and for most of the journey) it was tipping it down. Great start!
We were told the general area where we should pitch. The rain carried on all night and we awoke to this:
The entire pitch was covered in 1.5" to 3" of water. A number of people nearby had left overnight - a lot of others were cutting their stay short. Luckily, our tent was bone dry inside (Outwell SunValley 6).
Do you think it would have been fair for us to request a refund from the site or does this seem petty? I appreciate that they cannot control the weather (If it was wind damage, I would consider it different - they can't predict that) but we pitched in the area we were directed to and they let us pitch there - probably aware that that part of the site was prone to flooding in prolonged rain...?
I did not request a refund at the time (and will not pursue one now) I am merely asking for opinions...
A similar thing happened to me yesterday. Not because of rain,though.
we were pitched with a tap in front of our pitch. yesterday it was dry all day, but the drain under the tap flooded, and soon the stink of stagnant water was wafting over. we reported it to the site office and within 10 minutes the pitch was becoming waterlogged. The smell then started to change to something like horse manure.
we phoned them again as the water was almost reaching our tent by this time. I thought that if the smelly water soaked into our sig, i would never get rid of the smell and the tent would be ruined.
They sent a man round to try to unblock it, but he wasn't very successful. He then poured jeyes fluid into the drain, and sprayed around with disinfectant. which was really overpowering, I felt quite sick withe combination of smells by the time I had finished packing up.
They offered me another pitch, but as i was going home the next day I decided to pack up our tent and stay in my sisters tent for the night. it wasn't worth the hassle of re pitching just for one more night.
i was pretty annoyed, I'd spent, or rather, wasted 2 hours of my afternoon, packing up when I should have been joing the barbecue with the rest of my family and friends. instead I was stressing over my tent maybe being spoilt.
Some said I should have asked for my money back, but to be honest the guy who came to unblock the drain, didn't want to know, and the people in the site office didn't even come out to look, just said I could move if I wanted to. , so i really didn't see any point in wasting time going to the office. The drain was still not clear this morning.
I would have been happy to get away with it and gone on my merry way, with the way the rain has been the past few months i think half the country is prone to standing water, a refund wouldn't have entered my head
Yes, there is nothing we can do about flooding at the moment - it's a choice of chance it or stay at home.
Last "summer" (well August actually, just after the monsoon season had ended) I went to one of my regular sites in the Lakes for a few days. The whole of the camping field was roped off and the site was shut for the season due to waterlogging, although there wasn't any standing water when I arrived. As I stay there quite often, and it is one of the less known and less popular sites it the Lakes, the owner knows me as a regular and actually let me pitch in the garden of the house, as it is raised and better drained. It rained steadily during the night and by morning I could see exactly why he had closed the site - both the main field and the occasional overflow field were under about three inches of water.
Sadly, waterlogging is a fact of life for us campers these days.
reminds me of the news story of that campsite that flooded down in the new forest about a month or so ago. everyone leaving during the night except those that braved it out.
maybe they should start fitting tents with boyancy aids?
Quote: Originally posted by dmsplat on 29/6/2008
Last week I made an overnight stop on the way to our final destination. Upon arrival (and for most of the journey) it was tipping it down. Great start!
We were told the general area where we should pitch. The rain carried on all night and we awoke to this:
The entire pitch was covered in 1.5" to 3" of water. A number of people nearby had left overnight - a lot of others were cutting their stay short. Luckily, our tent was bone dry inside (Outwell SunValley 6).
Do you think it would have been fair for us to request a refund from the site or does this seem petty? I appreciate that they cannot control the weather (If it was wind damage, I would consider it different - they can't predict that) but we pitched in the area we were directed to and they let us pitch there - probably aware that that part of the site was prone to flooding in prolonged rain...?
I did not request a refund at the time (and will not pursue one now) I am merely asking for opinions...
Cheers, all!
Dave M
Hi
Were you given the pitch that flooded, if you were then the site owners can not use the excuse we do not control the weather. The law say very clearly that any service sold to the public must be fit for the job, These people who own the sites know the pitches that are susceptible to hold standing water and should never pitch a tent in these pitches. It is their job to drain this type of pitch if they want to use it for tents.
But if you were given the choice were to pitch, then the responsibility is yours, check out the lay of the land and choose a pitch that will not old standing water, or if unsure ask the manager if the pitch that you prefer holds standing water after a rain storm. but on 99% of site you can have a good idea were it may hold water and no slope holds water it may run past you.
There is no such thing as a flat field.
Regards
Rex
------------- "Be the person your dog thinks you are" (BM)
WE had a similar thing happen to us in the dales last year. We'd unwittingly pitched on top of an old farm track, so the water didn't drain away. It was 3" deep in the outer bit of the tent (it had come under the flysheet and been trapped in the bathtub groundsheet), and way over my ankles outside.
It had been exceptionally wet though, and the culvert between the camping field and the field behind had been totally inundated, so no blame to the site owners, they'd never seen it happen in 20 years. They were very sweet, and gave us a few quid in change for the washer and dryer to dry all our stuff, and helped us move the tent.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Flooded - Refund?
