Why is it you pay for a PITCH and recently more and more sites are adding on extras particularly for awnings, this really annoys me as you have already paid for the pitch including the space for the awning, so I say to sites, stop ripping us off, hope people agree with this.
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Quote: Originally posted by Bazza-1980 on 12/10/2025
Why is it you pay for a PITCH and recently more and more sites are adding on extras particularly for awnings, this really annoys me as you have already paid for the pitch including the space for the awning, so I say to sites, stop ripping us off, hope people agree with this.
Why do they do it? Because they can! It's as simple as that.
Time was when all you ever paid for was a pitch, and that was it. What you put on that pitch was up to you, whether it was a back-pack tent or a 6 berth caravan it was up to you, it was the piece of ground you put it on that you paid for. This is what first attracted us as our family was growing and otherwise our holidays would have rapidly become more than we could afford. We had started with the two of us and a tent, but in the end our family was the two of us, 3 kids, and two dogs. But we still paid the same as we were still renting the same patch of ground! We took a break then and bought a boat on the river. Same thing applied there, you paid for a mooring and that was it. Some places charged per foot of the boat but not all did. How many people or animals you had on board was your business as it was your boat. I think the same should apply with a tent or caravan, as it always used to. It came as quite a shock when we returned to caravanning several years later when our kids had left home. Sites were now charging per person, for dogs, awnings, and anything else they could think of. It really annoys me too, what a rip off!
I'm afraid it's become a bit of a price structure 'theme' for many sites - ACUMALATIVE PRICING!
Awnings, dogs, people (even children!), EHU (often PLUS a metered charge), extra cars etc. ect. attract 'penalty' additional costs for absolutely nothing or little in return! It all fit's on a standard pitch, none of it incurs extra work or any burden on the site, it's just an opportunity to rip you off! Whether you have and opt for the extras or not makes no difference to the pitch or site, yet you are charged!
I stayed on a site last year that charged an extra £1/night for my dog, but offered NOTHING in return, and when I say nothing, I MEAN nothing! You couldn't even put dog poo in the site waste, you had to go off site to put it in a public bin hundreds of yards away! There was no dog exercise area on site, you had to go off site down a public footpath, it was like the charge existed because the site had been considerate enough to place itself near existing public amenities!
You often find these sites offer apparently reasonable base pitch rates (not necessarily cheap, but only comparable to other inclusive sites), which are a deceptive marketing ploy, but you are often hard pressed to ONLY pay that base rate, the additional charges then accumulate and make the overall pitch rate rather an expensive one. I've looked at sites where friends with kids and dogs, needing EHU, and wanting an awning, would have paid over THREEE times the not particularly cheap base pitch rate!
I've seen sites even charge extra for pull/roll out canopies where they have no contact with the ground beyond casting a shadow! - how can that possibly be justified!!!!!!
Those sorts of sites simply don't get my business, almost on principle, let alone when I've totalled the cost and realised they are blatant deceptive thieves, and much better value can be found elsewhere!
I fully accept that on sites with (uncharged) toilet/shower facilities and unmetered EHU, the head count has impact on their operating costs, and it is not unreasonable to charge extra for more than one occupant, and dog waste bins and exercise areas have cost, but often the accumulative priced sites don't even bundle in a single occupant with the base pitch fee! Some sites truly are out to rob you by stealth and deception with unachievable headline base pitch rates.
There does seem to be a marked downturn in camping interest over past couple of seasons, where even during peak season sites now have vacancies, whereas prior to that you would have had to book months ahead to be assured of getting your booking, hopefully the diminishing demand may inspire some of these sites to re-evaluate their pricing!
As long as what is included in the price per night, and all the optional extras are clearly stated on their websites, so that I can make an informed choice at time of booking, then that's fine with me personally.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Don't forget to leave a review of the campsites you have visited this year or last!
Agree entirely with the first two, and partially with the third, you should not have to make an informed choice, it is the pitch you are paying for it, all the other EXTRAS, are just one big RIP OFF, paying for something that you should not need too, if you want to pay for that then go for it, but until these site owners get the message they will carry on and mist likely increase the price of these extras, which in turn I hope will either force them to stop doing it shut them down, either way would suit me
We were at an independent site recently, booked online: grass pitch & EHU cost the same as huge flat fully serviced H/S. Who’s been ripped off? Everyone had a choice. Electricity, dog, Wi-Fi, awning - all included, £35.
In our experience, the most frustrating “rip-off”, as you call it, is CCC charging £10 to wind out an awning & wind it back in again 2 hours later.
So I take it you are in a motorhome or campervan, saying you wind out wind in your awning, I was saying everyone was being ripped off, including motorhomes and campervans, this was not particularly aimed at one source, and yes £35 per pitch everything included at is fine, we are now on a site for four nights pitch, electric awning all for £62 for the four nights I would have quite easily paid £25 per night for this site, so this is aimed at the ones that are extorting there prices just because they can.
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We often go to CCC sites, but have never been charged for an awning. Did you perhaps mean a CS or Listed site? These are independent of the club and can set their own rules.
£35 a night this time of year is expensive in my mind, we were on a largish private site in the summer for £26 pound a night, grass pitch with electric and water and a cracking modern shower block, if they can do it and be profitable, so should others be able to be less expensive, price rises increased after covid when people couldn’t go abroad and bought caravans etc, site owners saw they could make a bit of money, then people started going abroad again and prices have continued rising to make the same sort of profit,as others have stated with paying for so called extras that used to be all in, I for one will soon start thinking caravanning is becoming prohibitive as I don’t have a bottomless pit of money
Agree with you entirely everything you have said, the caravan manufacturing and caravan sales went ballistic and the manufacturers produced poor quality caravans etc, for never seen before prices and profit and now we are seeing that effect as prices come down, but as you say the caravan site owners have only one outlook on prices, up, up and up, I honestly hope that they start going bust because of there greed.
When making a booking I always look at the bottom line. What is it going to cost me with everything included? If it is more than I am prepared to pay they don't get my business it is as simple as that. We stayed on a lovely little 5 pitch site in September, not connected to either of the clubs. It cost £25 a night plus metered electricity, which cost us £5 for the week. I thought that was very reasonable. I don't think their prices vary throughout the season either. I didn't book very far ahead and when we got there, on a Monday as usual, there was only one other pitch occupied.
Last year we stayed on a site in Lincolnshire that was only £25 a night including EHU, and their prices were the same all year round too. Sites like that are around, but you do have to look carefully to find them. Both of those sites we got from UKCampsite. £35 a night would definitely be a no-no for us. I will go up to £30 all in (I used to say £25 until this year) but only if I really want to go there.
Quote: Originally posted by dk168 on 12/10/2025
As long as what is included in the price per night, and all the optional extras are clearly stated on their websites, so that I can make an informed choice at time of booking, then that's fine with me personally.
DK
100% agree. There's nothing "Rip-Off" or "Deceptive" about it, if it's all there in black and white, or at least advised to you during a call to potentially book.
The general rise in prices recently is a whole other conversation, of course, but how they choose to break those costs down matters not. Overall cost is the only thing that matters, imo.
We're currently looking for a site to hold our annual dog owners rally, looking at a lot of sites, and believe me some sites are fully engaged in 'deceptive practices'! Main published prices look appealing, but ONLY when you reach the actual booking section do things like an extra £3/night/dog, and all the other add ons such as awnings appear! Nor do many give you the metered EHU charge/unit cost, you may have a shock at the end of your stay!
The high profile published pricing is NOT what you are likely to end up paying, due to 'buried' extra charges! My co-organiser pointed out a number of potential sites to me, but had missed the deceptive add ons. Those sites priced themselves well out of our budget once ALL the costs revealed.
If failing to make clear the real and total cost involved (metered EHU total aside) of a booking up front is not deceptive, I don't know what is! Yes you can argue the total cost appears JUST before you book, but when you see the accumulative charges, you can see why they are not made clearer and up front!
There are laws against these practises, whereby an 'Average' customer should not be persuaded to enter into a transaction that they would not otherwise enter into by omissions, and the practice of good headline costs and 'hidden' extras treads the very thin line!
In advertising, 'conditions' to purchases are supposed to be given equal prominence to enticing offers! We all know that doesn't happen, and the crippling conditions are truly buried in 'small print', sometimes companies are held to account and prosecuted for this, but sadly it's widespread and commonplace.
When I booked Rosemarkie C&CC for Scotland in July 2025, I selected 'No Awning' as I only had a wind-out awning, to find the pitch I was allocated was VERY narrow and not permitted to wind out the awning.
To make it worse, the unit next to me had its access door facing mine, had 2 yappy dogs and liked to play loud music not to my liking.
Since then, I shall always select 'With Awning' so that I would be allocated a wider pitch as suggested by their staff at Rosemarkie C&CC.
I checked and the prices are the same!
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Rip off
via mobile 12/10/2025 at 11:17am
