Speaking of Caravan Park Rip Offs

NeilandRaine · Guru

Speaking of Caravan Park Rip Offs

banjo · Senior Member

A lot of them get away with it because people are daft enough to pay it ! simple, if they had no punters the price would drop accordingly.

councils are no different to most businesses now, they see the "cash cow" they grab it.

Spydermann · Senior Member

Accommodation places advertise base about apex. They should say discount for off-season, not a loading for high-season. Same thing but a discount sounds better than a loading. In fact one I just stayed at recently did just that - discount for winter (not council though).

Phil C · Guru

Gday gang

We had a problem with that at a CP we stayed at. I told the manager that our site hadnt changed due to school holidays neither has the facilities. I reminded him that this was not discussed when we arrived and I would not pay the extra from $180 a week to $250...

So we packed up and left that morning, never to return.

We have it figured now, we free camp or are on the road during school holidays and "peak" season and come back to base camp for birthdays and xmas.

This may sound like an old grump sounding off but I see no reason for CPs to do that to longer stayers. I would think we are an asset as we provide a regular income.

Cheers

aussie_paul · Guru

Phil C wrote:
Gday gang

We had a problem with that at a CP we stayed at. I told the manager that our site hadnt changed due to school holidays neither has the facilities. I reminded him that this was not discussed when we arrived and I would not pay the extra from $180 a week to $250...

So we packed up and left that morning, never to return.

We have it figured now, we free camp or are on the road during school holidays and "peak" season and come back to base camp for birthdays and xmas.

This may sound like an old grump sounding off but I see no reason for CPs to do that to longer stayers. I would think we are an asset as we provide a regular income.

Cheers

Hear hear... biggrin

Aussie Paul. smile

hako · Guru

What the parks charge in holiday times or any other time is what the market will bear. It's no different to any other commodity that you or I buy everyday. If the market does not like the price they will not pay it...simple.
It's like petrol and diesel - when oil was $140 a barrel fuel cost about $1.50 a litre - now it's $45 a barrel and fuel costs $1.35 a litre.....they are pricing the fuel to meet the market which is prepared to pay for it however they could halve the fuel cost at the bowser and still make a killing but they don't because people must buy fuel and cannot boycott it. In school holidays people are prepared to pay big dollars because they cannot boycott taking their family on a holiday, so they pay big dollars which makes it cheaper for us outside of school holidays.
I reckon it's a great system.
Good Luck.

Spydermann · Senior Member

hako wrote:
What the parks charge in holiday times or any other time is what the market will bear. It's no different to any other commodity that you or I buy everyday. If the market does not like the price they will not pay it...simple.
It's like petrol and diesel - when oil was $140 a barrel fuel cost about $1.50 a litre - now it's $45 a barrel and fuel costs $1.35 a litre.....they are pricing the fuel to meet the market which is prepared to pay for it however they could halve the fuel cost at the bowser and still make a killing but they don't because people must buy fuel and cannot boycott it. In school holidays people are prepared to pay big dollars because they cannot boycott taking their family on a holiday, so they pay big dollars which makes it cheaper for us outside of school holidays.
I reckon it's a great system.
Good Luck.

Agree. Prices are set at what market can afford and customers are willing to pay. Notice that when our $ dropped by half on the Japanese Yen, imports from Japan didn't double in price overnight. There are only two things that you cannot shop around for - council rates and water. I shifted house 5 years ago. New house valued at just 15% more than old one yet rates on newer house were double. They are now triple what I paid 5 years ago and no noticeable difference in council services. When I asked for an explanation about the huge rates I was told I should have stayed where I was.

However, when you no longer have kids at school and with school holidays different in different states, it's hard to know when you are going to get slugged. Like school zones - active on school days.

Wombat 280 · Guru

It seems to be a trend right across the board We are having shops close because the landlords are upping the rent so much that the small business can't make enough to cover the out goings let alone a wage But it seems that they are happy to have empty shops rather than settle for a lower rent Must be a tax dodge in there somewhere to have them empty.

Another scam in parks is the surcharge up to 3% on using debit cards to pay , at the press of a key the dollars are gone in the blink of and eye to their account.

I pull into a town close to where I'm staying now and get the dollars out of the ATM,. I pay in folding cash which they them have to take back into town to the very same bank along with all the associated risks of handling and transporting the days takings by private vehicle back into the bank or paying for armoured car to pick it up .

When I put this to a mate who ran a park he agreed it cost them more to store and handle the cash plus having large sums of cash on the premises effected their insurance like staff workers comp .

Dunmowin · Guru

Due to the rip off merchants running Tidal River camping grounds down in Wilsons Prom ($57.60 per night unpowered), we came back to Shallow Inlet, where, last night, tired and grumpy, we paid $30.00 for a powered site. We are the only campers here, and used our own toilets and shower.

Decided to stay another night. The rate went up by $5.00 because today starts the Victorian School holidays. We are still the only campers here, and are using our own facilities.

After we paid the second night, we found a free camp less than 100 metres away! cry

mjt57 · Senior Member

Wombat 280 wrote:

Another scam in parks is the surcharge up to 3% on using debit cards to pay , at the press of a key the dollars are gone in the blink of and eye to their account.

Or pay by the usual EFT/POS card. Money comes out of the same account as the Visa debit card and no "surcharge".

But I agree - paying in cash sort of sticks it to those who charge extra for credit/debit card transactions. Until, of course, they levy a charge on cash transactions...

mjt57 · Senior Member

I see that "free camping" is often mentioned in these forums. Now, my question is, how do you find them? For example, the one near Shallow Inlet?

Dunmowin · Guru

mjt57 wrote:
I see that "free camping" is often mentioned in these forums. Now, my question is, how do you find them? For example, the one near Shallow Inlet?

mjt57 - Take a look at the Camps Australia Wide series of books, they list thousand of free and low cost camps. Available in most camping shops or good bookstores, also available on line. For the record, the camp near Shallow Inlet is listed as only open between November and April, and attracts a low cost. Currently there are three fishermen camped there at no cost.

Others prefer to use Wikicamps app.

mjt57 · Senior Member

Thanks.

I'll have a look at Wikicamps and see if I can get the Camps Australia books.

Cheers.

Fuzzball · Veteran Member

In Kununurra the price of a caravan park is $59 per night; in Exmouth - $59 to $66 per night. We are self contained, apart from water, and really object to being ripped off by greedy caravan park operators. In Kununurra, some permanent residents are only charged $130 per week. Tourists are charged $413 per week! We're dedicated to FREE CAMPING, unless there are cheaper places around! Kudos to Buckley's Bush Retreat in Broome - $15 per night and the property is HUGE!

mjt57 · Senior Member

Blimey! CPs can be quite expensive, can't they?

I've bought and downloaded Wikicamps to the iPad and iPhone and loaded up all the maps and other offline data (which took a while, even on a fast DSL2 connection). Starting to learn how to drive it.

Wombat 280 · Guru

mjt57 wrote:
Wombat 280 wrote:

Another scam in parks is the surcharge up to 3% on using debit cards to pay , at the press of a key the dollars are gone in the blink of and eye to their account.

Or pay by the usual EFT/POS card. Money comes out of the same account as the Visa debit card and no "surcharge".
But I agree - paying in cash sort of sticks it to those who charge extra for credit/debit card transactions. Until, of course, they levy a charge on cash transactions...

What gets up my nose is they charge it on all cards irrespective of type. One particular site I got caught out at was about 60 k round trip to the nearest ATM and they only tell you about the charge after you turn up. I could go along with a surcharge on the first night but on the entire cost of the stay seems OTT. especially if you have booked ahead and paid the first night and already been slugged the surcharge on that transaction over the phone again without notification of that happening . Lets face it to transfer $1.00 or $1000 cost no more in time or effort on either the bank or retailers part .

Silverado6x6 · Member

I have been lurking too long, but it has me concerned as i will be living out of a rental car and a tent for 3 weeks, my vacation is from early december to mid jan, i do have a rental home with a pool south of Adelaide but only for my first two weeks. Too expensive to rent a campervan, too expensive for lodging as well because of the holudays. So i am pretty much interedted in the free camping as well.

Just to let anyone i know i own three caravans, a Silverado dually, but they are of no use to me as they are in Alaska. Thats where i am right now, and yes it is getting colder, snow is on the hills, looking forward to my Oz trip!

Peter1059 · Senior Member

Fuzzball wrote:
In Kununurra the price of a caravan park is $59 per night; in Exmouth - $59 to $66 per night. We are self contained, apart from water, and really object to being ripped off by greedy caravan park operators. In Kununurra, some permanent residents are only charged $130 per week. Tourists are charged $413 per week! We're dedicated to FREE CAMPING, unless there are cheaper places around! Kudos to Buckley's Bush Retreat in Broome - $15 per night and the property is HUGE!

Hi Guys

I understand your frustration with this but I feel you are wrong (this will put a cat amongst the pigeons) with the cost being too over the top. Just looking on Google Maps will give a good indication that just by their locations things in general are going to be more expensive.

Exmouth is 1200km from Perth and Kununurra is 1050km from Broome and 830km from Darwin and there is nothing in between except nature. Every thing is going to cost more, especially wages. If you put this into consideration with Sydney ( Brisbane is 950km - Melb 850Km) and there are more towns between them than in all WA. I priced a C'van Pk in Melbourne at $62 per night, so when you consider the locations you would think Melb would be more competitive.

At the end of the day these business need to pay wages (I wouldn't work in either Broome or Kununurra unless you paid some serious dollars), utilities, insurances (that can't be cheap) and a heap of other stuff (which has to be trucked in from Perth) just to keep the amenities up to a reasonable standard when this is done they need to turn a profit. Why else would you be in business if not to provide for your future, anything else is tantamount to charity.

As for the surcharges, you got me there, but by law they are allowed to pass them on to the client. Either that or hide them in the cost, but like me you have the choice of Free Camp and then the odd stay in a C'van Pk just to freshen up.

I hope you enjoyed the north because there really is no place like it....... especially for the cost smile

Peter

-- Edited by Peter1059 on Tuesday 22nd of September 2015 06:21:24 PM

03_Troopy · Guru

Peter1059 wrote:
Fuzzball wrote:
In Kununurra the price of a caravan park is $59 per night; in Exmouth - $59 to $66 per night. We are self contained, apart from water, and really object to being ripped off by greedy caravan park operators. In Kununurra, some permanent residents are only charged $130 per week. Tourists are charged $413 per week! We're dedicated to FREE CAMPING, unless there are cheaper places around! Kudos to Buckley's Bush Retreat in Broome - $15 per night and the property is HUGE!
Hi Guys
I understand your frustration with this but I feel you are wrong (this will put a cat amongst the pigeons) with the cost being too over the top. Just looking on Google Maps will give a good indication that just by their locations things in general are going to be more expensive.
Exmouth is 1200km from Perth and Kununurra is 1050km from Broome and 830km from Darwin and there is nothing in between except nature. Every thing is going to cost more, especially wages. If you put this into consideration with Sydney ( Brisbane is 950km - Melb 850Km) and there are more towns between them than in all WA. I priced a C'van Pk in Melbourne at $62 per night, so when you consider the locations you would think Melb would be more competitive.
At the end of the day these business need to pay wages (I wouldn't work in either Broome or Kununurra unless you paid some serious dollars), utilities, insurances (that can't be cheap) and a heap of other stuff (which has to be trucked in from Perth) just to keep the amenities up to a reasonable standard when this is done they need to turn a profit. Why else would you be in business if not to provide for your future, anything else is tantamount to charity.
As for the surcharges, you got me there, but by law they are allowed to pass them on to the client. Either that or hide them in the cost, but like me you have the choice of Free Camp and then the odd stay in a C'van Pk just to freshen up.
I hope you enjoyed the north because there really is no place like it....... especially for the cost

Peter

-- Edited by Peter1059 on Tuesday 22nd of September 2015 06:21:24 PM

I doubt that the differences in costs of cleaning supplies is going to make that big a difference to the cost per night. As for wages, I'm sure there would be plenty of LOCAL people who are willing to take a reasonable wage for their labour. In the scheme of things, maybe water if it is bought and not on town supply, electricity if they have to run their own generator, and a few percent in the price of consumables used in the upkeep. Apart from that, what else is going to push the price up to unreasonable levels like that? Another thing in these small towns, is they all seem to have a house converted into a museum full of the same stuff as all the other places. They charge anywhere from a donation to $15 or $20 a head to wander through. We looked a few on our last trip through western Queensland, but got a bit bored with the same old stuff all the time.

mjt57 · Senior Member

The book "Camps 7" gets a mention so I googled it. It's now up to Camps 8. However, there's also an app for it (what else?).

The reviews, though, are less than flattering. Just wondering if anyone on here uses it and if so, what are your views on it?

Wikicamps seems to be pretty good. Installed it on iPad and iPhone and downloaded all of the off-line content just to see how it performs.

Dunmowin · Guru

mjt - we use Camps 7 - just have not bought "8" yet. Now waiting for "9" unless "7" falls apart. Prefer the paper version with maps, the people who put these books together have put years of research into the books, from finding sites, and confirming weather it is actually legal to camp there, for how long etc.

Wiki camps put together by grey nomads, travellers and ill informed back packers - I noticed one there the other day "gravel pit at the end of the road"!!! Not exactly my idea of a good camping area. But each to their own.

My vote, as always is the Camps Australia Wide series for which I am happy to pay for.

mjt57 · Senior Member

Thanks Dun.

I've had a look at the Camps website and at the app. Lots of negative reviews on the app itself.

Anyway, here's some encouraging news regarding credit card surcharges.

www.heraldsun.com.au/news/shoppers-set-to-save-in-ban-on-excessive-credit-card-surcharges/story-fni0fiyv-1227541106428