Caravan owners to get a discount

PARKDEAN RESPONDS TO ANGER OVER RATES WITH REFUND ON FEES FOR 2021

PARKDEAN Resorts is to give caravan owners a 50% credit refund to use towards their 2021 pitch fee.

Angry owners had slammed the holiday park operator for charging full rates despite not being able to visit in the coronavirus lockdown.

Parkdean Resorts, which runs 67 parks across the UK, originally told caravan owners it would not be giving back a penny of their fees, which can be up to £6,941 per year.

But they have now launched an Owners Support Package Scheme with several benefits, including giving owners a 50% credit towards their 2021 pitch fee.

An update on Parkdean’s website said: “All owners who have paid 2020 pitch fee in full or via our direct debit scheme will be entitled to a credit towards their 2021 pitch fee equal to 50% of their 2020 pitch fee for the time we have been closed from March 23, 2020, up to and including July 3, 2020.

“This credit relates solely to the pitch fee only and will be taken off your 2021 pitch fee. It does not relate to any other charges such as utilities.”

As part of the scheme, pitch fees will also be frozen in 2021 and owners will be offered an additional 12 months’ ownership by extending their tenure end date.

When their parks reopen next month, owners will also be able to get an increased discount of 30% on all food, drink and payable activities until the end of 2021.

Owners experiencing financial difficulties can also apply for a three-month payment holiday.

Furious caravan owners recently said it was an ‘absolute disgrace’ that Parkdean Resorts was not offering any refunds.

Mark Henderson, 47, who pays £400 per month for his pitch at Cresswell Towers Holiday Park in Morpeth, Northumberland, said: “We were advised we could not stay at our holiday home, due to the lockdown.

“I cannot see a problem with social distancing as the caravans are not close to each other. We pay a lot of money every year to have our caravan at Cresswell Towers and to be unable to visit our caravan to make sure there are no damages etc is unacceptable.

“Owners need to be refunded any site fees that have been paid during these lockdown periods as a gesture of goodwill.”

Parkdean Resorts said it was following Government guidelines by not allowing owners on site and added that their pitch fee ‘does not guarantee that the park will remain open or that owners will be able to use their holiday home at any particular time.’

Andy Robinson, 57, who owns a caravan at Whitley Bay Holiday Park, North Tyneside, added: “We have been unable to even visit to make sure all is OK.

“That in itself is not too bad, but to learn that as owners we will not get any sort of reduction in site fees from Parkdean Resorts is an absolute disgrace.

“It is not our fault that we are unable to use our caravans.”

Parkdean Resorts initially said it was offering customers 10% more off food and drinks for the inconvenience when parks reopened.

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis revealed he had been inundated with questions and complaints about Parkdean Resorts.

The financial guru started compiling a dossier of complaints and said that if consumer rights had been breached he would forward it to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which told him already that if services can’t be accessed refunds should be given. He said last month the CMA “has certainly indicated to us that partial refunds should be considered”.