Booking campsites in France (french language assistance appreciated)

[Kathy]

I'm booking a campsite in France, by email. I've been told it's possible to have a pitch for the dates I'm wanting, and been told the price options. Does anyone know if this means the campsite owners will be wanting me to pay now, or whether I can ask them if I can pay on arrival (which will be easier than trying to work out if I can write out a cheque in euros in a British cheque book)?

And does the sentence "C'est possible a payer a arrival? Je suis en Angleterre, et mon libre des cheques ne fais pas les euros..." adequately convey this?

Failing that, I'll need to have a conversation about paying by credit card, and the only words I know about that are "C.B." (which I *think* is a banking card, but oddly enough paying by credit card over the internet  wasn't covered in GCSE french fifteen years ago).

 

[JohnP]

   
Est-il o.k. à payer à l'arrivée?


carte bancaire (I believe).

[JohnP]

Kathy, does le camping have a web site ? Is there a booling facility on there ?

[Tim]

Couldn't spot a book online option on their website. The only reason for booking in advance is that the tour is in town that day and we guessed there might be a bit of competition for a campsite that is walking distance of the town centre.

[JohnP]

Tim/Kathy

I got caught out once trying to find somewhere to stay when le Tour hit town a few miles away.  Could you get a euro cheque from your bank? or even post euros ?

[Kathy]

Tim/Kathy

I got caught out once trying to find somewhere to stay when le Tour hit town a few miles away.  Could you get a euro cheque from your bank? or even post euros ?

Well, they've already said (in french) <yes, it's fine to reserve a place for those nights; do you want with or without electricity? Here are the price differences.> so it looks like they're happy to let us pre-book, and they haven't specifically *asked* for a deposit yet, but I'm not sure if one is automatically presumed.

We normally never pre-book campsites, we just turn up, so this is the first time we've had to do this.

Failing that, their website does say they accept C.B, cheques, or cash. Last time we were there we paid cash, I think.

[Kathy]

*sigh*

Despite emailing in french, and getting the french checked by a native french speaker, the french campsite owner has resorted to replying in English. 

I didn't think my accent was so bad it could be heard over the net!

 

[JT]

That happens to me a lot too. I carry on replying in French usually. 

[Panoramix]

*sigh*

Despite emailing in french, and getting the french checked by a native french speaker, the french campsite owner has resorted to replying in English. 

I didn't think my accent was so bad it could be heard over the net!

 

This how we are:

If you start talking to us in English we will pretend we don't understand what you are talking about just to remind you that Joan of Ark chased you out of the country a few centuries ago.
If you start talking to us in French we will reply in English just to show off how superior our English is to your French.

We may have lost Trafalgar but on a daily basis the French tourist industry tries to make up the loss little by little. It may take a few millennium to get there but because of "entente cordiale" we have no choice but to have recourse to such pettiness.

 

[Panoramix]

By the way, CB = carte bancaire.

Although we have visa cards and mastercards, we don't really have credit cards (you just get credit for a month or so). So carte bancaire and carte de credit are virtually the same thing.

It is a bit expensive, but you can always transfer money to  their bank account, just ask for their "numero de compte IBAN" and your bank should be able to sort this out.

[andrew_s]

Despite emailing in french, and getting the french checked by a native french speaker, the french campsite owner has resorted to replying in English. 

I didn't think my accent was so bad it could be heard over the net!

a *.co.uk email address is a bit of a give away 

On paying, IBAN transfers may be normal on the continent where the banks charge what it costs them (peanuts), but if you have the misfortune to be British your bank will charge as much as it thinks it can get away with (normally £15 - £20).

[SandyV]

[This how we are:

If you start talking to us in English we will pretend we don't understand what you are talking about just to remind you that Joan of Ark chased you out of the country a few centuries ago.
If you start talking to us in French we will reply in English just to show off how superior our English is to your French.

We may have lost Trafalgar but on a daily basis the French tourist industry tries to make up the loss little by little. It may take a few millennium to get there but because of "entente cordiale" we have no choice but to have recourse to such pettiness.

    POTD?

[Martin]

CB may mean Carte Blue (which was the usual French refusal to accept anything American) even though it was in fact a Visa card with a different logo.

From my recent experience in Sweden it's always better to pay by Visa in the country you visit than do business with "Stand and Deliver" £UKIP- Proper money bank transfers assuming they offer you the choice.

[Tim]

a *.co.uk email address is a bit of a give away 

It went with a .com email address. However the tranche of legalese which gets appended to the end of any outgoing email would have been in an approximation of English (or at least more approximately English than French).

[iakobski]

If they give you a reservation they will probably want a deposit - they'll ask when they've reserved an actual pitch. Some very popular sites will charge a fee to reserve rather than deposit, ie it is not offset against the pitch fee when you arrive. If there's no need to reserve in advance for the date you want, they'll say so.

To pay, credit card is by far the simplest, if their reservation offer includes the letters "C.B." then they will accept any major credit card, just phone them or send the numbers in a letter, not by email, obv.

[Kathy]

Well, I haven't given them any money, and they have said that I can pay on arrival and they have booked me a pitch for that date.

 

[citoyen]

Is there a booling facility on there ?

It's spelt bouling, and yes, all French campsites have bouling facilities.

d.

[citoyen]

CB may mean Carte Blue (which was the usual French refusal to accept anything American) even though it was in fact a Visa card with a different logo.

Kind of.

Carte Bleue is a bit like Delta or Switch - a proprietary system but one that's used by a group of different banks. And it is indeed related to Visa - as "partners" or "affilliates" or something like that. I had a Carte Bleue when I lived in France in the early 90s. That was my first exposure to Chip and Pin - the French are very ahead of us in some ways.

It's now been integrated into the "Carte Bancaire" system and CB always means carte bancaire these days.

d.

[Andrij]

We may have lost Trafalgar and Agincourt and Waterloo but on a daily basis the French tourist industry tries to make up the loss little by little. It may take a few millennium to get there but because of "entente cordiale" we have no choice but to have recourse to such pettiness.

 

FTFY

[Panoramix]

We may have lost Trafalgar and Agincourt and Waterloo but on a daily basis the French tourist industry tries to make up the loss little by little. It may take a few millennium to get there but because of "entente cordiale" we have no choice but to have recourse to such pettiness.

 

FTFY

Well, we may need to try a bit harder then... 

[Rapples]

Well, we may need to try a bit harder then... 

Why bother?

Your living in God's country, don't forget 1066, we're just trying to get back

[Frenchie]

CB may mean Carte Blue (which was the usual French refusal to accept anything American) even though it was in fact a Visa card with a different logo.

A CB or carte bancaire doesn't have to be a Visa card!! 

[Frenchie]

*sigh*

Despite emailing in French, and getting the French checked by a native French speaker, the French campsite owner has resorted to replying in English. 

I didn't think my accent was so bad it could be heard over the net!

Not uncommon. It may be far easier for them to do so, to make ensure the customer gets the right message. It may also be a way of avoiding follow up questions due to misunderstanding. They cannot know who is at the other end of the email and it may have been the case that the written French was not "perfect" or colloquial enough; when you are there, and you want to practise your French, then they will probably entertain you with delight.