Author Topic: CTC Membership woes: myth or reality? (Read 12597 times)

hellymedic · « **on:** 19 February, 2009, 05:28:29 pm »

Greg and I spent the day at a CTC Management Committee 'away day'.
We discussed the Membership Department and its woes.
Some people present thought the tales were apocryphal and issues had been addressed/settled.
Greg and I disagreed; what is your experience?
You are allowed two votes, but comments are welcome.

Ariadne · « **Reply #1 on:** 19 February, 2009, 05:33:09 pm »

I've had no problems - been a member for (I think) three years and it's always been fine.

Greenbank · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 February, 2009, 05:35:13 pm »

My problems were over a year ago.

Just for fun, pick a random time each week and call the number and see how long you spend waiting to speak to a person (when I tried 2 years ago I got bored after 45 minutes and hung up and just emailed them).

dehomag · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 February, 2009, 05:36:20 pm »

Yes. I can't remember the details now but I didn't get renewed when I said I wanted to be. I didn't get charged any money. In the end I didn't persist. I was offered 18 months for price of 12 to entice me back but the horse had already bolted.

Ariadne · « **Reply #4 on:** 19 February, 2009, 05:42:27 pm »

Quote from: Greenbank on 19 February, 2009, 05:35:13 pm

My problems were over a year ago.

Just for fun, pick a random time each week and call the number and see how long you spend waiting to speak to a person (when I tried 2 years ago I got bored after 45 minutes and hung up and just emailed them).

I called a couple of weeks ago and got through really fast. But maybe just luck.

ibrahim · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 February, 2009, 06:55:54 pm »

I called in October when there was a minor problem with my direct debit and came through without any problems at all. Received excellent service too, btw.

Eccentrica Gallumbits · « **Reply #6 on:** 19 February, 2009, 07:59:09 pm »

I had problems with my membership payment. I had received the initial joining pack but then no magazines. When I phoned up they said my payment hadn't gone through - and they hadn't followed it up. So the bloke I spoke to said I could have my first year's membership on the house as an apology. Then at my first renewal their DD system took the renewal fee and the previous year's fee - so they took out twice as much as I was expecting and I never got my free year.

andrewc · « **Reply #7 on:** 19 February, 2009, 08:16:06 pm »

No membership problems (direct debit) and the magazine always turns up. When I was a newbie to the world of fettling I had a couple of pleasant, helpful emails from Chris Juden so no complaints on that score.

Never had to use the legal or insurance services so can't comment on those.

A friend who changes address every few years did have problems (possibly compounded by living overseas) and eventually cancelled his membership.

Polar Bear · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 February, 2009, 08:21:22 pm »

More than a year ago. I was a family member but somehow they managed to fail to renew me in psite of my best efforts to offer them money. In the end in my frustration I simply gave up. I'm not a member at present.

Séamas M. · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 February, 2009, 09:13:54 pm »

Not a problem as such but my membership lapsed because there wasn't an online renewal facility. And I haven't bothered to see if there is one yet so I'm currently a non-member.

MercuryKev · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 February, 2009, 09:15:50 pm »

This post explained my issue:

CTC Renewals

Why write to tell you that your membership expired a month ago?

Basil · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 February, 2009, 09:17:59 pm »

No probs

Once a year they send me a new card and ask me for money. They suggest that I really ought to do a S.O.
That would be much too organised. I don't do organised. $:-\$

Wendy · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 February, 2009, 09:42:00 pm »

I'm not sure if I'm even a member any more. I suddenly stopped getting the magazine.

Regulator · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 February, 2009, 09:44:48 pm »

Hmmmm... so far (as at time of posting) out of 38 people who have voted, 10 have had problems with CTC membership in the last year.

Hardly scientific but it would seem to me that, if extrapolated over the whole membership, that's higher than the 'handful' (about 40ish) we were told CTC knows about.

Fixedwheelnut · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 February, 2009, 09:46:13 pm »

Well I have my card this week so lets see if I still get the next magazine

I have had problems the last three years, Simon L123,,,,,, sorted it last year and hopefully it seems to have worked

nutkin · « **Reply #15 on:** 19 February, 2009, 09:51:16 pm »

Deducted the money from my account, keep sending me the magazine, but the membership card has never materialised.

teethgrinder · « **Reply #16 on:** 19 February, 2009, 10:15:57 pm »

I've been a member since 1988 and have never had any trouble. I pay by SO now. I did have one glitch last year, when for the first time ever, I never recieved my mag. (The one with the picture of Charlotte, so I've never seen it

) This was the mag that coincided with my membership renewal. $:-\$
YACF has 1100 members and 10 have had bother according to this thread, so far. CTC has 50,000 members. I wonder how many YACFers are CTC members? I doubt that everyone who has ever had trouble will comment, but even if we take it that all 1100 YACFers are in the CTC and that the CTC has 50,000 members. It doesn't seem unreasonable to suggest that 500 people may have had trouble.

Salvatore · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 February, 2009, 10:29:27 pm »

No probs since 1975

saturn · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 February, 2009, 12:14:25 am »

No renewal prob's but when I joined a few years back they sent me 3 membership cards before getting the correct expiry date.

I do renew annually on a manual basis though - reports of problems appear to have revolved around automatic renewals.

hellymedic · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 February, 2009, 12:23:18 am »

There have been some bugs in the software that are getting patched. One friend received no reminder to renew, so lapsed. I doubt she was alone.

andyoxon · « **Reply #20 on:** 20 February, 2009, 12:25:24 am »

The only thing that happened to us recently was that we had one of those 12+3month subscription deals, but our membership was ended at 12 months; which I discovered after the event. Anyway CTC gave us a further 15 mnths for the price of 12.

tubbycyclist · « **Reply #21 on:** 20 February, 2009, 06:57:27 am »

Had no problems in the last four years; letters, magazines and cards all arrive fine.

Si · « **Reply #22 on:** 20 February, 2009, 09:17:31 am »

I have been categorically assured by a CTC official that there are no problems with CTC membership renewals and that the system works fine.

I asked why there were so many people reporting problems on forums. I was told that in any organisation this size you would expect a small minority to go wrong and was assured that the number that did have problems was so small that it didn't mean that the system was wrong.

I asked for some numbers regarding the percentage that went wrong, just so that I could reply to a thread and show that it was really a very small percentage in the grand scheme of things. I received no answer. Another, unofficial source, suggested that the way that the system was set up meant that they didn't actually record the number of problems reported (which makes one wonder how they know that the system is OK?), but I can not verify the accuracy of this report.

Given that I was assured that there were no real problems I asked why all the CTC RTR memberships were wrong last year I received no answer.

I think that if the CTC did simply publish the number of successful, trouble-free renewals vs the number that had problems then there might be a lot less annoyance among the members: either it would show that there wasn't a wide spread problem, or it would show that the CTC had recognised that there was a problem and thus would be thinking about ways of fixing it. As it is there is lots of speculation and annoyance that just isn't healthy for the club (either the club as an organisation or as a collection of members).

For my part I recieved three new membership cards last year, the second one being correct.

JT · « **Reply #23 on:** 20 February, 2009, 09:58:10 am »

My membership seems to renew automatically OK but I don't have a current membership card despite intervention by various CTC bods.

Jasmine · « **Reply #24 on:** 20 February, 2009, 11:42:51 am »

Quote from: hellymedic on 20 February, 2009, 12:23:18 am

There have been some bugs in the software that are getting patched. One friend received no reminder to renew, so lapsed. I doubt she was alone.

I had exactly this. CTC wouldn't know about a lot of these people because mostly they won't complain, they just drift away.

Poll

Have you had problems with the CTC Membership Department?

Author Topic: CTC Membership woes: myth or reality? (Read 12597 times)

dehomag