I’m unfortunataly one of those people who renew at the last minute. Cheque’s in the post today.
As said earlier I have sent my payment off in the post but I do have to agree with some of the
comments regarding a 50% inflation in just one year… If you went out to get your weekly
shopping and spent around £100 and found the following week your billed £150 for the same
items I think you would leave your shopping trolley still full at the checkout…
Its easy to just keep saying if you want to change this then go to the AGM as thats where all the
decisions are made and voted on but clearly by viewing the forum alone and seeing such things
as the boat trip under threat of being canceled and the far lesser donations for the AGM raffle
being offered implies a greater decline in how many may attend and steadily each year gives a
smaller minority the chance to vote on all the decisions…
I know and have already had it said that I don’t give up easily and sure enough I don’t if I think
I’m right… But isn’t it time we stopped burring our heads in the sand and using the excuse that
you have to attend the AGM to have an opinion thats taken any notice of… why not moved into
the 21st century and use some of the technology thats readily available to us, lets face it the cost
of being a paid up member certainly has kept up with the times, yet we stay in the dark ages of
having to have to travel miles at our own extra expense that some of us may not be able to afford
just to place a tick in a box or say “ I agree “
Ok I’ll climb down from my soap box but not before leaving this though… If some of us are
finding it much harder to keep our gto’s on the road let alone stay the owner of one then any rise
towards the cost of owning one is not going to be looked upon favorably… Theres plenty thats
been said in pm’s, e mails and verbally and not openly posted within the forum and have myself
spent time persuading other existing members who were thinking of leaving to give it another
year… I can understand that the cost of living has gone up and to keep the benefits that the club
provides its members within a years membership fee would also have to go up… but if this rise
causes the club to loose a number of members then how does this benefit the club…
For every member the club looses this year the club now has to receive 3 membership renewals
just to cover the loss of one member… Can’t see how this is benefiting ??
May be the club should be looking more toward cutting back on some of the benefits especially
the ones that cost us more money to enjoy and actually receive them, with this year I will have
been a member for 7 years and apart from the help and advise along with making a few friends
on the forum as well as receiving what ever the freebie has been sent with my membership pack
I have never received any other benefit from what my annual subscription is supposed to
include… my own choice you would think but I don’t attend JAE or Jap Feast or whatever its
called or the AGM as I don’t have the extra it will cost me to receive or enjoy theses benefits
that I’ve paid for and I’m sure I’m not the only one… Surly those that can afford and do spend
out the extra to attend these functions would still attend these events at a cost of only a couple of
quid more, and would alleviate both the club’s expenditure as well as keeping a years
membership fee to an affordable price for those that only visit the forum… At the moment
members like myself are paying for others enjoyment and this year even more and makes me
think of a situation no different when reading on the forum how bitter some become knowing
they are paying for others to live on the dole… Two standards I believe, yet could easily be
reflected within a persons membership fee… Those that receive or want all the benefits
and those that don’t…
I’m not trying to rock the boat and as said have sent this years membership fee…
It’s just my opinion and I think holds some ideas that could be discussed at the AGM but cant
afford to be there to see my input again being ignored. :dunno:
Sorry for the long post 
I think you make a good clear point Alan. lol what a essay though 
if you notice how many guests there are! just makes you think why theres so few members…
i think if it was dropped to 14.99 a year with an easy way of payment (paypal online) there would probably be 4 maybe 5x more members!
which is far more cash than 30 quid for a handful of members. and obviously you will get more support and members to go to agm etc i however do see it will be alot more difficult this way. but once its setup its all pretty much on autopilot …
im absolutely stuffed for renewing! so im just going to make the most of my time left and hope things get better for myself for renewal in the future…
i know people are struggling at moment with cash etc but we all get plenty of time to get some money together when events get advertised etc, i dont see any reason to drop the membership fee , its personal choice if you dont wish to attend any meets or events but why cant the ones , Generally the same faces that support the club at events with their presence get something back for it … if the club is just going to be a web forum then fine pay 15 quid … i personally like seeing everyone and having a laugh … We have one of the best clubs in the car scene … im skint , havent had much work since november , i still have a mortgage , bills blah blah blah to pay but i still am able to save a bit of cash to be able to get to events as without the support the club dies …
Alan im not having a go but its nothing like having an opinion about dole moles scrounging money while rest of us pay , because we are all paying in the club , its your choice NOT to attend events .
im going to bed as ive got a long morning to sleep through … :roll:
Clearly the main part of the club is the website and forum, but the heart of the club is the events that we put on. I don’t think that anyone really wants an internet forum only? It’s obviously very dissapointing if people can’t come to the events, but there is a reason we win “Best of Show” etc etc from time to time. In addition to this, there are the various discounts offered by traders and insurers for being in a club, so I don’t believe the the argument that members not attending meets get no value for the membership fees.
If the fees were dropped, then we simply wouldn’t be able to do these events in the way we have, as the funds would not be available. They are expensive to run and we subsidise well. I don’t see the point in belonging to a club, and having to pay full price to go to a show? If we did this, I think it’s likley we would have fewer people who could afford to come.
I do sympathise with people who are finding times hard at the moment, as I’ve been there myself, but I don’t think the overall commitment of the club to a reliable web presence AND a good show presence should change. These cars are getting on, and the cars that show up to JAE, for example, really get us noticed and generate interest.
Regarding the “virtualisation” of the AGM - whilst I take your points about not being able to make it, it is the same for all organisations that have to have an AGM. There will always be people who can’t make it. I’m afraid that’s just life. We have to have an AGM, and things have to be decided there - it’s not optional for us. I think that we can compromise though, and for next years AGM (assuming I’m still in office!) we can look at putting up some key points well before the meeting for votes and then ratify the results. We’ll still have to deal directly with some items at the meeting though. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that it’s realistic to do it online during the meeting. I just don’t believe people will go and sit in front of their PC for a few hours whilst we talk in the meeting and throw up a poll on the forum from time to time. We’ve actually been trying to cut the AGM times down, so we can all get to the pub early, but I do think this will just add to the time it takes.
Cheers.
Why not consider having different levels of membership - Bronze £15, Silver £20, Gold £30… for example. Different levels - different benefits - and hopefully a larger membership as a result.
Don’t worry I’m already getting my coat…
Gav
I think maybe it would be worth, everyone looking at the mins from the last two years AGM,s so see how we arrived at the decisions.
Basically we had the site hosted with bargin hosts, which although cheap, they lost the data and site on a regular basis.
With the site being down for over two weeks.
The main reason for the increase in the subs was to fund a GTO UK only server, this has had the effect of having zero down time this year.
This was partly funded last year from Reserves, and this year will be funded by the increase in the renewals.
The server costs £3k (£200 year before) , and we have 350 ish members. This was also the reason we sent out the raffle tickets to help with funding this, athough that has been so far unsucessful.
Simon
Gav,
I think it’s something we could explore, although obviously the administrative overhead would go up. We’d have to see if it was workable with the resources we have. One for the AGM maybe
It’s ten pounds f.f.s. That doesn’t buy two packs of cigarettes, it barely buys three pints of beer, it nearly buys two gallons of petrol. If struggling to find an extra ten quid is a problem then maybe you are driving the wrong motor car.
me.
[quote]It’s ten pounds f.f.s. That doesn’t buy two packs of cigarettes, it barely buys three pints of beer, it nearly buys two gallons of petrol. If struggling to find an extra ten quid is a problem then maybe you are driving the wrong motor car.
me.[/quote]
That sums up the the more recent problem with the club at the moment though- too many people owning cars they cant really afford.
The problem we have now is that we have a membership cost that puts of the chavs who buy 1k motors that everyone was worried about and now for some reason puts of existing members. :?
I go to some of the events, so I personally dont care- its worth the money to read some of the forum posts- the banter between josh & friends has made my membership worth while this year, well done mate! :lol:
I think the full membership cost should stay as it is, I do think that different levels of membership could be a good idea and may generate more members, the main problem with this is what will they get for the money? also its more work for the commitee/admin volounteers who do these thankless tasks.
There always seems to be quite a few guests on the site who are just looking or may have a problem but are unwilling to pay £40 just for someone to tell them whats wrong, alternatively maybe a £15 trial introduction fee which will give full access to a new non member for X number of days, if they decide to join £10 will go towards the full 12 months joining fee.
Tony
[quote]
The server costs £3k (£200 year before)
Simon[/quote]
We have put up with poor server reliability for years, which for me was no real problem. £3k sounds like an awful lot of money and a huge leap from £200. I really don’t think that members like me should have to foot the bill? … IMO the £20 that I paid last year and numerous other years before that should be more than ample for what was basically forum access.
What members should foot the bill then? Server reliability was one of the key things people moaned about and unfortunately the cost of a reliable service is high and the low cost services are as we all know very poor.
The £40 a year is very low considering what you can get for it. I as mentioned attend some events but the last couple years I have not been able to make the AGM due to other commitments. But as mentioned £40 for forum access and the ability to get advice, discounts and keep up with friends to me seams good value.
I think we all know and generally accept that the largest expenditure is on the events - the accounts published at the AGM tell us this.
The problem is that for those that don’t ever attend these events a 50% increase does not represent value for money.
Yes as GTO-MAS rightly says £10 is nothing - but it’s a lot if you get nothing or very little in return.
What he said.
How fast people forget how bad it was, and how often they complained about it - when we were with crapnet hosting (or whoever ir was that dumped us with no warning), we got complaints almost every week. There is absolutley zero point in having an internet based club if it’s alway going offline, or so slowly you think you’re going to die of old age before the page loads.
Seriously, if you don’t make your membership back in discounts on parts, servicing and insurance you must be doing something wrong…
The ones who use all of the facilities and regularly attend club ‘subsidised’ events/meets
(Servcing) I do my own (insurance) no company on here could come close to my local broker and as for parts, you don’t need to be a member of this club to get discounted / cheap parts.
£30 Doesn’t look such great value now does it ??
all this talk on membership fees has reminded me I need to send a cheque
J
Frankly, to most of the membership, yes. It also seemed quite reasonable to the many members who attended the AGM last year, where it was voted in. Unanimously as I recall.
As I said to someone previously, if any member doesn’t feel they are getting value, then that’s something thay can make a call on themselves. Out of the several hundred members, we only have, literally, a small handfull who feel it isn’t working for them.
Maybe for some people, the discounts aren’t worth it, but I would suggest that was a small minority.
If the general concensus was that the membership only wanted an internet forum, with no club events, then we’d obviously look at doing that. But, it isn’t is it? As I said, only a minority feel this way.
looks like i wont be renewing this year 
ive had some great help from the club in the past but i cant justify another tenner on the fee so it was a hard decision but i need to concentrate on the club i run up here.
i log on every day and there isnt much doing and all the shows and events are down south aswell only a handfull of us scottish members seem interested in meets aswell .some great guys on here with alot of knowledge but ive had to shell out quite a bit this year already with the other club ,ill be back next year ,maybee
ive got some handy phone numbers saved tho
cheers scott
£30 for renewals and £40 for new members is still cheap for what most members get out of the club.
Frankly, membership of GTOUK allowed me to keep my old Mk.1 TT far longer than I have owned any other car (over 4 years) purely because of the people and the advice on here.
The social aspect that comes with membership is also well worth it. I only attend a few events each year (and only one is club-subsidised) but I don’t have any problem with the idea that members who attend all the club supported events are getting better value for money than I am. JAE more than repays the membership fee just in food and drink for me (Mark, no comments from you! :lol: ).
My only gripe is the non-availability of an easy payment method. I fully understand the reasons, but I would happily pay the PayPal charge as it’s a hell of a lot quicker than the once-yearly search of the house to find the chequebook (the last year or two I think I have actually ended up paying by postal order which costs me the same if not more than a PayPal transaction for the same amount).
This year, my intention is to get everything sorted before the May 1st cut-off for once! :lol: