Please note, it currently takes between 4-5 weeks to process your membership application so if you have only just filled in the form and sent off the cheque, there’s no point e-mailing us asking where your membership card is.
Here are some frequently asked questions:
- Why don’t you accept online payments such as PayPal?
If we did this it would be impossible to correlate the e-mail addresses that everyone uses for their PayPal account with the member’s details. Quite often people use different e-mail addresses, and may have a different mailing address linked to their PayPal account (e.g. work address for deliveries, rather than home address). This would make it an admin nightmare trying to tie up PayPal payments with actual member details and we are not willing to do this (as we all have daytime jobs too you know!). It is easier for us to deal with bits of paper as then we can correlate payments and members details much easier.
Another reason are the charges. They add up to about 4% of the subscription and would have cost us several hundreds of pounds last year if everyone used PayPal. Not a good use of the clubs money we think!
We will accept PayPal payments in exceptional circumstances. Please e-mail [email protected] for the PayPal address to send the money to.
- I don’t have a cheque book, can I pay by cash/credit card?
Yes, you’ve got a few of options:
a) You can pay by credit card by calling James at Amber Performance. Please see the traders section for contact details. Please note that membership applications take longer via this route as James has to pass the payments through to us, and they do not come through immediately. Also please still fill in the form on the web site so that we capture your details
b) You can also pay James in cash if you call in, or you can pay cash at an event. You will need to track down a committee member and also have the web site form filled in and printed off. You would not believe the number of times people give us money with no form, so we end up with a pocket full of cash and no details, so we’ll just spend it down the pub if you don’t give us the details! 
c) You can also use Postal Orders if you are lucky enough to still have a post office near you. Stick these in the post along with your filled in form. The mailing address is on the contacts page on the web site.
d) In exceptional cases we will accept PayPal. Please see 1 above for further info.
- Why does it take so long to process my application?
a) When you post your form and cheque off, it goes to a PO Box. This is then forwarded to Simon’s house (the treasurer). Allow 1 week for delivery.
b) Simon batches the cheques up and pays them in once per week. Allow another week.
c) It takes another week for the cheque to clear.
d) Simon then e-mails Pete (the membership secretary) to tell him it’s cleared. Pete then batches the applications up and prints off the membership cards, approx once a week or every two weeks, so allow another two weeks.
e) Postal delays, add another couple of days…
…so you can see very quickly why it takes 4 or 5 weeks to get your card. We all have full time jobs and do not process applications individually - they are always batched up and a bunch done in one go. It’s a more efficient use of our time that way.
- Can I get supplier discounts before I get my card?
Yes, some suppliers have a copy of our membership database and will not give you a discount unless you can tell them your membership number, but if you e-mail [email protected] requesting your membership number, someone will get back to you with what it is, even though you may not have received your card yet.
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5 weeks have passed and I still don’t have my card. What’s going on?
Delays do occur, we all get hacked off processing membership requests and we do it in our spare time, and also have holidays, so it may just take a bit of time. A polite courteous e-mail to [email protected] asking for an update may yield a reply if you are lucky! If you e-mail after only a week or two you probably won’t get a reply so please be patient.