CTC - does it want members?

[Grandad]

A lot of the problems listed seem to involve direct debits which I avoid wherever possible. I invariably receive well before renewal date a letter that includes the new membership card. It states that the card will be valid provided I send a remittance. I pay by cheque and make sure it has been cleared when the next bank statement arrives. No problem in over 20 years.

The hassle of writing and posting a cheque is a small price to pay for avoiding what seems to be a common problem.

Thought - how long before cheques are phased out of existence

[NWLondoner]

I telephone last Tuesday to renew and all went fine. I asked when would I receive my new membership card and I was told that i should have received a renewal letter with it a couple of weeks ago. I said that I had not received it so they promised to send a new card asap. When I got home that day guess what had been posted to me?? The renewal letter and membership card. I also received the replacement card on Friday so very impressed.

[Ivor Tingting]

I have been a member of the CTC since 1984 and for some years prior to that before work and family intervened.

My membership gets renewed annually by direct debit at the beginning of November. However when that date passed with no fee drawn from my bank account and no member card received I contacted the membership department.

It took a lenghty telephone call, two e mails, three different staff members and seven weeks before the issue was resolved.

In this current economic climate CTC membership could be viewed as a 'nice to have' as opposed to a 'must have' requirement. Such a disappointing and indifferent attitude from representitives of the club could have a negative effect on renewals.

Should I name and shame?!

In 2000/2001 I had the problems you describe renewing my membership. So nothing much has changed! I had been a member with the CTC for a few years as well. I had also enrolled a friend and his family on family membership as a gift which CTC had great problems setting up. The response then from the CTC management and some one called Kevin Mayne was frankly diabolical. I thought why should I give these people my hard earned when they couldn't even be bothered to sort the problem out quickly and efficiently. So I gave them the benefit of the doubt on that occasion as it was finally sorted out after alot of hassle and not receiving magazines and potentially having no insurance, but the same thing happened with my own membership the following year! So I cancelled my membership. I then got a limp apology from CTC blaming their problems with membership renewal on transferring members details to a new databse system, well, that's the excuse they gave me. What two years running???? They also begged me to return and sent me a yellow water bottle with CTC in large bright blue letters on the side. Cheek! for all the hassle they had caused me. I gave it away I think. Also I didn't like their use of 0870 numbers for all their services which is almost a premium rate number. I now see they've ditched 0870 and have moved onto 0844 which is an equally extortionate personal numbering service. I have tried finding how much they charge for calling this number from their main site but can't find anything. Anyway my hard earned remains with the LCC - an excellent and efficient cycling organisation.

[HANDYMANN]

I am interested to see that another club has had problems like ours. As secretary of Halifax Imperial Wheelers we are affiliated to CTC for insurance purposes. We sent our renewal in October and after protracted correspondence the cheque for the bulk renewals was only cashed in February! Secondly they sent acknowledgement letters to the previous secretary but two, depsite issuing the renewals to the last secretary and my altering the address when I sent it back. I rang up and asked them to correct it and they did not do so.

They have made fatuous excuses but offered no explanation at all for the mess. I sent an email to my local councillor and have not even had the courtesy of a response. I don't know of any other orgainsation that farms out its member services to a third party.

As a life member I am appalled at this shambles and the total apparent indifference of central office. This needs to be on the AGM agenda and there needs to be some serious butt kicked. This is not a small problem.

[thirdcrank]

I've just looked at this week's newsnet and I see it has a personalised renewal reminder at the top.

[wkb21]

The interesting feature of this thread is that no-one in the administration, including CEO Kevin Mayne, seems to think the matter is important enough to respond on the thread that is publicising the problem. Yet the issue is fundamental to CTC's state of health - the ability of members and aspirant members to remain as members! No doubt the excuse is that you are all busy on other priorities, but what can be more important than the front line service that maintains membership revenue and expands it, not to mention your credibility as an organisation?

Over to you Kevin. The buck stops with you. My remaining faith is expiring. A response by Wed 18 March would be reasonable. Have a good weekend.

[Graham]

The interesting feature of this thread is that no-one in the administration, including CEO Kevin Mayne, seems to think the matter is important enough to respond on the thread that is publicising the problem.

The forum is not a formal channel of communication of the CTC.
Nor is it an informal channel of communication of the CTC management.

Please raise the issue with your CTC councillor. The number of people who do so does built up the weight of members "concern" in the formal channels.
If your own membership is seriously deranged then pursue the matter by "formal complaint".

[Flinders]

For those of us new here and thinking of joining the CTC (like me) , an official response here might be helpful, though.

At present, having read the above, it sounds like I should
a) pay by cheque yearly,
b)keep my own calendar reminder, and
c)not assume I'm insured until I get a card for the right year (and presumably keep my bike at home until I get it, however long that might take).

That does sound a bit messy........I don't have to do this for any other organisations I belong to.

[Ivor Tingting]

For those just looking to join a cycling group just for the third party insurance then can I suggest the London Cycling Campaign. I have been a member for 13 years and have not had one problem with membership in this time. I don't even live in London any more not since 1998. They also seem to be better at lobbying than CTC whether this because they only have cycling issues in the capital to deal with I don't know. There was a move by the CTC to merge with LCC but the membership of LCC voted against this I am glad to say. The magazine if you opt for it is quite good as well. They are very receptive to their members issues as well. Good local support groups. Administrative office is always very friendly and well run. My wallet was stolen last year in which was my LCC card. I contacted LCC and three days later I received a replacement card at no extra cost to me.

When I was a member of CTC I never paid by Direct Debit always by cheque. It was fine for the first few years then things started to go wrong just after 2000. Problems seem to have stemmed from when this new system or provider was adopted to handle membership renewals which CTC has never got to grips with judging by the posts here.

[Flinders]

Thanks, I'll look into that.

[JohnW]

[
Please raise the issue with your CTC councillor. The number of people who do so does built up the weight of members "concern" in the formal channels.
.

Yes, do that, and please tell us how you get on!!!!!!

[PaulB]

I always receive a membership reminder and card before my current membership expires. I just wish I could renew on-line. Writing a cheque and posting a letter back is so old fashioned and time consuming I tend to leave it to one side for a time. They can change the logo (sadly), drop the name and just use initials all in the name of progress but cannot get to grips with computers! I can renew other club memberships and magazine subscriptions on-line, what's the problem with this organisation?

[thirdcrank]

From the CTC Annual Report in the mag:

Membership processing
We commissioned a full, independent service review in 2008 ... (which) concluded that outsourcing ...was the right approach for CTC, but identified some procedural problems that had an adverse impact on the services provided to members. All the issues identified have now been addressed, with changes made where necessary. We will continue to monitor the service levels closely.

[meic]

Funny how outsourcing always seems to be the right approach, even though it tends not to work in practice.

[Flinders]

Will feedback eventually, honest- but still waiting for clarification on the limits of my current insurance....