# TTOC membership bogof ?



## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

The thread with info about the TTOC membership bogof has disappeared - can anyone point me to a statement or at least a discussion on what happened please ?


----------



## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi Mullum, Offer was withdrawn by TTOC. on 6th June.
Hoggy.


----------



## steviebabes (Jun 1, 2013)

And, amazingly, I managed to bag one before the offer was withdrawn.

My only regret is not grabbing the 2-year full membership while I had the chance - what a bargain that was!


----------



## barton TT (Nov 13, 2004)

I was one of the lucky ones to renew.


----------



## Callum-TT (Jun 3, 2013)

I am chuffed that I got it before they withdrew the offer.


----------



## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

Hoggy said:


> Hi Mullum, Offer was withdrawn by TTOC. on 6th June.
> Hoggy.


Thanks for your reply Hoggy.
Why was the offer withdrawn ? The offer stated it would be available throughout June.


----------



## barton TT (Nov 13, 2004)

I think they realised club funds woulds go down if the offer stayed.


----------



## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

barton TT said:


> I think they realised club funds woulds go down if the offer stayed.


Hi, Probably proved too popular & so too expensive.
Hoggy.


----------



## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

Well I'm disappointed on two levels, 
one : although I had no interest in joining before the offer - I WAS drawn in and now feel let down.
two : its another sign that things aren't right within the TTOC and that the club is not something I want to be connected with.

I was going to sign up and attend eventt13 - but now I won't be doing either. I think I'll continue to only participate in TTF discussions and events until I see an organisation I'd feel comfortable being affiliated with.


----------



## steviebabes (Jun 1, 2013)

I regret very much not grabbing the 2 years of full membership. Instead, like the tightwad I am, I settled for the web doo-dah.

But the Club has a duty to protect its finances, and it was clearly on the ball as it withdrew the offer after only a fairly short run. So I'm guessing that the offer was being taken-up in such big numbers that suspicions were raised that the memberships were being offered at a severe underprice.

Disappointed as you and me both are, we surely can't expect an offer to be kept open that the Club can't afford?


----------



## Chris Woods (May 12, 2013)

If they were on the ball they would have done their sums.....

I don't think the original deal was fully approved in the first place ...hence the withdrawal..


----------



## steviebabes (Jun 1, 2013)

Sssshhhhh!


----------



## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

Lets clarify...

The treasurer and membership secretary decided this offer would be a great draw on membership numbers and after looking at the figures decided to introduce the offer.

A week later two other committee members decided that since they had not been consulted that the membership secretary and treasurer had been irresponsible in offering this, to the point of one committee member informing the membership secretary that the new committee might well sue him for loss of revenue.

The membership secretary removed the offer.

There was a good take up in that first week, but not excessive. The club has 10x enough money in the bank to cover the projected loss this offer might have run to. Money which is meant to be re-invested in the club, to promote memberships.

The treasurer and membership secretary have often put on special offers like this, 18 months for the price of 12, subscriptions to Audi Driver Magazine and the like to increase membership take up and have not been informed they might be sued before.

It's a shame that in the current situation we are being micro-scrutinised to the level of not being able to perform usual club duties.


----------



## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

Nem I was typing the following post before your message was posted. It's too late in the evening for me to edit it with the hindsight of reading your clarifications ...

This is my post :

So why was the offer made in the first place ?
Why hasn't there been a statement about the retraction of the offer and for that matter, an apology ?

I've not seen any statement saying that there was a mistake and that the club would have LOST money on memberships sold with the offer. So surely the club would still have been making money, just less.

I thought the whole idea of the offer was to get the membership up (over 1000 I think was the target mentioned ?) - so the logic that "too many people took up the offer" just doesn't fit.


----------



## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

What I will say - is that it seems as though the "committee" are more interested in making money than gaining members.
So presumably - they'd be happy even if the membership consisted of ONLY the members of the committee themselves, so long as their "club" was making more money that way.


----------



## Audiphil (Oct 23, 2012)

Mullem,

I think the offer may have worked for new members as an an incentive, but if every existing member renewed their membership the club may have income whereby there was a threat of this being recovered from the membership secretary which would have been a most unfortunate position for a volunteer who is doing a good job.


----------



## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

mullum said:


> What I will say - is that it seems as though the "committee" are more interested in making money than gaining members.


So you missed the bit where I said there was more than enough money in the bank to cover the shortfall at the cost of increasing membership numbers.

The money in the club funds means nothing, it's there to help grow the club, same as it's being used to heavily subsidise the tickets to evenTT13 for members again this year.


----------



## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

... And if it was offered to new members only - there would have been a lot of complaints from existing members etc etc etc

I get it. Must be a nightmare trying to run that club. I'm clearly better off out if it.


----------



## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

Nem said:


> mullum said:
> 
> 
> > What I will say - is that it seems as though the "committee" are more interested in making money than gaining members.
> ...


My comment wasnt contrary to what you said, it was meant to supplement it !
Your post seemed to be just stating facts rather than giving an opinion. My post was meant to be an opinion of the facts.

Like you say, there's enough money to cover any loss and that money is in fact there to help "grow the club" - ie. gain members ?

So we're on the same page aren't we ?


----------



## Mark Davies (Apr 10, 2007)

I was the one who questioned it. I did so on two grounds.

Firstly that it just appeared without me (or some other members of the committee) knowing anything about it. That's not exactly proper process for one or two individuals to come up with and implement a policy that potentially has a long-term impact on the Club's finances without even running it past the rest of the committee, let alone seeking a vote of approval. It's exactly the same lack of consideration of due process that happened when the magazine editor was thrown out of the Club and which caused quite a bit of outrage. I was rather disappointed that those involved seemed to have completely failed to learn any lessons from that episode.

Secondly, I didn't think it had been properly thought out and costed. Regardless of what the actual uptake had been upto the offer being withdrawn, it had been made available to everyone. It wouldn't have taken people too long to realise that it was in fact worthwhile for each and every single member to take up the offer, even if they'd renewed only last month. In doing so they would still have got a free month's membership. So what if they had done that? Well, the Club would have had no membership renewal fees at all for the 12 months from June 2014 onwards. Could the Club really afford to give away that amount of income in order to get some extra members in, especially when most of the people benefitting would be members already?

Well perhaps it could. It's not intrinsically an invalid policy. But then you combine the two issues and you consider the situation where we have a different committee next year left wondering why they suddenly haven't got any money coming in and can't pay the bills. And then they realise it is because all those fees were given away in a BOGOF deal and more than that, that the decison to do that was taken by a couple of people who just implemented it without getting it authorised by any due process. I pointed out that the lack of process would make those individuals personally liable and in theory the new committee could sue them for damages. It didn't take long for the offer to be pulled.

I'm sorry you've been disappointed, but that wouldn't have happened if it had all been done properly in the first place and with a little more care.


----------



## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

Ok that makes it a lot clearer thanks.

It's not as bad as I thought - as long as its not a "money before new members" policy, then I can understand.

Hopefully something CAN be worked out by the committee that will encourage NEW members without bankrupting the club or alienating exisiting members.


----------



## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

With my 3 year (and 10 years continuous) membership nearing the end , and the TTOC bullcrap going on at the moment, I am wondering whether to renew or let it lapse. This offer was a deal clincher and I would have renewed this week with this BOGOFF offer (once credit cards had turned over). Now my membership is in jeopardy again. :?


----------



## rustyintegrale (Oct 1, 2006)

Nem said:


> It's a shame that in the current situation we are being micro-scrutinised to the level of not being able to perform usual club duties.


With respect Nick, given recent shenanigans within the TTOC committee, are you really surprised? :roll:


----------

