Membership renewals

[Mick Norris]

then wonder why £27 x 3 sums to £83

I'm assuming that 1 year membership is £28, less £1 for joining/renewing online = £27

3 year membership is £28 x 3 = £84, less £1 for joining/renewing online = £83

[Sean Hewitt]

So the password is my email address.

No, the password is my email address. Your email address is your username. It's important to get things the right way round.

But which email address? Is it the one the ECF has for me that it wouldn't allow me to use when joining (and the one it usually uses to contact me) or is it my spam email address which I was forced to use to join (which it has used once to contact me and fairly recently)?

It's whichever email address you registered when joining the ECF.

[Roger de Coverly]

So the password is my email address.

The email address is the userid and the password something you make up. It doesn't have to be as the system can presumably function without a valid email addresses. I would be surprised if you (or at least the ECF) couldn't change it, indeed it would be a necessary part of system design that email addresses can change.

[Alex McFarlane]

It's whichever email address you registered when joining the ECF.

The point I am trying to make is that I couldn't join with my 'proper' email address as that was known to the system so I had to use my spam one. I was not alone in having this problem.

I emailed the office to tell them this but the latter is still used occasionally.

Has this problem been rectified or do I still have to use the spam one or do I just guess?

[David Robertson]

OK, reporting back from the online frontline - some good; some bad; some very poor indeed.

I did as Sean directed. First, enter an email address as 'username'. Hhmm, BAD: which address - I have several; and which might ECF have? Anyhow, enter a likely address, and click 'forgot password' - even though I've never had a password to forget. And GOOD: a system-generated password landed swiftly in my Inbox. Next, enter that password, and GOOD: in we go. And GOOD: I'm prompted to change my password. But BAD, it takes three attempts before the system accepts my change. However, I'm optimistic: it will be easier next time - in 2016!

Ahead of me now lies 'Personal Details'; and GOOD: already filled in. But VERY POOR: nearly all the details contain errors, including errors in my name, address, title, club. Though GOOD: it's very easy to fix things. And as Roger has said: BAD - you seem to be given only a 2014 payment option. Nevertheless, save the changes and press on.

At this point, I expected to be sent to payment. So I spent a minute or two gormlessly waiting for the payment page to appear. Alas, nothing, nada! Instead you have to nip to the menu buttons at the top, and click 'Payment' yourself. No big deal, of course, once you realise there's no auto-transfer as on other sites.

The payment page is GOOD: it contains all the membership period options up to Aug 2016. I decide on Gold 3-year; then, flooded with benevolence and public spirit, click Platinum 3-year instead. Bung in a donation to the International team, and I'm done. Payment options are GOOD.

Overall VERDICT?

GOOD. OK, there are a few niggles, as reported. But they're easily overcome. Once people become familiar with the process, it should be very easy indeed

[Sean Hewitt]

OK, reporting back from the online frontline - some good; some bad; some very poor indeed.

I did as Sean directed. First, enter an email address as 'username'. Hhmm, BAD: which address - I have several; and which might ECF have? Anyhow, enter a likely address, and click 'forgot password' - even though I've never had a password to forget. And GOOD: a system-generated password landed swiftly in my Inbox. Next, enter that password, and GOOD: in we go. And GOOD: I'm prompted to change my password. But BAD, it takes three attempts before the system accepts my change. However, I'm optimistic: it will be easier next time - in 2016!

Ahead of me now lies 'Personal Details'; and GOOD: already filled in. But VERY POOR: nearly all the details contain errors, including errors in my name, address, title, club. Though GOOD: it's very easy to fix things. And as Roger has said: BAD - you seem to be given only a 2014 payment option. Nevertheless, save the changes and press on.

At this point, I expected to be sent to payment. So I spent a minute or two gormlessly waiting for the payment page to appear. Alas, nothing, nada! Instead you have to nip to the menu buttons at the top, and click 'Payment' yourself. No big deal, of course, once you realise there's no auto-transfer as on other sites.

The payment page is GOOD: it contains all the membership period options up to Aug 2016. I decide on Gold 3-year; then, flooded with benevolence and public spirit, click Platinum 3-year instead. Bung in a donation to the International team, and I'm done. Payment options are GOOD.

Overall VERDICT?

GOOD. OK, there are a few niggles, as reported. But they're easily overcome. Once people become familiar with the process, it should be very easy indeed

David - thanks very much for the constructive comments. I'm going to feed those into the powers that be so that the necessary changes can be made. Lke you, I also bumbled about wondering how to actually pay until I clicked on the payment button so this has been added specifically into the renewal notice.

[David Robertson]

then wonder why £27 x 3 sums to £83

I'm assuming that 1 year membership is £28, less £1 for joining/renewing online = £27

3 year membership is £28 x 3 = £84, less £1 for joining/renewing online = £83

Ah, OK. I see what it means now. I thought Gold annual was £27

[Dragoljub Sudar]

Based on my experience, no doubt the next sequence of events will be for your name to disappear entirely from the membership list tomorrow, only to reappear on Thursday.

[Barry Sandercock]

I renewed my Gold membership subscription at Torquay. Today I receive an email from Dave Thomas saying my membership renewal is due. Lack of communication somewhere !

[Barry Sandercock]

Dave Thomas has now sorted it all out very efficiently !

[Andrew Camp]

[Andrew Walker]

Erm ... it was me Barry, no involvement with Dave Thomas ...

[Laurie Roberts]

Sean

If you are collecting bugs I have another (rather minor) one.

- Last year I started off as a bronze member; paid online and set up an auto renew. All fine
- I then decided to change my membership to gold midway through the year so I cancelled the auto-renew in paypal (fine) and upgraded from bronze to gold on-line. Still fine
- When I logged on to renew for 2014 there was no option to do so. Subsonline thinks I have auto-renew set up and doesn't realise I cancelled it so offers me no way to pay for 2014.
- I phoned the office today who very efficiently sorted out my membership (and I renewed to 2016 so I won't have to bother again for a while). But it seems there may be a bug that if you cancel auto-renew in paypal, there is no way of telling subs-online you have done so.

Not a major deal. The office sorted it out for me very quickly and efficiently. But one worth investigating at some point

[Simon Spivack]

Provided you can remember both the email address used and the password ...

This is extremely easy. Without wishing to take sides in the Windoze-Linucks wars, all one has to do is use a password manager, for instance KeePass (KeePassX in Linux). One then has only the one, very long, password to remember for every site that requires a password. If one's memory really is that hopeless, one can use a USB memory stick, for instance, to gain access to the password manager on a home computer.

Incidentally, does somebody want to tell Roger about the illness clause in the contract for the '86 World title bout? Johnny Sugartart can't, and I've done enough mollycoddling for one day. Look up page 267 of a certain book, if you can.

[Rob Thompson]

Lastpass does a similar job, so there's multiple options.