ECF membership discounts

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
Post Reply
Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

ECF membership discounts

Post by Roger de Coverly » Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:01 pm

The ECF put through an increase in their membership costs for those who renewed directly by abolishing the rebate for on-line membership.

It now transpires that if you renew through a third party, the discount is retained.

[edit] from what I recall the discount for "membership organisations" was a commission which could either be trousered by the organisation or passed on to the players. [/edit]

SO WHY?
If you have previously joined through a Membership Organisation (e.g. your local league or county) then you will probably wish to continue to do so, as there is a discount of £1 on memberships renewed through these organisations. Please contact your local organiser for details.

Andrew Zigmond
Posts: 2073
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Harrogate

Re: ECF membership discounts

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:38 pm

Some updated minutes have been posted on the website and include the answer to your question (which as ever could have been directed politely through the Ask The Director facility). The minutes also show just how hard the board work on things under the radar.
Last edited by Andrew Zigmond on Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: ECF membership discounts

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Aug 09, 2018 11:22 pm

Andrew Zigmond wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:38 pm
(which as ever could have directed politely through the Ask The Director facility).
Has the "Ask the Director" facility ever elicited a published response?

When it's necessary to trawl the minutes for devious decisions, it doesn't show the ECF as scoring particularly high marks for clarity of communication.

In this case, it appears they overlooked the need to inform the local associations that there £ 1 commission was also being withdrawn. Or at least that the interpretation which could be placed on it. The point being NOT to offer an incentive for local membership. The renewal notifications seems to be encouraging local membership.

The other worrying feature and something they swore they wouldn't do is a suggestion that they might refuse membership thus in effect banning a player or at the least making it very expensive for them to participate.

Andrew Zigmond
Posts: 2073
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Harrogate

Re: ECF membership discounts

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Thu Aug 09, 2018 11:53 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 11:22 pm
Andrew Zigmond wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:38 pm
(which as ever could have directed politely through the Ask The Director facility).
Has the "Ask the Director" facility ever elicited a published response?

When it's necessary to trawl the minutes for devious decisions, it doesn't show the ECF as scoring particularly high marks for clarity of communication.

In this case, it appears they overlooked the need to inform the local associations that there £ 1 commission was also being withdrawn. Or at least that the interpretation which could be placed on it. The point being NOT to offer an incentive for local membership. The renewal notifications seems to be encouraging local membership.

The other worrying feature and something they swore they wouldn't do is a suggestion that they might refuse membership thus in effect banning a player or at the least making it very expensive for them to participate.
As I've pointed out before the Ask The Director facility elicits a private response but one which the recipient is hardly obliged to keep confidential.

I'm also not entirely sure why some people feel the need to trawl the minutes for things they can quote selectively. The possibility of refusal of membership was discussed in the context of an unspecified allegation. In any case organisations and events are free to ban any individual they wish which makes the removal of membership a minor point.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own

Graham Borrowdale
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2016 10:54 pm

Re: ECF membership discounts

Post by Graham Borrowdale » Fri Aug 10, 2018 8:22 am

I think Roger is being pedantic, possibly parsimonious, but you can always rely on Andrew Z to rise to the bait, in defence of the beleaguered ECF.

I suspect that most of the rest of us are not terribly concerned either way.

Very entertaining, this forum. 😅

Reg Clucas
Posts: 602
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 3:45 pm

Re: ECF membership discounts

Post by Reg Clucas » Thu Aug 16, 2018 1:22 pm

I'm not too bothered about the discount, but what I would like to know is how (or whether) I can renew my club members' memberships en bloc, as used to be possible with the old system. So far an email enquiry plus a query raised via the azolve website have failed to produce any response.

Reg Clucas
Posts: 602
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 3:45 pm

Re: ECF membership discounts

Post by Reg Clucas » Thu Aug 16, 2018 3:51 pm

Reg Clucas wrote:
Thu Aug 16, 2018 1:22 pm
I'm not too bothered about the discount, but what I would like to know is how (or whether) I can renew my club members' memberships en bloc, as used to be possible with the old system. So far an email enquiry plus a query raised via the azolve website have failed to produce any response.
It appears my email was not received, but Gary Willson has responded to me after seeing this thread. The en bloc facility is not yet available, but it is planned to make it available in the coming weeks. Gary writes "In the meantime, should a secretary wish to renew some memberships en bloc, they can contact us at the office and we will be able to help. We can renew them over the phone or in response to an email list or from a spreadsheet, and are flexible about how you might want to pay (either card payment over the phone, or we can send you an invoice)."

Post Reply