$5 Shipping?

[Amazon]

Hi,

I was up late last night and I got my renewal email. So I hopped right on and paypal'd the renewal. As I clicked on "pay" I noted (too late) it was $30 instead of $25 (family). There was a $5 shipping fee. huh?

I was too bleary eyed at 2am to look any further. So I looked at my paypal today and it's there, a $5 shipping fee. Is this something new?

 

[Muralizt]

Yep, not sure why you were charged the extra $5 - we'll issue you a credit and try to figure out why. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Your new membership card will be mailed out within the next two weeks.

 

[delta]

This is not a mistake anyone who signups online manually get charged the shipping fee.

However, If your account is set to auto renew however you are not charged the fee, but
you need to let the system renew your account automatically.

Or you can signup at a meeting with no shipping fee.

 

[Dragon2115]

Are you serious???

If that's the case then refund the PayPal account and we'll renew at a meeting. Maybe. Extra fees for the priviledge for renewing online are BS!!!

And it isn't the $5. It's the principle of the matter.

 

[delta]

Are you serious???

If that's the case then refund the PayPal account and we'll renew at a meeting. Maybe. Extra fees for the priviledge for renewing online are BS!!!

And it isn't the $5. It's the principle of the matter.

We did not setup the system and we are reviewing this setup it now as we do evey time an issue comes up.

It is impossible to have a full view of everything when you are coming into the BOD. However we have made great strides in the last two years to make improvements.

I would like to remind everyone the membership issues between the forum and meeting has been alot of work and it will never be an integrated system. We have formulated a systems that is working and that has taken a considerable amount of time and resources to work out, but we are committed to our job and will continue to look at an review issues as they come up.

 

[Dragon2115]

So what does that mean Greg? In the first response from Muralizt the club would be issuing a refund of the $5. Then in your reply it appears that it won't. Which one is it?

 

[delta]

One more thing to add here

There are costs incured to online signups which are not incurred when signing up at a meeting, paypal fees & someone has to mail your membership card to you.

 

[delta]

So what does that mean Greg? In the first response from Muralizt the club would be issuing a refund of the $5. Then in your reply it appears that it won't. Which one is it?

There will not be a refund, but we will be reviewing the membership fees for the future.

 

[Dragon2115]

One more thing to add here

There are costs incured to online signups which are not incurred when signing up at a meeting, paypal fees & someone has to mail your membership card to you.

Except there's no charge if you use the sometimes functioning auto renew which requires the same actions and cost by the club. But if you use the manual online renew you get hit for a 20% surcharge.

 

[Dragon2115]

There will not be a refund, but we will be reviewing the membership fees for the future.

Then I don't plan on renewing again or having very much positive to say about the management of BRS because this is nothing but a back-handed money grab. The club does nothing additional during a manual online renewal than it does during an auto renewal. It still mails out the membrship cards either way. And from what I've read auto renew doesn't work half the time anyway.

And as I said before, it's not the $5. It's the principle.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Now just a minute here. The BRS BOD has put an enormous effort into running this club the best we can. We spend many hours every week doing so. Yes, there may be some glitches in auto membership here and there. I really don't think that there are any purposeful 'money grabs', come on, that's a pretty low blow. Give us just a little bit of slack. If there is some error in the system and $5 means the difference from whether you think your membership is worth it or not, I personally will be happy to pay your $5. Shoot me a PM with your paypal address and I'll pay it from my own pocket. We are not going to try and go through at this point and figure some refund to some select # of people based on some glitch, but I'll be happy to pay your fee this time myself.

Liz and Shawn have done a HUGE amount of work on getting all the membership stuff up to date. They've gotten to the point where people's cards typically go out VERY quickly. There's been tons of praise for it, and rightly so. If there's some glitch, we will try and fix it, OR if we cannot, we will make certain that you understand what the glitch is, and you can choose how you want to renew.

 

[Dragon2115]

No Greg (Hiller), you are not reading what's being said here. Below is what amounts to a policy statement that has been made by the club VP. This has nothing to do with who's doing a good job at their volunteer work or how much effort they put into it.

This is not a mistake anyone who signups online manually get charged the shipping fee.

However, If your account is set to auto renew however you are not charged the fee, but
you need to let the system renew your account automatically.

Or you can signup at a meeting with no shipping fee.

Now I would like to address something you said directly.

If there is some error in the system and $5 means the difference from whether you think your membership is worth it or not, I personally will be happy to pay your $5. Shoot me a PM with your paypal address and I'll pay it from my own pocket. We are not going to try and go through at this point and figure some refund to some select # of people based on some glitch, but I'll be happy to pay your fee this time myself.

According to what the VP just said there is no error or glitch in the system. The 20% surcharge is intentional. And once again, the $5 isn't the issue and I don't want your money Greg. I want the clubs' managment to do the right thing. THAT is what my continued membership hinges on.

 

[delta]

Let me reiterate at this time the BOD is reviewing the situation.

However making comments disregarding respect for anyone is not going to make things better for anyone. Also making accussations is clearly not going to help. Making a point that you are not happy with something is of no issue and is welcome. That is what I will take from your post and disregard the other parts.

Jim we appreciate your input and will take it into consideration as we review this issue. Please be assured that no decission is made in haste and that we will base it on the groups best interest. That is why we stepped up as BOD members to move the group forward and if anyone feel that is not what we have done I can not help you there. Every issues that comes up is reviewed delt with.

The BOD is reviewing this now.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Call it what you like. Glitch or whatever. IMO that's not the important thing. We are going to make an effort to make it perfectly clear exactly how the system works (we will have a sticky posted here on this forum that gives exact details), then you can sign up however you like with complete details of how the system works. My offer still stands. I still think that calling this a 'back-handed money grab' is a bit over the top.

 

[Moe_K]

I thought the $5 charge was a PayPal fee they stick on any good or service where shipping is involved. Could be wrong on that.

 

[NateHanson]

I know I pay for other services which offer me a different rate based on whether I auto-pay or not. If I sign up to have my payment charged to my card every month or year when it's due, I pay less than if I want them to give me the option of renewing the service.

Do you call it a "back-handed money grab" when your magazine subscription charges you $25 for one year, or $45 for a 2-year subscription?

How about cutting the guys who are doing the work of this non-profit club (AND paying their dues at the same time, without complaint!) a little bit of slack, and avoiding accusations of chicanery? You do understand that nobody makes any money off this club, right? All your membership fees and shipping fees, etc get used simply to run the club, forum, club events, etc.

 

[marco67]

No Greg (Hiller), you are not reading what's being said here. Below is what amounts to a policy statement that has been made by the club VP. This has nothing to do with who's doing a good job at their volunteer work or how much effort they put into it.



Now I would like to address something you said directly.



According to what the VP just said there is no error or glitch in the system. The 20% surcharge is intentional. And once again, the $5 isn't the issue and I don't want your money Greg. I want the clubs' managment to do the right thing. THAT is what my continued membership hinges on.

I'm sorry but Are You Kidding?
Did you read the posts above? These guys are working their tails off to help your hobby experience and your going to threaten you're membership over a $5 issue?

 

[Joel A]

IMO 30 dollars to support the club is the least we can do for all that the VOLUNTEERS do for us.

No one is making a profit here, glitch or not.. if you don't want to pay the fee, don't become a member or sign up at a meeting.

I think that the club management is doing a fantastic job.

 

[nicks387]

club

Is it true that no one makes any profit on this site? Sponsors and advertising fees included. Just curious. Not being a wise guy.

 

[Joel A]

I'm 99% positive that all of the profit goes back to the club... whether it be in the bank to do something nice with (like the bus trip to atlantis aquarium) or too booking halls for meetings...and keeping the forums/site running properly..

Don't quote me on that... but i'm almost positive that's how it is.