SHADY ACMOC BUSINESS!!!!

It's always sad when someone wants to terminate their membership, the Club needs to grow membership by many thousands to be successful into the future. Unfortunately, a Club of only 2,500 cannot support an administration or systems that are a burden administratively with volunteers, hence the need to move to a system of automatic renewals of membership. Regarding the store, it was running at a loss, a call was put out for volunteers to help, typically no one put their hand up, everyone wants something, however, do not want to help to get it.
Currently membership is $44 annually, for that you get a website with this forum, a technical library and an online magazine and can become a member of a Chapter, I know the BoD is considering reducing the membership from $44 to possibly $30 annually or maybe even less. The Club needs to grow its membership Internationally to become meaningful, ie; a membership of say 10,000 would start to get Caterpillar's attention. It is obvious that the membership in the US is not going to grow significantly as after 32 years it has remained reasonably static.
Unfortunately, the Club has not evolved over time to accommodate the many changes in the way the world now operates, it has stagnated with old members and some former Directors not wanting to encompass change. To operate the way many of these people expect the Club to operate (like a very exclusive group), annual memberships would need to be in the hundreds of dollars, maybe $200 or $300 annually per member.
Let's all be positive and grasp the future and find ways to operate with minimal administration and give our time to help and work positively with an overworked voluntary BoD.

Former Director and President, Wombat

I understand that Wombat, but they charged me $67 not $44 for renewal. Plus the frustration not being able to talk to someone just to get a simple refund.

I understand that Wombat, but they charged me $67 not $44 for renewal. Plus the frustration not being able to talk to someone just to get a simple refund.

Hi Gary, sorry you’re having problems, I’ll take a look at the payment system. The default with this system is auto renewal but you should have had notice that this was going to occur. If you don’t want to be a member that’s fine a refund can be organised or if you want a $44 electronic membership then the $23 can be refunded. All I can ask is for your forebearance and patience. As Wombat says we’re all volunteers running the club now and all spending more time than we thought possible in order to provide a service and things get missed or delayed. I’m truly sorry for that. Let me know what you want to happen. 

Regards,

Tony (Director) 

apart from the over charged bit , membership is auto renewable  [attachment=76501]Capture.JPG[/attachment]

Currently ACMOC membership is $44 annually, any additional charges are for a hard copy magazine subscription, mailed to those who want same.

Regards, Wombat

Hi Gary, sorry you’re having problems, I’ll take a look at the payment system. The default with this system is auto renewal but you should have had notice that this was going to occur. If you don’t want to be a member that’s fine a refund can be organised or if you want a $44 electronic membership then the $23 can be refunded. All I can ask is for your forebearance and patience. As Wombat says we’re all volunteers running the club now and all spending more time than we thought possible in order to provide a service and things get missed or delayed. I’m truly sorry for that. Let me know what you want to happen. 

Regards,

Tony (Director)