Membership

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
Post Reply
Ernie Lazenby
Posts: 176
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:10 pm

Membership

Post by Ernie Lazenby » Thu Aug 26, 2021 10:55 am

Old age has caught me up! I want to renew my silver membership of the ECF but cannot remember my user name or log in (need to write it down!) to do it on line.
Anyway I have tried ringing the various numbers shown on the ECF web site and have been unable to get any reply. Is the office closed? Other than speaking to someone at the office how can I get my membership sorted. Thank you.

David Sedgwick
Posts: 5249
Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:56 pm
Location: Croydon
Contact:

Re: Membership

Post by David Sedgwick » Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:01 am

Try emailing [email protected].

If that doesn't elicit a response, I suggest that you contact Rob Willmoth, the Director of Membership.

Julie Denning
Posts: 140
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:07 am

Re: Membership

Post by Julie Denning » Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:03 am

Ernie,
The office is not being regularly attended, but an email should get you an answer email to [email protected]. They will be able to give you the information you need.

John Swain
Posts: 412
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 10:35 pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Membership

Post by John Swain » Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:22 am

Your membership number should be ME followed by the six numbers you'll find under "Member No" on the rating list.

Having typed in your ME123456 or whatever, you can request a new password to be sent to your email address under "forgot password".

User avatar
John Upham
Posts: 7162
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:29 am
Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
Contact:

Re: Membership

Post by John Upham » Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:20 pm

Ernie,

Your ECF membership code would appear to be

ME11053

Hope that helps.

J.
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Ernie Lazenby
Posts: 176
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:10 pm

Re: Membership

Post by Ernie Lazenby » Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:21 pm

Many thanks John (S).I have sorted now doing what you suggested. Getting old is a real pain!

User avatar
Joey Stewart
Posts: 1857
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:35 pm
Location: All Of Them
Contact:

Re: Membership

Post by Joey Stewart » Thu Aug 26, 2021 6:36 pm

Don't worry Ernie, it is not you and your age at fault - the payment system the ECF uses is pretty garbage for this day and age.
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

User avatar
Andrew Walker
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:14 pm

Re: Membership

Post by Andrew Walker » Fri Aug 27, 2021 8:56 am

Julie Denning wrote:
Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:03 am
The office is not being regularly attended ...
Not strictly true. I took five days off this week to spend a little time with my beloved, but otherwise the main telephone number (01424 775222) is answered between 0930 and 1630 every weekday, although when it's only me on duty then you may have to try a few times. I (and Gary Willson for two of the five days each week) have been working from home since the July before last, with the office phones plugged in at home :D
Last edited by Andrew Walker on Fri Aug 27, 2021 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Andrew Walker
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:14 pm

Re: Membership

Post by Andrew Walker » Fri Aug 27, 2021 8:59 am

John Upham wrote:
Thu Aug 26, 2021 12:20 pm
Ernie - Your ECF membership code would appear to be ME11053
Not so - ME004852

Dragoljub Sudar
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:34 pm

Re: Membership

Post by Dragoljub Sudar » Fri Aug 27, 2021 11:10 pm

Andrew Walker wrote:
Fri Aug 27, 2021 8:56 am
Julie Denning wrote:
Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:03 am
The office is not being regularly attended ...
Not strictly true. I took five days off this week to spend a little time with my beloved, but otherwise the main telephone number (01424 775222) is answered between 0930 and 1630 every weekday, although when it's only me on duty then you may have to try a few times. I (and Gary Willson for two of the five days each week) have been working from home since the July before last, with the office phones plugged in at home :D
On Wednesday I submitted a 'Ask the directors' form at tea time. Andrew emailed me with an answer just a couple of hours later. Whatever he is paid isn't enough.

User avatar
Matthew Webb
Posts: 62
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:17 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Membership

Post by Matthew Webb » Thu Mar 03, 2022 10:24 pm

Does anyone know if there are plans to revisit the current ECF membership model? As it stands this is a fixed annual membership from 1st September to 31st August. I genuinely struggle to see the broad upside for our end users, particularly newcomers; anyone signing up for an annual membership should be entitled to a years’ worth of benefits.

From a personal (organisers) perspective, I have been busy putting plans together to run a congress in September, here we are encouraging players to sign up as ECF members. Sadly, I do so reluctantly as the ECF membership page is a little painful to digest, especially from a newcomer’s / parent's perspective.

My issue is, anyone looking to sign up to a Congress in late August for instance (which in my case is when we'll likely get the biggest influx of entries), those who sign up for a membership will see little return from their immediately expiring membership and be no doubt hit by the automated renewal emails soon after they've hit the "pay annual membership" button. Is this the customer experience we can be proud of? :(

My suspicious is, this was an off-the-shelf product that was adopted to fit the needs of our bespoke membership model but has subsequently left us needing to provide a labyrinth of instructions to navigation, along with an email address dedicated to resolving the no-doubt endless number of issues & questions.

I have the upmost respect for the administrators who are maintaining this. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21291
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: Membership

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Mar 03, 2022 10:41 pm

Matthew Webb wrote:
Thu Mar 03, 2022 10:24 pm
My issue is, anyone looking to sign up to a Congress in late August for instance (which in my case is when we'll likely get the biggest influx of entries), those who sign up for a membership will see little return from their immediately expiring membership and be no doubt hit by the automated renewal emails soon after they've hit the "pay annual membership" button.
My belief is that given that Congresses and leagues have the votes, they should be the ones to raise the money. Collecting an annual fee from participants is not the only way of raising money.

In most years though, the ECF has a scheme whereby if a memberhip is taken out after July 1st, it runs for the closing two months of the previous year as well as the twelve months of the following one starting September 1st. You could perhaps get your Congress's representative at the forthcoming ECF Council meeting to raise the issue and get confirmation that the scheme will run in 2022.

User avatar
Matthew Webb
Posts: 62
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 11:17 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Membership

Post by Matthew Webb » Thu Mar 03, 2022 11:04 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Thu Mar 03, 2022 10:41 pm
Collecting an annual fee from participants is not the only way of raising money.
Raising money isn't in question here. As for the scheme for those taking out a membership after the 1st of July example, what about those who sign up on 30th June?

When you sign up shouldn't have any bearing whatsoever on the time span of an annual membership. Especially not in the modern era where leagues, cups & individual competitions both over-the-board and online don't follow much of a seasonal model anymore, nor do published ratings.

Post Reply