ECF Membership FAQs

[Angus French]

Presuming an MO offers the choice of Bronze, Silver and Gold, does [this?] not require the MO administrator to adopt near real time processing so that the ECF list is updated as soon as practicable? So no more sitting on the task until the deadline. It would certainly be possible to email the membership spreadsheet in bits, but how do MOs settle the money? Is it still mostly the old fashioned way with a cheque book?

This is what the framework agreement requires

MO as agent for ECF shall collect and account for the membership fees for ECF Direct Members by 31st October in every year at the rates current at the time of payment and shall submit to ECF by such date details of such members in an electronic format compatible with ECF office systems as stipulated from time to time by ECF.

So nothing about updating the data on a daily or weekly basis prior to 31st October.

Perhaps it would help if the MOs were able to submit, say, each week up until 31 October and then make a single payment immediately after that to cover the applications made to date. It's not ideal: the ECF would be out of pocket until the payment was received (and banked) and there'd need to be an exercise to calculate the payment due and ensure that it matched the payment received.
Really, though, I'm doubtful that MOs are a good idea for the new membership scheme as their existence adds complexity. I think it would be preferable for players to apply direct (ideally online of course).

[Roger de Coverly]

Really, though, I'm doubtful that MOs are a good idea for the new membership scheme as their existence adds complexity. I think it would be preferable for players to apply direct (ideally online of course).

If you don't have a local ECF advocate, many organisations have rejected the idea of becoming an MO, not least for the reasons mentioned. The MO concept was first punted in 2005, with modifications to permit county organisations to participate a couple of years later. Outside the NCCU, no more than two organisations nationally had signed up to the concept.

(edit) If you have a system whereby Congress organisers are expected to offer a discount to ECF members, you need to know who the members are to make it work. The existence of MOs under the rules for their existence makes this a lot more difficult to operate (/edit)

[Dragoljub Sudar]

Coming back from Sheffield today (congratulations to Farshad Ai who beat me in the final round to win the U171 section (yes, they inexplicably used last July's grades rather than Jan's for eligibility)) I was trying to explain the new membership scheme to my mate, and the more I tried to explain it, the more ridiculous the scheme sounded, especially for players who don't know whether they'll play in any congresses and opt for bronze level initially.

There should only be two levels of membership: one for players who take part in FIDE rated events, and the rest of us. Yes, it would mean that the 'rest of us' level would be £3 or £4 higher but just think of how much time and effort it would save players, congress organisers and the ECF office. Could the October AGM or next April's council abolish the 'silver' level?

Had the ECF insisted that to claim the £1 discount MOs had to supply their list of players by 31st August rather than 31st October, assuming that the office could input the details into the system within a week of receiving the info, that would have helped the September and October congress organisers.

I think clubs in Notts (not becoming an MO) will be encouraged to submit their lists to our treasurer as early as possible to help avoid the sort of problems Alex has rightly highlighted. My club intends to submit its list after our captains meeting in the first week of September.

[Alex Holowczak]

Could the October AGM or next April's council abolish the 'silver' level?

Next April's Council could quite happily vote for bronze and silver to have the same membership fee. This would achieve much the same effect.

[Roger de Coverly]

Next April's Council could quite happily vote for bronze and silver to have the same membership fee. This would achieve much the same effect.

I'm sure it could. Would not the amount be around £ 16 or £ 17? This would surely cause problems in the North who are very keen on per head payments to the ECF as long as the amount is not more than £ 10 and a bit.

For that matter, why not extend "pay to play" to FIDE rated events? It's already allowed for rapid-play events.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Bumping an earlier post of mine in the hope that the questions can be answered.

A couple of additional questions:

"You will receive a notification telling you that your membership is about to expire. If we have an e-mail address for you, this will be sent by e-mail; otherwise, it will be posted to you."

I did get something by post saying that I should cancel the Direct Debit (which I did), but I'm not sure if the ECF have my e-mail address (I think they do, as I got the grading check e-mails when that system was operating). Should I expect to get an e-mail reminding me to renew, and what should I do if I don't get such an e-mail? (i.e. should I wait until it expires, or try and renew in the weeks before it expires if no e-mail appears, and will I need my current membership number to identify myself to the system?).

"When the membership is approaching expiry, the system will generate an e-mail notice inviting the member to renew."

Is there any indication of how long before the expiry that e-mail will be sent (and will there be a second and third and more reminders? Will there be reminders even after it expires, or can you turn off the reminders if you know you are not going to renew?), and what happens if people forget or neglect to renew and do so later (or take a break from membership for a period of time?). Will their details still be retained on the system to allow renewal after it lapses, or will it be a completely new membership and new membership number?

[Roger de Coverly]

Is there any indication of how long before the expiry that e-mail will be sent (and will there be a second and third and more reminders? Will there be reminders even after it expires, or can you turn off the reminders if you know you are not going to renew?), and what happens if people forget or neglect to renew and do so later (or take a break from membership for a period of time?). Will their details still be retained on the system to allow renewal after it lapses, or will it be a completely new membership and new membership number?

You might have to hope there's an experienced testing team evaluating these issues as we write. To judge from the quality of the budget spreadsheet and the lack of defensive comment justifying it, you have to wonder whether those making the decisions "have a clue". Using what can be accessed on the paysubsonline site, the basics of £ 13/£ 19/ £ 28 /£ "whatever Platinum is" are covered. The complexities of conversion from the existing membership schemes aren't.

[Sean Hewitt]

I think clubs in Notts (not becoming an MO) will be encouraged to submit their lists to our treasurer as early as possible to help avoid the sort of problems Alex has rightly highlighted. My club intends to submit its list after our captains meeting in the first week of September.

I don't think I understand this. If Notts is not going to be an MO (so players join the ECF direct), why do clubs have to send lists of players to the treasurer?

[Nik Puryer]

Does a player joining online for 3yrs receive the the £1 discount for each year and pay only £36?

[Alex Holowczak]

Does a player joining online for 3yrs receive the the £1 discount for each year and pay only £36?

No. £1 off per transaction.

[Dragoljub Sudar]

I think clubs in Notts (not becoming an MO) will be encouraged to submit their lists to our treasurer as early as possible to help avoid the sort of problems Alex has rightly highlighted. My club intends to submit its list after our captains meeting in the first week of September.

I don't think I understand this. If Notts is not going to be an MO (so players join the ECF direct), why do clubs have to send lists of players to the treasurer?

An MO involves certain commitments, whereas Notts is simply offering a completely optional facility.

The treasurer will forward any submitted lists from clubs who take up this offer to the ECF with the appropriate payment and then add the charge to the clubs' normal annual bills in November. We will encourage those clubs to submit their lists early to help avoid the problems Alex has mentioned as quite a few Notts based players play at Scarborough.

Clubs may also choose not to do anything and leave it up to their players to join directly.

At some point during the autumn we (probably me, as league sec) will see how many non members are playing in the league. I'm not on our executive committee so won't know until our AGM next week how it intends to collect the game fee, but if we get a high take up of our offer there'll be less game fee to collect from clubs.

[Bill Porter]

Does a player joining online for 3yrs receive the the £1 discount for each year and pay only £36?

No. £1 off per transaction.

It's good to see the ECF isn't following the 'supersize me' approach which encourages people to buy more than is good for them.

A logical extension would be to offer a one month membership for £1.09 with £1 off for applying online.

This would be very popular with the often mentioned newcomers who don't want to pay £12 before playing their first graded game.

[Sean Hewitt]

It's good to see the ECF isn't following the 'supersize me' approach which encourages people to buy more than is good for them.

A logical extension would be to offer a one month membership for £1.09 with £1 off for applying online.

It's a perfectly sensible approach. The ECF has no reason to discount multi year memberships. By offering the 3 year option players can, if they wish, dispense with the need to join each year and, perhaps more importantly, protect themselves against future price increases.

[William Metcalfe]

I will be attending Clevelands Agm tonight i will be advising people who plan to play the Northumbria or Scboro congresses to join online or by phoning the office ect

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I recently renewed my membership online. Can anyone who has done this say what the bits of paper/e-mails are that you should receive, or where you can check that your membership has been successfully renewed (and how long the processing typically takes)? The online site says that I'm paid up as a member, but I'm looking for a way to confirm that at the ECF end as well.