MERG MEMBERSHIP

[edwin_m]

There's someone raising a similar concern on the MERG forum, to which the membership secretary has replied asking for further details in case it has got lost on the way.  I've posted a link to this topic there. 

[Agrippa]

I'd never heard of MERG until looking at this topic, at first it looked like a Soviet
organisation trying to kill 007! However I looked at the site mentioned previously
and there are some very good downloadable presentations on basic electronics , soldering etc, easy to read and well explained for numpties like me.

[KTM]

Glad it wasn't just me

Thanks for the link Paul

[HowardWatkins]

This forum is also run by volunteers but is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, irrespective of the time of year.  The appalling lack of customer care and customer service is exactly why my NGS and MERG memberships were not renewed, you can not expect people to constantly pay for such poor service, volunteers or not.

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. I suspect moderation of this forum is done jointly by several people, whereas there is only (and can only be) one membership secretary for MERG.

Paul has struggled to keep pace recently because his mother was ill, and he had a long round trip to visit her. Furthermore he is still in full time work.

As well as dealing with new members, Paul actually writes the new member's DVD himself. He has also been working on the new on-line membership; when this becomes live it will ease his burden as well as help alleviate some of the problems mentioned here.

The best advice is to email the membership secretary rather than complain here - especially as Paul is not an N gauge modeller and hence is unlikely to see this forum. Although I am an N gauge modeller I did not see this topic until it was referenced on the MERG forum - for which I thank edwin_m.

Howard Watkins (MERG Exhibition manager, exhibitions@merg.info )

[Geoff]

This forum is also run by volunteers but is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, irrespective of the time of year.  The appalling lack of customer care and customer service is exactly why my NGS and MERG memberships were not renewed, you can not expect people to constantly pay for such poor service, volunteers or not.

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. I suspect moderation of this forum is done jointly by several people, whereas there is only (and can only be) one membership secretary for MERG.

Paul has struggled to keep pace recently because his mother was ill, and he had a long round trip to visit her. Furthermore he is still in full time work.

As well as dealing with new members, Paul actually writes the new member's DVD himself. He has also been working on the new on-line membership; when this becomes live it will ease his burden as well as help alleviate some of the problems mentioned here.

The best advice is to email the membership secretary rather than complain here - especially as Paul is not an N gauge modeller and hence is unlikely to see this forum. Although I am an N gauge modeller I did not see this topic until it was referenced on the MERG forum - for which I thank Edwin_m.

Howard Watkins (MERG Exhibition manager, exhibitions@merg.info )

Howard thanks for your reply and now I understand, I shall let things take there time, its only when I never received an email for the payment I had paid, never thought only one person did most of the work, so I shall respect how long it will take.

[Lawrence]

This forum is also run by volunteers but is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, irrespective of the time of year.  The appalling lack of customer care and customer service is exactly why my NGS and MERG memberships were not renewed, you can not expect people to constantly pay for such poor service, volunteers or not.

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. I suspect moderation of this forum is done jointly by several people, whereas there is only (and can only be) one membership secretary for MERG.

Paul has struggled to keep pace recently because his mother was ill, and he had a long round trip to visit her. Furthermore he is still in full time work.

As well as dealing with new members, Paul actually writes the new member's DVD himself. He has also been working on the new on-line membership; when this becomes live it will ease his burden as well as help alleviate some of the problems mentioned here.

The best advice is to email the membership secretary rather than complain here - especially as Paul is not an N gauge modeller and hence is unlikely to see this forum. Although I am an N gauge modeller I did not see this topic until it was referenced on the MERG forum - for which I thank Edwin_m.

Howard Watkins (MERG Exhibition manager, exhibitions@merg.info )

Howard, I am grateful for your response and thank you for taking the time to explain it.  It would seem that this kind of information would be best circulated to new members via the MERG website or as an auto response to membership applications or communication via email.  I do not wish to appear heartless, but if Paul was having trouble juggling his private life and his duties with MERG then why not ask the membership for help.
Yes this forum is run by volunteers, and there is now several of them, when Tank started it, he was on his own for a month or two, then I joined him and as the forum grew into several hundreds more moderators were invited on board to assist.  After a couple of years I was able to step aside as there was a strong enough team behind Tank for me to return to 'normal' life.  I do not mention this for some self serving reason, merely to show that, as this forum grew, as did the team of volunteers behind it all supporting each other across a variety of roles.  Perhaps this is something MERG might consider as it moves forward and continues to expand, a strong team of volunteers all capable of backing each other up.  Most important though is keeping current and new members informed of anything that may have an effect on them.
I hope that I have clarified my previous comments and merely wish my comments to be constructive criticisms.

[trainsdownunder]

Hi Howard

Thanks for your reply. It was me that posted the query on the MERG forum. Geoff was a little concerned and other people that I have recommended also mention that it seemed to take a long while for action even though the initial response says approx 7 days. Maybe with modern systems we have become too accustomed to "immediate" answers. Life in Aussie land is a bit more laid back - 7 days is nothing.

As a current MERG member (3303) I am aware of the recent problems of delay, many of these being due to improvements etc in the system. However I thought that maybe a short message on the forum may alert others to the issue and it was not a "dig" or complaint in any form about the way MERG has performed over the years. The volunteers do a sterling job from producing the newsletter down to the "elves" that pack kits, and I know how much time committee work takes,been on too many.

Regards Colin