national trust

[My2favboys]

to lie on my national just form and use "dr" with a gender neutral name so either mu husband or my sister could use it depending on who's with my??

I like the way the States National Parks membership works. Worth taking out if you plan to visit more then 3/4 parks in a year. Two people sign the card, one of those two needs to be with the card but it allows entrance for that person plus three others OR a private vehicle with however many people are in the car. Works well

YABU. My husband can only visit once in a while, but at about £8/mth our family membership is still good value. You can see the terms as set out by NT, you decide if you want to sign up under those terms. You don't seem to see anything wrong in what you're suggesting and are making excuses for it but at the end of the day yes, you'd be defrauding a charity. You must feel very proud to have thought up such a cunning way to get one up on them

National trust membership is expensive, which is why it has a very middle class membership.

susurration

every time a member visits and a card is scanned that property gets £2.65. When you pay to enter the property the whole amount stays at the property.

That's interesting. A couple of weeks ago, we were at a NT property and the lady at the entrance gate couldn't scan my card as there isn't a bar code on my lifetime family membership card. She had to wave us through. I think they're still something of a rarity judging by the reaction I get when I produce it at the entrance.

Has no one mentioned the Scottish NT scam yet?

Yeah my PILs do that but try to justify it by saying they joined NT for Scotland as a protest when NT banned hunting. Right!

However their membership doe not give them the book with English properties in so they always beg our out of date one when a new one comes out!

I didn't know people with a Scottish not card could visit English not properties. That is useful as I have a Scottish friend staying with me who goes to Scottish not properties. Wonder if she has her card on her

Brasty "National Trust membership is expensive..."

It really, really isn't! We go, on average, to a NT property once a month throughout the school year and once a week in the summer.

We pay less than a tenner per month for NT membership for me, DH and four children.

I'd love to know where else I can get a full family day out, with parking, admission into a property, access to really good outdoor adventure playgrounds, pleasure grounds etc for less than £10 for six people.

Our membership is the best thing we've ever done. It's saved us a fortune. It also means that we get LOADS of days out for no money in the summer holidays. 15 full days out for six people for less than £120 - that is not expensive.

Coolaschmoola I completely agree - at about the equivalent of £2 a week we barely even notice the monthly DD go out. It's a lot less than most family expenses! And then you get to go, for no extra money, to all these places year round (and they are year round near us). Well worth it. It has not even crossed my mind to try and manipulate our NT membership, such good value as it is.

The NT actually got the titles on our joint membership the wrong way round. Mine reads Mr Jane Smith DH's Mrs John Smith. Not our real names but you get the idea that they are very gender specific names with the wrong titles. So far not one nt person we've shown them to has batted and eyelid so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

It's not stealing, she is paying for membership and wouldn't become one if she couldn't do it.

Of course it's stealing. It's enabling someone who has no entitlement to free entry to get free entry.

There must (I hope) be an alternative way to record NT members who visit besides scanning the bar code. I have life membership, but from so long ago that my card has no bar code. When I produce it people comment fondly on how it's a historical object in itself

I'm sure the other honest people who pay would be delighted by your attitude. But then there will always be entitled dishonest bastards who lie about their children's ages etc (probably whilst trying to teach their children it is wrong to lie).
OP, yabvu. Your attitude stinks. Why would you be 'pissed' about paying for others when you have paid for single membership??

I think some of you need your eyes opening about the finances of charities. Some of the salaries that are paid by charities- Macmillan for example- are more than the private sector. One of my DCs knew someone working for them and was shocked at how their salary was so much higher than the equivalent role in a FTSE 100 company where they worked. (I don't mean my DC did the same job but they knew what the payscale was in their company for that job.

I don't agree with swapping membership cards and if I did I'd not come onto a public forum to boast about it. You might be anon here OP but you will be traceable via your membership of the site.......

Polly, it becomes a little dangerous to start justifying stealing on the basis of turnover/staff salaries. Designer handbag anyone?

Cat sorry but you've got the wrong poster I think. I said I didn't agree with swapping membership cards. I also said some charities are not as poor as people imagine. There is nothing in my post about condoning 'stealing' from them.

Most people working for the NT get paid nothing- they are volunteers doing it for free. And the staff that are paid seem to be fairly low paid: www.nationaltrustjobs.org.uk/

There might be a few well paid people at the top in the NT, but mostly not.

Re the lifetime membership, they either seem to scan a little booklet or they do something on the till, so they definately record life members visits.

Aside from the obvious stealing from a charity, can you really call someone a dr on an online form when they aren't? YABU

The National Trust is one of the biggest rackets going IMO. It costs nearly £50 for a non member family to get into our nearest attraction. There is absolutely nothing accessible about a £50 entry charge - the NT is basically a middle class sacred cow which keeps the riff raff out. See their recent attempt to evict tenants for no reason.

That's really low. It is a charity. You'd be stealing.

We have NT membership on DD every year but only go about 3-4 times a year to the expensive house etc. Its usually just places with parking that costs a few quid. It's not really financially good value to us, but I see it as my donation to a really good cause.

I really hope you don't cheat and steal whenever you think you can get away with it because you think whatever you should be paying for is too expensive. Not nice.

I hate people doing this & lending cards; it's like insurance fraud it pushes up the cost for the rest of us. Last summer Historic Scotland spent 2 months asking for additional ID to confirm membership I saw many red face people turned away!

YABU. Defrauding a charity is really grubby.

What's the National Trust for Scotland scam? M DH works for the NTS in a labour-based role (won't say what or where, too outing), and they definitely seem to be strapped for cash, at least when it comes to providing a budget for supplies etc. It's seems to be worrying times at the NTS at the moment, so I do think not being honest and paying the right amount for each person is not on.

Of course yabu, it's a sodding charity! I wonder how much money this thread will cost the NT in lost entrance fees? Very low of you and I think you should ask for this thread to be deleted.

It costs nearly £50 for our family to see our local low-league team play football. Is that an elitist middle class racket too?

Also, for £111 you can have a family membership. That's just over the cost of 2 visits, so go to 3 or more places in a year and it starts being very cheap to go places.

Joining the Scottish NT is a good idea, but you don't get free car parking in England.