Or do the National Trust need to start looking after their members during the 'Rona

[MaconVillagesisgoodchardonnay]

I know we're in "unprecedented times" before anyone starts with that one.

I pay a family membership for NT and in a normal week I will use it at least twice a week with the children, either alone, with husband or to meet up with friends.

I haven't been since March when they opened it up to everyone, caused chaos and subsequently shut.

Since reopening and operating a booking system, the venues close to me you need to book almost a week in advance which is utterly bonkers. They haven't prioritised their members, or in fact communicated with us at all regarding this, in fact I've had no post from them since Jan renewal.

I've emailed them to see whether I can have either a partial refund or an extension on our membership - AIBU? I haven't had a response yet. I'd rather now have an annual pass to a private estate locally and know I can be guaranteed somewhere to go. When the schools do break up for summer the chances of booking a NT day out become even slimmer.

I'm a bit ratty after the baby kept me up all night but AIBU to be a bit fucked off at them?

I have just applied for the 25% discount, it's still active on their website. Thank you for the link.

I wish they’d get their finger out and reopen the playgrounds. As much as I love going to experience the heritage and beauty, my DS is pretty much there for the playgrounds and I need something to bribe him with 😩

We have English Heritage for our upcoming British hols. They seem very organised. I'm going g to visit two properties in a few weeks and tonnes of availability but that's on the ilse of Wight so I guess population is lower.

@Laaalaaaa

The ‘Rona - how horrific.

Agreed! In a few months time, though, I bet someone who conceived during lockdown will consider this as a suitable name for their child.

I've just searched for that too bernadette - it looks like they did offer it, but the offer was only for customers who paid by direct debit, and it had to be done by 5 July.

What a shame they didn't tell me that when I cancelled my membership at the end of June! I paid annually by card, but could have gone to direct debit if they'd said so. Oh well!

Membership frozen at last year’s rate (for direct debit) and an exclusive ‘Member Only’ area on their website, which I haven’t looked at yet.
Happy to keep paying for the upkeep of their land and property even if we don’t visit, but understand if some people feel they aren’t really getting what they paid for. For me, it’s a ‘charity donation with added benefits’, for others it is more a leisure and entertainment activity and neither of those viewpoints is wrong.

The NT is really struggling at the moment. If you are still working and can afford it I would view membership as a charitable contribution to allow it to continue its conservation efforts rather than a subscription for its services
thirdforcenews.org.uk/tfn-news/national-trust-faces-uk-wide-crisis

We have managed to book slots several times since the system started. Yes, the gardens are looking a bit overgrown, but each place we have been to the volunteers have been out working again. Most of the places have had the cafés open for takeaway drinks, cakes and ice creams.
I'm hoping our membership fee has gone someway to helping protect the properties when the NT has obviously not received any income from non-members visiting.

I don't understand why it's so out of the question to book in advance? Couldn't you make it a routine to book a couple of visits for the following week every week if you normally go that often?

All heritage places have taken a massive financial hit, and I'm really quite concerned that unless they can recover a lot of the really valuable work that organisations like the NT does will have to stop. A little minor inconvenience seems a small price to pay.

I booked a slot with them recently. The booking system was fiddly. I then needed to cancel it and that proved impossible! I also consider it a donation to a worthwhile cause with added benefits but I was surprised by how unprofessional the booking system was. English Heritage have been clearer in their communication.

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/help-with-your-membership-payments-due-to-coronavirus

I didn't realise I had to apply for this but, thanks to this thread, I will get on to that immediately.

It was very quick and simple to do, took seconds.

Your membership is not something that gives you special privileges or advantages over non-members.

It is merely a one-off, larger donation, that means you don't have to donate anything else to get into their properties for a year.

You have exactly the same rights of access to properties as non-members.

I don't know why people seem to treat it as some sort of club which means you get priority booking, but that's not what it's for or how it works.

We have NT membership but won’t be renewing if they don’t open up houses and If they keep the pre booking and one way systems.

Prebooked a couple of places for this week, we were in and out in 30 minutes with the first booking. Really didn’t like the one way system and considering how wide he paths are really didn’t see any need for it. The house was closed so there really wasn’t anything to do.
It was a really unpleasant visit so be cancelled the tickets for the 2nd trip because we didn’t want a repeat.

I think given the current times you are being unreasonable.

We cancelled our membership. At the start of lockdown, we went through our finances and anything that we were not going to use, we cancelled. I'm glad we dis as I got made redundant a few weeks ago. It might only have been about £8 per month but that and the other extras we cancelled added up to nearly £50. I'm unlikely to renew this year, even assuming I get another job.

If you pay annually they'll reduce renewal by 25% there's a form on the site

@Yellowbutterfly1

We have NT membership but won’t be renewing if they don’t open up houses and If they keep the pre booking and one way systems.

Prebooked a couple of places for this week, we were in and out in 30 minutes with the first booking. Really didn’t like the one way system and considering how wide he paths are really didn’t see any need for it. The house was closed so there really wasn’t anything to do.
It was a really unpleasant visit so be cancelled the tickets for the 2nd trip because we didn’t want a repeat.

The problem with opening the houses is that they need to be staffed. Most 'staff' are volunteers and many are elderly and/or in the shielding category.

I've not received anything from the National Trust - and the charity thing is just an excuse. No way would the Charity Commission have done anything beyond sending a stern letter - if they could be bothered which is unlikely. And if they did, so what.

They could accommodate far more cars in their car parks - cars do not need to be 2m apart, people do. If you park next to someone and see someone getting in or out of the car you wait. Not difficult at all.

I am also a member of Historic Scotland and they have prioritised members - law obviously different in Scotland.

If I were a member of the NT though, I too would be extremely peeved to be paying my membership for something I can't use, only to then have the public at large able to use it Yes but of course they make more money out of non-members eg charge for parking and entry fees are really expensive for the houses.

The problem with opening the houses is that they need to be staffed. Most 'staff' are volunteers and many are elderly and/or in the shielding category

True but there are generally far too many of them anyway, and anyway there was a whole army of 6th formers and students they could have called upon (although access could be an issue as most properties have to be travelled to by car, which may not be practical).

I am not bothered about the houses, but it would have been nice to have access to the grounds and tearooms (though I live quite a distance from most properties so query whether I'd have bothered whether or not I had to prebook).

Width of paths isn't the issue. In most places there are pinch points where people have to get through fairly narrow entrances and they need to be able to control those, not least for the safety of their own staff and volunteers.

People seem to be taking the attitude that they're imposing one way systems etc because they want to. It's quite bizarre. Does anyone seriously think that they're doing all that for fun?

I didn't renew. EH did a membership extension but I didn't renew with them either. I was not convinced that I would get any real use out of either membership in the next 12 months so didn't bother. I do think it is poor that members haven't had some sort of priority - even if I understand the reasoning behind it - and I do think members like me who use the membership for holidays and the odd day out will be the cause of a drop in income for them. However, it is the same everywhere at the moment and as belts are tightened, it really isn't a necessity. We have a holiday booked for next July so I will look at it then.

I agree. we have historic Scotland membership and it links with some local national trust places so we can use it there too. they havnt given anything tonloyal members in terms of maybe just 1 priority booking

It’s a worthy cause even if you get nothing from it to suppprt National Trust. Without them, much of British/Northern Ireland countryside and coast would have been developed. Big manor houses knocked down and replaced with council estates.
So, I’d encourage you to think of the annual membership as simply the charity donation it is and not look at it like a service you are buying.

anyway there was a whole army of 6th formers and students they could have called upon

Well, no. You can't just call in people who're at a loose end for a few days' volunteering, and I'm not sure how many sixth formers and students would go for it anyway. Every volunteer needs quite heavy duty training - not only about the house and what is in it, but about things like customer relations, child protection, fire safety, what to do if someone is taken ill/kicks off/wants to go into non-public areas, etc etc. You need people who genuinely want to do it and will commit, and that does tend to be older people.