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?

The National Trust is a charity AND a private members' organisation. There is nothing stopping them compensating their members because of closures bar their own financial decision making.

They have received no help from government because they have ££££s in reserves. I know they also have huge liabilities.

I am slightly cynical about NT. They own a lot of important land and "but we're a cuddly charity" should not make them immune from scrutiny and criticism.

YANBU- I feel similarly to you. Getting tickets to local NTs near us was like trying to get Glasto tickets the first few weeks of the booking system operating. Nightmare. I think they should be extending all memberships by 3 months as gesture of goodwill if you renew your membership post corona.

@Lockheart

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.

It is literally only on MN that I hear anyone discuss their NT membership like this. It may be that this is how it functions but it is marketed as a year-long pass to their properties, land, beach car parks etc.

The young families I know who have NT memberships (including my own) are basically using it as a naice Merlin pass with scones.

Apparently, 90% of the tickets are booked by members. I'm really hoping their playgrounds open soon as that's one of the main reasons we go.

I except those people who treat it like Merlin with scones will complain bitterly when the NT is forced to close houses and gardens because they can no longer afford to open them. The NT is facing £200m losses this year.

I have a friend whose son is a volunteer for a local open garden (not NT or EH, privately owned, but I think the principle is the same). Volunteers have been told not to return if they have any health conditions, can't go more than a few hours without needing a toilet (all toilets are closed), need to work 5m away from one another so no company or chat, and have to come at strictly regulated times.

Most of them are elderly and with health conditions, and the closure of the toilets and lack of ability to socialise whilst working, means they are saying they won't go back at all.

There is nothing stopping them compensating their members because of closures bar their own financial decision making.

I don’t think any compensation is really due. The annual membership is so low that it pays for itself in around 3-4 visits per year. Even with a 3 month closure, it’s more than possible for members to get their money’s worth. The coronavirus isn’t resulting in anyone actually losing money when compared to having no membership paying to go to each place separately.

The tickets seem to be released each week overnight on Thurs/Fri, so if you check first thing Friday morning you should be able to get a slot. Once I worked this out I have been been able to get the time and day I wanted.
I know someone that works for them and they are very slowly returning to some kind of normal. The majority of staff are still on furlough to save money and volunteers cannot be brought back to do jobs that the staff should be doing. They will also be making a lot of redundancies. As a whole the organisation don't seem to have handled it well but I think the staff at individual sites generally work really hard for low pay (as it's the charity sector), which will be down to 80/70/60% in the next few months and are desperate to be back at work. So I'd say they are worth supporting if you can afford it, and just try not to think about the idiots at the top.

We’ve had weekly email updates, including emails about the fact they couldn’t prioritise members, lots of emails about the booking systems, emails about what venues etc are opening up.
I don’t think there is anything more they can have done to be honest.

The issue is not that it’s a bit of a hassle to book, it’s that we can’t book at all.
We have a family membership, the booking for the following week opens each Friday. I’ve been on several times on Friday morning about 8am, couldn’t get anything for our local properties at all. For the whole week.
My friends have had the same issue.
Last week I tried to book at 6.30 am for a local property, I was held in a queue on eventbrite as they were so busy. Eventually got on and was able to book for Tues afternoon, that was the soonest available and most slots were already full.
I get that they are struggling, but that’s probably because loyal members are feeling the loyalty is only going one way, and are cancelling their memberships. This strategy is going to lose them a lot of regular income.

why should members get priority - they pay less than everyone else....

More seriously - how are they different to anyone else - no one moaning about gyms etc and they have done the same.

Neglect - well they rely on aged volunteers for the most part so no surprise there, also can't garden from home can you. I suspect most of their volunteers are still in isolation so bear a thought for them.

Its always all about me me me - apply for your suspension and wait like everyone else

We book a ticket for each weekend, we have never been so much, just have to book at about 6am on Friday for following weekend and hope the weather is ok, have visited places a bit further afield which we wouldn’t normally visit

I'm pretty fed up with these charities.

Member of English Heritage and use a local site roughly once a week- or did- for walking.

Closed for 3 months and no extension to annual joint membership.

Changed the loos into unisex- goodness knows why- and of course no women were queuing for the men's block!

Took out one set of loos (4 cubicles, all with opening windows,) and replaced with 2 portoloos. Assume it's because they think they can't keep up with cleaning.
On the site they are now 5 loos short of normal number.

Last time I visited since lockdown, had to book, and it was busier than a normal day pre-lockdown.

Not impressed.

why should members get priority - they pay less than everyone else...

because we pay upfront and they get our cash upfront.

If we pay less, then why don't you join?

@JinglingHellsBells why did you not get an extension? It was offered to all members.

I have always considered these things as part of a charitable contribution .

The booking seems to be calming down now and you can get tickets more easily. I have been once a week and the visits are getting better-more open like toilets and cafes but not the houses.

why should members get priority - they pay less than everyone else

Depends how you view it. My membership is worth more than an annual visit as a family to one location - and the costs are a lot for a family, particularly if you include travel costs, parking, eating out - so many people would consider it at one-off or special trip out.

As members, we visited a good number of properties or sites every year and always used the cafe (horrendous prices) and the gift shops. So they may have earnt less in 'on the door' fees from us as a family but we always gave them a good amount of money otherwise. They could also count on our membership fees as income whereas inclement weather over the summer, for example, would inevitably see a drop in ad-hoc day visitors. At least members are running around trying to get their money's worth!

I've had weekly/fortnightly e-mail updates from them since March. Do you not get these?

I've been to 3 NT places since they reopened. 2 in Wales and 1 in England. Been impressed with how they are managing it - I like the one way systems.

Yes it needs a bit more organisation and flexibility to be able to book a slot rather than just turn up, but things have changed in the last 4 months. They're doing the best they can!

Everything has to be pre booked now, you can’t go anywhere on spec, one of the new normal things of Covid

I can understand why you’re annoyed, I am too. We pay monthly for a family membership and have done for a few years. I didn’t mind paying when they were closed - they’re a charity and we can afford it. But this booking system just isn’t working very well. You have to be ready at 8am on a Friday morning and keep on refreshing trying to get on. Sometimes they put you in a queue, but these don’t work. I managed to book Dunham Massey using my phone as I kept refreshing the page, but on my iPad I was still in a virtual queue (been in it 40 minutes). Also Dunham Massey has people climbing in over a style from the road outside. There was no staff member there to check or stop them so numbers were not restricted at all - loads of people just walking in for free. The one way systems make you feel herded and it’s just not a relaxing experience. I’m considering cancelling my membership because booking is just such hard work and I can’t see us being able to get much use from it at all.

I think it's great, we can book a car park space quite easily, and if the weather is disgusting on the day we've paid nothing extra and don't need to go.

They should extend in these circumstances, following the example of other heritage organisations. I'm nearish the border of Wales, so last summer joined Cadw - they have extended by 6 months.

Our renewal was due in April. I cancelled the direct debit

We'll join up again when we next visit. We have an unused EH membership gift pack we can use in the meantime.

I’ve been really fed up with their lack of correspondence. Didn’t hear a peep from them for months (compared to English Heritage). They kept quiet about the payment break options too - no mention of that in any emails, you could to go looking for it on their website. We applied for it and they still charged us. So I just cancelled.