A sports club one!

[justteanbiscuits]

We run a kids sports club and have just expanded in order to be able to invite new members.

We both work full time, and give about 8 hours a week to this each - a couple of hours admin in the week and nearly all day Saturday. We love our club and the kids. We also have our own kids (who also attend the club and help out)

We use a common app for booking (as strict limit to how many can come per session, and the sessions are at different level of experience) and to collect payment. We keep the costs as low as possible.

A new parent is refusing to use the app to book and pay. I suggested they could use the website if they don't like apps, but they are refusing to do that. We have a reputation for being very inclusive, but taking cash payments and having to book someone else's child on would be a severe pain the the arse. We have no need of cash, as any expenses we have have to be paid online or by card. It would mean one of us having to take time off work to go the bank and pay the money in once a month or so. And also would be a pain for the yearly accounts!

They've threated to complain about this (no idea who to, maybe governing body??) and so I'm freaking out a bit.

AIBU to insist on them having to pay by card / app?

i bet they circulate that ridiculous thing on FB about the 20 pound note don’t they ? 🤣probably think Bill Gates will track them through the app. Let them complain. It’s completely legit to refuse cash.

To add, even if they have a legit reason, it’s not your problem and the impact on you outweighs the benefit to them.

Tricky as it could be they dont have access to a card due to abuse. But no, if you can't be arsed with cash that's absolutely fine.

Yes I agree with this

Using your app, is as inconvenient for this parent, as you accepting cash, is as inconvenient for you.

Put your foot down. If you let one then others will do the same.

Lots of sports clubs are run by volunteers, non-profit, underfunded, very small etc. This imposes limits on their ability to be flexible with the way they do things. In your case, taking cash is too process heavy for the time you have available to run the club, so you can't do it. You cater to the majority, but you can't cater to every single person. Is there another club you could recommend she try?

If they explained, politely, that they didn't have access to a card, I would see what I could do. But they've offered no explanation aside from "we don't want to"!

This it 100%. It's entirely volunteer led - we even pay for our own children to attend it!

Amusingly, I did suggest the next nearest club but they also use the same app!