To not pay subs?

[PunkApple]

Less of a AIBU and more of a WIBU..
My daughter attends a local club, volunteers run the sessions but we pay termly to cover costs (hall hire, craft materials etc). She's been attending since September last year and really enjoys it.
Now since Easter the people running the club have been very inconsistent, cancelling due to their holidays (2 weeks before Easter hols, and another 2 weeks of holiday last month) there's also been one week (last week) cancelled due to illness and another week previously cancelled due to 'appointments'. To put it bluntly this term she's missed 3 sessions and the term before 4 sessions. Next week will also be the last session as the end of term party which was planned has mysteriously disappeared from the planning too. To total it, thats 8 weeks in two terms that haven't gone ahead. Which is effectively a whole term's worth of cancelled sessions!
A message in the groupchat appeared this morning asking those parents who haven't paid subs to pay them this week, I asked wether it will be a discounted rate due to the amount of missed sessions lately but was told no as its the same cost every term and averaged accross the whole year. This covers materials, rent etc which I do understand to an extent.
AIBU to be a bit annoyed? WIBU to make more of a point about it? Or shall I just pay and shut up as my daughter enjoys the club and the volunteers are giving up their time..?

Oh and asking publicly for a discount will have come across as rude and troublemaking

Sounds like they need more volunteers so I would offer if I was able to (was a scout leader and loved it).

Yes you would. The costs include subs to girl guiding / scouting (I am guessing) insurance and the hall, First aid courses, badges, books, which are payable regardless. It’s usually the cheapest club children do. I volunteer myself and it’s a huge commitment to do it every week, even when you are poorly.
Maybe you could volunteer to help so there is more consistency. If there are only 2 of them and one is ill, they will have to cancel.
if you aren’t happy, there is usually a massive waiting list.

How does “it’s run by volunteers” always equate to “yeah sure, you can pay for stuff even though the service is really sub standard”

We took our daughter out of Rainbows for this reason. The leader was really flaky and always cancelled at last minute, or just didn’t turn up. The volunteers who ran it with her eventually had the same vibe as she did. When our daughter joined brownies, it was entirely different. There were always more than enough volunteers to cover illness etc and the troop was run incredibly well. Guides started ok, but eventually descended in to a bunch of tweens/young teens running about yelling at each other.

There are good and bad volunteer leaders. The fact that someone has volunteered is not in and of itself a reason to pat them on the back and let them do whatever they want. It reflects really badly on the organisation.

She did offer.

i saw that in the comments. She has also assumed they need no help, despite it being clear they do. And also that her daughter doesn’t have “much to show’ for her £25 a term. That £25 will barely cover costs, and this kind of attitude is why fewer and fewer people want to make a weekly commitment to run a group. If you only knew how many additional hours of planning / organising and admin goes on just to get that hour/ hour and a half a week.

"It's run by volunteers" does not equate to “yeah sure, you can pay for stuff even though the service is really sub standard”.

However, "it's run by volunteers" equates to "you accept how it's run and pay your dues or, if you don't like it, you withdraw your child from the club and don't pay for future sessions". You don't just not pay while continuing to attend or insist on a reduction from a fee that goes nowhere near the cost of running these sessions professionally. If it was run professionally, you could argue a reduction for missed sessions but you would also have to pay for sessions attended.

And yes, there are good and bad volunteers. I simply didn't send my dc to clubs/sessions run by bad volunteers.

And her daughter loves it! Isn’t that more important than having something to show?

YABVVVU not to pay.
If you can't help out at a meeting then you can do admin, shopping, booking outings, collecting in forms.
You might find there are more sessions run.
Most of your subs go towards rent and the central organisation. You would pay the same if there were no sessions.
Outings could be at the weekend when you might have childcare, also, so you could volunteer to run them.

I absolutely agree with you that if someone feels it’s not being run well or working for them then they should vote with their feet (or volunteer and try to improve it). I disagree with someone staying in something that they feel isn’t being run well by volunteers and then asking for a discount on minimal, much needed subs.

I've paid all of them (including now this current term). I said this is WIBU, don't be ridiculous.

Are you being serious? Your question in your OP was literally ‘should I pay’.

Here you go @PunkApple, you an hour ago saying you haven’t paid yet. Yet I’m ridiculous for saying you haven’t paid? You sound like hard work.

Sounds like they need more support, could you provide some additional support on some weeks when needed? I do this for two clubs like this that my son and daughter attend.

I assumed they need no help because they've never asked despite having my details. The reason she doesn't have much to show is because of the cancelled sessions, meaning lots of planned activities didn't go ahead.

i hadn't paid yet for this term. You asked how many I hadn't paid for.. that was obviously a ridiculous question.

Yes and if you look i replied pretty early on and said I would pay as that was the consensus (and probably grumble about it privately). This was someone who asked 'how many' terms I hadn't paid for? That was the ridiculous part!

I think I’d pay the subs and separately raise that your child missed the enjoyment of the sessions cancelled recently and can you help support the group to prevent that in the future?

Subs will likely mostly cover rent and insurance which will be fixed costs.

Having been a volunteer I get vibes from this that someone is ill or on their way out, or there’s been a disagreement between volunteers.

No it wasn’t, it was a perfectly reasonable question when you were complaining about 2 terms. Anyway you were wrong to consider not paying and you’ve realised that now so there’s not much more to say.

I think you were being pretty stingy and rude asking for a discount on the WhatsApp group. You will have pissed off the group leaders / volunteers by doing this.

The leaders / volunteers will be working hard behind the scenes - admin, keeping their training like first aid, safeguarding all up to date, in their own time, no expenses
planning activities
filling in the forms etc etc
if they have cancelled some meetings it will because they have no other choice -
parent helpers are great, but you need sufficient leaders to manage the parent helpers so sometimes it is easier to just cancel, it won’t be done lightly though,

pay the bloody subs
dont Make it any harder for them

as pp said a huge chunk of that money goes to national for ‘census’ fee

Yes, but if she isn't happy with this group she should withdraw her daughter and find a different group. I'm a Rainbows leader and we have a huge 2 year plus wait list because we do lots of fun things, residentials, trips etc. Other local groups are half empty.

It does look like they need volunteers, filling out a form and offering is very different to actually asking the question "do you need a parent helper next week?" But admittedly you have already stated you have another child to consider and it's difficult. The same could be said for other parents and also the volunteers,however instead of complaining put yourself out there and ensure the sessions run for the benefits of your dc.

I volunteer with a youth group and always have to chase folk who haven't paid subs. It feels like a piss take to be chasing such piddly amounts for what amounts to cheap childcare with activities on top.

£25 a term = £75 a year. For 40 weeks' entertainment, or £1.87 a session. Even if you break that down minus the 8 weeks THE VOLUNTEER LEADERS haven't been able to run the session it's £2.34 a week.

A Costa coffee is more than that. My lunch at work today in our subsidised canteen cost more than that. A cinema ticket is almost a tenner each before you've bought a drink and popcorn. There is literally nothing else you can do with a kid for lower cost.

Pay the subs
Put your name down to volunteer
If you don't like it, pull out your kid and find something else to occupy them that costs a quid an hour.

My group is set to close in the next 12 months as volunteers leave as their kids age-out. Then folk will moan. But they don't appreciate how many hours goes in behind the scenes for any activity.

I’m guessing it’s rainbows/ brownies. I’d pay the subs but look for another group for your daughter to attend. I know my DC would be disappointed if it got cancelled that many times as they look forward to it.