Leaving The National Trust

I've just contacted the NT to make sure that we get the Loyalty Discount when our membership comes up for renewal in December.
DH has been a member for 33 years, and I was a junior member (my parents were members), student member and have been an adult member ever since.
It's about time we got a reward!
We both got our local travel passes last week, we might actually start using public transport now!
There are even a few NT properties accessible by public transport locally, I've got it sussed!

I think only one of you ( in a joint membership) has to be 60 to get the senior membership ( and a member for the last 5 years obviously)

Loyalty bonus is awarded if you have been a member for 5 years but it certainly is a well guarded secret - I only found out by chance and had to phone up in order to get it. I know lots of people who have been totally unaware such a bonus exists.
It made a difference though on our joint membership - reduced from £104 to £78.

I think the NT may well be bombarded with queries about the loyalty membership now. I, too, have been a member for over 20 years so will certainly be taking this up with them.

Sprite. I was a volunteer for the NT and worked very hard. Did 50 hours for 6 months membership. Then a member of staff spoke to me so badly I complained. Got an apology but have not been asked to volunteer again. It's shameful.

I buy NT membership for DD and her family each year. I have done so for quite a long time. Does that mean I can claim loyalty bonus for that? I also didn't realise that Scottish NT membership covered England [but the English one doesn't cover Scotland]. There are places just across the border that we'd like to visit. We've often pointed things out at NT properties[usually lack of signposting] only to be told it's just how the NT works.

I really don’t know how more clearly I can put it - you have to be 60 ( or one of you if you are a couple) and a member for 5 years

And it is called senior membership not loyalty membership

Oh, that's ok; we do have that one [although, as has been pointed out, we weren't told about it!]...

It's actually worth looking into things that we are entitled to but have forgotten about. The S.O. said the other day that having a small ISA with Virgin something or other entitled him to free something or other else, but he'd forgotten about it. Ditto having a bus pass entitles us to discount at some shops but, again, we sometimes forget to ask.

Also, I pay full price for my families membership [both DD and DS] but, if I cancelled and got them to pay for each other we would get the reduced rate. It's just a pain to have to change the details each year. They should really just give some sort of loyalty discount to everyone imo.

NT has reciprocal arrangements with lots of countries including Scotland - you can use your NT card for all NTS properties. Personally I think it’s bonkers that it isn’t a UK wide organisation - surely that would save money

They would lose too much money if they brought in a loyalty discount for everyone I guess

lyndie that's terrible! Guess it's not just NT that sometimes does not always value it's volunteers.

Don't leave until you've taken part in the important vote happening now, about whether to allow hunting on NT land.

I object to the fact that when you visit any NT property as a non-member, they automatically charge extra for admission as the 'administration fee for gift aiding'. I don't understand why they are allowed to charge EXTRA when they are getting money back from the government as gift-aid, and I object to not being asked first. They assume that you are a) a tax payer, and b) that you want to gift aid. I am now well prepared when I visit (not very often!) and say I want to pay the advertised entry fee, not the gift-aid fee.

I couldn't agree more. Whatever the situation, a hard sell is very off-putting, isn't it?
When I was in my twenties Life Membership was advertised for the princely sum of £35. Sadly, I was only earning a small amount and I couldn't afford it. Plus, at that age you spend your hard earned cash on different things. I sometimes wonder, though, if I had been able to take advantage of it I'd be quids in now wouldn't I?

If the member has not reached 60 but their partner has & is on the Joint Membership swop the main member around' DH & I did when he retired, I rang, yes you do have to ring & no it's not advertised, I had always been main member but we changed this to DH being main member. I was only 50 but got Pensioner rate as well - bargain.

I missed a year when I moved but have now renewed & still qualify for Pensioner rate or as my card states "Member (Senior)"

It’s on the website - where else could it be advertised? I suppose they could put an item in the magazine.

I'm very sad about it but have come to the conclusion that I agree with Melvyn Bragg that the National Trust is a bullying and arrogant charity, and not the force for good I had always thought it was.

In addition to all the comments on this thread about how it treats volunteers and visitors to its properties, there is this awful incident concerning a farm the NT bought in the Lake District, using its financial muscle to outbid the local community www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/03/national-trust-lake-district-borrowdale-sheep-farm-sale-fight.

Also, I have recently retired from a company which provides services to many organisations, and one of its contracts is with the National Trust. I won't say what services my ex-employer provides to the Trust because that would identify them and break confidentiality, but I know my ex-employer to be ethical, and deliver value for money. So it was a surprise that the contract with the Trust rapidly developed into a so-called 'troubled' contract, with one unreasonable demand after another, the Trust exploiting any loophole they could find in the contract, and nobody in the office wanting to work with them because they were horrid to boot. My employer is just hanging on till the end of the contract and then certainly will not be looking to renew it.

It's all a far cry from the warm supportive view I had of this Charity a few years ago. :-((

looks as if the NT Scotland will lose member too ,with the appointment of Neil Oliver ,controversial as Mr Oliver has spun Scottish history in a way thats simply not true..he said for instance that the Highland clearances were voluntary emigration.....that is not the case and while he may be personable some members would like a spokesman who is also accurate with our history.

Apart from all the reasons already given on here, I will not be renewing my membership next time either. My membership has been bought for me as a gift from a family member. It should be a simple, straightforward process, I would have thought i.e. Ms A applies for and pays for membership for Ms B. NT then send the membership card etc to Ms B. Simple? Every year they have managed to send the membership card and handbook to the family member, not to me. I then spend several weeks trying to get it sorted out and can only have 2 week temporary membership passes whilst they do so. They blamed it all on "problems with their new computer system" that cost thousands of ££££. Nice to know the membership money was well spent!

I buy membership for my dd every year. They send the cards to me with the invoice for the amount as it is done under the gift scheme. They also send me a gift card to put the membership cards in to give or send to her. I always receive the cards in plenty of time to hand them over to her.

Excellent maryeliza, wish my experiences with the NT had been so efficient. Sadly, it wasn't.

As an Australian NT member we get reciprocal free entry to English NT properties. During visits to the UK over the last 25 years I have visited more than 35 NT properties across the UK and have always found staff and volunteers very welcoming and informative. However I would certainly find questions in feedback comments about sexual preferences not only intrusive but quite simply irrelevant.

The only coment I would make is that over the time I have been visiting UK NT properties the standard of catering has declined enormously. We used to look forward to a lovely lunch or afternoon tea with local menus and produce but not so now where catering is obviously being contracted out to large catering groups. Same pretty average food at every property.