(Joining) Member and I need help
 

Hello. I signed up the 7th of this month and I did not get confermed yet. I sent a letter with my signiture and my moms in with it. I even emailed an acount guy on the AMA site. What do I do now?

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

MrPlaneKid

You need some patience. Its only the 17th. If you paid by check they will wait for it to clear before sending your card. Call headquarters during business hours and you will see that your membership is being processed

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

im with crashem.. it will take a few weeks .. by check will take longer.. i signed up online w/ a credit card and it took 2 1/2 -3 weeks to get to me.. itll arrive and youll be flying at your local club in no time:D

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

oh yea.. dont forget to study the constitution .. errr i mean the AMA rules while your waiting:eek:..

my edit button isnt working![:-]

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

did it with credit card

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

You should be able to call and receive you AMA # now, But it will still take a while to receive your card. If your club questions your #, they should be able to go to their AMA District web site and confirm that the number is a valid number.

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

The only district with the on-line membership verification that I know of is District 8. Thier website has the on-line membership applicatin also. (The AMA link for online signup redirects you to the District 8 site)

If you signed up by credit card onlne, it can be as little as 10 days from when you sign up to when the card arrives.

If you mailed the application and fee in... you have at least 3 days added because thats how long the post office takes to deliver the average first class letter. (but can take the post office up to 6 weeks to get a letter to just go across town sometimes...:eek:) Your main delay is going to be the "dependable" US Mail service.

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

Let's try and get this correct. There are NO membership verifications on ANY district web site. The one on the D8 site redirects us to the AMA site.

The AMA site redirects you to the D8 site for online renewal.

Giving credit where credit is due, both programs were written by Bill Lee, D8 AVP.

I am curious about one thing on the Renewal Site. It also accepts new member applications. The AMA has a policy, evidenced by a .pdf file on the AMA site, that telephone applications may not be made because of the need for a promise by the applicant to abide by the safety code. The D8 site does not appear to have that promise as part of the process. Now, I can't get by the first page of the application, but it might very well be there. If you look at the new application for temporary memberships linked to the AMA website, it is a part of the application. It might behoove Bill and the AMA to include such a promise on the renewal site, if, indeed, it does not exist.

There is also a club locator on the D8 site that Bill Lee wrote. If you're looking for a club, it is THE locator to use. The one on the AMA site was not written by Bill and leaves a lot to be desired.

As far as I am concerned, the AMA should turn the entire AMA site over to Bill Lee and let him take care of it. Unfortunately, a view that is not shared by some in administration at HQ. I feel certain that if Bill was paid what is spent on the site, it would be first class.

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

Oh I see. So I will get it soon. Does this mean I am covered?

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

No, you're not covered until you can verify your membership, either with a card or by calling and asking. If you call, you can probably get them to give you your number and the club would accept that if they can verify it on the web site, or if you can get HQ to e-mail you confirmation.

Call (765) 287-1256 ext 290 tomorrow and talk to Collen Pierce if you are trying to fly this weekend. Tell her what you want, she is always as helpful as she can be :)

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

JR-
It appears our AMA has a made a policy change because some individual(s) from the shallow end of the gene pool stiffed them for payment for 'instant' membership to fly in an AMA event, or some such. Figures....like most bureaucracies they again let their policy toward their public be controlled by a few on the lowest rung of evolution.

Abel

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

Unfortunately... the people that try to swndle others and that write bad checks and cancel credit card charges FORCE the honest people to do stuff to protect themselves from being ripped off.

If these losers would honor the obligations they make... then maybe the AMA would not have had to change the policy. But if the AMA is subject to getting stiffed on the fee, then they have to make sure the payment isn't going to bounce before the card is sent out and the AMA can be placed on the hook for insurance coverage of the loser that decides to cancel the check the day after they hand it to a CD at a contest.

If everyone obeyed speed limits, there'd be no need for cops to sit at the side of the road with radar guns. The cop is there because of the guy who breaks the law. The speed limit laws are there for the "geniuses" that are too stupid to figure out that its not safe to drive 90 mph through a residential neighborhood especially in the vicinity of a school right after the kids are let out to go home.

You want to not have so many rules about safety and you want to not have to wait for your chek to clear to get credit for payment of your dues... figure out a different way to deal with the idiots.

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

FH-
I must be missing something, but I don't see how AMA is really losing anything that forces them to 'protect' themselves by instituting a policy that is onerous to the vast majority of people they deal with. Some cretin's check bounces, AMA voids his membership/insurance coverage, end of story. What has AMA lost besides an undesirable applicant?

Abel

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

Abel

Take it a step fruther. Your club accepts that card that was issued at face value. Now, where does the club and the landlord stand? Of course, the AMA has no way of knowing where the individual may be flying, and, even if they did, how do they contact the club in a timely manner? Purely hypotheticaly, of course.

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

does this effect me?

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

MrPlaneKid

I recieved the following e-mail from Joyce Hager, the Executive Director of the AMA, this morning. I still suggest you call for confirmation if you want to fly this weekend.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joyce Hager
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2004 6:27 AM
To: JR
Subject: RE: Instant memberships

Currently when someone renews/joins online or via the telephone, we give them information that we have received their application, credit cards are processed that night and cards are produced that day and mailed. Renewals can go on line to check and see if they have been updated.

Nothing has changed for sanction events. Contest Directors still sign them up and they receive instant membership. We are working on a new wording for the receipt.


From: JR
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 7:47 PM
To: Joyce Hager
Subject: Instant memberships
Hi Joyce

I have a question for you. If someone calls, with a credit card, can a membership be processed immediately? If so, who should the call be directed to? What form of proof could be provided?

What is the situation at a sanctioned event? Can a CD still allow a new sign up to fly immediately?


JR

NOTE: edited to remove e-mail addresses and signature

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

Oh Well, the policy changes daily. However the above is definitely an improvement.

From Feb. minutes of EC meeting. BOLD added for emphasis.
>>>>>>>>>>
Review 30 Day Temporary Membership Receipt

These receipts are issued at trade shows, sanctioned events, etc; following a recent incident, the President requested this practice be stopped in relation to on-line and fax memberships. The Council needs to address if AMA is going to stop issuing 30 day receipts, it needs to be done across the board. The ED does not advocate this being done.

With input from legal counsel the ED will develop wording to be included on all receipts issued that reflects the insurance is not in place until validation of proper payment is made. AMA must not be responsible to cover claims for those whose payments have been declined.
<<<<<<<<<<<<&l t;<<<<

The policy came without notice. There is still no official notice of what the policy really is, or more importantly, what it will be tomorrow.[:@]

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

Horrace

There never was a change for CD's. That was your supposition. Note the words "needs to be". The minutes reflect what was said. No action was taken at that time.

Please take note that Joyce Hager, who you hammered rather unmercifully over this issue, in this forum, has been against any change and is on record so stating. Why not wait until this washs out instead of making suppostions?

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

Eureka!, Hoss-
Now I understand.....just Herr Braun again, shooting himself in the foot and splattering some bystanders too. I shudda known.

Abel

RE: (Joining) Member and I need help
 

Ok, so I am already to get my card and be insured? I will be flying in two weeks I think I will have it by then. Thanks for replying.