AOPA Ticked Me Off

T

Tex_Mike

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Tex_MIKE
So I check the mail yesterday and I see an envelope with "Past Due" stamped right across the front of the envelope. I think I must have forgotten to pay something so I opened it immediately. Turns out it was the millionth time that AOPA has tried to get me to renew my membership.

Seriously AOPA??? Do you really have to print "Past Due" on the front of your solicitation. Maybe I am over reacting but I did not like it one bit.
 
Nah, that's pretty crummy. I had the same feeling when I saw an envelope with "Important Customer Information" stamped on the outside only to open it up and see a solicitation to sign up for their phone service.
 
I'm currently locked out of the Red Board ... membership expired a week ago.

Went to renew, it asked for a priority code ... yeah, I prolly could have gone without, but it did strike me as amazing that I didn't have any renewal notices immediately at hand. I guess I've gotten really good at throwing them out - considering they start coming months and months in advance.

Boy who cried wolf.

A new notice did arrive today - I put it by my computer so it'd be handy when/if I decide to renew.
 
if you stop paying them they stop sending you crap
 
Got an Email today saying my legal services plan has lapsed..... Wouldn't I have to subscribe before it could lapse?

here's the email I replied with

I've never had it, so it couldn't have lapsed, don't you guys realize that you're losing support by sending out these phony borderline scam emails? I'm sure your marketing department has worked it all out and you're probably suckering more people than you're losing.. Oh well. I suppose if you operate inside the beltway long enough, this is what it comes to.
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I decided several years ago to not support a group that is spending my membership dues on poorly designed spam like you mention - sending out multiple 'renewal notices' every month regardless of if my membership is active or not.
 
As much as I dislike AOPA's membership crap -- without them we'd be even more screwed.

-AOPA member
-EAA member
-NRA member since the other day. They called me and told me Obama has teamed up with North Korea to take our guns on independence day. How could you not join !?
 
Bob Noel said:
Nope. AOPA still sends me crap.
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Tapers off after 6 months. Then you get a call or two offering a hat and a headset case. If you don't fall for that by a year there is almost nothing. I get one or two letters a year from AOPA.
 
jesse said:
As much as I dislike AOPA's membership crap -- without them we'd be even more screwed.

-AOPA member
-EAA member
-NRA member since the other day. They called me and told me Obama has teamed up with North Korea to take our guns on independence day. How could you not join !?
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There was no vote. You had to join. :D
 
I fixed all of that crap...I send them money in advance...THAT real screws up their system...
 
bartmc said:
Got an Email today saying my legal services plan has lapsed..... Wouldn't I have to subscribe before it could lapse?

here's the email I replied with
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They threw it in free on my membership last year. Maybe you had it and didn't realize it was a benny?
I didn't re-up for it this year for full price. I did renew yhe membership though. The advocacy is worth the $, and the board can be entertaining.
 
I let my membership expire at the beginning of this year. As far as I'm concerned it is just another self serving bureaucracy who's leadership earns considerably more than myself.

I do like the "free" hat I got from them years ago, although the only time I wear hats is when I'm flying. Sometimes it's their hat, sometimes it's a different hat, but it is a nice hat. I figure my "free" hat cost me around a thousand dollars over the years. Then when I think about it, all five of my flying hats were free. People just give them to me from time to time.

I like their monthly magazine, but not at $135.00 a year was about what I had been sending them.

I thought that when I gave up my membership in AOPA, that there would be a significant downturn in my personal happiness, but no, things are pretty much the same as they were.

I guess in all good conscience I probably shouldn't wear my "free" AOPA hat anymore when I'm flying.

-John
 
John Baker said:
I like their monthly magazine, but not at $135.00 a year was about what I had been sending them.
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Did you get the extra-special expensive membership? I can't really recall what I pay but I think it's less than $50/year.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Tapers off after 6 months. Then you get a call or two offering a hat and a headset case. If you don't fall for that by a year there is almost nothing. I get one or two letters a year from AOPA.
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Wish I had your luck, I get a letter or two a week. Havent been a member for 5 years now
 
they did for me, although i had emailed a guy (after someone here mentioned it) while i was a member and told them to quit sending me junk mail. so maybe i was already off the list. now i just get their emails.
 
Everskyward said:
Did you get the extra-special expensive membership? I can't really recall what I pay but I think it's less than $50/year.
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I had their basic membership, their legal add on, pilot training magazine, which is good if your trying to figure airplane and flying things out, and something else that I can't think of right now. I would also contribute a little bit for their Congressional payoff campaign every year.

I guess seeing their once a year financial statement in their magazine played a part in my decision. AOPA is worth into the many millions of dollars, whereas my fortune can be calculated on my fingers.

-John
 
ClimbnSink said:
Tapers off after 6 months. Then you get a call or two offering a hat and a headset case. If you don't fall for that by a year there is almost nothing. I get one or two letters a year from AOPA.
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Your imaginary 6 month point was passed several years ago.

I'm still getting crap from AOPA, including their your-insurance-will-expire-renew-now scam.
 
I let my membership expire 18 months ago or so and I still get a couple of renewal notices in the mail each month.
 
Tex_Mike said:
So I check the mail yesterday and I see an envelope with "Past Due" stamped right across the front of the envelope. I think I must have forgotten to pay something so I opened it immediately. Turns out it was the millionth time that AOPA has tried to get me to renew my membership.

Seriously AOPA??? Do you really have to print "Past Due" on the front of your solicitation. Maybe I am over reacting but I did not like it one bit.
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Unless the envelope also contained a disclaimer, in 30 point type, that the enclosed was a solicitation, I would report it to the postal inspector.

My argument is that the 'face' is where the 'past due' was printed, and therefore must also contain the required disclaimer.

1.0Solicitations in Guise of Bills, Invoices, or Statements of
Account (39 USC 3001(D); 39 USC 3005)


http://pe.usps.com/archive/html/dmmarchive0810/C031.htm
 
For various reasons I made the decision a year ago to let all my memberships elapse (except for professional licensure) It has been interesting to watch the progression of notices graduate from the 'hey, we know you just forgot' to the downright threatening...
 
I used to get those kind of junk mails when I let my AOPA subscription expire too. Then I moved and I haven't seen a single one. :D

I still keep my EAA membership though, because I actually like what the EAA does.
 
Tarheel Pilot said:
I used to get those kind of junk mails when I let my AOPA subscription expire too. Then I moved and I haven't seen a single one. :D

I still keep my EAA membership though, because I actually like what the EAA does.
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And yet I've moved twice and the mail still followed me, PLUS my dad get's it at his house still. I wonder if the folks who moved into our old apartment get mail too:lol:

Good news is I've missed all of 2 issues of the magazine in 5 years, they send me a new membership card every year (with the request to pay for it.) The emails keep coming too, but anything AOPA goes strait to the spam folder (thanks Yahoo!)
 
I still get a lot of value from the AOPA magazine, so I'm still a member. Despite all the annoying mailings and the fact that they seem to be in bed with the NBAA (who I hate with a passion).

Dropped the EAA awhile back. There's some good people in it, but (at least locally) they're rapidly getting overrun with cowboys, scofflaws, and jerks that just can't play nice with anybody.
 
Satchmo10th said:
I took over a year and a few flip outs on their friendly customer service staff to get off their call list. Still get a letter every 6 months or so.
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I did get off the call list. Took lots of 4 letter words directed at the poor girl on the other end. Not happy that I had to resort to that but they quit calling my cell.

My dad got them off his phone by answering them "No Engrish!" everytime they called. Took a little longer than my way but it did eventually work.
 
This kind of thing makes me wonder if most people are hemhorraging money to the point where they don't even know what they are paying for each month/year. It's like when I visit my parents and ask "when did you subscribe to This Old House Magazine?" They don't know why they recieve it, and my response is "you are paying for it somewhow". It baffles me.
 
jasc15 said:
This kind of thing makes me wonder if most people are hemhorraging money to the point where they don't even know what they are paying for each month/year. It's like when I visit my parents and ask "when did you subscribe to This Old House Magazine?" They don't know why they recieve it, and my response is "you are paying for it somewhow". It baffles me.
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Lots of people do that.
 
You guys must have better credit than me.:) Maybe having an aircraft registered keeps you on the list longer.:dunno:
 
i have 4 registered at our address.

now i'm startig to wonder if i just automatically throw the stuff away and don't really even realize i'm getting it.
 
I shouldn't complain about AOPA too loudly, since their membership hasn't gone up since I first joined, I believe in the last century. However, since I've declined to send them any money for the last couple of years, I haven't missed their magazine or much of anything else. I take it back, their on-line airport directory is actually really good, but I can get the information elsewhere.
 
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