£40 for this?!

[xkfr]

Complaining in your first post is hardly the best way to make new friends, but frankly, in view of the joining fee, I am disappointed and feel compelled to vent.

I was charged the £40, then advised that my membership would be valid for 11 months (not 12); the 'compulsory' magazine (which I didn't really want) is poorly written and now I see there are only a handful of messages in the forums. Had I been given the chance to browse the BBs as a guest I probably would not have joined.

As an ex-BMW owner, used to (free!) forums offering tens of thousands of posts, vast technical expertise and modern software, the JEC experience has so far been a big let-down.

[designxkr50]

xkfr

Welcome to the club and to the forum.

As with all things car related every vehicle forum works in its own way and is dependent on the type of people using it. The "compulsory" magazine may not be to each persons taste but I find it surprising that you think it is poorly written.

This club has a large membership from all around the world with many of them very happy. There are those members that you may never hear from but will always be supportive of the club.

Perhaps if you are really unhappy with the format of the club and forums you should contact one of the real membership team and let them know. If they are unaware of peoples feelings then they will have no idea what needs to be changed or what needs to be looked into.

I hope you find things work out for you.

S

[PrideofLyons]

the 'compulsory' magazine (which I didn't really want) is poorly written

Poorly written? Are you sure about that? Oh, welcome to the club by the way - I'm a new 'un myself, having received membership as a Christmas present from my wife and I find the magazine, which is written and produced by professionals, incidentally, a major benefit of membership and far better than any magazine produced by the several other car clubs that I've belonged to over the years.

I agree that the forum would be disappointing if you were looking for Pistonheads-type volumes of postings, but on-line activity is the least of my own requirements of a car club (indeed, I left my previous Jaguar club because, essentially, 90% of what I was getting for my (pretty high) subs was access to their (admittedly active) forums, much of which input boiled down to banter, jokes etc, all of which you can get for nowt on any number of other car forums if that's what you're after). As far as queries and technical input is concerned, well they do seem to get answered OK here and, again, there are several other, free, Jaguar-oriented forums where opinions on and experience of faults, glitches, queries etc can be obtained.

I'm very pleased with JEC membership myself and sorry to hear that you're not - perhaps you've just joined the wrong club for your particular requirements.

[mike020150]

As a very long term member of the JEC but not a committee member I'm extremely surprised to see such strong negative comments, particularly about the magazine, from a new member. Of course, it goes without saying that no one club can cater for all tastes and that must apply to any one magazine. However, the JEC magazine has repeatedly won awards for best club magazine so the editor must be doing something right. For most members the magazine is the heart of the club. For others, local meetings are their favourite element of JEC membership. Some join for the technical help available via phone, bulletin board and magazine articles. We're all different. My advice is don't condemn the whole club until you've tried it all. Sorry, the bulletin board isn't what you thought it should be. You could always try contributing to it in the way you want things to go and see if that helps you get value from your £37. Mike.

[Peter667]

Hi,
I've just found this post and felt the need to reply. I'm also a new joiner with a 98 XK8 (a fabulous car! - modern classic) I bought it for the automatic (short-term medical need) and found the JEC via the insurance company which gave me £100 off the quote if I was a JEC member (£37?). So complete with web forums and 12 good magazines I've told all my friends that it was absolutely no contest. I think the magazines, for the price and club facilities, are a good bargain. After all I spend £hundreds, if not £thousands, on car bits & running every year.

I'm also a longer term member of the TR Register (~£35), TSSC (~£35)for my classic cars and an ex-member of the Alfa owners club. They all have similar magazines and set-ups but a 'club' atmosphere which well offsets the fee.

By comparison my trade association membership (nothing to do with cars) offers nothing for twice the price and still complained that they'd like to charge me £hundreds.

Regards

Peter

[Bassman]

Whilst I have no issue with the magazine, it seems well enough written etc I can see the OP's point with regard to the forum.

I am involved with running another single model forum(not Jaguar) for a car that sold in much lower volume (even though it's a Ford) and the forums for that car are a hive of activity. This isn't just down to users posting but staff( all unpaid) starting topics and raising issues to ensure it stays that way.
On the Tech side we have built up a huge KB (Knowledge Base) for members to refer to if they have a problem and if someone posts with a problem they are answered almost immediately by a Tech Rep or staff member.
Meets are organised on the forums and reports and pics of meetings posted pretty much as soon as the meeting is over.

TBH it is not good enough to set up a forum and say to members "here is a forum , use it" I was stunned to see last year there was an "XK Forum Trip To France" that was never mentioned on this forum so how was it a 'forum' trip???

There is the Entente Cordiale to Brittany event later this week.... where is there mention of this on here????? we will not be going as we own a house 5 min from Huelgoat the town used in the advert in the mags, we were there last week and will be there the week after the event anyway

Forums are excellent communication tools and can be a mine of useful information but they take work to flourish , not just set it up and walk away

[seancw]

If your interest is just the XK8/R I can understand some of the the points that you have made. You would be better suited to the alternative club dedicated to XK8/R. There is less in terms of regional activity and information about other jaguars but much more forum activity. The annual fee is about the same and currently membership includes 4 magazines a year.

However if you are jaguar enthusiast and have an interest in the marque as a whole then I feel that the £40 is value for money. The club has a wider regional social scene and there are many meeting and shows to attend. I think the emphasis is on this rather than the forum.

As for the magazine 12 issues a year seems good value if you have a wider interest, I feel it is similar to the commercially available Jaguar World and have stopped buying JW regurlarly.

I am a member of both clubs and see them satisfying different levels of interests. I feel that I have gained or saved more than the membership fee for both.

SCW

I am a member of both

[DoctorHoux]

I've just re-joined the JEC after a 6-year absence enforced by a busy job and family commitments.

As a Jaguar enthusiast, I find the magazine to be compulsive reading and trawl through it cover-to-cover when it drops through the door. Then I read it again. All copies are retained for future technical reference which I find invaluable. Well done all that are involved with producing it!

The forums didn't exist when I was last a member, and they present a further wealth of knowledge and advice, as well as being a place to share experiences with like-minded individuals.

£40, £30, £50 or whatever, it doesn't matter to me. If I can afford a Jag, I can sure as hell afford membership of the world's best car club. It's not even the cost of a tank of petrol.

I also own a BMW as a company car, my second, and it's just as unreliable and disappointing as the first. I do not regard it as a car for enthusiasts and would fully expect any BMW "club" to be free, as I would never pay for such a thing.

I would suggest that if you don't want to read about Jaguars and don't want to take the time to look through the superb content in these forums, perhaps the thrill of owning a Jaguar and joining the JEC is not for you.

[outoftowner]

I notice xkfr never replied in defence of his rather strange post ...

[BestGear]

Like other, I feel I must reply!

Firstly, I would say that I was also a member of a model specifc "Club", and would choose JEC again without question.

The JEC is a proper club, in which you have the ability to join an active local group and get involved as much or as little as you want. Its a real Club and as such, it is what you make it.

The local groups are very active, unlike many other "clubs" - you just need to look at the whats on section in the magazine and you will find events going on nearly every weekend. Because the events are being organised by individuals groups you get hugh variety, and great choice of locations, which gets you a great weekend away if you want it.

Magazine? - I would say that having been a member of various clubs over the years, the JEC mag is the most professional I have ever read. The quality of the artwork is spot on, the editorial control and of course the contributor content is up there with the best.

The mag is never going to be the "max power" of the Jag world - its not what its aimed at - but I would also say that the cars are not "max power" so you dont get that kind of member.

The forum, I admit, is dissapointing, although, what it makes up for in quantity, there is great quality and there are without question, many experts here that would outshine most online forums. If you take a good look, on other forums, there is so much general banter and "mee too" posts, and very few people that are actually hands on and have the knowledge from first hand experience.

I would also say that most "jag banter" does not happen online - as the club has monthly meetings run by your local group - so perhaps you should attend one of these meteings before deciding.

Lastly, I would say that as a first post, you have not really made use of the forum nor posted any questions to find out how much value you will receive.

I hope you do return and give it a go.

David

[Brakebuster]

he made one post, exactly a year ago,

his membership has now run out, and i doubt he will ever be back

and we wont miss him.........

BB

[KevRen]

I've just joined and my first post (below) was a moan, sort of, but about my car. He's gone, whoever he was, - good riddance. But he seemed to mistake volume for quality. I've used Pistonheads and similar for answers to problems with my everday car (VW Sharan) and often found lots of information there that even I could see was of dubious quality.

I've been a member of the TR Register in the past and see similarities between the two organisations - good quality (yes!!) magazine, active local groups and model specific fora. You can easily waste 40 (?) quid following advice on a general forum from someone who doesn't know (or care) what he's talking about. I rebuilt a TR7 with my twin sons over a three year period ( http://www.freewebs.com/saxchappy/ ) and simply wouldn't have been able to do it with my limited knowledge and expertise (as you might guess from my earlier post!) if I hadn't had an enormous amount of help and guidance given through the TR Register fora.

Sometimes the value is more important than the price. (If only I'd realised that on Saturday morning!)

Kevin

Kevin