I hope everyone is looking forward to their return to the pool, from 3rd August, if you haven’t already seen the information you can find it HERE.

Firstly as the club officially paused everyone’s memberships as of 31/03/2020, any standing orders, bank transfers or automatic payments should have also been stopped by yourselves.

The club is moving to an automated payment system, using SagePay, originally planned for renewals in September, this has been brought forward by two months whilst most members payments have been stopped.

Only monthly fee paying members need to renew from the 1st August, to initialise a payment subscription from a chosen card, members who pay yearly do not need to renew until the 1st October, as they would normally.

The system will send you an automated renewal email on how to renew and setup your payment subscription, please note this is based on information collected last October, so if your details have changed since then please contact membership@wiganswimmingclub.org.uk to update them.
To test this prior to the renewal email being sent, we will be sending you an email containing this posts information today. Therefore, if you have not received this information by email (within the next few hours) we either have the incorrect email for you or our emails have ended up in your JUNK or SPAM mail box, please check carefully.

The automated renewal email detailed above will be sent out in small batches to the members who need to renew, please don’t panic if someone has the email on how to renew and you don’t, we aim to have all the automated emails out during the first part of August. If any of the details of your membership are wrong during the renewal process please contact membership. Your automated email is personal to you, please do not share it with other members.

The extended membership period will run from 01/08/2020 to 30/09/2021, 14 months in total, for monthly payment the first month will be taken as an initial payment at the point of renewal with a payment subscription being setup  for the remaining 13 months, using SagePay recurring payments, “Continuous Authority”. Initial payments will include any Swim England registration fees for the coming year. Each membership will have an associated subscription if paying monthly, all subscription payments will be taken on/after* the 1st of each month regardless of when you renew.   Yearly / annual membership payments will be taken in one go and a subscription will not be setup. All payments will be confirmed to the email registered on the membership account.

As detailed above non swimming members, national, regional, coaches, team, managers, etc or those who pay there membership yearly / annually DO NOT need to renew on the 1st August and will not receive an automated email.

Please note that personal data will not be updated during the renewal process, later this year we will be rolling out a “Swim Profile” where members can log in, update and view personal information held by the club, also view active membership and subscriptions, request changes, submit meet and gala entries, buy tickets and view times.

*subscriptions are set to be collected on the 1st of each month if there is an issue it will be collected as soon as possible after that date.

FAQ

Q: Why are we moving to automated system, what was wrong with the old system?

A: In recent years the admin time associated with membership has increased dramatically due to; members paying at different times, lumping payments with entries or other payments, consolidating months together, paying incorrect amounts or overpaying which has to be closely monitored, checked and members contacted when issues arise. Using an automated system removes all of these issues.

Q: Why are Swim England fees being collected initially?

A: Due to the way the subscriptions are setup up we must collect them upfront, trying to collect them from 1st January when they are due to be paid to Swim England has left the club in dispute with Swim England once before, causing the club to be suspended affecting every member of the club. We must have all members registered with Swim England and payment to back it.

Q: I left my standing order / bank transfer setup, what should I do?

A: Contact your bank immediately and cancel it, then speak to membership if believe you have any fees that need to be returned.

Q: We have two swimmers in our household will we have 1 or 2 subscriptions?

A: Each swimmer will have a membership with an associated subscription, two memberships would equal two subscriptions and two payments being taken per month.

Q: Can I change my payment date from the 1st of the month?

A: The system is setup to take payments on the first of the month or as soon as possible after that date, this can not be changed.

Q: I need to change my membership type?

A: Please contact membership, who can change the type for you, you may not need to renew.

Finally, if you have any questions regarding non-membership issues or concerns please email the club chairman Barry Mussell chair@wiganswimmingclub.org.uk