Hi! Another new owner and I'm intrigued...

[SmartE]

Hi, I'm a new member to the A2OC and I'm intrigued. I've just bought an Audi A2 1.6 FSI SE. It was first registered in November 2002 and had done 99,000 miles. There was a lot, but not all of the service history, which I found intriguing because, during the second half of it's life, there are MOT certificates with the sort of "advisories" noted that you'd expect for the mileage. Things like, slight wear in the Anti Roll Bar bushes and play in the lower linkages etc etc. Then with no receipts or evidence of that work having been carried out, the next MOT either shows no advisories at all, or the ones it does show are new, different ones. However, when checking some details about the car online, I stumbled on to the A2OC and found it quite useful, so much so infact, that I decided to join and even decided to contribute a donation quite early on.
Now I am doubly intrigued. Not only am I eager to learn and have a zillion questions about the car and how to maintain it in as aesthetically and functionally a good condition as I can, but now I also have questions about the A2OC and I bet the short answer to both will be to, "read through the threads because it's already been covered elsewhere". Some of the questions are:
1) While I appreciate that a donation isn't for life, everywhere I look on the site is it asking me to make "another" one?
2) The shop, is it just me or can we only buy a badge or sticker?
3) With so many members can't we make something far more exciting of the "shop"?
4) Why can't we buy consumable things for the car online from the shop, like:
i) the right type of oil
ii) the right Air filters
iii) the right Oil filter
iv) choice of bulbs
v) etc etc

Before you judge or ask, No! I'm definitely not a trouble maker, I'm just extremely intrigued and I think that the A2OC is great, intriguing and I have a lot to learn about it.

Cheers!
Mike

 

[spike]

Hi Mike, welcome to the A2oc and thanks for the donation

The 'donations' model is a new venture for the club and was introduced after consultation with our members. The club is run by volunteers and is non profit making but we do need income to pay for the web site, event insurance etc. Initial thoughts were for annual membership fees but members voted overwhelmingly for the voluntary donation option. We are always pleased to get feedback and while the 'donate' theme was never intended to be intimidating we could look at changing things if members feel this is the case.

Regarding the shop, we did have plans to sell A2oc branded clothing and merchandise but struggled to get enough volunteers to run the scheme
We have never considered selling consumables but the tiny discounts we could expect from suppliers compounded with postage charges and the manpower needed would make it unviable.

Cheers Spike

 

[murdo]

Welcome Mike and thanks for your comments. Although there are almost 10,000 registered members since the club started in the early days of the A2, the majority of these are inactive members and our regular contributors/users would realistically be less than 500. We have been discussing a clear out of void memberships to free up usernames for new members, and as a non-profit club, a large membership is not a critical factor as we don't host advertising.

The club has a policy of every question deserves a response, so while some answers may indeed direct you to previously covered material, it is unlikely that your enquiry will be met with anything less than courtesy and patience.

Interesting point about the donate icon being on every page - but after a while you don't notice this ( well I don't anyway!) but your feedback is appreciated and as Spike says, if this is an issue for the membership it can be reviewed.

Enjoy the car, and welcome once again to the forum.

 

[SmartE]

Thanks for all that friendly feedback Spike.
I can understand how the costs viability and labour could be a restricting factor and if you're open to more sensible unique, "luxury" type suggestions, that probably would be more viable for the shop to sell, than consumables, then I will come back to you on it.
I saw some pictures in the gallery with "S-line" style "A2OC" floor carpet mats, and I was interested to know where I could by some, for instance.

Anyway, thanks,

Mike

 

[SmartE]

Hi, sorry Just seen your membership number details Murdo. I'll just hang around a bit more quietly and watch whats going on.

Cheers,

Mike