Carton Membership

jamiekenn

I'd been keen to hear from other boards.ie members that are considering joining Carton House GC for 2015. I'm interested myself but wondering if I went as a collective with some other interested parties could we argue for a group discount? If anyone is keen, maybe give me a shout.

gman127

If you can negotiate some kind of 'buy-one-get-one-free' sort of situation I'm in!!

On the free part of course.... I can throw you a couple of euros as a thank you... :P

Ollieboy

I ask 2 years ago and it wasn't a option, I had between 6 and 10 people interested.

They give a €500 discount for each member if brought in my another member, but this is only for the first year. so you could get members in for €1800.

thewobbler

This thread annoys me more than it should.

Bargaining is one thing. Coercing strangers over the internet into creating a co-op with a singular goal of price fixing - well i'd go so far as to call it immoral.

If successful, what's your move next year? Gather up 51% of the membership to demand a reduction? And again the next year?


If a business model has seen fit to create and maintain two top class courses with outstanding practice facilities, they have earned the right not to have to deal with this sort of manoeuvre.

Find a course that suits your budgets.

inthehole1

thewobbler wrote: »

This thread annoys me more than it should.

Bargaining is one thing. Coercing strangers over the internet into creating a co-op with a singular goal of price fixing - well i'd go so far as to call it immoral.

If successful, what's your move next year? Gather up 51% of the membership to demand a reduction? And again the next year?


If a business model has seen fit to create and maintain two top class courses with outstanding practice facilities, they have earned the right not to have to deal with this sort of manoeuvre.

Find a course that suits your budgets.

cant see anything wrong with this
everyone prefers to get something as cheap as they can,and if by joining up with a few others from here and getting a better deal all the better
the op doesnt say carton house is out of his budget he just is looking the best deal he can get

PARlance

thewobbler wrote: »

This thread annoys me more than it should.

Bargaining is one thing. Coercing strangers over the internet into creating a co-op with a singular goal of price fixing - well i'd go so far as to call it immoral.

If successful, what's your move next year? Gather up 51% of the membership to demand a reduction? And again the next year?


If a business model has seen fit to create and maintain two top class courses with outstanding practice facilities, they have earned the right not to have to deal with this sort of manoeuvre.

Find a course that suits your budgets.

No more immoral than charging guys 40k to join and then dropping it.

jamiekenn

@thewobbler, i'm hardly coercing anyone into anything. As for price-fixing, this couldn't be further from my intentions. I don't see anything immoral in looking for another few like-minded individuals to approach Carton in the hopes of a discount. Its their choice whether or not to offer a discount.

And no, no intentions of doing something so crass in year 2.

ronnie3585

thewobbler wrote: »

Bargaining is one thing. Coercing strangers over the internet into creating a co-op with a singular goal of price fixing - well i'd go so far as to call it immoral.

This is one of the most ridiculous statements I've ever read on boards.

Coercion and price fixing, what on earth are you talking about

The OP was asking, very politely IMO, if there was anyone else thinking of joining Carton then collective bargaining might be an option. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

abff

I have to agree. I can't see anything wrong with the OP's suggestion. If he can get some other boards members to join Carton house and they all get a discount, then that's a classic win-win.

thewobbler

PARlance wrote: »

No more immoral than charging guys 40k to join and then dropping it.

Two wrongs don't ever make a right.


I'm a bit surprised by the consensus that the OP is playing a fair game.

So I'll reiterate the last part of my spiel a little differently. If it's fair game, win-win, a-okay, a just revenge for a group of absolute strangers to pull together in pursuit of a discount - then is it also okay if a group of club members who know each other and play regularly together, take a similar stance to their annual subs?

PARlance

thewobbler wrote: »

I'm a bit surprised by the consensus that the OP is playing a fair game.

So I'll reiterate the last part of my spiel a little differently. If it's fair game, win-win, a-okay, a just revenge for a group of absolute strangers to pull together in pursuit of a discount - then is it also okay if a group of club members who know each other and play regularly together, take a similar stance to their annual subs?

It's fair game as it's common practice for a new customer/member to get an initial discount (mobile operators, utilities, most membership/subscription models) for something to which there is a certain degree of customer "stickiness".

No business/club could operate if there was a free for all for existing customers/members to name their price.

It may not be 100% fair and introductory offers can cause churn within existing customers (due to them feeling their loyalty isn't being rewarded), but that's just the way it is and it's a good model for businesses/clubs to attract new people with the hope/expectation that they will remain there after the offer period.

elgenerale

thewobbler wrote: »

I'm a bit surprised by the consensus that the OP is playing a fair game.

Whats wrong with asking for a discount for bringing in new business?

Answer me this
Do you never haggle for a better price for anything?
Ever haggle for a cheaper green fee?
Ever get a society discount?

thewobbler

elgenerale wrote: »

Whats wrong with asking for a discount for bringing in new business?

Answer me this
Do you never haggle for a better price for anything?
Ever haggle for a cheaper green fee?
Ever get a society discount?

I wouldn't be big into haggling. I'm price sensitive and I know a fair price and a cheap price when I see one, and tend to avoid overpaying. But going into a pro shop and asking of another few quid off? No, life's too short and feeling I squeezed the life out someone for price brings me no satisfaction.

But anyway, that's me on my own, or me with my mates.

It's not me standing in the course car park at 7.30am looking around for a group of players who'll join me in haggling the green fee rate for the day. This is a more accurate comparison to the OP's request than the instances you list here.

cairny

No reputable club would entertain this anyway and for good reason, if current members play with one of the newbies and this arrangement comes out then they will be quite rightly aggrieved and the club risks losing them.

This differs from a publicised introductory offer in that that is transparent and current members are not being hoodwinked.

Ok a deal is a deal but there is something a little off about this imo, we should all pay the same in general terms surely.

bustercherry

I'd be surprised you get anything as they appear to be doing all right for membership.

saintastic

Ollieboy wrote: »

I ask 2 years ago and it wasn't a option, I had between 6 and 10 people interested.

They give a €500 discount for each member if brought in my another member, but this is only for the first year. so you could get members in for €1800.

If anyone is looking to avail of the discount, send me a PM.

Ollieboy

thewobbler wrote: »

I wouldn't be big into haggling. I'm price sensitive and I know a fair price and a cheap price when I see one, and tend to avoid overpaying. But going into a pro shop and asking of another few quid off? No, life's too short and feeling I squeezed the life out someone for price brings me no satisfaction.

But anyway, that's me on my own, or me with my mates.

It's not me standing in the course car park at 7.30am looking around for a group of players who'll join me in haggling the green fee rate for the day. This is a more accurate comparison to the OP's request than the instances you list here.

isn't that what society golf clubs do?

Just out of interest, what club are you a member off?

It's very normal in most business to offer group discounts I.e. Motor Trade, Hotels etc.

Personally if 20 members came to my club as a group and they didn't do a deal, I would ask the board to resign. Also a lot of clubs offer members from clubs that went bust great deals at the time to get them to move, this offer wasn't a general offer to all new members. But I also agree it would upset some members and could lead to future income problems for club, so not always a smart move.