VMCC online shop

[UncleD]

Morning all,
I have a partially filled order from November that has been paid for but am still waiting on £87 worth of parts (not a small amount).  The invoice with the parts (tools) I did receive indicated the remainder were still being processed (whatever that means).

I am getting no reply to emails and see on the website that the future of the online store is in doubt.  Is there something about this site /club I should know?

I have sent a third email this morning requesting a refund and will try to ring the number on the website however this is not a simple task from Australia!

Getting worried that I have just lost my money.

[Greybeard]

I expect you are not the only one affected by this. I cannot think that the venerable VMCC would allow members to be out of pocket. What about sending a mail to the actual club, at [email protected] ?

[UncleD]

Will try that address...thanks GB.

[lawnmowerman]

Hi UncleD. I am a member of the VMCC and I can confirm that the retail arm of the business will be closing at the end of March this year in accordance with members' wishes. It is making a loss when HQ costs of order taking and postage and handling charges are factored in.
You could try sending an email to Pam Goodfellow at the VMCC HQ, email address [email protected]
You could also CC the email to Ian Botham who is the General Manager, email address  [email protected]
You can be confident that you have not lost your money, it may be that the parts you have ordered are out of stock and as the shop is closing they are not re-stocking. There is no excuse, however, for not keeping you up to date on the order.
Hope you get it sorted but if not, feel free to PM me and I will call them on your behalf.

Jim

[Sav]

Little surprised by this.

As a VMCC member I have always found the club first rate with comms.

I am sure it will be sorted

Sav

[Angus]

Hi UncleD
Just to add to the reassurances. The VMCC is the largest old bike club in the world with approaching 15000 members It is capital rich but over recent years has had a few issues with what it should be doing and what its future will be. The retail arm has been a particular issue as said before in isolation it loses money and it can only supply much the same sort of items as any one of the many vendors already out there (it does have a few very special parts for very old bikes)
I am sure if you follow Jim’s instructions it will be sorted.
Angus

[Swarfcut]

Angus.. Years ago I was a VMCC member and a committee member of my local section. It was the time when it was a small club, very aware of the support from its enthusiastic members. I left when it morphed into a Limited Liability (Money Making) Company. This seemed to me the complete opposite of the vision of the founder members.

  I note that the Top Man at the UK National Motorcycle Museum has a VMCC background. The Museum appears to have a very diverse  retail offering online, so assume it just acts as a intermediary between customers and numerous national stockists, with very little risk to invested capital.

 I sometimes get copies of the Vintage magazine, and find the monthly committee reports a source of political entertainment, of the sort we have been used to in the UK for the last couple of years.

 Swarfy.