Problems with the Official Fan Club membership perks

If you subscribe to the Star Wars Insider, you aren't a member of the Official Fan Club? That doesn't make sense. If you are enough of a fan to subscribe to a magazine completely devoted to Star Wars, you still aren't an official fan? I don't see a reason to spend the additional $10 or whatever per year to get this fancy label.

Also, the special lanyards that Fan Club members get:
According to swfan.wizards.com, each member only gets ONE lanyard. This gives the fan access to a special lounge, along with early access to certain areas. What is this member supposed to say to their parents/children/spouse? "Um... well... they only gave me one lanyard, so wait here, while I go have some more fun."

Obviously, spending $20 a year on the Star Wars Insider, along with spending $75 on a three-day pass, not to count how much I spend on Star Wars stuff every year, and how much the hotel room will cost me, I guess I'm just not an Official Fan.

 

Quote:
Also, the special lanyards that Fan Club members get:
According to swfan.wizards.com, each member only gets ONE lanyard. This gives the fan access to a special lounge, along with early access to certain areas. What is this member supposed to say to their parents/children/spouse? "Um... well... they only gave me one lanyard, so wait here, while I go have some more fun."

I totally agree with this. I am going with my 13 year old nephew, and he is not a member, so that means that I can not participate in any of the 'exclusive' Fan Club stuff. I can't just leave him alone in the Convention Center. I asked WOTC about this and they said he would have to get a Fan Club membership to go along with me. That is crap.

 

I agree as well, some friends of mine that are going aren't fanclub members (3 out of 5 to be exact) Granted all of us are adults, but I'd still feel weird about saying..."well, since I'm a member I'm going to head on in...see you guys in an hour!" I can't just leave everyone behind! So, I don't know if I'm going to take full advantage of the benefits. I will probably go into the fan club store early, though.

 

I wasn't aware you could order an Insider subscription without joining the fan club.

Pros of having fan club perks:
-Those who pay for membership get something extra for it at the con.
-It allows WotC to control the ammount of people entering the convention. Rather than having everyone trying to get in at once, you split them up into two groups.

Cons:
-Allot of people are travelling with friends and family and may not be able to leave them behind to enjoy fan club perks.

Alternatives:
1) No perks whatsoever: I think it's a reasonable expectation that those who pay for fan club membership get a few extra perks at a convention run by the fan club. Not having any perks for fan club members would iritate allot of people.

2) Allow each fan club member to bring 1 friend: This might work. They might have to buy a cheap pass ($5-$10 perhaps) or get in for free. Yeah I know allot of people will be travelling with more than one friend/family member, but you have to put some kind of limit on it.
The only problem with this alternative is that you might have everyone and their mother becoming "friends," or worse yet, selling frienship to get into the con. Membership only eliminates this problem entirely, but a small fee could help reduce scalpers.
Perhaps it could be limited by only allowing family members or children to come with you.

Any ideas?

 

YodaJeff, dont get me started on the fansite. I'm sick of their service. Plus all the people that didnt get their members lanyard will be in line getting them, so us non-members wont be missing out on anything.


Its just another way for them to try and make a few extra bucks. The tixs are twice the price as celebration I, plus the autograph prices. O'well, I know I'm going to have fun, but I'm sorry you members out there, BUT those arnt perks. Thats the reason why I didnt hand them another $60 for my Fiance' and I. I'm not rich and I refuse to tell her I'll meet her inside in an hour.

 

JediToren,
I wasn't aware (prior to a week ago), that you weren't a fan club member without buying a special subscription to the magazine. I think that paying $20 a year to get the magazine should make me a true fan or whatever. I think that everyone who subscribes to the Insider should be considered an official fan, and they should get the perks. I just don't see the point of the perks, since many people are not travelling alone. If I had paid the extra however much for the "Fan" status, it would be useless since I am not going alone.

 

Members who didn't get there lanyard will wait in line, but it is a fan club exclusive lane that opens 30 mins before registration. That is two and a half hours before non members get in, members will still get in before non members. I called customer service.

Although, I do agree that the fan club membership isn't worth it( i will not renew next year), I do think that 10 dollars more than just ordering the insider subscription isn't bad...specially if you buy off the fanclub a lot.

 

I agree. My son is going with me. There is no way I am going to order 2 Memberships just so I can go into a VIP lounge. I am sure not going in there with out him.

 

Well, I've bought passes on 3 separate occasions and have recieved fan club lanyards twice...still waiting for shipment #3 to arrive, but I'm expecting a 3rd one. I haven't purchased any additional memberships, so I'm either blessed or you just had to wait a week between purchases to get them. ? Online sales end this week by the way.

 

I totally agree with you about the fan club! Even though I do have a fan club membership, my wife doesn't.She doesn't want us to drop another $30 when we could spend it elsewhere in the convention. Plus we don't really need 2 doubles of each Star Wars Insider issue.Also, another problem I have with the fan club is: Yesterday they offered the Toy Fair Vaders for a very limited time to 'Fan Club Members' only. A friend of mine called in,was told he needed a membership,didn't have one, so the phone rep gave him a 'membership-for-a-day' so he could order 4 figs!! My friend called & told me what they did, I called in and tried to place an order and ,of course they sell out again. It's cool that my friend got an order in-but what's the point of paying for a membership to get exclusive deals when examples like this happen?? (Sorry-I needed to vent.)

 

You can get two memberships (or more) in a single household, but just an extended subscription for a single magazine. I know a few people that have done that.

 

Really? So I can extend my membership for another year and it'll count as 2 memberships? Will I still be allowed to get another 'Fan Club lanyard' for the Celebration?

 

Basically, you need to call your order in, but from what I understand, you order a second membership, they register your wife/husband/child/whoever, then you tell them that everyone lives in the same place and you only want to recieve a single subscription to the Insider, then they just tack a year on. As soon as you buy the second memebership, you're entitled to another FC lanyard.

Now, the oddity that is myself, has order passes on 3 occasions, and on the previous two occassions I have recieved a FC lanyard. I haven't done anything about renewing my membership, just went online, logged in, and ordered a pass...the lanyard was autmatically added. I'm still waiting for my 3rd shipment to arrive, but I'm expecting to recieve one. I have no idea why this has worked for me, but so far it has. I imagine this must have worked because I ordered one pass each time, with at least a week in between each order...if you haven't bought all your passes at once, then I suggest at least loading up your cart with a single pass and see if the lanyard is added when you go to checkout. If you've already bought all your passes, then you may be able to get a lanyard at Will Call, but I would call in and ask about it to be sure. You may or may not be stuck buying an additional membership...that I don't know.

 

I just ordered all my passes at once, and only now am I reading this! I'm going with two friends, so it's pretty disappointing that I didn't have the forsight to order all three passes seperately.

 

Thanks Subulba. That is good information to know. I just may do that.

 

Well, as of last weekend, apparently the Website still has lanyards or they got a shipment in recently, because I ordered my pass last Sunday. Today, I got my package from Fed Ex and it contained a 3 Day pass and the Lanyard. I would say that if you haven't gotten a lanyard, then I'd get on the horn to ask why not. As for my situation, I didn't become a fan club member until the weekend before, so I should have been the lowest guy on the totem pole to get one compared to all the others that haven't yet.

 

Yeah, I ordered my passes separately a while back and received a lanyard with each one even though I've only got one membership.

 

I had the same experience with my lanyard. I have one membership and ordered my passes seperately and each time a lanyard came with it.
My question is... what about the kids that dont require a pass because they are under 6.....they have no pass thus no lanyard.... does that mean they cant tag along if I go in the VIP lounge? If they cant go in, well, I guess neither will I.
Its unfortunate though they cant make an exception for children with adults as members.
Sorry, thats just my two cents.
I am hoping enough people will make a stink about it and it makes a difference.
The convention will still be a blast without the "members only" perks........
I cant wait!

 

Sorry for asking sucha a dumb question but....Whats a Lanyard? I got my three day pass and a member ship to the starwars fan club at the same time, and this is the first ive herd of it. What do i do to get it?

 

The lanyard basically is a necklace strap that the pass hangs from. Its made in a gray cloth and is embroidered with "Star Wars Fan Club" in black. So in addition to it being a perk to allow you to get into certain areas, it also is a convenient strap to hang your con pass from during the show.

 

Oh, okay. Thanks alot for telling me. I did get one of those but i didnt know you can get into different places with it, thats cool.

 

you only have to pay once to become a fan club member and when you do for $30 you get a year subsciption and a $10 gift certificate for the fan club store after that you just have to renew your subscription when it runs out to stay a fan club member,you do not have to pay everyyear to be a fanclub member just have to renew your subscribtion to the insider

 

According to swfan.wizards.com, there is some sort of grandfather clause. I've been subscribing to the insider since 1997 or 1998. I still have the little "Official Jedi Knight" card issued by the "Official Star Wars Fan Club". I added a couple more years to my subscription back in March or so. I just e-mailed them to see if I am able to be bumped up to Fan Club Member status. I'll let everyone know what they tell me. I'm going with other people, but they won't mind if I sneak into the store to pick up a couple of Sacul figures. After all, I'll be mad if I spend the money for the three day pass and everything and I don't get an opportunity to buy any of the exclusives.

They need to get their act together. If someone ordered a C2 pass, their name should have been checked off of a list so that they don't get more than one Fan Club member lanyard. No offense to those of you who were able to do it. If I had known about it back when I ordered my passes, well that would be a whole different story.

 

YodaJeff, you should be able to get a fan club lanyard. I emailed WotC way back when I was ordering my pass and asked about this. I too have been getting Insider since before Wizards took over. They told me I am a fan club member even though I didn't know it. If you subscribe to Insider and are going to C II I would head over to the place where they pass out fan club lanyards and see if I were on the list. You might get lucky.

 

All this is news to me (although I'm not crying about it). The Official Site certainly doesn't make it crystal clear that a SW Insider subscription does not equal a Fan Club membership. Tricky.