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  1. Originally posted by u2wanderer1:If the subscription is worthless to you then why do you subscribe? If it’s just the cd then buy it off eBay or Discogs when they come out. Usually for about three months after they start coming out, you can pick them up for less than the price of a subscription. Or right around the same price. There are fan run trading groups on Facebook to help people get them at a reasonable cost if they don’t want to subscribe.

    You don’t get full access to the site without a subscription. I cannot see my U2 Playlist without a subscription. There are other things I can’t view. You also have two levels of access at Zootopia. Paid members get access to more forums than non subscribers.

    No value to the presale tickets? Honestly most people count that as the number one reason to subscribe and to stay subscribed. Most people I’ve spoken to over the years could care less about the gifts. They are in it for the ticket access. And they maintain subscriptions in non-ticket years so they don’t lose the best tier of ticket access. So you can’t say it’s not part of peoples reasons for keeping subscriptions going.

    Again I try to point out things I do use about my subscription and that I do get value for and once again I’m told I’m wrong. And that others think I’m wrong. Well I’m telling you the same thing. Others find value in the membership beyond the gift. A good friend of mine has subscribed for years and sends me the gift each year because he finds it has zero value to him. He’s never listened to it once. But he’s happy with his subscription because it gets him things that he wants. Likewise I’m happy with my subscription because it gets me things I want which are different from what he enjoys.

    Because you don’t enjoy your subscription you want everyone to hate it as much as you do. And I’m sure there are many who do. And I’ve been quite honest there are aspects of it that drive me nuts with how they run the site and handle the merchandise side of things. But again, I’m not upset with the subscription aspect of it. Compared to other fan clubs I’ve been part of they actually get the stuff to me and in the time frame I expect. And I see far more value in what U2 has offered than other fan clubs over the years. So yeah easy for me to cheerlead sometimes, but I also have called out issues I’ve seen in the past. I just don’t see this as an issue. Not yet. If there’s still no sign of it in December and I’m looking at renewing again with no word on where my last gift is then there’s an issue. (And sitting through several years of BS from other fan clubs have left me with low tolerance there.)
    I subscribe to get the gift when it comes out for no more than the value of the subscription. I’ve not seen them at the same price and I refuse to hand someone a profit for doing nothing on eBay. I like using the presale but I don’t put a monetary value to that, it’s just an added perk, but not in non tour years anyway so irrelevant right now. I’d rather subscribe and complain about what I think they can do better and hope against expectation that they start to listen to the fans complaining.

    Didn’t know you don’t get full access to the site but again isn’t really of any significance to me, zero value to me whatsoever but fair enough that’s something you can add as value for those of you that see it that way. Again most people don’t seem particularly happy about the content on the site.

    Whether ticket presales are a part of peoples reason for subscribing or not I still don’t put a monetary value on it. It costs nothing to provide, it literally just makes it easier for us to hand our money over to them. So yes while it could be considered a perk it doesn’t hold any real value.

    Where did i tell you you were wrong? I said if you’re happy with the subscription that’s up to you and others. I didn’t say you were wrong I’m saying many people disagree. I’m pointing out where I see the lack of value. That’s not me telling you you’re wrong it’s me saying the bits where you see value myself and many others see no value. Of course some people feel the same way as you I’m not denying that. I feel that being satisfied at this point makes you and others too easily pleased but that’s just my opinion just like you probably feel I should be more patient. That’s fine, we can disagree, give it out and take it back, i’m all good with that and don’t hold it against anyone. My grudge is towards u2.com, livenation and the mods at zootopia, if you want to defend them all we can have a debate that’s fine with me.
  2. Originally posted by u2wanderer1:There is so much hate out there for the band at every corner. I won’t even post about the fan club going forward because yesterday and today I’ve been hit with so much BS it’s not funny. And the biggest complaint isn’t that the gift is “late”. No it’s “Bono pays taxes in the Netherlands so he should be able to ship the U2.com gift from there so I don’t have to pay duty” or complaints that it’s not on vinyl. Or complaints that someone hasn’t gotten the gift from three years ago. And we didn’t even post about the gift, we posted about the new pins. Something I was quite excited to see.

    It doesn’t matter what we post, we get sarcastic replies about how bad everything the band does is. We post about new material on streaming services and we get people moaning about the lack of CDs. We post about the anniversary of a show, and we get back how crap everything was for the last tour. We post about Funkos and we hear how environmentally unfriendly the band is now.

    And it’s constant. We have one poster who can be counted on to add to each post “this is shite where’s the new album?” Another can be counted on to complain about the lack of CDs anytime we post about any other format. If you don’t want to be updated on what we share, why continue to read?

    There is an overwhelming negativity in doing this right now. It’s mind numbing. It’s discouraging. It’s awful. And I do find that those who are still enjoying things are going into hiding because if you say anything positive you get more crap flung your way.

    Don’t you feel that by going out your way to explain and defend things you’re putting yourself out there to see and experience the criticism first hand? When you post something publicly there’s inevitably always going to be criticism that’s just the way the world is but when you start defending things you are the person people are going to respond to as opposed to the news itself. You open yourself up to a debate. That’s the nature of sharing an opinion. You’re great as an individual and as part of u2songs at sharing news but I’d urge you not to feel the need to take it upon yourself to defend the band so much going forward if the responses bother you so much. People hate them and even fans hate some of the things they do. It’s a reality that you can either live with and brush off or let bother you but it isn’t going to go away. And this isn’t a personal attack on you btw, I’ve tried to defend certain things about the band before but I’ve realised that if I want to share my opinion I have to accept the opposing views. Now I’m on the other side where I’m being the critical one and someone is defending the band. That’s fine as well, we can all disagree and debate.
  3. Originally posted by MoFoNYR15:Jeez. The PJ membership gifts were 2-3 years late and they stopped doing it after. I don’t know exactly why but I have a feeling it’s because of the ridiculous negativity surrounding the production of these gifts. Funny and sad coming here and reading some of these comments.

    It’s the usual though, they’re the ones who are late so rather than accept that and try and get better they spit the dummy out and stop doing it altogether. That is the sad part. People are handing over good money just get the product to them in good time. It’s not a lot to ask. As usual fans are made to feel like the bad ones yet multimillion pound businesses are sitting their with our money and no urgency.
  4. Originally posted by deanallison:[..]

    It’s the usual though, they’re the ones who are late so rather than accept that and try and get better they spit the dummy out and stop doing it altogether. That is the sad part. People are handing over good money just get the product to them in good time. It’s not a lot to ask. As usual fans are made to feel like the bad ones yet multimillion pound businesses are sitting their with our money and no urgency.
    Pearl Jam were actually late too. Unlike U2 who have managed to get every single gift out in the subscription year it was due. Every single one.

    They haven’t missed it yet. The one year it looked like they wouldn’t, they sent out an apology in October and made the gift available digitally right away. And they still managed to start shipping gifts in December. (Most people waited until the following year to receive.)
  5. Originally posted by u2wanderer1:[..]
    Pearl Jam were actually late too. Unlike U2 who have managed to get every single gift out in the subscription year it was due. Every single one.

    They haven’t missed it yet. The one year it looked like they wouldn’t, they sent out an apology in October and made the gift available digitally right away. And they still managed to start shipping gifts in December. (Most people waited until the following year to receive.)
    I know that I’ve been following discussion around Pearl jam being extremely late whilst you have rightly pointed out u2 have made it within the year. It was a side conversation but partly related as well. The suggestion is that to complain risks them stopping doing it altogether, which may be true but is also absolutely ridiculous as it means customers are just supposed to sit tight and be thankful and we’re not allowed to have any expectation.

    Your definition of on time is different from mine. We’ve gathered that by now and that is fine. You think within the year is on time and I believe a ‘reasonable period of time’ is on time. Reasonable being within the first half of the year and I think that’s me being more than fair, too fair actually. They know when these things are due so simply have them ready for the start of the year if not physically then at least in terms of having a tracklist and downloads which I still don’t accept any of the possible reasons for not giving us instantly. Then once the first wave of renewal/subscribers is in and they know the sort of numbers needed get the physical product started or at least get it in the queue to be produced as I’m aware of people taking about a back log at the moment. That ensures the gift arrives well within the first half of the year. By releasing the downloads instantly we are already able to start enjoying what we’ve paid for, isn’t that blatantly obvious that it would achieve so much more customer satisfaction doing that? Actually being able to listen to the tracks for the duration of our subscription rather than waiting on them is far more satisfactory. I’m not coming up with any groundbreaking ideas here, it’s all easy stuff to come up with. Better planning and organisation is all that’s required.
  6. Originally posted by deanallison:[..]

    Don’t you feel that by going out your way to explain and defend things you’re putting yourself out there to see and experience the criticism first hand? When you post something publicly there’s inevitably always going to be criticism that’s just the way the world is but when you start defending things you are the person people are going to respond to as opposed to the news itself. You open yourself up to a debate. That’s the nature of sharing an opinion. You’re great as an individual and as part of u2songs at sharing news but I’d urge you not to feel the need to take it upon yourself to defend the band so much going forward if the responses bother you so much. People hate them and even fans hate some of the things they do. It’s a reality that you can either live with and brush off or let bother you but it isn’t going to go away. And this isn’t a personal attack on you btw, I’ve tried to defend certain things about the band before but I’ve realised that if I want to share my opinion I have to accept the opposing views. Now I’m on the other side where I’m being the critical one and someone is defending the band. That’s fine as well, we can all disagree and debate.
    Got it. Stop sharing anything positive.

    This is my point. You say you feel many others feel the same way as you. And then you tell people who share a different opinion that they are lying to themselves. Everyone who doesn’t agree with you must be wrong.

    Yes. Others 100% think and feel the same as you. They are out there and yes some of them have legitimate beefs that have not been addressed over the years.

    Others 100% are happy with the fan club and have no complaints. Many more fall in between. I’m one of them. And I think many people just don’t care as long as they get their ticket access.

    But if you think what you see and hear is representative of what others think, I’m trying to share that there’s a huge shift I’ve seen towards angry loud voices being negative, and those who tend to have more positive opinions biting their tongue or finding other places to have discussions. We can’t post anything without an avalanche of voices saying “we hate this”. And looking around at who is saying what it’s easy to form an opinion that there’s a lot more negative opinions than there may be.
  7. Originally posted by deanallison:[..]
    I know that I’ve been following discussion around Pearl jam being extremely late whilst you have rightly pointed out u2 have made it within the year. It was a side conversation but partly related as well. The suggestion is that to complain risks them stopping doing it altogether, which may be true but is also absolutely ridiculous as it means customers are just supposed to sit tight and be thankful and we’re not allowed to have any expectation.

    Your definition of on time is different from mine. We’ve gathered that by now and that is fine. You think within the year is on time and I believe a ‘reasonable period of time’ is on time. Reasonable being within the first half of the year and I think that’s me being more than fair, too fair actually. They know when these things are due so simply have them ready for the start of the year if not physically then at least in terms of having a tracklist and downloads which I still don’t accept any of the possible reasons for not giving us instantly. Then once the first wave of renewal/subscribers is in and they know the sort of numbers needed get the physical product started or at least get it in the queue to be produced as I’m aware of people taking about a back log at the moment. That ensures the gift arrives well within the first half of the year. By releasing the downloads instantly we are already able to start enjoying what we’ve paid for, isn’t that blatantly obvious that it would achieve so much more customer satisfaction doing that? Actually being able to listen to the tracks for the duration of our subscription rather than waiting on them is far more satisfactory. I’m not coming up with any groundbreaking ideas here, it’s all easy stuff to come up with. Better planning and organisation is all that’s required.
    Better planning and organization…to meet your target which they AREN’T trying to meet.

    They don’t even try to get these out before the start of the year. The 2017 gift more than proves this. They didn’t even start working on that until the Fall. They could have pulled tracks at any point after May when the tour started, but they didn’t. The 2018 gift which was a copy of a promo released 30 years ago, and required almost zero work was also late. If it’s not obvious they aren’t targeting the start of the year, it should be.

    You are getting worked up because you think you are due this gift in the first half of the year. There is no where that that is suggested. You buy a subscription for a full year, and they promise a gift in that period. That is what is offered. You want them to change something they likely don’t even see as broken. And from the sounds of it you’ve likely ticked off the people who are most likely to pass along your concerns or suggestions.
  8. Originally posted by u2wanderer1:[..]
    Got it. Stop sharing anything positive.

    This is my point. You say you feel many others feel the same way as you. And then you tell people who share a different opinion that they are lying to themselves. Everyone who doesn’t agree with you must be wrong.

    Yes. Others 100% think and feel the same as you. They are out there and yes some of them have legitimate beefs that have not been addressed over the years.

    Others 100% are happy with the fan club and have no complaints. Many more fall in between. I’m one of them. And I think many people just don’t care as long as they get their ticket access.

    But if you think what you see and hear is representative of what others think, I’m trying to share that there’s a huge shift I’ve seen towards angry loud voices being negative, and those who tend to have more positive opinions biting their tongue or finding other places to have discussions. We can’t post anything without an avalanche of voices saying “we hate this”. And looking around at who is saying what it’s easy to form an opinion that there’s a lot more negative opinions than there may be.
    Nobody has told you to stop sharing positive stuff what I’m saying is you need to accept the feedback whether positive or negative and if you try and put a positive spin on something or defend the way things are done by the band or their management etc then be prepared for someone to disagree with you. It’s completely unrealistic to expect any post or opinion online to go unchallenged or for a negative view not to be shared on the back of it.

    Well I pretty much took back the bit about lying to yourselves if you look back at my posts. I followed up by saying you admitted yourself to not being happy about the gift. I then said if you are happy with the service that’s up to you and others. It’s all here in this thread. I’ve said you aren’t wrong but that I just find you easily pleased. I’m entitled to that opinion and you are entitled to think otherwise and whatever you want about me and it doesn’t make either wrong.

    I think people should share and say as much positive stuff as they like but also need to learn not to take the negative stuff to heart and also need to know when disagreeing with someone negative they will experience even more negativity. Thats a natural turn a conversation is going to take.
  9. Originally posted by u2wanderer1:[..]
    Better planning and organization…to meet your target which they AREN’T trying to meet.

    They don’t even try to get these out before the start of the year. The 2017 gift more than proves this. They didn’t even start working on that until the Fall. They could have pulled tracks at any point after May when the tour started, but they didn’t. The 2018 gift which was a copy of a promo released 30 years ago, and required almost zero work was also late. If it’s not obvious they aren’t targeting the start of the year, it should be.

    You are getting worked up because you think you are due this gift in the first half of the year. There is no where that that is suggested. You buy a subscription for a full year, and they promise a gift in that period. That is what is offered. You want them to change something they likely don’t even see as broken. And from the sounds of it you’ve likely ticked off the people who are most likely to pass along your concerns or suggestions.
    To meet me and many others expectations and targets. To keep most not just some customers satisfied with their subscription. I’m saying I know fine well what they’re targets are, I understand that and I’m saying they should adjust their targets to satisfy customers more which is a huge part of customer service. They’re going to please more fans doing something more in line with what I’ve suggested rather than how they currently do it. I think that’s fairly obvious. So I don’t care what the current targets are I’m saying how I think they should be doing it and stating the way they currently do it isn’t satisfactory. I’m pointing out what is achievable and how to achieve it. And trust me about passing on my concerns I have no trust in the mods at zootopia whatsoever so I couldn’t care less if I’ve ticked them off or not. Im not going to sit silent worrying about upsetting them.
  10. Note to U2.com if reading this. Please give us something, at least a few tracks to download. Sure this must be possible.
  11. Hang in there deanallison, some people like what you have to say.
  12. U2's fanclub are better than the tenclub. I bought tickets to PJ in Canada and it was literally 941 days ago due to Covid etc. The record I ordered from them is now 200 days after date of order and not delivered.

    U2W1 is an awesome fan who does incredible research and provides a great service to the fanbase. Let's honour and respect someone who builds community.

    Lets just chill for now as no dates are happening and we will get the gift eventually.

    I agree it is crappy service especially from an American perspective where people are used to top notch customer service. I would imagine everyone is Europe is stressing about Ukraine/Russia which is just top of mind for a socially conscious band. I agree with the discontent but if you are not up for it walk away from the subscription. I don't subscribe to the tenclub for that reason anymore.