Steve Brown at the NRA - what are you doing?

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Posted by Jim on Sep 29, 2008 106 views

On September 12th, Steve Brown at The National Rife Association NRA headquarters received the internal request for a refund. It has been a little over two weeks. What is taking so long? Do that many people ask for refunds from the NRA that they have one person designated to issuing refunds?

How do I get a refund from the NRA? Thats simple - ask them for one and give them the reason. The NRA tries to scream and complain that they never issue refunds. But they do. When you join the NRA as a member, you and they enter into an agreement for what you are supporting. If you fail to uphold your end of the agreement - you do not send them the money to renew - they drop you. If you fail to uphold your end of the agreement - you decline the credit card charge or it was a stolen credit card - they drop you.

And when you ask the NRA to be green and you ask the NRA to be a concerned and good corporate citizen by not polluting the local landfill with junk mail - and they send you dozens of pieces of trash for weeks - you drop them. And that is what I did.

And now, I am waiting for Steve Brown at NRA headquarters to process my refund. How long does it take to get a refund from the NRA?

Now some of you are saying that this is bullshit and this is petty. Just throw the junk mail in the trash. That is not thinking or acting green. Yes recycling helps to reduce the waste going to a landfill, but the best way to help with the environment is to reduce first when at all possible. And how do you reduce and help the environment as a supporting member of the NRA? Ask them not to send you any junk mail. And have them comply.

Who is the NRA-ILA? Why am I getting junk mail from the NRA-ILA? Those were questions I asked, and got a lame answer from the member services department staff. And when I asked why am I getting their junk mail, I was told it will stop, wait 2 weeks, wait 4 weeks, wait, wait and wait again. I should have never had to wait. I opted out of all emails, mailings, flyers, postcards and phone calls before and during my signup and donation process. Someone at the NRA failed its members.

What do you do when the NRA fails its members? Stop donating to the NRA. It is that simple. If people stop donating to the NRA, they will be forced to change their ways or fall out of grace and influence.

The NRA does great programs for children, adults, woman, education, ranges, gun laws and local, state and federal issues. They just do not act green. And that is not acceptable to me and others.

What do I do with the junk mail I get from the NRA? 1st - call them and ask them to stop. This waste time on their 800 number 1-877-NRA-2000. It costs them an incoming call, ties up a service representative who wants to collect dues, subscriptions and sell education courses and event money. They don’t want to waste time and money paying someone to check a box to not get junk mail. It is never worth it for an organization, and the more people vote with their wallets and the green in their wallets to act green, the more organizations such as the NRA will be forced to change.

James R Skamarakas
156065791 NRA Member number
06/30/09 NRA member expiration date *

* - I cancelled it after many calls in June, July, August and September. Now when do I get my refund? And how much junk mail will they send me to try and get me back? BTW - In the past 10 years I have gotten no email, mail or telephone calls from the NRA prior to this summer.

My daughter was given a life membership to the NRA. She should be getting 2 magazines a month. I don’t even know if she gets those. But I have never seen her get any junk mail either. Maybe we should look into her account also. Let me hit that redial number.

Filed Under: soapbox

Tags: business, customer service, junk mail, politics

Wizzer2801 said,

So let me get this straight, You entered into a contract with them, and because they do thing by their rules and not yours, you cancel the contract, and then, even though the contract that YOU SIGNED clearly states that the money you paid is non refundable, you throw a temper tantrum and treat a number of people that are just trying to do their jobs like crap so you can get your $35 back.

So I guess that makes you a big man for beating the system right? You break your deal, be rude to people who are only trying to help you, and be as much of a dick as you can. So being a decent person, being loyal, and keeping your word as signed by you in contract is all thrown out the window for $35. I guess we know how much your worth now.
Jim said,

Lets start with - what searh querry got you here onto this thread?

And yes, if you read my comments you would see that BEFORE I donated for the year, I asked if they could supress all mailings except for the monthly issue of American Rifleman. They said yes. And they failed. I was issued a refund because the organization that is running the membership desk at the National Rifle Association failed to honor their commitment. The NRA broke their deal with me.

I am worth my word. And I expect others I deal with to be worth their own word. Thats why when they failed to follow their word, I asked them repeatedly to correct the problem. And they failed over and over.

The refund is the way the NRA issued me an apology.
Wizzer2801 said,

How I got here isn’t really that Important. I know plenty of people who have had no issues stopping the mail they get from the NRA. Judging from your own posts it sounds like you were unwilling to follow the very simple instructions they gave you.

You Asked to be removed, they told you 4-6 weeks. Look at the posts on your OWN blog that shows your time-line. You didn’t wait the 4-6 weeks. You waited 3-4 weeks and got upset that you were still getting mail then you called up and bitched out someone. You whined and you cried. Apparently they had enough of you. I would imagine that you are probably blacklisted from them now.

It looks like you shot yourself in the foot and the NRA won’t be there to help you now.

Next time you should learn patience and how to follow instructions. You still broke your word.
Jim said,

Define plenty - I know plenty of people who have had no issues stopping the mail they get from the NRA.

And please tell us - why would all of these people want to stop getting mailings from the NRA? Did they ask for them in the first place?

Are they NRA members who got automatically added to their junk mailings and had to call in to ask for it to stop?

Where in my application for the NRA did I check off a box that said “Check here to get mailings from the NRA”
“Check here to get mailings from the NRA-ILA”
“Check here to get mailings from the NRA insurance program”
“Check here to get mailings for the NRA credit card”
Wizzer2801 said,

It does say in your application that your membership dues are non-refundable, but I guess you missed that too.

Just like EVERY other organization you sign up for, they send out mailings to update you on offers they are doing, issues that are going on with the organization, and yes, asking for more money. The organization is non-profit. They do what they do for the rights of Americans. The people who work there work for MUCH lower than the average because they love the organization.

You basically crapped all over their job and what that organization does because you couldn’t wait for how long you were asked to wait. You even stated in your post that they asked you to wait 4-6 weeks. That was in your post from the 12th of Sept.

Then you get upset that you got another mailer on the 3rd of October. Last time I checked, that’s only 3 weeks later.

A process like turning off mailings from an organization that serves MILLIONS of people takes time. You probably received mailings that were already out of the NRA’s hand when you called.

Instead you believe yourself to be some “Big Man” because you beat the system.

You had better hope you never need to call on an Organization like the NRA for help. I have no doubt they will remember how you treated them.
Jim said,

I like how you make this look like a single event that is only a few days old. If you would actually read the first few words here -
http://skamarakas.com/jim/2008/10/03/yet-more-junk-mail-from-the-nra
You would see this statement -
Before I signed up, I asked if they had an opt out list and was assured they did. I would only get the American Rifle magazine each month. I signed up.

This opt out request started months ago. And the moment the first piece of junk mail from the NRA showed up I contacted them to get it stopped. My refund was issued not after 3 weeks but after 4 months. Do the math and tell us if 4 months is longer then 4-6 weeks? Thats their quoted period of time to supress junk mail that I never opted in for. And every time it showed up called in again to ask to be opted out.

The NRA needs to do some house cleaning within its own organization to get rid of people who just can’t cut costs by clicking a box properly. All of this junk mail is my dues to the NRA coming back to me as printing and mailing costs. Not supporting the goals of the NRA.

The NRA is not in place to mass mail its members as its primary goal. You can cry all you want, but when you donate to an organization and they flood you back with junk, most sane people don’t donate a second time around. They see it as a wasteed effort.

OMG - is there a list showing how much charities spend on their primary purpose and how much on marketing and management expenses? Why yes here is, for this exact same reason - people WANT to support their causes - the DO NOT WANT to support the junk mail campaigns.
tool09 said,

Wow, you obviously have a lot of time on your hands. Charity Navigator gives the NRA 4 out of 4 stars.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5450
Jim said,

Tim supplied an army.mil email address but did not verify that it was his real address. I suspect it is because he knows that he is 100% wrong with his comments above.

Why? Because he looking up the NRA Foundation, not the National Rifle Association.

What does charitynavigator have to say about the NRA? This -
From http://www.charitynavigator.org -
We don’t evaluate National Rifle Association.
Why not? We don’t evaluate 501(c)(4) organizations because they are allowed to spend a substantial portion of their revenue on lobbying our government and not every donation to them is tax-deductible. You may be interested in our evaluation for The NRA Foundation.