MrNabisco posted:On the topic of TCA and membership renewal dues... I had let my membership slip for three years, then decided I wanted to go to York and be a member again. I was charged " membership back dues" for the three years I was not a member, plus a fee, plus the cost of the year I rejoined. I never ever received any back issues of the Quarterly for the three years I paid for. A complete rip off!
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If you specifically asked about the publications, someone most likely misled you (hopefully mistakenly, not that it helps much since you paid the money).
Did you pursue it with the TCA at the time? Just saying you were ripped off if you didn't follow up to inquire what was up is sort of like saying you got a boxcar with no trucks on it and it wasn't made right without asking the seller or manufacturer to make it right. I don't know for a fact TCA would let you re-settle your membership renewal based on the miscommunication, but it would not seem unreasonable to consider.
The only benefit for paying the back dues is keeping your old member number. There is a (possibly/probably small) segment of former members who did care about that, getting back a "low number" they had in their past before a lapse in membership.
Someone I know got back into trains in the late 90's after having their membership lapse back in the mid 70's. He asked the question about receiving past publications and was told that was not possible. (though obviously that is a more extreme case than yours, as 20+ years of publications would be harder to produce, or expect there to be a set of "spares" laying around, and I know he pushed the issue to get a solid answer). He decided the old member number was not that important and just joined as a new member.
-Dave
