Guild of Master Craftsmen

[BradNaylor]

I've been a member for years, but my membership lapsed last month and they are on the phone every other day nagging me to renew.

It's got me to thinking; what's the point? It's over £350 a year and I can't think of anything I've got back from it.

Can anyone give me a single reason why I should renew?

Cheers
Dan

 

[Corset]

I am a letting agent and I hire a lot of contractors. The master craftsman stuff has never swayed me. The two I did hire with the mark were the worst I used they couldn't give a toss about there work. I stick to old skool recommendations now.

 

[Oryxdesign]

No

 

[skipdiver]

Nice sticker for your van? Errrr!...........................................

 

[Tusses]

BTDT !!!! Never again !!!


when I was young and gullable I was invited to join.


Well pleased at being considered for such an honor I accepted !!

next , I picked one of their traders to install my shop front roller sutters :shock: BIG MISTAKE !!!!! they were ablolute cr@p !!! and not really much support from the GOMC

its just a gimick as far as I am concerned :twisted:

 

[John McM]

As a potential customer looking for a builder or whatever trade, I thought the mark held some credence. Then I realised you could join if you were a window cleaner. Any credibility went out the window

 

[BradNaylor]

Nice sticker for your van? Errrr!...........................................

And I think that really is about it!

The GMC seems to exist purely to feed itself. Membership fees go to paying the overheads and staff and make a profit for the owner. Apart from that it serves no function whatsover.

I'll tell them where to go next time they phone.

Happily, I approved the proof for my new Yellow Pages ad a few weeks ago featuring the GMC logo. It'll be too late to change it now so I'll get another year of advertising cred out of them!

What was it Groucho Marx said about him not wanting to be in any club that would accept him as a member?

:lol:

Cheers
Dan

 

[davin]

Gosh, never realised it was so expensive.
Perhaps we start our own Guild. Guild of UK worshoppers.co.uk

 

[mr]

The guild appears to be operated by the GMC Group - same people who publish F&C and Healthy and Organic Living mag et al. Just another example of a publishing / lifestyle business reaching out into all areas as far as I can see. There are other guilds you might look at if you were of a mind to go joining trade organisations. The Carpenters Company, The Worshipful Guild of Furniture Makers and so on. Not entirely the same thing and rather more difficult to get into but an entirely different set of bodies than the GMC operated "guild" I use the word loosely as do GMC it seems.

Cheers Mike

 

[chippy1970]

No offence to you Dan but I have always thought of the guild of master craftsman as something you can just pay to join so it does not prove that anyone is skilled.

I was invited to join many years ago but never did, don't remember how much they wanted back then.

All these sorts of things are a great idea but I don't think the memberships are really policed in anyway I might be wrong but I doubt it.

I get all of my work by recommendation so people know what they are getting. If I was you I would put that £350 towards some Festool .

 

[Digit]

I was offered membership of a learned body some years ago on the basis of some original research that I had carried out. My employers were very impressed and suggested that I accept. later, when they found that I hadn't bothered they asked me to do so as it would look good on certain paperwork, then I asked them to pay the membership fees! :lol:

Roy.

 

[Rich]

My experience has been that one good job leads to another by virtue of word of mouth, (heating, plumbing and hvac) no advertising needed, TRADESMEN are always sought after and I have enough pj's to last me a year, but, I have my own full time job and my own home to attend to so often turn work away unless the person can wait, I'm am of the opinion that when I have done a job be it at work or privately, someone will say, I can tell who done that by the standard of the pipework etc, like I said, word of mouth is all you need, this is not bragging, merely fact.

Rgards,
Rich.

 

[Karl]

word of mouth is all you need

I'd second that. I "advertise" very infrequently (last time was 18months ago). And that's only when i've got a break in between jobs which I need to fill.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Digit]

I ran my own business for 10 yrs and never advertised once.

"Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door".

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Roy.

 

[bugbear]

BTDT !!!! Never again !!!


when I was young and gullable I was invited to join.


Well pleased at being considered for such an honor I accepted !!

next , I picked one of their traders to install my shop front roller sutters :shock: BIG MISTAKE !!!!! they were ablolute cr@p !!! and not really much support from the GOMC

its just a gimick as far as I am concerned :twisted:

When you were invited to join, what did you have to do to prove your "worthiness" ? If the answer is "nothing" (apart from pay!) it would explain your experience with the installers.

BugBear

 

[Tusses]

I was told I was recommended to join by at least 6 of my customers ! so I fell for it and payed up :roll:

Most the intensive tho, was that I could get credit card facilities as a member, which I needed to be competitive . (I was building PC's at the time, and everyone wanted it on the tick ! )

 

[woodbloke]

Dan - don't bother, not worth it my view. I think Scrit I had something daming to say a while back about the GMC - Rob