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Hi everybody. 😀
My DASA membership is up for renewal and I am finding it difficult to decide wether to renew or not.
I`ve been a DASA member for some 12 or more years and have,in all fairness,given them a lot more than they have given me financially speaking.
Admittedly,I have never attended a meeting or AGM but but this has usually been due to work commitmants.I have always supported DASA`s stand for the appliance repair trade.
I have traded on my own for 23 years despite many attempts to become an agent for manufacturers or insurance companies. DASA have never helped me in anyway when I was trying to get agencies.
I am now the wrong side of 50 and am very unlikely to be more than what I am now so I wonder what can DASA offer me?.
Are their anymore members like me who have this persistant niggle that DASA membership might be good for the bigger companies but not for them.
I have no axe to grind with DASA but believe that a lot more could be done by DASA for the genuine sole trader.
Regards.
Chris.
Re: DASA.
hi chris,
Don’t you know its xmas?
Best of luck with this one, as I’m no longer in DASA, for a change I’ll enjoy reading the replies.
Happy NEW YEAR
Kevin
Re: DASA.
Chris, many have asked this same question before and i am not sure you will get many pro dasa responses on this forum as all the pro’s and con’s have been discussed many times. Have you read the DASA members forum on this site? and also register, if your not already, on the dasa site, there is a link to this on the left side of this page. There is a bit more going on there than you may think.
Mark,
That is not an entirely fair comment. There are numerous discussions about DASA throughout the Trade part of the site, ranging from the intellegent to the hysterical. The fairest thing that we can say to ChrisR is that there is a general concensus to “wait and see” how the revised and reworked DASA pans out. This is obviously taking some time (An update would be nice, DASA chaps), so really, we’re all sat waiting.Regards,
Chris.Re: DASA.
It was not a “comment” just a fact that this has been discussed many times and its already on the site elsewhere and ensuring that ChrisR has read it all, and that the pro DASA guys dont seem to be very active here lately while the non dasa guys are very active.
To tell the truth its just a bit tedious to be going through all the same stuff all over again.Re: DASA.
eastlmark wrote:It was not a “comment” just a fact that this has been discussed many times and its already on the site elsewhere and ensuring that ChrisR has read it all, and that the pro DASA guys dont seem to be very active here lately while the non dasa guys are very active.
To tell the truth its just a bit tedious to be going through all the same stuff all over again.It would be very tedious to go on beating this drum, there is a lot to be found on this site, and I will take the credit/blame for being an instigator in some cases. I don’t want to influence any likely decision regards renewal as it is up to the individual or the company.
I will say that personally I have questioned value for money, & in fact I still do. I’ve yet to be convinced that there are any gains, past, present or future that will benefit my operation by being a member.
It saddens me as I’ve been a member for a long time and regretfully the old bear is still in hibernation. There is loads of enthusiasm to be found in the remaining active members & I applaud them for all they are trying to achieve. Sadly to remain in the association, there is a membership fee, and I cannot justify the cost at present. My priority this month is corporation tax, next month a new van or two, the Vat will hit in between; the joys of capitalism I’m afraid.
Nevertheless, If I can find mileage in renewing, then I will give it serious consideration. In the meantimne I can only suggest you make your own decision financially.
A happy & prosperous new year to all.
Alex
Re: DASA.
Mark is correct, it is tedious (to say the least) going over and over DASA time and again picking the bones as it were.
Right now DASA is supposed to be being re-organised and revitalised however it has to be said that there has been little, if any, of the changes proposed instigated as yet. There is a council meeting in January (which I won’t be attending due to other commitments) at which quite a few things were supposed to be in place for, so far I can see no evidence of those inituatives being instigated.
For now I see my time and effort as being better spent in other areas as well as my money. I want to see a return on any investment I make, it’s that simple.
The simple reason for the situation that DASA finds itself in is that it is being run by the members currently with no full or part time staffing to support it and at this time of the year they’re all a tad busy with their own afairs without the burden of DASA on top of that.
If it’s any consolation I’m with Alex on this one. I have not yet paid my subsciption to DASA for this year and unless there is changes made then I can also see little point in forking out for things to just trundle on as they are. Maybe that could be viewed as a bit on the harsh side but having been involved with DASA for 20 years or more (albeit with a little break) I have yet to see any sweeping changes being made in all that time. So my suspicion is that none will come about in the next few months or perhaps even years either. The biggest single change was made in January of this year and, almost a year later, there has been virtually no change to DASA or its modus operandi.
I can’t, right now, see a way forward for DASA as things stand. They need funding to do anything of any worth and with a falling membership the funding that they do have is dropping.
In short this is where I see DASA as being now and, without some breakthrough in the short term I really cannot see it ever doing much of anything.
DASA also desperately needs to communicate with people outside of DASA, they have done a lot to improve communications within DASA (although it could still be a LOT better) but still the external communications are, frankly, rank rotten but bordering on the non-existent.
It needs to be permanently manned and promoted and right now, neither is happening. It is the council and primarily the officiers and chairman that have to change it and tell people why it is worth being in DASA, why it is important and what the value of being a DASA member is but again, sadly, that just isn’t happening here or anywhere else that I can see. Even when it does it’s the same old rhetoric that we’ve heard for the past 20 years. It has to change to survive.
As to whether or not to stump up the fees, well that’s a desicion that only the individual can make.
K.
Re: DASA.
ChrisR,
I wonder if you have asked the same question through the DASA Members website? In truth I suspect many of your fellow members are facing the same dilemma and are seeking answers to similar questions.
As a non member myself I have no questions to ask of DASA and no reason to give them my money either.
Martin
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