Frequently asked questions

To apply for courses click Apply for courses. You must be a current u3a member to apply.

Click on one of the following if it relates to your question.

Do I need my membership number to apply online?

No. All you need to apply online is your email address and your first name.

Take special care if you have given us an alternative name as a preferred form of address as well as your actual first name. Be sure to use the latter.

There are two of us with the same email address will that be OK?

That’s no problem. Your first names will be different (we checked that for all members with duplicate emails) so the system will find the right member record and your application will be fine.

How will I know that my details have been recognised?

When you click on the box that says Then click here. Your ID will appear if our records match you will see a code comprising a B followed by your membership number and three check digits followed by your name. In the unlikely event that this isn’t you do not go ahead. Please check your entries if this happens.

Can I ask to be placed on the waiting list for a course?

The FCFS (first come first served) system doesn’t hold a waiting list. Waiting lists are quite labour intensive to manage and though we could automate some of that we would be reliant on members responding quickly when places were offered. For that reason no waiting lists are currently available.

How does the system allocate a place if two people apply simultaneously?

A submission cannot be completed and so no record can be generated unless there is space on all the courses requested.

One of the requests will always be handled first and if both request the last place on a course it will be allocated to that first member. Each submission of the form creates a record, even ones where all the choices are set to ‘None’, and each record is given a date and time stamp in thousandths of a second.

Finally submitting the form triggers the sending of an email to the member. This includes the member details and the timestamp.

Two of us plan to attend a Zoom course using the same computer. Should we book two places?

In the first instance and as a simple answer - YES.

In reality the situation depends on the Tutor and the course size. For a large course the number of Zoom participants may well be the limit so sharing might not be a problem. For a small course such as a discussion group the tutor may have a clear view of how many participants she or he can cope with.

Our recommendation is to book two places if you can then contact the Tutor. If the Tutor agrees that only one place is needed then course admin can release the other for you.

What does “Your details don’t match our records” mean?

This could be due to a number of reasons. Please check –

· that you have typed your email and first name correctly

· if you have given us both a first name and a preferred form of address please use the former

· that your membership has not lapsed

I think I accidentally applied for the same course twice.

This won’t matter. Only the first application counts.

Please don’t ask course admin to decline your second booking as this will annul both of them.

Can I book a second place for my spouse / friend?

If you try to book a second place in your name there will still be only one booking. Instead ask the other person to book a place using their details. If, and only if, you have their agreement you could book a place for them using their details. The email acknowledgement will go to them.

I received an email saying I booked a place on a course when I didn’t.

Please check whether some well-meaning person did this for you. If not, you don’t want the place or can’t attend please forward the email to course admin asking them to remove you from the course.

If I book two places on a course can I transfer one to my friend later?

No.

Firstly you can’t book two places on a course. The second one doesn’t count.

Secondly you cannot transfer a place. All you can do is decline it. It will then be available for anyone to book on a first come first served basis.

What happens if I can’t make it work?

Please ask yourself the following –

· Is it not working or just not letting you book what you want? In the latter case the course is simply full.

· Are you sure that the problem is not at your end? It usually is. If you are a frequent user of online booking systems and banking etc. you should have no problems using the system. So that you don’t lose out you might ask a friend to book the course in your name before It gets full. They can do that from home and you will receive an email confirmation if that works.

· At what point did things go wrong? Please make a note so we can fix problems for the future. Note however that we will not be able to undo what has happened e.g. other members may well have taken the last places in the meantime.

What if I want to complain?

First please refer to what happens if I can’t make it work.

Secondly please remember that our committee, tutors and everyone who helps with course admin are all volunteers. They have already put in a total of hundreds of hours work to get the programme ready for bookings.

Thirdly please tell us what happened accurately. Our systems record form submissions timestamped to the thousandth of a second. It wastes a lot of time if we receive inaccurate complaints.

Finally, please remember that a single complaint takes more time to process than hundreds of successful applications. Perhaps you could summarise your experience as a suggestion for improvement and send it later. Please send that to course admin ca@u3acanterbury.org.uk