Hi all,
Has anyone had contact with NPU recently? I placed an order with them in early June and have yet to see it. I have also followed-up with a few emails marked return receipt. I know they’ve read them, but they still haven’t responded to me.
Thanks!
Jamie
I find they usually take about three to four weeks or more. It always arrives though.
Don’t forget this is Willie week and they have probably been gearing up for that over the last couple of weeks. There were seriously short staffed a while back so don’t expect the same service as Amazon.com.
I’ve always found they respond very quickly - but I live in the UK and the post is a bit better than transatlantic.
Ken
Aha! Maybe this is the reason. In fact, my credit card hasn’t even been charged yet, and I ordered June 6th.
kenr has it nailed.
I renewed my membership (which was overdue) and placed an order for the Tommy Kearney CD a couple of months ago. I got an e-mail from Terry Moylan to say that my membership had been renewed, but no sign of the CD yet. I also made a donation to the appeal, but haven’t seen if it was debited to my credit card yet or not.
Last night, I dreamed that I was in Clare and met Terry at the Willie Week (which I’ve never attended), so maybe this was an omen.
Peter, if you see him, jog his elbow on my behalf! He can send the CD to me in Brussels at this stage as I don’t know when I’ll be back in Dublin.
Roger, I wish I could believe that Willie Week was the only reason for problems communicating with NPU since the start of this year. I hate to pick on a group of people who are largely volunteers, but it took me months to get my membership renewed and purchase the Kearney CD.
For me it started with e-mails that NPU claimed they never received, but I found this out through (expensive) LD calls. I gave my order and credit card info to them verbally on the phone, was assured everything was taken care of, and still my memebership renewal and CD purchase got lost. I finally got everything taken care of, again through (expensive) LD calls, but even that took over a month.
I name no names, of course, but something has seriously gone awry at the NPU offices this year, and it has more to do with than Willie Week or their current funding crisis. I hope they can resolve this soon, as they are a great resource to all pipers.
djm
I saw something which led me to believe that their administrative staff members had left - which may be linked to the funding question, I don’t know.
Terry’s job isn’t supposed to be admin at all, so the fact that he was dealing with memberships indicates that there are staffing problems.
Earlier this year the office staff left, for reasons that should have set the comittee thinking [I spoke to Ciaran Summers this week and heard some things that maybe shouldn’t be discussed here]. Following all that Cormac McKeown got the job of running the office [a wellknown folklorist passed some comments there that shouldn’t be repeated here either] and commuinications have been somewhat difficult since. I had some dealings with them and it was extremely difficult to get done what needed to get done. That said, they are all her for Willie and very busy but there are the less satisfied noises in the ranks signalling some members discontent with the present state of affairs [to soften that, things have never been different].
I ordered some CD’s (more than 10) three months ago.I mailed
them more than ten times to inqire what’s happening.No response until now.
And this months they double charged me for the annual membership.
I tried to let them know but can’t get in touch with them.
I’m very pleased and proud to be a member of the legendary piper’s club but I think that they should be more responsible to their activities ,especially when money concerns.They keep impotant priavate information like Credit Card details. 
Peter et al,
CONOR Mc Keown didn’t ‘get the job’, he took it on on a care taker basis while the Board considered CV’s from qualified job applicants. I would be careful not to get embroiled in one side of the story.
BTW, I think it is worse to merely allude to bitching and back biting than it is to actually repeat it out loud- if something shouldn’t be said then it certainly shouldn’t be insinuated.
I would not take on the administartion job in NPU for love or money- juggling the conflicting movements in the organisation would drive me nuts!
Through this whole episode though the board has remained intact (if not in agreement, as is always the case), that’s the way the board works.
Regards, Harry.
Well, I said he got the job and he did, that nobody knows on what basis is fairly typical for how the organisation communicates with it’s members.
There’s always and always have been all sorts of noises of discontent about the functioning of the office in the past, rightly or wrongly, it is a fact though it is at the moment very hrd to get things done or even get responses from the organisation. I don’t hink I indulged in any back-stabbing or bitching commentign on affairs the way I did.
Peter Leban wrote-
“Well, I said he got the job and he did, that nobody knows on what basis is fairly typical for how the organisation communicates with it’s members.”
I’d say that it’s more typical of the sort of person who would go on a discussion on an internet chat site, or form an opinion on the strength of an informal chat on a street in Milltown before they would ask Conor or a member of the board about it. Weren’t you at the AGM in Spanish Point? They where all there, and questions were taken from the floor. Then there’s the NPU website discussion facility, or the option to send a letter to the editor of ‘An Píobaire’. It is an open organisation with facilities for such queries- not CCE.
“I don’t hink I indulged in any back-stabbing or bitching commentign on affairs the way I did.” PL
I didn’t suggest that you did. But alluding to other people’s (I think, unfair) comments on a public forum could be just as (or more) damaging for this individual who is just out of school and finding his feet in the world of work and responsability (another promising young man has already come out of this badly). I need hardly remind you that Conor is also a fellow piper.
Regards, Harry.
I have registered as a user on this forum having been compelled to do so following the earlier discussion on the state of NPU and particularly to set straight the postings that have involved or referred to myself and my departure from the position of Administrator of NPU earlier this year.
For the record I left NPU in early February (first week) and have had no dealings with the office since. It is no secret that my departure was not an amicable one, however, I don’t see this as of any importance here.
My issue is with the insinuation, whether intentional or not, that my leaving that position has any thing, what so ever, to do with the current funding crisis there. NPU receive an annual grant from the Arts Council. In January of this year the allocated amount was cutback by forty per cent, a decrease of fifty thousand Euro. This cut- back is as a direct result of the Arts Council’s reduction in funding from the exchequer, a symptom of the overall economic slow down/ slump in Ireland at present. In Short, nothing whatsoever to do with changes in administrative staff.
During my time working at the headquarters in Henrietta Street there were two consecutive administrative assistants, both of whom have subsequently left their positions. I was informed last week at the Willie Clancy Summer School that a new (full time) administrator has been appointed and I am sure that you will all join me in wishing that person the best of luck in the new position.
Finally, now that I am a registered user on this forum, I should mention that I am a piper myself. I was lucky enough to purchase a full set of Cillian O’Briain pipes six months ago and have been making progress (In my own opinion). I look forward to communicating with you all in the future.
Ciarán Somers, Co. Carlow.
Harry I am not totally unaware of things that are going on in NPU and based on other sources of information than the bits gleaned talking in the street or from message boards.
I am also aware of some of the strenghts and weeknesses of the organisation. There is some concern among members about how the organisation communicates with them and when I say members I mean the ones outside the Dublin area, it used be said about NPU that an organisation should be the sum of it’s members rather than some of it’s members [this referrring to it’s Dublin focus]. Now, over the years there have been periods where this perception was stronger and periods the whole things wasn’t as perceptible. At the moment there are some noises in the ranks and I don’t think it is any harm to talk about it. I think the organisation should keep an eye out for the growing perception that requests and e-mails of memebers are just not responded to. I know there were always noises of discontent about Liam’s running of the office but in my experience both Liam and Ciaran always acknowledged a request, even if they were unable to deal with it right away.
NPU is worried about their income, that should be reason enough to deal efficiently with their mail order business. Same for the shop during the WIllie week, it closed at some very busy moments for no apparent reason, on saturday over fifty people were waiting for last minute purchases, nobody turned up. At some point I ran into Conor in the street and asked him if the shop was opening at all he said ‘it’s open now’ but he said it in a way like it was a rediculous question. Now that is jsut bad business, what ever way you look upon it.
Just to be clear about this, I have no problem at all with Conor running the office. But to get back to the initial point of the organisation not quite managing to communicate to it’s members what the deal is re this situation, when Marie Clare Breathnach took up the position of assistant administrator, there was a short introduction of the piobaire, written by the then chairman Breandan Breathnach, it ended very dry: ‘no she’s not a relation’. Things were made very clear.
I didn’t go to the AGM no, I never have. But I read my piobaire and the committee could use that to let the members in on daily matters.
Ciarán, Peter
I’ve sent you PMs.
R
Welcome to the forum, Ciarán! And, congrats on your O’Briain set, he makes some great pipes.
Hi Ciarán,
You were very helpful to me while you were at the NPU! Thanks, and welcome to the forum.
They have a bit to learn though if they want to compete in the music market. Unfortunately, I won’t buy anything from them again due to their terrible customer service. There is money to be made, and they are missing the boat. Too bad for them and us (a cash-strapped organization). 
Carl Warren,
Waverley, NS. Canada
I think that re NPU there are a few things that should be realised, their office is very busy and forever understaffed, the mail order part of it is very time consuming, the prime object of the organisation has to do with piping.
There maybe quibbles about how thigns are working at the minute but it should be borne in mind that they are not a mail order house, that part is a service the members of the organisation. WHile things in that department could maybe function bettre the ‘terrible customer service’ is a very American notion.
Recently NPU started a series of historic recordings on CD, thsoe of Johnny Doran and Tomy Kearney being the first two in this series and I think this activity is much closer to the aim of the organisation and a fecking nice job they are doing on it too.
Ofcourse there are points people aren’t happy with and some have been discussed here, I said above there are some noises of discontent among the membership and amybe I am not happy [and have ceased contributing much to the organisation by now] with some issues, NPU still deserves our support and loyalty.
I’d agree with that 
Cheers, Mac
And I second that Peter. I have both of these albums,and consider them indispensable.