Need Help?

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

• Which Membership is right for me?

  1. What's the difference between the various levels?

     All levels of membership get you some basic free benefits as per the table above. The main difference between the various levels is the numbers of users who are on the membership account.

     As you can see, the higher the level of membership the greater the benefit. For example, Gold membership costs approximately twice Silver membership but you get 3× the users. Likewise, Platinum costs approximately five times as much as Gold but you get 7× the users. Furthermore, the higher levels of membership also get you discounts, invitations to exclusive events and job adverts, press releases etc. are also included.

  2. How many users do I need?

     It depends how big your organisation is. Or how many people there are who would like access to all our reports and other site resources. If you are a small organisation you could start with the Bronze or Silver levels of membership and then upgrade. For larger organisations you could start with Gold and then upgrade if necessary.

     NB: any reports that you unlock access to are made available to all the users on a membership. So with Gold, or higher levels, with multiple users, you can all benefit from access to the same reports.

  3. Can I choose a lower level of membership and then upgrade to a higher level if I want it?

     Yes. Within one month of taking up any level of membership you can upgrade to a higher level and just pay the difference in price — it's as though you purchased the higher level to start with. However, after one month, when you upgrade, you pay the full price of the higher level membership and the year's validity starts afresh from that date.

  4. How long do memberships last? Can I do a custom length of time?

     All memberships last one year. Currently we don't offer any variation on this.

  5. I don't understand the various benefits — can you help me?

     Sure. Try mousing over the relevant benefits in the table above for a short explanation of each. And, if you're still not sure, then do contact us via our web form or call +44 (0)20 7269 1450.

• User Access, Membership & Intellectual Property

  7. Can we set up a user which is a group log in (e.g. group email address and password)?

     No. Each user must be an individual rather than a group. We would treat group email addresses and logins as a form of account sharing which is not permitted.

  8. Can we share log in details?

     No. Not only would this be risky for you (potentially exposing personal or financial information through the sharing) but we would see it as a serious infringement of our intellectual property and as illegal. We reserve the right to take legal action if we see this occurring. And we do track log in activity to look for unusual behaviour, by IP range etc.

  9. How do we add or remove users on our membership?

     You can do this via the Membership section in Your Account once your membership is set up.

  10. Can we add users to our membership who don't work for our organization?

      No. A membership must be within a single organisation. Given anyone on any particular membership can add or remove anyone else we wouldn't advise it for security reasons anyway.

  11. For a single user membership, can we change who that individual is (e.g. if the current user leaves and someone else wants to take the membership over)?

      Yes. Just let us know and we'll make sure the right user has access.

  12. Can we buy additional user access? If so, how much does it cost per user?

      We don't sell user access on a per-user basis. As you can see from the membership options above there are several broad bands allowing up to a certain number of users. If you want one more than the allowed amount at any membership level then you'll have to upgrade to the next level, or remove an existing user to add the new one.

  13. Can we carry over unused benefits (such as report credits) into a new membership year?

      No. The benefits do not accumulate or carry over. It's a bit like a gym membership — we provide the benefits for the period of a year but it is up to you how much you use them. That said, obviously we're keen for you to get the most out of Econsultancy as possible so that you renew, or upgrade.

  14. What if we don't use all our membership benefits in the year? Can we still use them after the membership has expired?

      No. See previous question.

  15. Will we still have access to our reports online if our Membership lapses?

      No. They will be stored in Your Account but, if your membership lapses, will be 'greyed out' so you can no longer download them. They are all re-enabled (including accumulated ones from previous years' memberships) once your membership is renewed. Rarely is this a problem as most users download copies of the reports which they store locally.

  16. Can I store copies of the reports on our company intranet, or extranet, or otherwise pass the files on to others?

      No. Certainly not without our permission. We would treat this as a serious infringement of our intellectual property and as illegal. We reserve the right to take legal action if this occurs.

• Upgrades, Downgrades & Renewals

  17. How do we upgrade online? Do we need to buy another full year?

      Yes, you can upgrade online once you have a membership set up. Within the first month of setting up your membership you can upgrade to any higher level and only pay the difference in price, with the membership expiring at the same original date. This gives you the chance effectively to retrospectively buy a higher level of membership at no additional cost if it quickly becomes clear that what you first bought was too low a level. After one month you can upgrade but you pay the full price and the membership starts again at the higher level for a full year.

  18. Can we downgrade our membership?

      You cannot downgrade your membership part way through an existing membership. However, you can choose to renew your membership at a lower level.

  19. How do we renew our membership?

      You can renew via the Membership section in Your Account. You can renew at any time and choose to start a new year's worth of membership afresh with a full year's worth of benefits. Or, within one month of the expiry date, you can renew your membership so that it doesn't at any point lapse. This can be useful if you are going to be away when the renewal is due, or if you want to be certain to get the current price. In this case, you pay at the point of renewing but your membership is extended by a full year so you don't pay twice for any overlap in membership years.

  20. How do I cancel any renewals?

      You can manage renewals, and auto renewals, via the Membership section in Your Account.

  21. Why do you have auto renewals? Surely you shouldn't auto-renew memberships?

      We have an auto-renewal feature because our members asked for it — they did not want the hassle of having to re-enter their details and re-pay, or have their membership lapse unexpectedly. We check before renewal whether an auto-renewal is indeed wanted. If the user doesn't act on this alert, or mistakenly allows a renewal to go through, but doesn't want it then we will immediately refund the full amount and cancel the membership as long as the user hasn't used the benefits of the new membership.

• Refunds & Cancellations

  22. What are your terms on cancellations and refunds?

      These vary according to what the original purchase was e.g. our policy on event refunds and cancellations is different for that on memberships. Full details are in our Terms & Conditions. However, the key factors required for you to be eligible for a refund on a membership are that a) you ask us for it within 7 days of purchase and b) you haven't actually used any of the stated benefits (e.g. downloaded a report). As soon as you use any of the benefits or services of membership then you are no longer eligible for a refund.

  23. What happens if a membership renewal goes through but we didn't want it?

      Just let us know and we'll immediately refund the full amount and cancel the membership. See question 15 above for further information on this.

• Payment & Pricing

  24. Do you offer free trials or discounts?

      We don't offer free trials. We try to give as much information, and samples, as possible for you to make a decision. You can contact us to request further examples, samples etc. if you are still not sure. We don't offer any standard discounts above what you get as part of membership but, again, we are happy to consider these on a case by case basis.

  25. What are the different payment methods?

      We accept payment via secure online card transactions for most major credit cards. We can also take payment by cheque or bank transfer, however there is a minimum spend value of GBP 395 for non-card payments.

  26. Do you issue invoices for our records?

      All your transactions are stored in the Invoices section of Your Account where there are PDF copies of all invoices, with full details (including taxes where relevant). We also email you these PDFs immediately post purchase.

  27. I need a Pro-Forma Invoice from you to get a Purchase Order set up — can you provide this?

      Sure. Just get in touch and we can send this to you right away by email.

• Still have questions?

  Please contact us via our web form or call +44 (0)20 7269 1450.