Race wants prize money back

Websites have typos and are not legally binding. They sent you a check that matches the most widely accepted interpretation of the prize breakdown. If it is a $900 mistake, then that's a lot to ask for you to give back. If it were me, I would say they can sue me for the $900. If you think they will actually take you to court make sure you have copies of the advertised prize breakdown, pictures of award ceremony and your check.Also get examples of other races that list their prize breakdown the same way (same words "Overall Male & Female") and contact the race directors to see if they mean each get that amount or total for both. Be sure to ask them if you can use their email and website in your court defense.

Maculate Prizes wrote:

They are saying that the word “total” means that the top male and top female will split the money for first and so on. The point they keep bring up is they had an advertised purse of $15,000 and the only way that works out is if the prize money is split 50/50 between male and female.

How long after the race did they contact you? How long was it after you had received the check? There may be some legal limit on how long they have to make such a claim.P.S. I am not a lawyer.

Maculate Prizes wrote:

I have an issue I am hoping to get some outside perspective on. I competed in a run this past October and received prize money for finishing in the top three.

Thank you Bullet. This is really helpful. All of your comments are making me feel better. The race director has been coming off like he has a team of pro bono lawyers ready to tear me limb from limb in court.

I received the check around two weeks after the competition. This would have been sometime around November 7th. I was contacted and told to pay the money back at the start of this week.

Bullet the Blue Sky wrote:

How long after the race did they contact you? How long was it after you had received the check? There may be some legal limit on how long they have to make such a claim.

P.S. I am not a lawyer.

Maculate Prizes wrote:

I have an issue I am hoping to get some outside perspective on. I competed in a run this past October and received prize money for finishing in the top three.

It's highly unlikely that a couple of months would legally bar their claim.

However, the fact that the race had oversized checks made out with the full amount, paid you the full amount, and then took some time before contacting you with their current claim to have overpaid by mistake raises a serious question about whether they actually made a mistake or came up with their current story after the fact. If the 1st place winner was really only supposed to get $900, surely the race director or someone with the race would have figured that out immediately and not a couple of months later.

Were the photos with the over-sized check with you and the female together? Like, did you hold one corner and she held the other? Or were you the only one holding it?

Pay back the half and be done with it. Which world do you want to live in going forward, it's your choice?

This guy has it right. It's too expensive to file a lawsuit for $900. "I'll see you in court" or "you'll hear from my lawyer" are common threats to scare people who don't know otherwise. You might even get a nasty letter from their lawyer on fancy letterhead threatening to file a claim unless you immediately pay, which is an even better scare tactic. A friend who's a lawyer or a lawyer in a small/solo practice can fire off these kinds of letters very cheaply, and those do scare people a lot. Just ignore it if you get one. Worst case, but unlikely, they file a small claims action and you can show up and argue your own case. Could be fun (seriously), especially since you're likely to win.

Two checks. I have mine sitting at home with my over-sized name on it.

Don't listen to this guy.

Jcjd wrote:

I don't understand why everyone is saying to keep the money. People make mistakes and you don't have to be a jerk about that. Especially if you won way more than the cost of entry. And especially if they are a charity.

If you're a decent person, then tell them that is too much to pay back all at once but you'd be willing to gradually pay them back.

1) First and foremost, if you received more money than they meant to send, it's legally considered a gift.

2) You've already spent the money.

3) Hypothetically, you may not have run the race and incurred expenses if you had known that the prize was half.

4) File a countersuit for legal expenses.

Aren't we missing another aspect to this question? Didn't the OP say this race was to benefit a charity? Is that where this money would go?

Sure, seems like this was an error, and the RD is not handling that so well, at least according to the OP, but if the money is otherwise coming out of the coffers of the charity I would have a hard time keeping it

Donate the extra $900 to a competent charity.

Really? Why? why should you suffer for an error of the RD's own doing? If (and it's a big IF) the charity is being left out of a few hundred bucks, then it falls SQUARELY on the RD's shoulders, not this athlete. total bollox what is going on here, and I'm pretty disappointed by the handling of it. These are the kinds of things where, as an RD, you just suck it up, learn from it, and make damn sure it's fixed for next year. period.fyi, races are ALWAYS "to benefit charity." Rock-N-Roll races are to "benefit charity," as in hundreds of thousand$ come into RnR coffers, and a few thousand goes to some national charity that has basically nothing to do with the host city. yay "charity!"

Marksch wrote:

Aren't we missing another aspect to this question? Didn't the OP say this race was to benefit a charity? Is that where this money would go?.... if the money is otherwise coming out of the coffers of the charity I would have a hard time keeping it

You have a giant check with the amount on it that they handed you at the race and they didn't mention the error for weeks?

Don't you dare give that money back. They made a huge error and are now hoping to bully you into paying for whatever it is they don't have enough funds to cover.

Keep the money. Any judge would laugh at them the second he saw the photo of the obnoxious giant check.

You sound young and I'm sure you want to do the right thing but they are bullying you. Don't let them. Ignore any further contact from them.

But you started this thread today and said you had gone on your way until today, when the race director contacted you. It's Wednesday. That's not the start of the week.

Maculate Prizes wrote:

I received the check around two weeks after the competition. This would have been sometime around November 7th. I was contacted and told to pay the money back at the start of this week.

Or you could, you know, be a nice human being, take the high road, acknowledge they made a mistake and return the money.The people on this board salivating to profit an someone else's expense are extraordinary. And I mean on the entire board, not just this thread. This really is a nasty, nasty site sometimes.

Heathrow wrote:

You have a giant check with the amount on it that they handed you at the race and they didn't mention the error for weeks?

Don't you dare give that money back. They made a huge error and are now hoping to bully you into paying for whatever it is they don't have enough funds to cover.

Keep the money. Any judge would laugh at them the second he saw the photo of the obnoxious giant check.

You sound young and I'm sure you want to do the right thing but they are bullying you. Don't let them. Ignore any further contact from them.

Jcjd wrote:

I don't understand why everyone is saying to keep the money. People make mistakes and you don't have to be a jerk about that. Especially if you won way more than the cost of entry. And especially if they are a charity.

If you're a decent person, then tell them that is too much to pay back all at once but you'd be willing to gradually pay them back.

I agree. I would be a little ticked at their approach of demanding it though. And annoyed at their mistake ... but everyone makes mistakes.

If you do give money back, it should be $450!!!

Yes, we are salivating to make a profit for a complete stranger. The runner was given what was promised to him. He didn't steal, trick, or manipulate his way into an unfair profit. NO races word their websites in the way the RD allegedly does. The RD didn't acknowledge the mistake on race day. I call BS on the RD. If anyone is being nasty, its him. He knows he is in the wrong and is threatening a runner undeservingly. I cannot imagine a professional behaving in the way the RD has in this instance.