Race wants prize money back

I'm glad Esquire apologized. Some of his posts were unnecessarily hurtful.

For "pack of wolves" read:"Free and open forum that Bob had no control over and where he got his deserved comeuppance, especially after some of his naughty and aggressive posts".Seems like you're still playing the victim Bob.

The Wolfs Lair wrote:

[quote]Rdsurfingmadonna wrote:

... I'd hate to go through these pack of wolves again.

Best,

Bob

[quote]

That "pack of wolves" as you call them were just trying to get to the truth, seems some still are.

Hi Bob

Adele man wrote:

I'm glad Esquire apologized. Some of his posts were unnecessarily hurtful.

Esquire wrote:

That was an excellent last post Bob. If I was your lawyer or on your board, I would advise you to leave it right there.

Bob didn't take your advice, now he's opened another can of worms. Oh dear.

Rdsurfingmadonna wrote:

That's really nice of you "Let's Run Spirit" but again this is my mistake and I will cover it. No one but no one should have to pay for my error. Put your money towards a local charity that you really love or better yet, volunteer a few hours of your time this holiday season to help some less fortunate ones if you don't already. We can all make a difference if we carve out a little time to help others, even if its just dumping some of your old clothes off at the local Salvation Army.

Thanks again for your kind words "Let's Run Spirit".

Happy Holidays :)

Bob

Bob,

You must be new to this board. We at LRC have a lot of disposable income. Checks will be coming your way.

This needs to be made into a straight to DVD Film...it ticks so many boxes.... but its needs suggestions of who would play the main characters!!

Rdsurfingmadonna wrote:

So when you look at our 990 for 2014 keep that in mind. If you look at how much we've donated since November 2013 you'll see that we have donated almost $140,000. That a HUGE amount considering the size of our organization.

If you guys don't understand that, then I give up. We've received multiple awards for the money we have given out throughout San Diego. Do a little Google research to see just how much money our organization has given out. I've attached a few articles from the papers for you....

I'd prefer to use actual tax forms rather than anecdotes and stories from a local paper that likely used you as their source.

That was a reasonable explanation for why your 2014 990 looks so messed up. A recently formed non-profit may have some strange looking 990s as they build up their assets... so how about this for being fair since you claim their is a lag between raising the money and spending it.

In 2013, you had 84,282 in revenues. I'm going to assume the $33,787 in other expenses was for the race (though you didn't show it how you should have). So, the real revenue was $50,495.

In 2014, they had $32,486 in expenses for actual charity work (non salary or admin expenses).

So, if I use your method, still only 64% went to your causes. Still not great, but not as bad. I sincerely hope your 2015 990 shows 80+% spent on your causes.

It's over, and Bob doesn't owe us anything, but I'm still curious about 2 things:

- Bob says he made a mistake but keeps insisting his mistake was assuming runners understood the $1800 was total for male and female. This still doesn't explain why he wrote the checks. He's been asked this many times but has not answered. Did he misunderstand? Did someone else write the checks and he just didn't catch it on race day or when they mailed the real checks? How did the runners' misinterpretation lead to him writing the checks for the wrong amount? Did he try to give them $900 at the race but they held guns to his head and make him write $1800? The "my mistake was assuming runners had sense..." excuse does not make sense.

- Was the race also run in 2014? If so, how were the prizes advertised and awarded then? How is it that the confusion only arose this year?

Again, he is not legally or morally obligated to answer these, but I'm still curious.

Hollywood Producer wrote:This needs to be made into a straight to DVD Film...it ticks so many boxes.... but its needs suggestions of who would play the main characters!!

Find an actor and tell him "we'll pay you $50,000 to be in this film".

I'm sure they'd understand that the $50,000 is actually the total amount paid to all actors.

Congrats to the RD for doing the right thing in the end. I hope Barb McKeever watched this.

LetsRun should give Bob's race some free publicity.

This case is done, let's go back to the Mike Rossi thread.

The worst part of this was threatening legal action while demanding half of the money be sent back when a simple polite request was all that was needed.

In the end, all things have been settled by this thread.

And that is quite rare which is another reason this is the thread of the year.

Good luck to all in the future.

Mike Ruiz wrote:

This case is done, let's go back to the Mike Rossi thread.

Nope. I'm outa there. I posted hundreds of times in there, but it eventually got too creepy for me and/or I tired of it.

This one is more fun. Alas, it's over if the RD ever just stops posting and trying to defend himself. He said he made a mistake and has dropped his effort to get the money back but can't quite let it go.

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.

Without knowing exactly how the interaction with the race directors went down, I tend to agree with you. And, honestly, for me, even IF the race directors were immediately being jerks about this (threatening a lawsuit which is bogus really considering the small amount of money per person), I know that I would pay back the money. As you said, sometimes people make mistakes, and if YOU were one to make such a mistake, you would wish for the good actions of those who benefited from your mistake.

Now, IF the race directors immediately came at me hard with the bogus lawyer threat, I would probably get them on the phone and tell them that I know that is an empty threat and make them say so before giving them back their money. Bullies are not to be rewarded without getting a little bit of what for.

Do know this though -- just because they made a mistake and just because they haven't handled this well and just because it leaves a bad taste in your mouth doesn't mean that you shouldn't pay them back; don't rationalize keeping the money. Do so at your leisure (and not something stupid like a dollar a month), but pay them back -- take 6 months to do so if you need to, but it is the right thing to do.

I'm sorry Flagpole, but if I saw a race that advertised $1800 for the winner ... and I won the race ... and they sent me a check for $1800, I wouldn't feel any obligation to give any of it back.

Individuals can make their own decisions on that, I guess.

Does anyone know what the Pike's Peak 10K actually pays?

http://www.pikespeek10k.org/awards/#sthash.vVXrrOwS.dpbs

It says:

1st place Male/Female $300.00

So do you win $300 or $150 as the overall winner?

Here is Falmouth:

http://www.falmouthroadrace.com/prize-money

Open Men and Women Prize Money

1. $ 8,000

2. $ 7,000

3. $ 6,000

4. $ 5,000

Is that $8000 for the winner or $4000?

Star wrote:

I'm sorry Flagpole, but if I saw a race that advertised $1800 for the winner ... and I won the race ... and they sent me a check for $1800, I wouldn't feel any obligation to give any of it back.

Well then, that would be the wrong decision. It's one thing if they were reneging on the prize money, but this was clearly a horrible mistake that they made and not them trying to swindle anyone. Someone just made a very stupid mistake. You will have a lot of people who agree with you, but that doesn't make it right. Low level of integrity to keep that money.

Flagpole wrote:

Star wrote:

I'm sorry Flagpole, but if I saw a race that advertised $1800 for the winner ... and I won the race ... and they sent me a check for $1800, I wouldn't feel any obligation to give any of it back.

Well then, that would be the wrong decision. It's one thing if they were reneging on the prize money, but this was clearly a horrible mistake that they made and not them trying to swindle anyone. Someone just made a very stupid mistake. You will have a lot of people who agree with you, but that doesn't make it right. Low level of integrity to keep that money.

IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH FLAGPOLE YOU ARE WRONG!!!

Just ask Flagpole.

every single time wrote:

IF YOU DON'T AGREE WITH FLAGPOLE YOU ARE WRONG!!!

Just ask Flagpole.

This mistake by the race is the exact same as a Burger King cashier mistakenly giving you back $10 instead of $5...it's just that it is a bigger degree. If you would give the Burger King employee the extra money back (and you should) then you should do the same to the race.

How is this even arguable? Sorry if I have to be the voice of reason, but there are wrong and right ways to go about your life, and keeping money that was mistakenly given to you (EVEN IF IT WAS MISTAKENLY ADVERTISED) is wrong.

I hate to use this next example because it makes it all about the individual, but imagine if you make the mistake and could possibly be on the hook for that money (or lose your job)...wouldn't you want the people to give the money back? BUT, integrity involves doing the right thing EVEN IF you couldn't imagine the same thing happening to you. Right is right.

I'm not saying the OP shouldn't be a little pissed about it. We have a right to be upset by mistakes that happen, BUT how you deal with them should matter, and the right thing here is to give back the money that they want returned.

Sad that I even have to defend this position.

Flagpole wrote:

This mistake by the race is the exact same as a Burger King cashier mistakenly giving you back $10 instead of $5..

No it's not. Read the friggin thread. Every point you're trying to make was made 20 pages ago.

No, you're incorreect Flagpole. It would not be the same as a cashier giving you the incorrect amount back. It would instead be the same as a store advertising a price online of $5, you go into the store and see the price tag of $5, you get to the cash register and they ask for $5. You pay the $5 and go on your merry way. You get a letter in the mail a month later saying "Hey so it's actually $10, you should send us another $5 or we'll sue.