Facts:
11.95pt; margin-right: 0.1in; vertical-align: baseline; text-justify: inter-ideograph">June 24,
The Claimant applied to attend the National Association of Miniature
Enthusiasts National Convention held in St Louis, MO on July 15-Exhibit A
attached)
She was made aware of the fact that her application was after the
cancellation date as shown on the bottom of Exhibit A
July 14, 2014, Claimant emailed our office indicating that she was not going to be
able to attend the National Convention and wanted the souvenirs and gifts that
are normally handed out during the convention and the gift she had paid for to
attend a special luncheon, to be mailed to her(Exhibit B)
Our office responded with regret and indicated
that the items would be shipped to her in a timely manner
The souvenir gifts that were given out to all paid attendees were a
Limited Edition doll specifically made for the convention (Becky Thatcher doll)
, a set of hand made books (covers only) by Mark Twain, a pictorial album of
the area and a pewter river boatAll were specifically made for the event by
prominent artisans under contractSee Exhibit C
July 20, 2014, The souvenirs and gifts were handed to our operations chairmen to
shipThey had another box to ship to another attendee and in the process of
packaging they inadvertently switched the silver souvenir and a Huck Finn doll
(Claimant received the Huck Finn Doll and the other attendee received
the silver pitcher)
July 23, 2014: Email from Claimant
From: xxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 10:PM
To: members( miniatures.org;***.orq
Subject: House Party Miniatures
It was with excitement that turned to extreme disappointment when I
opened the box containing the house party giftsThey are junk not what I have
seen at other parties I attendedI do not collect dolls or charms and that is
what was givenI do not understand the riverboat charm at allOf
what use is thatAlso, I did not receive the miniature that was given with the
*** luncheon that I paid $for and was told I would receive no refund
as I was unable to attend due to an emergency due to my mother's health
I am extremely disappointed and feel that I have been swindled out
of over $I am very seriously considering sending letters to the Indiana
Department of Commerce and the Indiana Attorney GeneralI feel that I have
been taken advantage and swindledI can see why your membership is way down if
this is the way you running the organization
July 25, response from our office: From: ***@miniatuses.org
To: XXXX
Subject: RE: House Party Miniatures Date: Fri, Jul
15:32:-
Hi XXXXX
I am emailing in regard to the issue of your missing ***
theme luncheon souvenirOthers will (or maybe have already) speak to your
other concernsCan you verify that you got all of the below items in the box
you were mailed:
Souvenir book
Set of books in small box
Silver riverboat "charm"
Doll
Small full-color, glossy paged book of St
Louis
Small silver box with a sterling silver
pitcher
Totebag with favors
We want to make sure what you got and what
you didn't
Thanks for helping us get to the bottom of thisI or someone from
the convention will be in contact
soon about these things
Karin
July 25,
Response from the claimant:
From: xxxxx
Sent:
Friday, July 25, 5:PM
To: ***@miniatures.orq
Subject:
RE: House Party Miniatures
I
doubled checked again everything I receivedI was so disappointed that I just
put the box aside and left itI looked again and there are two dolls, a boy
and girl, and the printies and souvenir book and charm but no silver pitcherI
looked under my furniture in case it might have rolled out and also through all
of the tote bag and nothing was there of a pitcherThank you
August 5, 2014, I wrote an email to both parties involved
apologizing for the mixup in the two souvenirs:
To *** *** *** (NAME Convention
registrants)
XXXX and ZZZZZ
It has come to my attention that there may have been a mixup in
the items that you both were to receive as souvenirs at the St Louis
Convention
***, you were to receive a silver pitcher from the *** ***
Theme Luncheon and instead you received a Pat Boldt doll Huck Finn
***, you did not receive the Huck Finn doll and I am assuming
that it is possible that you got the pitcher instead of the doll
I have tried to call *** to find out what
was in the box that was sent
As the new president of NAME I want to get to the bottom of this
and make sure you both have the gifts that were supposed to be sent to you
The Board of Trustees has nothing to do with the souvenirs that
are handed out at our conventions and houseparties
Each convention chair person is given a budget of $to
purchase souvenirsThat figure has not changed for many years and as you
both know $does not go very farThe Committee selects the souvenirs,
sends their selections to an advisory committee who approves the selection
The Committee tries to purchase at least one
very special giftThe dolls by Pat Boldt are not cheap even at wholesale
pricesThat $also has to cover packaging and shipping of all of the
souvenirs to the Committee so the actual amount of money available for the souvenirs
themselves is lower
Our souvenir makers have to agree to make
over souvenirs two years in advance of the event and yet not receive any
funds until part of them have been deliveredIt is getting increasingly more
difficult to find souvenir artisans that are willing to meet those demands
There is no way to have a souvenir that people are all going to like
Selecting souvenirs that most will like is the best we can do
I am a small scale miniaturist and most of
the time I give away my souvenirs that I receive at National because they are
things I cannot use and I know others would love to haveI attend the
conventions for the camaraderie and the workshops and the fun
I realize that you both had extenuating
circumstances preventing you from attending all or part of the convention and
for that I am truly sorryI would love to see all of our members be able to
attend our NAME functions but I know that is impossible in todays economy and
given the number of members with age related problems
Please accept my apology for the mixup and
confusion that all this causedThe Convention Chairman has Indicated to us
that she mailed everything correctly but obviously that is not the case
I need help from you both*** if you will
agree to send me the Huck Finn doll and *** if you can please check your box
for ***s silver pitcher I will be very grateful and will make sure you each
receive them as you should have
I am willing to pay for the shipping out of my own pocket and hope and pray that I can make two of our members a bit happier
*** ***
president
Name Board of Trustees
The next day I placed two calls to the claimant and the other
attendee to discuss the options since I had not received any answer by email
Neither of them answered their phonesI tried to call them both
the day after that with the same results
August 21, I got an email back from the
other attendee:
On Aug 21, 2014, at 8:AM, ZZZZZZ wrote:
Hi ***, sorry for the delay in
replying, I've had some personal matters to attend to since the conventionI did receive the Silver
pitcher by mistake so let me know how you want to handle the switch so I can
get my Huck Finn dollThanks, ZZZZZZ
August
21, 2014, My response to ZZZZZZ
Thank you so much for the answer
I
will send you a box to put the pitcher in and ship to the office, postage paid
I
will do the same with Mrs XXXXX( so that she can send the doll to the office
(she is being copied on this email so she is aware of the pending exchange)
*** will do the exchange
and inform the Convention Chairman that the exchange has been completed
On behalf of NAME, I
sincerely apologize for the error and thank you for your honesty and reply
***
President, NAME Board of Trustee
Facts:
11.95pt; margin-right: 0.1in; vertical-align: baseline; text-justify: inter-ideograph">June 24,
The Claimant applied to attend the National Association of Miniature
Enthusiasts National Convention held in St Louis, MO on July 15-Exhibit A
attached)
She was made aware of the fact that her application was after the
cancellation date as shown on the bottom of Exhibit A
July 14, 2014, Claimant emailed our office indicating that she was not going to be
able to attend the National Convention and wanted the souvenirs and gifts that
are normally handed out during the convention and the gift she had paid for to
attend a special luncheon, to be mailed to her(Exhibit B)
Our office responded with regret and indicated
that the items would be shipped to her in a timely manner
The souvenir gifts that were given out to all paid attendees were a
Limited Edition doll specifically made for the convention (Becky Thatcher doll)
, a set of hand made books (covers only) by Mark Twain, a pictorial album of
the area and a pewter river boatAll were specifically made for the event by
prominent artisans under contractSee Exhibit C
July 20, 2014, The souvenirs and gifts were handed to our operations chairmen to
shipThey had another box to ship to another attendee and in the process of
packaging they inadvertently switched the silver souvenir and a Huck Finn doll
(Claimant received the Huck Finn Doll and the other attendee received
the silver pitcher)
July 23, 2014: Email from Claimant
From: xxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 10:PM
To: members( miniatures.org;***.orq
Subject: House Party Miniatures
It was with excitement that turned to extreme disappointment when I
opened the box containing the house party giftsThey are junk not what I have
seen at other parties I attendedI do not collect dolls or charms and that is
what was givenI do not understand the riverboat charm at allOf
what use is thatAlso, I did not receive the miniature that was given with the
*** luncheon that I paid $for and was told I would receive no refund
as I was unable to attend due to an emergency due to my mother's health
I am extremely disappointed and feel that I have been swindled out
of over $I am very seriously considering sending letters to the Indiana
Department of Commerce and the Indiana Attorney GeneralI feel that I have
been taken advantage and swindledI can see why your membership is way down if
this is the way you running the organization
July 25, response from our office: From: ***@miniatuses.org
To: XXXX
Subject: RE: House Party Miniatures Date: Fri, Jul
15:32:-
Hi XXXXX
I am emailing in regard to the issue of your missing ***
theme luncheon souvenirOthers will (or maybe have already) speak to your
other concernsCan you verify that you got all of the below items in the box
you were mailed:
Souvenir book
Set of books in small box
Silver riverboat "charm"
Doll
Small full-color, glossy paged book of St
Louis
Small silver box with a sterling silver
pitcher
Totebag with favors
We want to make sure what you got and what
you didn't
Thanks for helping us get to the bottom of thisI or someone from
the convention will be in contact
soon about these things
Karin
July 25,
Response from the claimant:
From: xxxxx
Sent:
Friday, July 25, 5:PM
To: ***@miniatures.orq
Subject:
RE: House Party Miniatures
I
doubled checked again everything I receivedI was so disappointed that I just
put the box aside and left itI looked again and there are two dolls, a boy
and girl, and the printies and souvenir book and charm but no silver pitcherI
looked under my furniture in case it might have rolled out and also through all
of the tote bag and nothing was there of a pitcherThank you
August 5, 2014, I wrote an email to both parties involved
apologizing for the mixup in the two souvenirs:
To *** *** *** (NAME Convention
registrants)
XXXX and ZZZZZ
It has come to my attention that there may have been a mixup in
the items that you both were to receive as souvenirs at the St Louis
Convention
***, you were to receive a silver pitcher from the *** ***
Theme Luncheon and instead you received a Pat Boldt doll Huck Finn
***, you did not receive the Huck Finn doll and I am assuming
that it is possible that you got the pitcher instead of the doll
I have tried to call *** to find out what
was in the box that was sent
As the new president of NAME I want to get to the bottom of this
and make sure you both have the gifts that were supposed to be sent to you
The Board of Trustees has nothing to do with the souvenirs that
are handed out at our conventions and houseparties
Each convention chair person is given a budget of $to
purchase souvenirsThat figure has not changed for many years and as you
both know $does not go very farThe Committee selects the souvenirs,
sends their selections to an advisory committee who approves the selection
The Committee tries to purchase at least one
very special giftThe dolls by Pat Boldt are not cheap even at wholesale
pricesThat $also has to cover packaging and shipping of all of the
souvenirs to the Committee so the actual amount of money available for the souvenirs
themselves is lower
Our souvenir makers have to agree to make
over souvenirs two years in advance of the event and yet not receive any
funds until part of them have been deliveredIt is getting increasingly more
difficult to find souvenir artisans that are willing to meet those demands
There is no way to have a souvenir that people are all going to like
Selecting souvenirs that most will like is the best we can do
I am a small scale miniaturist and most of
the time I give away my souvenirs that I receive at National because they are
things I cannot use and I know others would love to haveI attend the
conventions for the camaraderie and the workshops and the fun
I realize that you both had extenuating
circumstances preventing you from attending all or part of the convention and
for that I am truly sorryI would love to see all of our members be able to
attend our NAME functions but I know that is impossible in todays economy and
given the number of members with age related problems
Please accept my apology for the mixup and
confusion that all this causedThe Convention Chairman has Indicated to us
that she mailed everything correctly but obviously that is not the case
I need help from you both*** if you will
agree to send me the Huck Finn doll and *** if you can please check your box
for ***s silver pitcher I will be very grateful and will make sure you each
receive them as you should have
I am willing to pay for the shipping out of my own pocket and hope and pray that I can make two of our members a bit happier
*** ***
president
Name Board of Trustees
The next day I placed two calls to the claimant and the other
attendee to discuss the options since I had not received any answer by email
Neither of them answered their phonesI tried to call them both
the day after that with the same results
August 21, I got an email back from the
other attendee:
On Aug 21, 2014, at 8:AM, ZZZZZZ wrote:
Hi ***, sorry for the delay in
replying, I've had some personal matters to attend to since the conventionI did receive the Silver
pitcher by mistake so let me know how you want to handle the switch so I can
get my Huck Finn dollThanks, ZZZZZZ
August
21, 2014, My response to ZZZZZZ
Thank you so much for the answer
I
will send you a box to put the pitcher in and ship to the office, postage paid
I
will do the same with Mrs XXXXX( so that she can send the doll to the office
(she is being copied on this email so she is aware of the pending exchange)
*** will do the exchange
and inform the Convention Chairman that the exchange has been completed
On behalf of NAME, I
sincerely apologize for the error and thank you for your honesty and reply
***
President, NAME Board of Trustee