mbscoutmom 10 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 We've been trying to contact a former leader who owes the pack money, but he doesn't answer his phone or return calls. What should we do next? Where should we go for help with this, the district or the CO? Link to post Share on other sites
John-in-KC 311 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 OK, The first question is HOW MUCH MONEY? (and that's not for broadcast here). If it's hundreds or thousands of dollars, then you start getting more serious. If, OTOH, it's $10-$50, is it really worth the time and labor? Next, contact your Chartered Organization. The specific contact person is your COR. Your unit Treasury is their property. Document the debt, and document the attempts you've made to request he make good on the debt. BTW, the COR should take care of informing the Council. Next, the COR may send out on his authority, or may ask the Committee to send out a certified letter, return receipt. Be courteous, but ask the former leader to help the unit by repaying the debt. If the letter comes back "returned to sender" then you know why the former leader hasn't called back; he's left town. Beyond that, it's the Chartered Partner's call on whether or not to pursue more drastic attempts to regain the money. Good luck. Link to post Share on other sites
AkelaT 10 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 John is right on in his assessment, unless it is a large amount and unless you have solid evidence that they took money not owed to them your COR and CO will not even bother with the matter. A letter probably won't work if the leader feels it was his money so the only option left is to sue. With lawyers billing out at $500 an hour and higher these days you really need to ask yourself, is it worth it. Thats why all unit bank accounts should have a two signature minimum requirement for all checks as well as to open and close an account. Good luck and I hope you can appeal to the guy/woman sense of honesty. Link to post Share on other sites
mbscoutmom 10 Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 I wouldn't be concerned if it were only a few $. I don't know the exact amount, but it's in the $100s, and it's money we need to re-charter in April Link to post Share on other sites
ScoutNut 147 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Your District will not do anything about this. Contact your CO. Your Pack belongs to them, so does the missing money. Before you start, forget the phone calls & have the CM or CC make a personal visit to his/her house. If that does not work, follow up with your CO. Good Luck. Link to post Share on other sites
briantshore 14 Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 We are having that same problem. We have a scouts family that still owes the pack over $700 dollars from fall popcorn sales. One of the problems I see from BSA, is there is no signature documenting trasfer of merchandise and money. Becouse of this there is no proof that the popcorn was received by the family, of that money was or was not received. My wife is with Girl Scouts, and they are very good at following up on the paper work. Could the Pack take them to small claims court if the registered letter is not replied to? So far the Cubmaster has not initiated any response at all. Link to post Share on other sites
briantshore 14 Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 We have a scouts family that still owe over $700.00 from fall popcorn. The bigest problem is since there are no documents showing receipt of the popcorn, and any money received from the rest of the pack, how can we prove that the money was not turned in. My wife is with the girlscout, and they are very good at getting documents that show accountablilty. Could the Pack do this in small claims court? Another problem, we have not been very agresive on following up on this matter. Something that I am not very pleased with. Link to post Share on other sites
Lisabob 13 Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Egads Brian, this is something the pack can and should fix. Next time you do a sale, have the committee agree upon some procedures regarding access to and responsibility for the product. We have used a sign out sheet for any family that wants to take product, either to do show & deliver or to deliver on orders previously taken. This cuts down on questions of who has which products in their possession. As part of our sign out we document in writing that once you sign it out, you are responsible for it financially. If you take more than you need you can return it (within the pack - not the district level) but until you do, you get charged for the product. We also set an end date on our sale so people can't return it 6-8-10 months later. We did this because of a problem where someone had a lot of popcorn and "lost track" of it. Nowhere near the $700 you're talking about but still enough money to cause concern. Frankly, a $700 deficit would've stretched our pack's budget to the limits. By the way - we also must sign paperwork with council in order to collect our pack's popcorn order. So there's a clear paper trail documenting who has what, when, and where. Lisa'bob Link to post Share on other sites
ScoutNut 147 Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 If you have Excel or Word it is a simple matter to make up your own receipt. I have a receipt that shows the scout's name, date, prize, number of units per type of popcorn taken, cost of each popcorn type, Grand total $ due, amount/date paid, scout parent signature, & popcorn kernel signature. The scout's adult gets 1 copy & I keep 1 copy. I also have excel spreadsheets showing show/sell distribution to scouts who worked, what each boy sold by den, total Pack received, sold, returned, transfered to Troop, for show/sell, take-order, & total. Just because BSA does not give you forms does not mean you can't create your own. In the last 6 years of council product returns I have worked, it is the folks with their own spreadsheets & paperwork that are the ones who breeze right thru. Link to post Share on other sites
Lynda J 10 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Before a boy in our unit can take part in Popcorn Sales his parents have to sign an authorization that says he can sell popcorn. It also states that any money not turned in will be the parents responsibility. We have a sign off sheet that a parent must sign when the popcorn is picked up and we give them a recipt any time they turn in money. We did this after a boy in the pack left owing well over $300 several years ago. But you do need to contact your CO. They may see fit to take legal action. Ours looked into it but what happened was the boy had the money. His mothers "crack head" boyfriend stole the money. No point it doing anything. It would have only hurt the boy. Link to post Share on other sites
evmori 11 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 What do you do? You go to the local magistrate & file a lawsuit against them. That will get their attention! Technically, this is theft. And all court costs will be paid by the thief. Ed Mori Troop 1 1 Peter 4:10 Link to post Share on other sites
nldscout 18 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 ED, Problem with sueing is you must have standing to sue. The only one who can sue is the CO and they don't want the publicity most of time Link to post Share on other sites
evmori 11 Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 The signers on the checking account can sue. They have standing. They are the keepers of the unit's funds. Take 'em to court! They stole from the unit & deserve the hassle! If you do nothing, you are condoning this action & it could happen again! Ed Mori Troop 1 1 Peter 4:10 Link to post Share on other sites
MarkS 11 Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 If you cannot get them on the phone, before suing them I suggest you send them a polite letter explaining what the owe and what for, and include a self-addressed-stamped-envelope for the return check. You might find if you make it convenient for them to pay, they will.(This message has been edited by MarkS) Link to post Share on other sites
mbscoutmom 10 Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Great news! He returned everything he owed us. We didn't have to involve anyone else. Thanks for all your advice. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now