Your Opinion on Refund Policies of Rain Out Tournaments ?

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I am posting this merely just to see how everyone else feels about what the proper refund should be . I have a few examples : First off if you call a tournament a 3gg or 4gg or 5gg ( are you entitled to a refund if you don't get all the games promised ) , ( what if you get 2 of 3 or 3 of 4 or 4 of 5 ) ( what about 1 of 3 , 2 of 4 , or 3 of 5 ) and so on . I totally understand you will never get 100% refund even if you get no games in , but a certain % of your fee should be refunded if you are calling a tournament a 3gg or 4gg or so on ! I am not here trying to stir up anything just want to see how everyone feels . I will give an example and see what you think would be a fair refund if one is entitled at all : this is hypothetical , lets say 4gg , you pay $400. entry and you get 1 game in ? what if you get 2 in , or 3 in . Thanks for the opinions in advance !

 

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Play 1 game = $300.00 refund, 2 games = $200.00 refund and 3 games on a 4 gg = no refund. Just my opinion

 

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Each situation is different. Hard to have a stead fast position.

 

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Too many variables just ask teal town....lol... Help prep the fields and still have to pay a gate fee......

just had to.......:lmao:

 

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I run the CBC Fall Classic in Canfield we had a 4gg this year. Never able to get a game started so I refunded 100% of entry and collected no gate.

 

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I am posting this merely just to see how everyone else feels about what the proper refund should be . I have a few examples : First off if you call a tournament a 3gg or 4gg or 5gg ( are you entitled to a refund if you don't get all the games promised ) , ( what if you get 2 of 3 or 3 of 4 or 4 of 5 ) ( what about 1 of 3 , 2 of 4 , or 3 of 5 ) and so on . I totally understand you will never get 100% refund even if you get no games in , but a certain % of your fee should be refunded if you are calling a tournament a 3gg or 4gg or so on ! I am not here trying to stir up anything just want to see how everyone feels . I will give an example and see what you think would be a fair refund if one is entitled at all : this is hypothetical , lets say 4gg , you pay $400. entry and you get 1 game in ? what if you get 2 in , or 3 in . Thanks for the opinions in advance !

So what is your opinion???

 

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I feel that as long as you post your rainout policy prior to the tournament, whatever it may be, all is fair.
I also feel that there are so many variables!
A 4gg and you get 1, you should get at least 275 back out of a 400 entry fee .

 

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Maybe TD should start selling insurance...team gets money back then parents get some of the fee back? Whatever happens if TD did all he/she can do my belief is it's up to the TD unless stated GG with rain policy.

 

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An " 'X' game guarantee" has nothing to do with the weather. It's the minimum number of games you'll play in Pool Play + Elimination rounds with playable fields.

Rained-out game refunds should be handled the same way whether it's a "standard" tournament or a GG tournament.

 

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I will give my opinion and want to say that as in most things in life , if you guarrentee something you should stand by it ! In the 4gg situation , i would tend to agree with Static 97 . No games or 1 game in $300 back , 2 games in $200 , nothing after that. Frustrating that some TD's only have money in mind when running a tourney and loose sight of the teams and the future of their tourney . In my opiinion only promising to pay any money back if they get 1 game or less in a 4gg ( is not a legitamate guarentee ).

 

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There are many different factors, as many have noted. Fields may have been paid for, whether playable or not. Other items such as tourney liablility & other pre-event items are purchased. So TD is out $$$ to start, so hard to give 100% back. We ran tourney last month. We had rain, that stopped games for over 2 hours. We ended up losing some games. Now most could say that the Ump fees for those games were not used, but we actually spent more $$$ getting the fields playable.
I do agree that the TD's who basically do this for a living should have it down & be able to give more back. I thought it was very honorable that a much better refund was made available to most teams at this year's Gem City when it was rained out.
I agree that getting one game in to keep a teams $400+ entry fee is something teams should def consider when signing up for an event. That is ridiculous!
The bottom line is the event is ran as a money maker - so they should do their best to get it in, while still making a profit. never should the weather allow a TD to make more!!!

 

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4GG*

*Weather permitting

 

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There should be a prorated refund for teams that don't play the 'guaranteed' number of games. It is common for professional organizers to hold back 20-50% of the entry fee to cover expenses (and probably some profit) before calculating the refund based on games shorted / games guaranteed. The policy should be disclosed and agreed to as part of the registration process.

Umps and TDs - what is the rainout policy regarding umpires in your area? Some umpire associations out here require minimum payments for games that are cancelled after the scheduled start time. For example, they charge for 1 game if the day's games are cancelled after they get there. Some also charge if umpires are kept on-site during a delay and games are subsequently cancelled.

 

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4GG*

*Weather permitting

This only absolves the TD from being forced to provide the 'guaranteed' number of games - a prorated refund is necessary to remedy the situation.

 

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These tourneys are a money making business. When the weather is perfect and all games are played. A lot of money is being made. But when the weather is not so good, you hear that there are cost that has to be paid before any refund can be returned. It's a business, you roll the dice. If you are going to charge for a product, you should deliver it. I guess I should state that at least one tourney that I have been involved with for the last 4 years is a money maker. Maybe I shouldn't roll all tourneys up in the same blanket.

 

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Ideally a TD should protect the organization they represent in the event weather cancels a significant portion of a tournaments by minimizing the commitment that they would be out of pocket in such a case, and by having a good enough handle on those costs that they can lay out in advance what the policy will be on refunds for unplayed games. I believe that if an entire tournament is rained out despite the best effort to get games in that they probably have the right to recover those uncontrollable out of pocket costs but definitely not make any profit.

 

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As a TD we have to balance the costs incurred with the refunds given. A complete wash out is the easiest to deal with, its been a monsoon for days and the fields are unplayable on Wednesday and the hurricane is stalled off the coast. We still have t-shirt costs, field costs, the trophies are made, the food is in the concession stands and the fields are prepped etc....

The on and off again rains are the worst. Should you cancel the day, shorten the games, send everyone home or wait. The expenses have already been incurred the teams are ready, the umpires are waiting, everyone wants to play. Each field is different in the way it takes water, a few are quick to recover others are lost for the weekend. We have further difficulty in that the fields are in different complexes and even a few miles difference can mean that a field is good to go while another is lost.

There is not a TD alive that doesn't want you to play your games but we play a game outside at tournaments that are hours away from your homes and hearths. Most travel teams appreciate your hard work to get the games in and some will even lend a hand, those teams I treasure. Last year we used over 400 bags of field dry the year before 7. Profits were kicked in the head, but we got the games in. No one gave us an extra dime.

I guess there are for profit tournaments but i can't think of many in our region. Most tournaments are run as fund raisers for the local teams and all 'profits' are plowed back into local softball. Over the years we have built up a war chest to reduce our risk due to bad weather but we are still underwater on Fridays and depend on the partial refund policy to make our nut should we get rain.

If these tournaments are such money makers, are so poorly run, with such bad umpires and evil TD's; please start your own. I am ready for a break.

 

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Pretty sure I'm not questioning the cost involved , the umps , or the TD . I'm just saying that it is not right to guarentee 4 games and to have a refund police that only refunds if you play 1 game or less ! We got 2 games in at a 4gg and are getting $ .0 back ! I will give credit to a tourney we played in Zanesville a couple years ago , it was a 5gg & we got 3 games in and in less than 2 weeks they sent us a refund of $150. ! Thats how you get teams to come back !

 

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This Organization tournament for this year (2014)
Entry Fee for a 5-gg $425.00 weather permitting....
RAIN-OUT REFUND POLICY will be as follows:
No games played $200.00
1 game played $125.00
2 games played $75.00
3 games or more played no refund

 

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This Organization tournament for this year (2014)
Entry Fee for a 5-gg $425.00 weather permitting....
RAIN-OUT REFUND POLICY will be as follows:
No games played $200.00
1 game played $125.00
2 games played $75.00
3 games or more played no refund

Which organization has this policy??? I don't see it tell us this.......