ASCN Tournament of Champions 2006

Daniel862 · Post by **Daniel862** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:31 pm

Has anyone who had registered for that tournament received a refund for registration fees from May 2006? Has anyone even heard from the facilitators of this tournament? Any insight would be valuable and greatly appreciated.

We are about to send a letter to their home office in an effort to recover $2750, and if we hear nothing, we will pursue legal action.

quizbowllee · Post by **quizbowllee** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:32 pm

Daniel862 wrote:Has anyone who had registered for that tournament received a refund for registration fees from May 2006? Has anyone even heard from the facilitators of this tournament? Any insight would be valuable and greatly appreciated.

We are about to send a letter to their home office in an effort to recover $2750, and if we hear nothing, we will pursue legal action.

Sue them!

Zip Zap Rap Pants · Post by **Zip Zap Rap Pants** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:49 pm

I heard via wikipedia that there was some team that made it all the way to Chicago without hearing about the cancellation, and not only did they not get a tournament registration fee refund, they also lost a few g's on flights and hotels etc. I don't want to start another discourse on the good and bad points of ASCN, but really I don't see why anyone would pay that kind of registration fee for any tournament in the first place, unless a team basically has a blank check from their school to go wherever they want.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:40 pm

Because:
A) A lot of teams don't know any better. You'd be surprised how many teams don't know what NAQT or PACE are. If someone happened to find out about ASCN first, then that's the only National tournament they know to go to.
B) Some teams remained loyal to ASCN until the bitter end. Savannah (MO), for instance, always went to ASCN over NAQT and PACE. Of course, they could have done well at any of them, but they had been going to ASCN for as long as it existed and treated it as if it was the true national championship for all this time.

AKKOLADE · Post by **AKKOLADE** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:30 pm

Splitting the discussion of NAQT/PACE vs ASCN/NAC to a second thread so we can keep a focus on how ASCN ripped off multiple teams. It's too important for that point to be lost in a format discussion.

Matt Weiner · Post by **Matt Weiner** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:40 pm

Isn't it weird how tournaments which are themselves bad as quizbowl often demonstrate bad ethics as well?

Frater Taciturnus · Post by **Frater Taciturnus** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:27 pm

Matt Weiner wrote:Isn't it weird how tournaments which are themselves bad as quizbowl often demonstrate bad ethics as well?

Isn't it weird when people pose hypothetical quandaries where the answer is already commonly known?

(no, just art reflecting nature in a mirror.)

But yes, those guys were scumbags. I hope everyone who got ripped off gets their money back.

Byko · Post by **Byko** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:45 am

I've at least dug up an old address and phone number that may or may not work for ASCN. I'd be interested in people giving it a shot to complain, pursue legal action, etc.:

800 5th Street Suite 125
Sioux City, IA 51101
1-800-252-4289

STPickrell · Post by **STPickrell** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:19 am

Was there a corporate entity name to which checks were issued and/or that ran the tournament?

A lawyer could probably track down whether the corporation dissolved itself, declared bankruptcy, etc., or if it was just a bunch of people running the show as a partnership of some sort.

Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) · Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:47 am

What was the guy who ran ASCN's name? I thought it was something like Gary Lifschutz.

Daniel862 · Post by **Daniel862** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:05 pm

charlieDfromNKC wrote:What was the guy who ran ASCN's name? I thought it was something like Gary Lifschutz.

It was Gary Lipshutz. The organization was the American Scholastic Competition Network. I found an address and phone number in the yellow pages, but I'll try the address posted previously as well. Tried calling the phone number I found...received no answer. Go figure.

Daniel862 · Post by **Daniel862** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:08 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:I heard via wikipedia that there was some team that made it all the way to Chicago without hearing about the cancellation, and not only did they not get a tournament registration fee refund, they also lost a few g's on flights and hotels etc. I don't want to start another discourse on the good and bad points of ASCN, but really I don't see why anyone would pay that kind of registration fee for any tournament in the first place, unless a team basically has a blank check from their school to go wherever they want.

That's true. Due to airline arrangements, plus a generous relative of a team member who bought us Cubs tickets, we went anyway as a reward for winning state. While we were up in the Sears Tower, we happened to run into that group. While we had been notified, they hadn't. It was insane.

The Quizbowl Resource Center

ASCN Tournament of Champions 2006

Have you received a refund for registration fees from ASCN Chicago, May 2006?

ASCN Tournament of Champions 2006

Re: ASCN Tournament of Champions 2006