Round 2

Subject:	Re: China Trip – Other Experiences – Contact
Date:	Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:46:24 -0400
From:	Jack Ludwick <jludwick@ieee.org>
To:	Wade West <wade@afauctions.com>
CC:	deleted

Although I had previously composed this response to your previous note, below, I held off sending it to consider your later one, sent May 30 at 3:30 PM,

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I had thought that one reminder of how our name actually was spelled would have been sufficient, particularly since you have seen fit to educate us, although you agree as frequent travelers – indeed, my first passport was issued in 1957 and has always been active – that TSA needs to have its correct spelling.

You mention buyer's remorse as a possible reason for people wishing to cancel a purchase. You neglected to mention the actual reason in this case: seller's non-performance. But fortunately bidders would not not have to be reassembled if our purchase were missing, since you were able to sell another one for the same amount to an unsuccessful bidder.

You also found it necessary to promote the benefits of travel insurance. If you had even glanced at my website – I did thoroughly investigate yours, as previously mentioned – you would have noticed an extensive article about that subject: http://www.jludwick.com/Notes/Insurance/Insurance.html.

As for the number of vendors you have consulted on our behalf, you have yet to explain how the evidence I've previously submitted doesn't indicate a simple repackaging of an already existing tour. We realize that the amount you find fit to refund, after your extreme claimed cancellation fees of $970, is approximately that charged by Virgin Vacations, although not including round-trip Washington to Los Angeles flights – or does that actually account for the extra $970? You may notice the irony documented in the aforementioned travel insurance account that our "fee-for-service" travel agent charged us only $100 each when our trip had to be cancelled.

As for your previous confident assertion that we had been called at our home phone number of 703-533-1235 on May 22 (which indeed as Attachment 2 in our 30 May email shows, we listed as our daytime and evening number) and a message was left on our answering device – as would be verified by toll records available from your telephone company; perhaps the reason we have heard nothing further is that you discovered that they actually revealed that my mobile phone, 703-217-9596, was inexplicably called instead. Since I only activate that phone when I'm making or expecting a call, I didn't access the voice mail message received by my wireless provider until several days later.

I had expected, if not an apology for your baseless claim, at least an admission that you were in error. I hardly expected another accusation that relating the reason you were incorrect somehow implied that we now knew that you were not deceiving us! Added to the previous accusations of "scam" and "plot," such rhetoric is becoming increasingly tiresome.

And as for your description of the wonders of China, although I have yet to visit, Betty Lou was a guest as a member of an international education delegation some 20 years ago. We have no need to be convinced of the desirability of such a trip – after all, we would not have bid on it otherwise; it is only the implementation that has failed.

As for your statement that if our initial choice of dates was not acceptable, we will be given another choice of between 20 and 40 dates, your "Travel Dates" form (also in Attachment 2) states quite the opposite: "Your travel award is currently available for departure dates on the dates shown below." (As previously mentioned, only dates that weren't already sold out by Virgin Vacations.) "Other dates are either not available or are pre-booked/reserved for other travelers, conventions, etc." It's hard for any reasonable person to accept your new interpretation of these rules.

Regards,

Jack Ludwick

On 5/29/2012 3:14 PM, Wade West wrote:

Last week I promised you we would obtain information regarding cancellation and a possible refund as you had requested. At that time I told you we would be able to have that information by today. We have spoken with a number of the vendors for you.

As you know, the rules of the auction as contained in the program distributed to each attendee specify that all bids are final. That is a necessity in any fundraising auction as an organization such as the orchestra cannot reassemble all the bidders to auction an item again if one of the successful bidders then develops buyer's remorse and decides to back out of their commitment, or for any other reason. That rule was also specified in writing on the receipt all winning bidders sign at the time of the auction and is also again contained on the auction award certificate you signed and submitted to begin your trip planning.

We do realize that from time to time some award winners are unable to complete a trip they have purchased due to illness, a death in the family or other similar event. That is why we strongly advise all award winners, in writing, to purchase trip interruption/cancellation insurance to protect them in such an eventuality. I do not know if you purchased such insurance and if you did, I do not know if it would cover your decision to not take the trip.

When a package has been purchased at a locked in, date-insensitive price, airline, cruise, accommodation significant penalties. It is not unusual for some of those penalties to be 50% or even 75% of the original purchase price. In many cases, the forfeiture is 100%.

At this point, you have three viable options.

#1: Now that you know we were not deceiving you regarding our attempt to contact you by phone, about the trip itself or anything else regarding any of our trips, you could take the trip and enjoy it as our other travelers do. If you have not been to China, you will find it a unique and amazing part of the world. In many areas, young Chinese people want to walk alongside you (with your permission) and practice their conversational English. Chinese schools do a good job of teaching "proper" English, but idiomatic and conversational English is best learned by interacting with Americans who have come to their country. As one travels through some of the agricultural areas of China, it is amazing to see labor forces of tens of thousands of people planting, harvesting, and tending to their crops 24 hours a day, often by moonlight, usually without any mechanization to help them. The bustling atmosphere of major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai is way beyond anything we can ever envision here within the United States. Finally, China is truly described as the place where the East meets the West. In Shanghai you can walk for as little as two blocks and see the architecture suddenly change from late 19th-century European with finally built stately buildings you would expect to see in London, Paris or Vienna to hundreds of years-old completely different Oriental architecture. Of course it goes without saying that the shopping in China is unmatched anywhere in the world.

#2: You can sell the trip as one of the other award winners did. There is a small administrative charge to change the names once the date request form has been sent in such as yours was. That would not exceed $32 per person. The trip the new purchasers receive would be exactly the same trip you would receive under the same terms and conditions as every award winner enjoys.

#3: We can effect a refund for you as per your prior request. As you previously mentioned, the contribution to the McLean Orchestra and our 10% expenses and fees are not appropriate in this discussion. The total cancellation fees would be $970, creating a net refund you if you desire one of $5993. The low cancellation fees, in fact the ability to create and the cancellation at all was done as a favor to us and passed on to you, if you wish it,

It is, of course, our wish that you would enjoy the trip as each of our other travelers do. In order for us to do that however, we need to plan and execute your trip in the same way that has proven to be effective for our other travelers over the years. We realize from the outset that this may take some small time longer that you are accustomed to in just calling a fee-for-service travel agent. One of the reasons it take some additional time is that we do everything in writing. This gives us the advantage of accurate records and also provides us with the documentation to solve any problem if an airline, cruise line or other accommodation was to misspell your name before, during, or after your travel.

As a frequent traveler, you probably know this is made especially important by the new regulations of the Department of Homeland Security. Until a few years ago, up to three individual letters could be incorrect in a reservation name and the airline would still board the passengers. For example, if your name was listed as Lidwag, Ludwigs, or even Ludoff, you still would have been boarded. Now reservations must be letter perfect along with gender identification and dates of birth. By having this in writing from our earliest interactions with travelers, we can always prove to any airline or other vendor that a name spelling error is their fault and ensure the passenger is fully accommodated. The only other difficulty is that your choices dates as you originally submitted in writing may no longer be available. When you first demanded a refund, those dates were released for other travelers. Even if your original choice of dates is not available, you will be given a choice of between 20 to 40 other dates to ensure one meets your needs

Please let me know your irrevocable choice of actions within the next 48 hours. The vendors were far from happy regarding the administrative work such a refund creates. We have a very limited time to hold onto the cancellation commitments if that is your choice. I will be out of the office for good part of the time but my administrative assistant will receive your e-mail and act on it. The choice to sell the trip would have to also be chosen within the same 48 hours, but you would have another approximately 30 months to effect that sale.

Thank you again for your support of the Orchestra.

Sincerely,

Wade West

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