Corrupt Team

First, welcome to the site.
You say "we were promised". Hopefully, that promise was made directly by the guy running things, either verbal or written.
Assuming so, the first move would be to have a civilized face-to-face with him and discuss your grievances. If he's an upstanding guy and you have all your facts straight, you two should be able to come to a fair resolution (pro-rated, future credit, etc.) Maybe there are valid reasons for the differences.
If that doesn't work out, things become much more tricky. Remember, the baseball world is a small one and pretty well connected. Be sure you want to burn that bridge before doing so. In fact, by stating your town, the exact fee and schedule details, you probably already threw out more info than you should have, considering you have labeled the team as corrupt.
If the bridge is worth burning, there's legal action, active word-of-mouth campaign or dropping a burning poop bag on his front door

Sorry. Seriously, my son is a 2012 and has been involved with several club teams with various sports and I have coached some club teams. Just recently, I had our first situation where I had to have such a discussion and was able to work out a fair resolution financially. Unfortunately, you're not able to do anything about getting the season back. Do your homework when signing up. It's a slippery slope. You don't want to be the difficult dad but you want to make sure you and your son make the right decisions with joining such club teams.
Best of luck.

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That's some great advice there cabbagedad. I was especially impressed by your sharing your experience as a coach and having to come to an agreement with a dissatisfied player/family.




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quote:

Originally posted by gotwood4sale:
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That's some great advice there cabbagedad. I was especially impressed by your sharing your experience as a coach and having to come to an agreement with a dissatisfied player/family.




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Thanks Wood. You may be less impressed... in that instance, I was actually playing the role of the paying parent.
As a club coach, we always kept things very transparent, non-profit and usually operated on a piecework model. Also, lots of communication up front, so we never had financial misunderstandings. Now, playing time and positions, on the other hand...

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"Now, playing time and positions, on the other hand..."

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Appreciate the advice. I am from Waxahachie, team is from the DFW area (Don't want to throw anybody under the bus, yet). It was the owner and we have had team parent meetings to discuss the issue where we learned this individual had been banned from tournament baseball hence have not seen him since the day we joined the team. Reason for my title. Mistake was not doing my homework prior to joining. Per your advice, we will set up a meeting with him.

quote:

Originally posted by coryrose:
Mistake was not doing my homework prior to joining.

Moral of the story.

I would look for another team either way.

quote:

Originally posted by coryrose:
Appreciate the advice. I am from Waxahachie, team is from the DFW area (Don't want to throw anybody under the bus, yet). It was the owner and we have had team parent meetings to discuss the issue where we learned this individual had been banned from tournament baseball hence have not seen him since the day we joined the team. Reason for my title. Mistake was not doing my homework prior to joining. Per your advice, we will set up a meeting with him.

Find an attorney to discuss legal ramifications before the meeting. We had a situation here many years ago, an individual took over a very highly respected travel team. Charging the same money, not sure he realized that the previous manager raised funds to help pay for costs, by the end of the summer to keep playing the kids were sleeping in dorms on campuses for free instead of the quality rooms on the schedule and parents having to find transportation for their kids to get back home at one point. The parents got together found an attorney to help and the man was found guilty of fraudulant business practices. At mid summer he pocketed the money and ran.

Keep this in mind, it is a business, when doing your homework ask up front if the manager and his staff profit from their programs. You will be surprised to know that the really good ones don't and the mediocre ones do. Then make your determination based upon the facts that you have gathered.

I am not going to pay 1500 to join a team so the owner can eat and sleep well on the road, while my kid sits the bench.

Be careful.