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Has anybody had any experience with PBR cancelling a 2 day showcase the day before it is to start? So far, they are offering a "credit" or trying to send us to an out of state tournament. We did not cancel, they did. So shouldn't our money be refunded? Has anybody else dealt with this issue? We thought PBR was a well known showcase?

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PABaseball posted:

No way. Unless it was cancelled for weather they really need to give money back. Put the pressure on them and they will refund. 

You can't cancel my order the day before it was supposed to arrive and give me store credit. 

That's how we felt about it too. It's not cancelled due to weather. It states a "scheduling conflict". Sorry, but that's not our fault. And there's nothing else even remotely the same anytime soon. The offer was for us to go out of state to another showcase... a one day showcase on a Sunday. 

 

4FunFinders posted:

In Ohio, I believe PBR's cancellation policy (regardless of reason for the cancel) is a full credit to be used at a future PBR event.  Nothing I'm aware of dictated what future event, just that it would be a credit rather than a refund.  May vary state to state, but that has been my experience.  

I could not find an actual policy. Do you have access to one? If so, would you be willing to share? I'm just trying to determine what I'm up against here to try to get my $300+ back in my pocket instead of theirs.

 

Sure.  Here is the info I had for the Ohio PBR Policy.  

https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/refundpolicyoh

"The Prep Baseball Report Ohio refund policy is that of a transfer nature. Prep Baseball Report Ohio will permit the transfer of your payment to another Prep Baseball Report Ohio event that may be used during the current clinic schedule or during the following year of scheduled clinics. Again, registration fees are of a transfer nature and will not be refunded.

If an event is cancelled due to weather, players will be issued a full credit to a future event."

4FunFinders posted:

Sure.  Here is the info I had for the Ohio PBR Policy.  

https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/refundpolicyoh

"The Prep Baseball Report Ohio refund policy is that of a transfer nature. Prep Baseball Report Ohio will permit the transfer of your payment to another Prep Baseball Report Ohio event that may be used during the current clinic schedule or during the following year of scheduled clinics. Again, registration fees are of a transfer nature and will not be refunded.

If an event is cancelled due to weather, players will be issued a full credit to a future event."

Thank you. It appears their policy applies to a player needing to cancel OR weather affecting the showcase. I cannot find any stated policy for GA. 

Yes, if the event was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict, that is not your error or your problem and absolutely you should get a $ refund (not credit refund).  I suppose a cancellation due to weather could be treated differently (as long as the customer is made aware of the policy).  But this cancellation is not due to weather it is due to human error.

I'm surprised that they won't issue a payment refund - doesn't sound right.

d-mac posted:

Tell them if they don't give your money back you are contacting the state attorney general.  Just because they have a policy it doesn't mean that policy is legal. 

I agree. Hate to be "that" parent but it's a good bit of money and there is no compelling reason to have cancelled the day before. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how they feel entitled to keep our money. Very odd.

In poking around, I could not find a policy for GA specifically.  Many states seem to have similar policies to that of Ohio (even though they do not call out whether PBR cancels an event or the player).  

With that said, I did find a policy in Kentucky that does call out what happens if PBR cancels for reasons other than weather.  Just sending this along a FYI since I'm pretty sure every PBR is managed/run at the state level.

https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/refundpolicyKY

"If an event is cancelled by Prep Baseball Report prior to the start of the event for any reason other than weather, a full refund or credit towards a future Prep Baseball Report Kentucky event will be issued." 

nycdad posted:

Only thing I'd add is, you may want to speak with them again before going the charge back route. If you plan on going to PBR events in the future and selected  for state games, etc, it could affect your son. It shouldn't but it's something I would think about.

Agreed. I'd like to give them the opportunity to make it right. Although I have not received a response yet. I'll give it a day or two. I'm sure this wasn't their plan either. From what I've seen they are a decent organization.

Just to clarify on the credit card chargeback option, of which I am quite familiar with from my professional experience.

You need to first reach out to the vendor and request a full refund due to their failure to deliver you the service you paid for.  Note that the event was cancelled by them, not due to weather.  Be sure to do this in writing (e-mail will suffice).  Ask for the full refund (say you are not able to use it elsewhere) and then get their response in writing.

If they respond in the negative, then tell them that you are going to initiate a chargeback through your credit card.  Not sure that changes their mind, but then they can expect to contacted by the cc bank.

You will need the written correspondence to provide the bank in your dispute to show that reached out to the vendor first.  They will then review your case and render a decision.  In the meantime, they should "freeze" the charge on your account so you do not have to accrue interest on it if you have not paid it yet.

Good luck--you never know how the bank will decide so better if you can convince PBR to refund you.  Be nice at first and if they play hardball, filing a report with the BBB and attempting the chargeback may motivate them to give the money back.

I have a quite a bit of experience with PBR in Ohio.....they were one of the first PBR states....and are run by good guys and if they cancelled an event, I doubt you would have any issue getting a refund if that's what you wanted.   If an event is cancelled due to weather, or a kid backs out, they still have quite a bit of expense, so I can see them offering a credit.....but that's not the case here.  The event never happened, I'd expect a refund if that's what you wanted.  

I have also requested a refund for what I am pretty sure is the same event and have not received a response.  "Scheduling conflict" sounded to me like they didn't have enough participants.  I am going to email one more time and then challenge it through my credit card issuer.  I don't care what the fine print on your website says (and I did not find anything), you don't get to cancel an event and keep the money.

nycdad posted:

I will say my 2022 came down with mono about 4 days before our state games (he was participating as a 2 way) and they gave me a full credit which should carry over to a few events next year. I didn't expect a refund.

Yeah, we definitely would not expect a refund if we had to cancel or even if the weather caused a cancellation. What they offered you is what they are offering us. A credit. And so far, the communication has been lacking. We will continue to reach out before taking any additional measures. I'm sure they didn't want to cancel either but the fact still remains, they have our money and we have nothing. 

catching22 posted:

I have also requested a refund for what I am pretty sure is the same event and have not received a response.  "Scheduling conflict" sounded to me like they didn't have enough participants.  I am going to email one more time and then challenge it through my credit card issuer.  I don't care what the fine print on your website says (and I did not find anything), you don't get to cancel an event and keep the money.

Has PBR responded at all to you? We have received no communication beyond the original e-mail. Very disappointing. 

I just want to throw it out there that PBR was very involved in my son's recruiting.  They acted as a liaison when coaches want to speak to my son before Sept 1 junior year (Hey Jack, please call coach X) and they reached out to coaches on his behalf throughout his recruiting, even though we didn't attend many events (I think 2, plus Futures which was free).

My point in bringing this up is to be careful in burning any bridges.  If you think you will be attending a future event, a credit may serve you well.

 

CTbballDad posted:

I just want to throw it out there that PBR was very involved in my son's recruiting.  They acted as a liaison when coaches want to speak to my son before Sept 1 junior year (Hey Jack, please call coach X) and they reached out to coaches on his behalf throughout his recruiting, even though we didn't attend many events (I think 2, plus Futures which was free).

My point in bringing this up is to be careful in burning any bridges.  If you think you will be attending a future event, a credit may serve you well.

 

How could it be construed that we are burning bridges when we are out a significant amount of money and just want it to be refunded? Again, this was not weather related and we didn't cancel. I don't know of any other business where someone would be fearful of "burning bridges" by asking for a refund. I would hope and expect that nobody at PBR would find this to be an odd request nor would I think they would blackball a player because of it. A credit does not serve us well at all ... we need the money to put towards other expenses. It's not as if there is an event even in the near future that can replace the event we originally signed up for. We would be waiting at least a year. I'm completely confused by the tone that we somehow have done something wrong. We wholeheartedly invested a significant sum of money into a program. We are members of the program and believe them to have a reasonably good reputation. We have done all the right things. At this point I believe the onus is upon them to do the right thing to maintain a positive working relationship and reputation not only with us but with anybody else who was impacted. 

I think what he is saying is not about what you have done so far but what might happen.  I would say that PBR was good to us in every way but I also believe that our PBR guy would have refunded the money immediately, no would not have cancelled the event but found a way to make it happen.  PBR is not an organization like PG national (concern is the more they regionalize there will be similar problems) but is independent contractors in different states running events.  PBR is just the name they go under.  PBR in your state is only as good as your state director.  We were blessed in MO to have a great state director who helped us in tremendous ways through the futures games (son went twice) and in recruiting. 

Last edited by PitchingFan
dialedin posted:
catching22 posted:

I have also requested a refund for what I am pretty sure is the same event and have not received a response.  "Scheduling conflict" sounded to me like they didn't have enough participants.  I am going to email one more time and then challenge it through my credit card issuer.  I don't care what the fine print on your website says (and I did not find anything), you don't get to cancel an event and keep the money.

Has PBR responded at all to you? We have received no communication beyond the original e-mail. Very disappointing. 

Nope.  I've pinged them back.  There has been no refund issued to my credit card, though.

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