5 PTAs seek overdue funds
By Colin Gustafson
Greenwich Time Staff Writer
Posted: 12/27/2008 01:00:00 AM EST
Five parent-teacher associations have joined nearly two dozen nonprofit groups across the country in accusing a Seattle-based company of failing to pay them tens of thousands of dollars in overdue fees.
Julie Faryniarz, president of the Greenwich PTA Council, said Bellevue, Wash.-based Count Me In, an online company that assists organizations like youth sports teams collect registration dues and donations, owes $75,000 in unreimbursed registration fees to the associations at Parkway, Old Greenwich, North Mianus, Cos Cob and North Street schools.
With the help of their attorneys, the five associations earlier this month sent formal complaint letters to the Washington state attorney general's office and the Federal Trade Commission, Faryniarz said.
They also sent Count Me In a letter demanding full repayment by Dec. 1. After not receiving the fees, they pursued legal action against the company, according to the PTA Council president, whose organization oversees all town public school PTAs.
"We want the money back," said Faryniarz, noting that the associations had used the online service for more than two years to process parents' registrations for afterschool programs and association memberships. "This is just bad business. They're taking away from our kids."
Messages left with Count Me In, a subsidiary of Arena Group Inc., in Bellevue, Wash., were not returned........
......Under its contract with the Greenwich associations, Faryniarz said, Count Me In collected registration fees from parents paying by credit card for various programs, then subtracted a handling fee of about $3 and sent the rest of the money on to the associations to fund their programs.
......But earlier this fall, Count Me In began to fall behind on its payments to the associations and, in mid-November, after making a single payment under an agreed-upon schedule, ceased payments altogether, Faryniarz said.
The associations used the money to fund afterschool classes, buy school supplies and pay for programs such as book drives, parties and fundraisers, said Alison Burns, PTA co-president for Parkway School......
FOR THE RECORD:
We Warned Eastern Greenwich Parents 17 DAYS AGO That Their $75,000 Was Missing.
We Are Guessing That Clueless Greenwich Time Cub Reporter Colin Gustafson Got His Board Of Education Press Release Just Before The Close Of Business On Friday Evening.
PLEASE SEE HOW.....
Dan Kully Flew Out To Bellevue, Washington In An Attempt To Recover The $75,000 Not Payed In The Secret October Payment Plan.
The PTA's Are Missing A Lot Of Money
Where Is The Parents $75,0000?
IS DAN KULLY AND HIS SISTER TRYING TO SWEEP THIS THEFT UNDER THE RUG ?????
SHOULDN'T PARENTS HAVE BEEN INFORMED BEFORE DAN KULLY HOPPED ON A PLANE TO WASHINGTON ?????
WHEN WERE GREENWICH PTA LEADERS GOING TO TELL THE PARENTS THAT THEY HAD BEEN RIPPED OFF ?????
SHOULDN'T SOMEONE CALL THE GREENWICH POLICE DEPARTMENT AND REPORT THIS MISSING $75,000 ?????
MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD BE CALLING THE CONNECTICUT ATTORNEY GENERAL ?????
SHOULDN'T PTA LEADERS BE SENDING OUT A MASS EMAIL TELLING PARENTS TO DISPUTE THE CREDIT CARD CHARGES, SO THAT THEY WONT LOSE THEIR MONEY ?????
WHY HASN"T THE GREENWICH PTA'S PULLED THE PLUG ON THEIR COUNT ME IN WEBSITE, BEFORE MORE PARENTS LOOSE MONEY ?????
WHERE IS THE LEADERSHIP IN THE GREENWICH PTA"S ?????
Parents Enraged At Bellevue-Based 'Count Me In'
KIROTV
BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Parents and PTA leaders on Tuesday banged on the door of a Bellevue company that's at the center of a nationwide controversy after a KIRO 7 Eyewitness News story revealed the firm hasn't paid back money it owes to youth sports teams.
Dan Kully was among those looking for answers at the offices of Count Me In, a company that helps thousands of youth sports teams to help collect registration dues and donations.
"Seventy-five thousand dollars really hurts," Kully told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Gary Horcher. "And the last people that anyone should be taking advantage of are kids."
VIDEO BACKSTORY: How Horcher Broke 'Count Me In' Story
Kully's sister runs a PTA for 15 schools in Greenwich, Conn., that hired Count Me In to supply a Web site and process credit card donations. He said the PTAs discovered Count Me In appeared to be keeping all the parents' money -- $75,000.
Count Me In's doors were open on Monday, and phones were being answered. On Tuesday, phone calls went unanswered and doors were locked.
Some little leagues said they're missing from $60,000 to $150,000 in registration money collected by Count Me In.
The company sent one local parent an email Tuesday that said, "We cannot provide your organization a payment plan as the timing and amount of future funding is uncertain. We will not make promises we do not know with 100% certainty can be kept."
PLEASE ALSO SEE:
12/24/08 Reader Submitted Comments:Thanks From Hamilton Avenue Parents!
THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON I HAVE RESOLVED TO TRY AND SAY SOMETHING NICE ABOUT A GREENWICH TIME REPORTER, BECAUSE JESUS INSTRUCTS US TO LOVE ALL OF MY NEIGHBORS.
SO HERE IT GOES......
At Least Cub Reporter Colin Gustafson Doesn't Have His Daddy Send Annoying Emails To Greenwich Roundup Like Greenwich Time Reporter Martin Cassidy Does.
PLEASE SEE:
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