Montclair United Soccer Club (MUSC), nerve center and headquarters for all things soccer in Montclair, has filed suit against an online credit card processing company they use. MUSC's board of directors announced on the website that the Seattle-based "Count Me In" (CMI) has held on to MUSC cash since September. After bluffing with administrative excuses, CMI has finally admitted they don't have the funds to pay back MUSC what they're due, blaming the cash short-fall on the current credit crisis.
UPDATE 11:50 am: Attorneys representing MUSC, Ropes & Gray LLP, say the amount of money under dispute is $142,000.
In the short-term, the club will continue to operate without interruption, but 2009 will bring the potential need for cost-cutting measures, aggressive fundraising and other methods to ensure the Club’s financial stability. In the event that no further funds are recovered, we are studying all aspects of our program and budgets to ensure that we continue to provide service to the 1,600 children that take part in our Fall, Winter and Spring programs.
The missing monies are dollars that have been collected, paid in by parents to sign their soccer-loving kids into the many club programs. So what did CMI do with the money?
A prominent national law firm has agreed to represent MUSC pro-bono. The lawyers have instructed MUSC to keep mum on any other details...we'll update as we learn more.
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Comments (11)
How much $ ?
I wonder how much they saved with a company called: "Count Me In" versus a others....
Just sayin'..... At times, you get what you pay for.... (But looking at their website, what's not to love-- they LOOK impressive.)
How much $?
I find it morbidly fascinating how many ways this financial crunch is beginning to show up in our lives.
My kids are through with MUSC but I'd kick in fifty bucks.
This is classic dot-com startup mismanagement of funds. The charge $2 per registration plus credit card fees. If their volume of registrations is high enough this is a veritable cash cow and they should be having no fiscal issues at all.
I suggest that MUSC take a look at alternate registration processing services that have a better reputation and are unlikely to screw over their own customers.
Lastly, I would avoid any secure funds processing service that uses Microsoft servers unless you like getting hacked and your monies stolen by Eastern European mafia gangs.
I also don't understand why MUSC even needed a credit card processor. If they had set themselves up as a service establishment with Visa, this probably wouldn't have happened. If they thought they could scrimp on the payback for their credit card purchases by going with "Count Me In", why take the risk at all? Require cash or checks. People tend not to hang bad paper with local organizations to which their kids belong -- the potential "shame factor" is a good preventative.
"People tend not to hang bad paper with local organizations to which their kids belong -- the potential "shame factor" is a good preventative."
People also tend to not spend nearly as much without the convenience of debit or credit cards. Ask any merchant.
True, ROC, but MUSC isn't exactly like a store that istrying to lure impulse buyers, and they could very easily have become a Debit Card merchant through their own bank. Now that I see the amount involved, there may be more to the story than we have seen so far. Hmm, which unpopular BV politician can we hang this one on...?
I suspect the large amount is because MUSC was not monitoring it properly. And the shorting was happening long before there were aware. Doesn't make that their fault though.
Credit cards (and debit cards) almost uniformly improve sales. Which is why they're widely accepted. Again, ask ANY merchant, health club, or even political campaign.
Also CMI offered other "sports registration" related services which their bank probably did not.
But in the end there is every good reason to accept credit and debit cards.
I signed my kid up on the MUSC site this fall and paid via credit card - I was thrilled they had the option to do it all online, as I left it to the last minute (sure I'm not alone there) and would not have had time to send in the form and check before the deadline. I'm sure like other volunteer run organizations they were looking for a company that could help them process the paperwork and $ with the least amount of manpower on the organization's end. No doubt the company offered a package of services that would make MUSC's work much easier.
Really a shame. Our kids have had a great time playing and we thought we'd paid MUSC for their services.
If they've stiffed MUSC for more than $100k, good chance they defrauded others too.
They appear to be a software as service company, an application service provider:
www.countmein.com
But really their business model doesn't generate enough money ($2 per transaction), so perhaps they count on holding onto the cash and doing something clever with it.
Something clever and honest like leaving it in the frozen Lehman Reserve Fund. Or something clever and questionable like investing in a hedge fund, lottery tickets, ...
Cheers to Ropes & Gray for stepping up to do this pro bono!