REFUND! YIPPEE!

[byte301]

It ain't over until the fat lady sings.

What's this thread got to do with Kirstie Alley?

 

[Kutta]

Originally Posted by Mystic
It ain't over until the fat lady sings.

Exactly Mystic!! I aint fat! In this case it aint over till the trim and toned 110lb lady sings!

Daedle, thanks for your input. I am in New Zealand and I don't think the NZ Consumer outfit would hold any sway over UK Saint Hill and their shenanigans, even though it was certainly illegal to deduct money from my account for the unordered basics. The logistics and money required make going the legal route impractical for me.

 

[anonymous1312]

Exactly Mystic!! I aint fat! In this case it aint over till the trim and toned 110lb lady sings!

Daedle, thanks for your input. I am in New Zealand and I don't think the NZ Consumer outfit would hold any sway over UK Saint Hill and their shenanigans, even though it was certainly illegal to deduct money from my account for the unordered basics. The logistics and money required make going the legal route impractical for me.

I wonder if you could factor the debt out to a UK resident so they can legally pursue it... IANAL.

 

[ExVet]

What about what Graeme Wilson said?

What about Graeme "Foot Bullet" Wilson's own words?

Quote:

"We have a policy that if a person is not happy with the services they receive in our religion, they can get their money back" and the person "will be given a full refund within a few weeks of asking for the refund".


Here's the link to a thread which contains the BBC Radio 5 interview with him:

http://ocmb.xenu.net/ocmb/viewtopic.php?t=31521&sid=e7cdd88b4e90d8e37ec157f4d2b314a7

 

[Kutta]

Thanks for that ExVet. I will definitely use this quote if I need to push the process along.

 

[freemefree]

did you ever get your refund?

 

[RolandRB]

I have been working on getting a refund of my money in my account at Saint Hill for a few months now. Written several letters, most recently also sent a Knowledge Report up lines as none of my letters had been answered. Also, the basics, 3 boxes of books and tapes, landed on my doorstep about the time I initially sent a request to Treasury for my refund.

This morning, finally, I had a phone call from Biggi, the DLC (LRH Communicator) at Saint Hill, and apparently everything is now being taken care of. I will receive a routing form in the mail. As long as it doesn't require me to visit any org that's fine with me. I will also be sent a waiver, also fine with me. Then the Claims Verification Board will review things, and I will get my dosh!!

I am over the moon. It has definitely made my day.

You are celebrating that they have TOLD you that you will get the money. Actually getting the money might be a whole different story. You should save your celebrations for that event, not on the word of a clam.

 

[Sally Kragh Andersen]

OMG!
I just want to thank every person who have akknowledges me and my letter. If you want to get in communication with me, it should be at : [email protected]

Sally

 

[Ho Tai]

I am sorry to be a wet blanket Kutta, but I’m afraid you aren’t home and dry yet.

I had a terrible time getting a refund from St Hill. Getting the CVB routing form was the easy bit. I filled it in to their complete satisfaction, it was sent off and I was told that I would get my money back within a couple weeks, albeit with a deduction for ‘administration’. The LRH Comm saw me before I left the premises and told me that she would be ensuring that it all went smoothly and that she was my ‘terminal’ in this matter. Being very reassured, I relaxed and looked forward to my cheque arriving very soon.

After a couple of weeks, I hadn’t heard anything, so I tried to contact the LRH Comm. The two-faced lying b**ch refused to take my calls and wouldn’t respond to any messages. This attitude was repeated by every other staff member that I tried to contact.

Not surprisingly, I got very angry at this. Why go through all the motions of convincing me that they wanted to sort this out amicably and then just ignore me? Maybe this was part of their plan – get my hopes up, then dash them and refuse to communicate in order to cave me in so that I would just go away?

Well it didn’t work and in fact, resulted in a lot of trouble for them. Eventually, they caved in and gave me a cheque for the whole amount.

I still can’t understand their attitude. If they had trouble raising the money, why not just get in communication and offer to pay me in instalments? I would have settled for this and that would have been the end of the matter. But no, they just ignored me, or more likely couldn’t confront me.

It was this episode that convinced me that the CoS and their staff can never be trusted and that I should oppose them whenever I can. So well done, you lying two-faced scheming hypocrites – you created an enemy for yourselves.

I truly hope you don’t go through this Kutta, but you might want to start making some plans about what you do if they don’t cough up.

Axiom142

I had the exact same experience with U.S. SO orgs. Through persistence I did get my money, but what should have been an by-the-book quick cycle took months and changed my attitude about the CoS from disappointment to hostility.

 

[Eldon]

You are celebrating that they have TOLD you that you will get the money. Actually getting the money might be a whole different story. You should save your celebrations for that event, not on the word of a clam.

Marty Rathbun made a post a couple of months ago saying they are refunding money without much resistance in order to minimize bad PR. I think that's probably correct. Of course, the pompous ass took personal credit for the change as usual.

 

[Kutta]

Well, the saga continues. After my misguided happiness at finally getting a communication from St Hill, nothing happened, except I recieved the routing out form. I sent a letter saying that it was ridiculous to expect me to go to St Hill 12,000 miles away and also that I had already routed out of Sci in 1981, that I was not bound by Sci policy, but they are, so no more Dev T please, just send me my money. A few weeks later got a phone call from the D Hco comm who said she hadn't received my letter. (???) I reiterated my demand to just send my money. She sounded way less 'uptone' this time. Nothing happened since. Now I will go ahead and start a letter campaign to news media, politicians etc. This I threatened in my letter. Lots of other stuff going on in my life at the mo, so may take a while to get this going. It seems that re payments are going ok in USA but not in UK. Any info on successful repayment cycles in the Uk, esp St Hill would be welcome. Ta very much for any, and for all your interest. It's not a hell of a lot of money, but I would like it to help out a family member in need.

 

[Cherished]

Kutta, if I were you, I'd find out about initiating small claims court (or similar) proceedings for the amount you are owed. (I'm assuming from your comment that the amount is small enough to allow you into that jurisdiction). You are in Australia, as I recall, as is COSRECI.

Just sue the bastards.

 

[Dulloldfart]

It must be hard trying to do this over a long distance, Kutta. Is it possible to set up a General Power of Attorney, with the attorney-in-fact being someone living locally in the UK who can deal directly with the CofS? This can be an ex (you trust) who is willing to do what it takes to get your money. Once you get your money you can revoke the Power of Attorney.

It shouldn't cost too much to set it up. You can work out whatever exchange with the ex concerned that is fair and agreeable to both of you.

Paul

 

[supafreak]

Fantastic!!

 

[AnonyMary]

Fantastic!!

It pays to read beyond the first post on a thread, lol.

Look 2 posts or so above this one for the not so happy update.

Mary McConnell

 

[Outethicsofficer]

Well, the saga continues. After my misguided happiness at finally getting a communication from St Hill, nothing happened, except I recieved the routing out form. I sent a letter saying that it was ridiculous to expect me to go to St Hill 12,000 miles away and also that I had already routed out of Sci in 1981, that I was not bound by Sci policy, but they are, so no more Dev T please, just send me my money. A few weeks later got a phone call from the D Hco comm who said she hadn't received my letter. (???) I reiterated my demand to just send my money. She sounded way less 'uptone' this time. Nothing happened since. Now I will go ahead and start a letter campaign to news media, politicians etc. This I threatened in my letter. Lots of other stuff going on in my life at the mo, so may take a while to get this going. It seems that re payments are going ok in USA but not in UK. Any info on successful repayment cycles in the Uk, esp St Hill would be welcome. Ta very much for any, and for all your interest. It's not a hell of a lot of money, but I would like it to help out a family member in need.

Hi Kutta,
We have had some very recent success at getting money back from the church, a line we have used to assist in bringing this off has been; "Matter of RTC Concern" believe it or not this line seems to be useful in getting people into action.
This is the link.

http://www.rtc.org/matters/index.html

We have had money on the Freewinds and getting that back was going no where my wife had been working on it since February, in the end she wrote to RTC naming the terminals involved and within a week we got the $.

Recommend you try it.
James


PS: We did not do a routing form, we chopped and changed any waivers to suit. Maintained an objective dispassionate approach to whole thing.

 

[Kutta]

Thank you James.

Earlier on in the saga I did send one of those Electronic Forms to RTC. It was after getting no response at all from St Hill terminals, and it was after that that I got the phone call that initiated my opening post. I was so elated to at last get some communication. I did wonder at the time if my RTC report had resulted in that communication. Now, with the cycle having ground to a halt again, I will repeat the exercise with an update on the lack of comm and action.

It is wonderful that you got your $. I hope to be able to report such a happy result .... maybe soon???

Any further advice would be welcome, eg, did you quote policy in your letter to RTC? Did you send copies of all communications you had sent and received during the cycle,etc?

Kutta/Gail

 

[thetanic]

Also just point out that you'd hate to have to bill them for international lawyer time, but you'd be happy to do so if it were necessary.

 

[Kutta]

REFUND FOR REAL!

BREAKING NEWS! MY REFUND CHEQUE ARRIVED TODAY.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me with this:

DOF (Paul)
KathyI'm Out ( I used your letter to start the ball rolling, Kathy)
Axiom142
dianaclass8
Outethicsofficer
sallydannce
freethinker
Fancy
freemefree
CarmeloOrchards

Sorry if I have forgotten anyone. Many have given encouragement and support and excellent advice.

It's not a huge amount of money compared to what others have sought, but it means a lot to me. At the moment I'm a bit overwhelmed with happiness, but will probably post a synopsis of the process that produced the result soon, in case it helps anyone else.

 

[Cherished]

This is wonderful news, Kutta. Congratulations. Enjoy it. And bank it quickly!