Model Forum / General / Rockets / March 2006

Really?  You mean it won't do any good to help warn newbies to the group
about how dealing with Jerry is a crap shoot?

I didn't see him stooping to Jerry's level -- the worst I saw him post
using profanity was to say "damn kit".  He didn't call Jerry any names.  
He didn't promise anything he couldn't deliver.  He didn't threaten
Jerry with a lawsuit.

I'm really trying to understand, what about this post was out of place???

David Erbas-White

No, it doesn't make me feel better and no, it isn't a private matter.
On April 4, 2005  the raffle was announced publicly on this group and
Jerry publicly announced his support for it and talked about what he
was donating. When the kit shows up I will be more than happy to
publicly announce that.

Bill Spadafora  http://home.att.net/~billspad or http://www.billsplumbing.com or
NARTS   http://www.nar.org/NARTS/cat.html
billspad@comcast.net  bill@billsplumbing.com

It's a public service announcement...no stooping involved.

Considering that the people putting on the raffel get nothing
(monitatily) out of it, I wouldn't expect them to do any of the above.

When is the last time anyone has heard from Jerry?  Maybe he's on a
rock pile working off that 40 grand he owes the man.

Anyway, You guys can bitch all you want.  Bottom line is that Jerry
will give it to you if he can adn if he feels like it.

That would be me, and the challenge is that another vendor would have to
step up and offer something else in its place.  I took the donors at
their word that they'd make good on what they promised.  Thus far, Mr
irvine seems to be the problem child, and unfortunately, he has a
history of doing so.

I'll be quite honest, my initial inclination was, based on knowledge of
past problems, to decline his donation.  Knowing that he'd martyr
himself over that, as well as wanting to give him the benefit of the
doubt, I accepted it.  My mistake.

Hardly "a lot".  Some folks have had a challenge getting in touch with a
vendor or two, but as far as I know, the only donor who has been a
continual problem has been Mr irvine.

Next raffle I'm involved in won't accept donations from irvine; I've had
enough.

In regards to collecting all the prizes, that was considered, but was
not done for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, that means
someone has to collect and store all the prizes until it is time to
distribute them.  That's a LOT of stuff and would take up a LOT of room;
very few could manage it all in space they have available.

Then, once distribution time comes around, it would require utilizing
monies collected via the raffle to not only acquire packing materials,
but also to ship the prizes out.  Every dollar spent there is a dollar
less to the legal fund.  Look at the list of prizes, and you'll realize
just how much that would come to.

Equally as important is the fact that some folks donated items that
require special shipping documents.  I cannot (and will not) ship those,
as I don't have the requisite permits to do so, nor does anyone
available to me locally.

Also, what happens when something gets lost or damaged in transit?  With
the donor knowing the condition in which it was shipped out, if they
ship directly to the recipient, they know all of what happened.  If I
ship, now we have them (legitimately) wondering if it was possibly due
to someone else improperly packaging the item for transit.

Overall, it becomes a logistical nightmare.  If the raffle was being
held at a launch, or similar event, it makes complete sense to collect
the prizes centrally in advance.  When they're being mailed out, it just
isn't realistic, nor does it make sense financially.

All that said, as I've stated, there is one donor who has been a
problem.  As far as I am aware, that is it.  Nobody else has created
these kinds of issues.

-Kevin