We had a very similar situation occur a couple of years ago. The customer that a student sold to, called the school and said she never recieved her items. We had the same kind of thing with the parent claiming they sent everything in, but we didn't have the form or the money. We didn't want the "customer" upset, so we got the product for her. She even came to the school to pick it up and tried to help us get our money(she had her suspicions of the parent).
I would make sure the customers get their product(or their money, whatever you decide) and I would make sure that this parent knows that you have checked thoroughly and no one has seen the form or the money. If any customers wrote checks, I would recommend that they stop payment on those checks, or if they find that they have gone through have them contact their bank to see who endorsed them.
It's a tough situation. You don't want your group to be out the money, but you absolutely don't want people spreading stories of getting ripped off by your group. That kind of bad publicity could ruin your fundraising efforts for years.
We recently had a fundraiser that is now complete. Product is paid for and delivered. We are through! YAY!
However, we received a phone call from a person who purchased items from the fundraiser but never received the items. SHe said the parent from whom she bought the items told her that we had messed up his order, and we would be returning the money to him for him to return to the people who purchased from him.
The problem is he never turned in the money. He never spoke with us about a possible lost form and money. Also the mother says she turned it in to the school secretary who says she never received the money from the mother. The father says he has since spoken to the secretary about it, but that never happened either. The parents keep giving conflicting stores to us and to the people they sold to.
My question is how do we handle this? The parents did not turn in the money (over $500!), and the people who purchased the product want their money back. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
