Like thousands of other runners, I forked over $45 to run the Bronx Half-Marathon on August 25, organized by New York Road Runners (NYRR), the nation’s largest running organization. At first I was disappointed when Tropical Storm Irene caused the race’s cancellation. Then I was infuriated at the NYRR’s decision to offer no refunds, no rescheduling, and no payment-in-kind for another race.
So like thousands of others, I wanted my money back (and not just NYRR’s offer of a “souvenir” shirt from a race that never happened!). Based on my experience, here’s a template for others:
1. Send an irate email to reghelp@nyrr.org. Also call.
2. When there is no response, send two more irate emails. Also call.
3. When an anonymous email replies “Please be patient we are reviewing options,” reply with a curt “thank you” and threaten to continue emailing/calling until more information is forthcoming.
4. When a woman named Janet calls your phone, take a deep breath. She’s kinda crazy. She might demand to know what you do for a living, and if you work “in the corporate world.” Respond calmly, “Janet, I think you’re out of line here.” You may need to repeat this several times before Janet offers a refund and tries to guilt you into thinking that the NYRR is not a multi-million dollar organization funded on corporate sponsorship and where the ceo earns half-a-million annually.
5. Tell Janet “thanks for the refund” after she emails you a transaction receipt.
6. Wait a week for the refund to process.
That’s it. It is utter ridiculousness that an asshole like me can demand his money back while hundreds of other, less-pushy people will simply accept the loss and move on. I asked myself, Where is justice? I responded, On Facebook!
Just before I posted the aforementioned steps on NYRR’s Facebook page, I received this 12 September email from the organization. It turned out that I wasn’t the only asshole demanding his money back: a friend of a friend who works at CBS had threatened to write a damming expose of NYRR’s shit-out-of-luck policy, which spurred the organization to offer full refunds.
Victory was ours! As my friend signed off on an email to me, “Freedom isn’t free, and neither is running.”
