Draft llepard to Union Leader

[DirtMcGirt]

this is the perfect storm, i love being a part of it... even though i just write letters and place stickers in my area...

RP08

 

[Birdlady]

I've been through similar situations several times (as a plaintiff; I'm not a lawyer). If you sue, the paper will likely refund what you paid for the ad and have the suit dismissed before you have a chance to depose anyone. If you manage to get past that point, the judge will almost certainly react more favorably to your position if you can show concrete proof that you tried to resolve the situation amicably.

I disagree with what several others have suggested about having the letter sent by an attorney. This is a common, everyday business dispute. There's really no reason to involve an attorney at this stage. In fact, doing so could easily backfire and result in the paper refusing to run the ad at all.

If it was my ad and my money, I would send the letter below by FAX, possibly with a copy by email.

Good luck!



Dear Sirs and Madams:

On Dec XX, 2007, my representative, Linda Lagana, spoke with xxx, who verbally agreed to run a full-page ad in the Union Leader today, Sunday, Dec 30, 2007. In response to that agreement, I made full payment in advance, by check, which was delivered by XXX {FedEx or whatever} on Dec XX and signed for by XXX. Ms. Lagana received several verbal assurances from XXX as late as Dec XX that the ad would run as planned.

To my considerable surprise, the ad did not run today as agreed. Equally disturbing is that fact that I was not notified in advance, nor was I given any opportunity to respond to whatever the reasons may have been. The ad is extremely time-sensitive, and unfortunately no other day will have the same impact as today would have had, particularly since the ad's effect would have been multiplied by the fact that it also ran in many other newspapers in NH today.

To compensate for the difference in circulation, exposure and timing, I would like to request that the ad run for the next five days, for the same price that was previously quoted to me for running it today.

Please get back to me at the phone number below by 5:00pm ET today to let me know if this is acceptable.

Sincerely,

Perfect letter!

 

[indivi]

I've been through similar situations several times (as a plaintiff; I'm not a lawyer). If you sue, the paper will likely refund what you paid for the ad and have the suit dismissed before you have a chance to depose anyone. If you manage to get past that point, the judge will almost certainly react more favorably to your position if you can show concrete proof that you tried to resolve the situation amicably.

I disagree with what several others have suggested about having the letter sent by an attorney. This is a common, everyday business dispute. There's really no reason to involve an attorney at this stage. In fact, doing so could easily backfire and result in the paper refusing to run the ad at all.

If it was my ad and my money, I would send the letter below by FAX, possibly with a copy by email.

Good luck!



Dear Sirs and Madams:

On Dec XX, 2007, my representative, Linda Lagana, spoke with xxx, who verbally agreed to run a full-page ad in the Union Leader today, Sunday, Dec 30, 2007. In response to that agreement, I made full payment in advance, by check, which was delivered by XXX {FedEx or whatever} on Dec XX and signed for by XXX. Ms. Lagana received several verbal assurances from XXX as late as Dec XX that the ad would run as planned.

To my considerable surprise, the ad did not run today as agreed. Equally disturbing is that fact that I was not notified in advance, nor was I given any opportunity to respond to whatever the reasons may have been. The ad is extremely time-sensitive, and unfortunately no other day will have the same impact as today would have had, particularly since the ad's effect would have been multiplied by the fact that it also ran in many other newspapers in NH today.

To compensate for the difference in circulation, exposure and timing, I would like to request that the ad run for the next five days, for the same price that was previously quoted to me for running it today.

Please get back to me at the phone number below by 5:00pm ET today to let me know if this is acceptable.

Sincerely,

I fully endorse this version of the letter! As a business major, I feel that this letter is far more likely to result in a positive response, and as AceNZ says, it will also put you in a much better position if you have to go to court.

Best of luck, Mr. Lepard!

 

[Dan Klaus]

Here is my theory as to what happened:

The paper received your request verbally. The employee who took the order followed the normal procedure for referring the account to the department who would normally dispatch a contract in order to finalize the sale. The powers that be at the paper got wind of your purchase and conveniently "forgot" to send out the contract. The employee, not knowing any better, confirmed with your agent that the ad was set to run as agreed. Your check may have been received but was never cashed. As far as anyone outside of the process is concerned, the deal never existed. Unless you have taped phone conversations, written email confirmations or a canceled check with the terms written on it, a verbal agreement is going to be nearly impossible to prove.

If you raise a stink they will probably just blame it on the employee who took your order, claiming that he did not process it correctly. They'll offer to re-run your ad at a later date or return your money (if the check was cashed). They might fire the employee as a symbolic gesture of appeasement.

Update on this situation...hoping no lawyers get involved at this point...it will backfire...just send them a letter as posted above...

 

[hambone1982]

Dear Sirs and Madams:

On Dec XX, 2007, my representative, Linda Lagana, spoke with xxx, who verbally agreed to run a full-page ad in the Union Leader today, Sunday, Dec 30, 2007. In response to that agreement, I made full payment in advance, by check, which was delivered by XXX {FedEx or whatever} on Dec XX and signed for by XXX. Ms. Lagana received several verbal assurances from XXX as late as Dec XX that the ad would run as planned.

To my considerable surprise, the ad did not run today as agreed. Equally disturbing is that fact that I was not notified in advance, nor was I given any opportunity to respond to whatever the reasons may have been. The ad is extremely time-sensitive, and unfortunately no other day will have the same impact as today would have had, particularly since the ad's effect would have been multiplied by the fact that it also ran in many other newspapers in NH today.

To compensate for the difference in circulation, exposure and timing, I would like to request that the ad run for the next five days, for the same price that was previously quoted to me for running it today.

Please get back to me at the phone number below by 5:00pm ET today to let me know if this is acceptable.

Sincerely,

I fully endorse this version of the letter! As a business major, I feel that this letter is far more likely to result in a positive response, and as AceNZ says, it will also put you in a much better position if you have to go to court.

Best of luck, Mr. Lepard!

+1

 

[AceNZ]

The value of the ad isnt limited to what you paid for it. The value is limited to the damages caused by the breach of contract.

You could say the same about ad misprints, which happen all the time. The paper will likely argue that the contract was agreed to on a best-effort basis, and that as a standard business practice they would never accept liability for an ad that didn't run when agreed.

To get beyond an early dismissal, I suspect that llepard would need to show that he was personally damaged in a financially quantifiable way -- which I don't think is true in this case, as maddening as it is.

Also, any case is only as good as the lawyer you hire.

Very true. I think it would be a challenging case, though.

 

[susano]

What's the update, here? I saw they ran it, today. Running on Monday instead of Sunday doesn't cut it. Not my call but I'm wondering where llepard is on this.

 

[JS4Pat]

Is there any update on this????

 

[Lyn]

I've been wondering on the status of the ad myself. Someone give us some news. I've been talking with my NH family members about the whole thing and want to give them some new info when its available.

 

[brumans]

What's the update, here? I saw they ran it, today. Running on Monday instead of Sunday doesn't cut it. Not my call but I'm wondering where llepard is on this.

Aren't there less readers on Monday than Sunday? Shouldn't he get compensated because of that?

I know in most newspaper advertisements, it's cheaper to run it on Monday. So if llepard bought it at the price of a Sunday, and it ran Monday, that's not right.

 

[jgmaynard]

I have about 15 years of business management experience, and I fully believe the latest version of the letter is perfect (except you may want to add the check #).

Just to suggest something - Anyone know if the UL was published today? It did run yesterday on page A2, if they didn't print one today cause of New Years, then we would have gotten 2 days for one.

JM