European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 9, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 9, 1978 the stars and stripes Page 11 taken for Davis Agency ride1 on March 31, 1 booked a round trip flight for my parents to come Over Here in june through the Davis Agency. I was flying to the states on May 12 and was returning on the same flight with my parents. On april 26 i paid for my round trip charter flight to new York and cancelled my Parent s flights and asked that the refundable portion of their $100 Deposit $60 according to the Davis Tariff be sent to them. The girl at the Darmstadt Davis office said she would take care of everything and that my parents would have a refund with in four to six weeks. I asked her if i had to fill out a cancellation form of any Type and she said no. She was training a new girl at this time also. When i returned from the states in june my parents still did not have a refund so i visited the Davis Agency office on june 19 to find out about it. The new girl was the Only one there. The first one i dealt with had quit. The girl gave me a Green cancellation notice and told me it takes a Long time to get a refund. I noticed that the address to which the refund was to be sent was incorrect it lacked a Street address and i asked that it be corrected. The Davis girl said she would Correct it that Day and Issue me a new and accurate refund request form. I returned the next Day to get this form and she told me she was in the process of typing it. I returned about 40 minutes later and she then told me she was too Busy to Label drive still on a recent letter in the stars and stripes asked readers to Send soup labels to the Neu Briecke american school. The labels were part of a fund raising Campaign to Purchase audio visual and athletic Seq lip ment reference books and material for the metric system. So far the response has been soup or and we Are Gratful. This not Only benefited the school but also has shown the children that people from Many places Are working together to improve the Quality of their life. When peo ple work together Good things happen. Our soup Label drive continues through january 1979. We would appreciate your continued support. Please Send labels from any Brand soup and baked Beans and mail them to office of the principal Neu Orticke american elementary school Apo 09305 the str and fee less to european edition col. Billy e. Spangler Usa. Editor in chief it. Col. , Usan. Deputy editor in chief Mert Proctor. Managing editor Elmer d. Frank. Production manager henrys. Epstein. Circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication for . Armed forces overseas. The stars and stripes is published in conjunction with the armed forces information program of the department of defense. Contents of the stars and stripes Are not necessarily the official View of the . Government the department of defense or the . European command. The appearance of displays in this newspaper concerning commercial publications does not constitute an endorsement by the department of de sense including the military departments. Military address the stars and stripes Apo 09175. International mall the stars and stripes Postrach 11 10 34, d-6100 Darmstadt 11, Germany. Tel Griesheim c prefix 06155 811 m Darmstadt Airstrip prefix 2376 741, telex 0419-332. New York office room 948, 201 Varlock st., new York 10014, Tel area code 212 620-3333. Second class postage paid at new York . News bureaus Bremerhaven Germany Dan Synovec building 103, Carl Schurz Cavern Bremerhaven military 8659 or Bremerhaven Civ 0471 88782 Kaiserslautern Germany Floyd Harrington building 2897, Pulaski Barracks Vogel Weh military 6050 or Kaiserslautern Civ 0631 52104 Nuernberg Germany John Savard building 21, William o. Darby Cavern Nuernberg military 7256 or Nuernberg Civ 712563 Stuttgart Germany de Hill bldg. 4330, Mcgee Barracks Stuttgart military 7001 or Stuttgart Civ 541513 ., Gary Harris Raf Mildenhall co  Sports office Apo 09127, Mildenhall 712511 ext. 2231 or civilian Mildenhall 713882, telex 81652 Washington d.c., John Hart Oast a the Pentagon room 2e756, Washington 20301, Tel. 202 697-6695. Circulation offices Germany Berlin civilian 8331846, Mil 6187 Bremer Haven Civ 85168, Mil 8119 Frankfurt Civ 692050 Kaiserslautern Civ 57617, Mil Vogel Weh 6050 Munich Civ 6901503 or 6901504, Mil 6556 Nuernberg Civ 712558, Mil 7256 North German Region Rhein main Mil 7103 or 6025 Stutt Gart Civ 814596, Mil 6030. Greece Athens Civ 9923390 and telex 216892. Italy Vincenza Civ 559346. Spain Madrid Civ 2057546 or Torrejon air base Mil 7546. Turkey Istanbul Civ 664372. United kingdom Greenham common Civ 44768, military 46263 ext. 209 take care of it that Day and to come Back on wednesday june 21. At this time she had no other customers. I noticed during All of this that the Origi Nal cancellation form was dated june 7, a Date on which i was in the states instead of april 26 the Date i actually cancelled. This Means that 1 the original refund request sat around for six weeks in the Darmstadt office before being typed up and submitted to the head office for pay ment and 2 according to the Date on the request i cancelled seven Days before my parents flight and therefore they Are not entitled to a refund. On june 20, the Day the Davis girl said she was too Busy to help me i pointed out the Date discrepancy to her and she said she would inform Frankfurt of this also. On june 21,1 returned to the Davis office and demanded my corrected cancellation request and was instead Given a Carbon copy of a note supposedly sent to the Frankfurt office. A new request was never typed up explaining my situation. The Davis girl informed me she had talked to the head office and they were sending a telex to the refund office in the states with the Correct information concerning refund address and request Date. On aug. 5 i again visited the Darmstadt Davis office and requested information about my parents refund. The girl went through the usual song and dance about the Money must come from the states and so on. When i told her it had been almost four months she dug out my parents original ticket application and preceded to Tell me that since i had t cancelled until june 7 there would be no refund due. I went through my Story one More time at which Point she called her head office and then told me 1 the refund office in the states had never answered their telex 2 there was nothing she could do 3 there was nothing i could do 4 it was up to the Virginia refund office to hash Over the situation and decide whether or not to take my word about the Date on which i actually cancelled and Grant my parents a refund 5 she did not appreciate my com ing in and 6 to rebook my parents with another Agency if they were planning to come again. I feel that the readers of the stars and stripes should be made aware of the Type of service that is typical of this Agency. The Davis Agency is allowed to be on Cam brai Fritsch Cavern to sell a supposedly beneficial service to the soldiers and their dependents and not to deliberately try to defraud them As they have done in my Case. Holding up paperwork on a refund re quest until it is past the time period specified in the Tariff to be entitled to a refund is nothing other than fraud and i feel this should be brought to the attention of the Darmstadt military Community com Mander As Well. I also feel that a refund of the full $100 Deposit should be sent to my parents immediately to compensate them for their in convenience. The Davis Agency May not take you Home As they advertise but they will definitely see to it that you Are taken for a  r. Miller Babenhausen German editor s note Elisabeth m. Miller vice president sales Davis Agency re plies my investigation reveals the refund re quest was in fact promptly sent to our Arlington va., office in april by our Darm Stadt office personnel. However when it reached Arlington personnel were notable to process the refund until August. Usually the Normal processing Tim for refunds is about six weeks. However due to the heavy travel during the summer months the processing time sometimes exceeds the six week period. This was therase with Miller s request. Her refund for $60 $100 less $40 cancellation fee was is sued from Arlington on aug. 16. I apologize or the confusion Miller de scribes in her letter. At the time she made her cancellation the Darmstadt office was undergoing a personnel changeover. This May account for any mix up concerning her  letters to the editor on losing checking privileges about two months ago i went to the drink shop to Purchase some drinks. From there to the service station to buy Gas. The following tuesday my wife and i went to the Exchange and purchased some goods in the amount of $27. All of these transactions were paid for by Check. About a week later i received a notice that the checks were returned due to insufficient funds. I then went Over my Check Book to see if i had made a mistake or the Bank had made one. Upon rechecking my Check Book i discovered that i had made a $60 mistake i should have subtracted when i added. This caused me to have a $60 deficit of which i was not aware until i received the notice from the Bank. I then called the dishonoured Check Branch of cafes in Munich. I explained to the supervisor of the Branch the nature of the problem. He explained to me what would happen. Then he asked me what was my reason for the checks bouncing. I told him that i made a simple mistake in my arithmetic his reply was this that s a poor  i told him that was the truth and what did he expect a big fat lie i believe in the truth myself. I went to my commander and explained the problem to him. He listened to what i had to say and after careful evaluation he wrote a letter of Appeal on my behalf. That letter along with a personal Appeal from me was sent Forward to cafes. I called Back a few Days ago and the person i talked to Down there told me that i have been put on the bad Check list indefinitely and that i could Appeal in two years. I asked about my Appeal i was told that they did t handle that but another person handled things of that nature. So Here we have people who sit behind a desk All Day Long Reading appeals. The funny thing about it is that he would t Tell me who handles this or what Telephone number i could reach them on. From talking to other people including my commander most of the people who Send in appeals never get them approved. This gives me the impression that cafes thinks that every person who bounces a Check does it intentionally or in stronger words is a notorious bad Check writer what do honest people do name withheld Frankfurt editor s note Fred Schonwetter comptroller he cafes Europe replies Check cashing is provided As a customer service. Because this service concerns the outlay of several million cafes dollars yearly certain precautions must be taken to avoid dishonoured Check losses. Whenever More than two checks Are returned the Check writer is suspended indefinitely however cafes reviews All indefinite suspensions upon favourable recommendation by the individual s unit commander after 180 Days. The great majority of these com meander supported requests Are honoured by  in Praise of new hiring plan As a sponsor i m not too concerned about the loss of preference to non appropriated fund Naf positions for my de pendent. Why my spouse is Well qualified to per form As a Secretary cashier salesperson and is prepared to compete with the limited amount of Competition available Over seas. As a club manager i am however very concerned that my employees Are the Best available. Therefore i Welcome the recent Long overdue civil service ruling which now Al lows me i Hope to select for example Between an enlisted Retiree s spouse who is an outstanding typist As opposed to a very mediocre typist dependent who under the old rules must be selected. Pen pal i am 20 years old and i enjoy meeting people. I also like to hike and travel. Tim Dube Hill str. 1 5561 Span Dahlem West Germany when further applying this principle to a technician such As an accountant the advantage of continuity by employing an individual who expects to remain in country indefinitely is certainly More desirable than the temporary nature of Many dependents. With respect to dependability an old and age comes to mind hungry boxers Gener ally make the Best  name withheld Vicenza Italy $ missing airmen on sept. 2, 1958. 17 . Airmen were lost on a routine training Mission. They were lost not in Remote uninhabited areas but near the armenian City of Yerevan. Only six were returned by the russians for burial in the states. Is it not time 20 years later to ask for the return of the remaining 11 who were never returned Ann ominous Ramstein a Germany