Moving On To Stupid

Last night, I was finally going through a stack of mail that’s been building up for a couple of weeks. Imagine my surprise when I open an envelope and find a certificate in recognition of Reyna earning her Level 1 Rally title. Now, I realize it has been a year and a half since Reyna actually earned her title, but since I wasn’t expecting a certificate (I was just thrilled we had ribbons), its not like I was stressing over it. As I was admiring the very nice certificate, I noticed the date the title was awarded – June 21, 2009. That’s right, 2009. And to make things a bit worse, Reyna actually earned her title on January 19, 2008. So they got everything wrong – day, month, and year.

I emailed a friend of mine who happened to be trial secretary for each of the trials we entered, asking her who I should contact to get this fixed. She gave me the email address and said she has all of records and will be happy to help straighten this out. She also said certificates are usually mailed within a month of earning the title. One month, 18 months...no difference, really...

So, I sent the following email to the Rally Coordinator:

Hello -

I received a certificate in the mail a couple of weeks ago for my girl, Vereyna (R-07-5966), earning her Rally Level 1 title. The date on the certificate is June 21, 2009. Vereyna actually earned her title a year and a half ago, on January 19, 2008 (legs were earned July 28, 2007, July 29, 2007, and January 19, 2008). Is there a way to get a certificate with the correct date?

And this morning, I received:

Dear Janine:

Thank you for your inquiry. Title certificates are automatically generated each time trial results are processed. Your dog's trial records indicate the Level 1 title was not earned until June 21, 2009. We do not reconcile official records against exhibitor's personal records. If you would like a copy of your dog's official trial score log, please download the Administrative Research Request form off the rally website (it can be found in Forms for Exhibitors) and mail it to the rally office. Once it is received, we will send you a copy of your dog's trial score log and you can notify us of any specific discrepancies, which we will be happy to research for you.

I sent a response pointing out that, not only have we not entered any trials since January 2008, but on June 21, 2009, Reyna was at home recovering from her THR. Now, I know she has a lot of skills, but I don’t think she’s figured out how to drive the truck. Plus, I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed if she’d been gone all day on a Sunday (and no, I didn’t include those last two sentences in my email, although I thought about it). I also asked the coordinator if it would be possible for her to work directly with my friend, the trial secretary. After sending the email, I downloaded the form she specified. Its $20 dollars to get the trial score log, which I than apparently send back to them with the discrepancies marked. And then it’s another $10 to get a certificate reprinted (which I think they should waive, since its their mistake). Since I’m not inclined to spend $20 to fix their screw-ups, I’m going to try working this through my friend, first. And then maybe I’ll just put some white-out on the certificate and write in the correct date…