Complain about a product or service

Deceased Cat Invited to be Student Ambassador

People to People Contacts "Parents of Earl Gray"

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 13, 2006

People to People International An Investigative Report by Lisa Wade McCormick • Introduction • P2P: Ambassadors or Tourists? • P2P CEO "Mortified" • Parents Object to Student Lists • Not Everyone's Happy with People to People Trips • Fast Facts About People to People International • Update 12/06: It Happens Again • Deceased Cat Invited to be Student Ambassador --- News about P2P • Feds Asked to Probe Student's Death on People to People Tour • Student 'Ambassador' Dies Neglected & Alone • People to People Invites Dead Girl ... Again • People to People Executive Sentenced to Prison • People to People "Clarifies" Its Invitation Policy • Student Travel Service Still Misleading Parents • Student Travel Service Agrees To Modify Marketing --- • Consumer Complaints • Consumer Compliments

First the parents of two deceased children received letters from the marketing company for a non-profit group founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower stating their teenagers were named for the organization's Student Ambassador educational trips overseas.

Now the "parents" of a deceased cat received that same letter from the organization. Yes, a deceased cat.

The "Parents of Earl Gray" received a letter -- dated October 4, 2006 -- stating their "son" was eligible for a trip to Europe and "named for this honor by a teacher, former Student Ambassador or national academic listing."

Earl was the couple's all white, one-eyed, cat. He died ten years ago and is buried in the couple's back yard. He was 14 years old.

"Earl was a smart cat," muses his owner, Susan G. of Cabot, Arkansas. "And as an all white cat he might have fit right in going bobsledding in Austria.

"We've gotten a few laughs from this," she says, adding this is second letter she and her husband have received from the organization in the past two years. "But then I thought of all the real people who are getting these letters and knew how excited their kids would be. And then I read about the parents who'd lost a child and received one of these letters. That just broke my heart."

How Does It Happen?

Susan wonders how Earl's name wound up on the organization's mailing list. She and her husband don't have any children. And no one in their family is named Earl.

"We've been scratching our heads over this," she says. "The only thing we've ever ordered in Earl's name was a pair of panty hose, but that was 12 years ago. How on earth does a cat who ordered a pair of panty hose 12 years ago end up on this mailing list?"

Susan says she contacted ConsumerAffairs.com to warn parents about the organization's marketing tactics.

"After reading your reports, it seemed like everyone had come to the conclusion that the organization was buying a national student mailing list. But this went way beyond that list. I don't see how our deceased cat could be on this student listing."

She adds: "If Earl was alive today, he'd be 24 years old. That's too old for this program."

The non-profit organization behind these letters is People To People International, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded in 1956.

People To People International is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. President Eisenhower's granddaughter, Mary Jean Eisenhower, is the organization's president and chief executive officer.

We learned Eisenhower's non-profit group hires a for-profit company to market the Student Ambassador programs. That company is the Ambassadors Group, Inc., based in Spokane, Washington. It sends letters to students -- and at least one deceased cat -- on People To People letterhead.

Jeffrey D. Thomas is president and CEO of the publicly-traded Ambassador Group, Inc. (EPAX). He also lists his title as CEO of People To People, which Eisenhower says he has contractual authority to do, even though it is not accurate.

Under Fire In Iowa

People To People came under fire in 2005 after an Iowa woman received a one of the organization's letter stating her son was named for a Student Ambassador trip overseas.

The woman's son, however, died in 1993. He was seven weeks old.

The Iowa Attorney General's office criticized People To People's letter, saying it misled parents into "believing that their child was selected on merit when that is not the case, and that parents may be manipulated into making substantial expenditures they might otherwise decline to make."

The Student Ambassador trips overseas cost an average of $5,000.

In June, 2006, People To People agreed to modify its letter. It also donated $5,000 to the Iowa SIDS Foundation and $20,000 to Blank Children's Hospital.

It Happens Again

Then, ConsumerAffairs.com learned the organization sent another letter to the parents of a deceased child. The second case happened in August 2006.

Those parents live in New Port Richey, Florida, and received a letter stating their daughter was named for a Student Ambassador trip abroad.

But their daughter died in 1992. She was 18 days old and suffered multiple birth defects.

"It makes you very angry because it makes you wonder how they could do that to someone," the child's mother told WFTS in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida. "When they die you never forget, I mean, every day you think of them…there's no excuse…it just re-opens the whole death all over again."

The girl's father called the letter "tear-jerking" and said "it eats you up inside."

Apologies and Promises

After the Florida incident, Eisenhower said: "We all feel very badly that this has happened. This was a matter of human error. It was a mistake and we're trying to make it right. Our intent is to spread happiness -- not to hurt people." She also called the situation in Iowa "devastating."

Thomas, the CEO of the Ambassador Group, agreed.

"We've moved quickly to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said, adding his group is trying to work out a solution with the Florida family. "We've changed the letter's wording so that there will be no way people can misconstrue anything about how we came to get their child's name. Our letter won't say their child was named or nominated unless we can trace the source. The letter will talk about the benefits of the program."

Thomas also said his company may fire the list service that provided the Florida child's name.

"We've told them that unless we know where you're getting these names -- and can assure us they're not deceased children -- we're not interested in working with you."

Thomas said the original letters went out as recently as October, 2006, because "they were already in the pipeline."

He also said he's not aware of any other letters going to parents of deceased children.

We tried to ask him about the letter sent to Earl, the deceased cat, but he didn't return our call.

In the meantime, Earl's "mom" says parents should be wary of People To People's marketing tactics.

"What a pack of lies this company is selling," Susan says. "It's unbelievable that Earl's name is still floating around, not to mention that someone figures he's in high school now and deserves a trip to Europe. I can't believe that People To People International is still in existence with tactics like this."

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |