Boycotts and Rabble-Rousing

I know most of you, like me, have decided to boycott WAKA in the future. While it's great to let everyone who reads the blog know this, I think it's even better to let other people with positions of power in WAKA know your concerns. This is the email I sent to hr@kickball.com, as well as a few other WAKA employee email addresses I came across.

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To Whom It May Concern,

I am aware that many, if not all of you have received emails about this issue already, but I wanted to have my concerns on the record. Normally I would have contacted my division representatives, but, as you may have heard, that is no longer a viable option.

I have been a member of the FL Bayshore division since I moved to Florida in July of 2008. Through this division I have made a great many friends, some of whom I count among my closest and most important. Until yesterday I remained an active and loyal member of the division. I have been a team captain and I was even a certified referee at this year's Founder's Cup tournament. But, as of now I will no longer be registering for any WAKA events in the future.

Several of my friends in the league have been banned from registering for/being a spectator at any WAKA event. The main reason for this, it seems, is that they chose to voice their concerns about our league on our division blog. This blog is not affiliated with WAKA, in that, it is hosted, maintained and contributed to privately by members of the division. When it became apparent that this blog was causing problems with our regional representative, Michael (MLoop), one of our members, a friend and teammate of mine, chose to reach out to him with a thoughtful and polite email. In this email he attempted to open a line of communication so these issues could be discussed and hopefully resolved. Five days later, he and four other members of the division were sent curt and dismissive form emails informing them that they were banned with no reasons given.

As it states in email signature, Michael is the Florida Regional Customer Service Manager. The job description for a customer service representative on the kickball.com website states that "WAKA Customer Service Representatives are the "face" of their WAKA division and are primarily responsible to provide players with a great WAKA kickball experience". When presented with our concerns and approached about opening a line of communication, our customer service manager shirked these responsibilities and resorted to refusing service.

There is one line in Michael's banishment emails that troubles me. He states, "WAKA is aware of you dissatisfaction with the FL Bayshore division". The truth is, in fact, the exact opposite. We as a group are passionate about our division and want it to be the best possible kickball experience it can. When communication with our representatives breaks down and we have no reliable resources for answers, we become dissatisfied with our representatives, not the division.

When I was in Vegas for the Founder's Cup I had great interactions with everyone I met from WAKA. Everyone I came into contact with was thoughtful, considerate, and kind. While it is not something I would have chosen to do before yesterday, I plan to take my kickball business elsewhere. WAKA is not the only kickball league in Tampa, and I believe WAKA is going to lose a number of loyal customers.

Thank you for your time,

Chris Souder