I consider the Corvallis Sports Park to be a city treasure. My wife and I both count playing indoor soccer as a favorite activity and it is not uncommon for us to spend two or three nights a week there playing soccer or just meeting with friends. I've enjoyed CSP for the past decade and I look forward to enjoying many more years there with my family. The Corvallis Sports Park is a significant and enriching part of my life.

The story I am going to share here is about my recent experience with the park. I wish I could say this experience has been positive. It has not. I am not sharing this story because I want to burn the business down or point any fingers. I have used the names of people only that are key to the story and have well known positions of authority.

I want the Sports Park to thrive so that my little girls, my wife, my friends and I can continue to enjoy the business in the future. I am sharing this story to facilitate a change at CSP for the better. What happened to my team and how we were treated by the Corvallis Sports Park was not acceptable. I hope that this story helps CSP reevaluate their business policies and refocus on providing an exceptional level of service to its patrons.

I have tried to keep it brief. I think this is very important and if you are a Corvallis Sports Park customer I hope that you read and consider my story.

On Monday, November 10th my friend and team manager Elias went to the Sports Park to register his team called El Sol de Mexico. Elias was reluctant to to play the park's top team like Bruno and Wrecked-Em so his intention was to register the team for the second highest men's division. The Corvallis Sports Park staff communicated to Elias that there would not be a Premier division. This would make the Upper Intermediate division the second highest men's division available. So Elias paid his $150 deposit and signed the registration form for Men's Upper Intermediate.

Later that week Elias received an email confirmation from CSP indicating that he was signed up for the Men's Competitive division. Elias replied by email stating that his team should be signed up for Upper Intermediate.

On Friday, November 14th while looking over the teams for next season on the CSP website I saw that there was a Premier division. This meant that El Sol de Mexico was registered for the third highest division at the Corvallis Sports Park. It should be noted that the El Sol de Mexico players are far too skilled and competitive for the Upper Intermediate league. It is my opinion that the team is a Premier division quality team. I shared this with Elias and he went to CSP after work that same day to try to move the team into the Competitive division.

Elias was told by the CSP staff that a reschedule was not possible. I do not know if any attempt was made by CSP to understand why Elias was seeking a division move. That night Elias requested that he be contacted by the CSP managers, Blake or Megan regarding the situation.

On Saturday Megan contacted Elias and pointed out to him that his registration form and email indicated that he wanted to be in the Upper Intermediate division. And that his signature was on the form. The Corvallis Sports Park would not take responsibility for providing incorrect information that mislead Elias' decision.

I spoke with Elias on Sunday and he felt that the situation was his fault and that there was nothing that could be done. I asked Elias to let me try to help. I left a message with the Sports Park that I urgently needed to be contacted my management.

That afternoon I spoke with Blake by phone. He opened the conversation by pointing out that CSP would not reschedule and that they would refund our team deposit. This spoke volumes to me about my value as a customer. I asked if the Sports Park would take responsibility for providing Elias with misleading information. In brief, Blake stated that it was not CSP's fault that Elias did not know there would be a Premier division. Essentially denying that Elias had even been misinformed. Either Elias was misinformed, dillusional or lying.

Blake stated that Elias should have known that there would be a Premier division because he has been playing at CSP for years. I could see how Elias was made to feel that it was his fault. I asked Blake if he would feel foolish if the staff person who told Elias there would not be a Premier division told him so personally. The conversation quickly but civilly ended.

Even as I write this I wonder if a little flag started waving somewhere. Blake called Elias. At first he remained adamant about denying any responsibility. Then Elias told him who had inadvertently misled him in the first place. It was his own niece. Blake changed his tune as I imagine he considered the difficulty of maintaining plausible deniability. He told Elias that he would see what he could do and for a time Elias and I were both hopeful.

This afternoon we received word that despite being a full week away the start of next season, CSP would not reschedule. Instead they would receive a $150 team discount and remain in the Men's Upper Intermediate division.

Consider if you ordered a decaf latte and received a caffeinated latte. Would you expect a discount on your decaf or would you expect the correct latte to be made for you? Perhaps this analogy is not quite precise. What if you were told that decaf organic coffee was not available by your barista so you order a caffeinated organic blend. When your friend sits next to you and tells you that she is drinking a wonderful decaf organic coffee what would you expect of your barista?

It could be argued that it only takes a few minuted to make new latte so the resolution is low cost. But a latte might cost two hundred times less than a soccer team at CSP. At $650 a team for eight weeks I think it is very reasonable to expect a higher level of attention. Jeff Merten, a health benefits specialist and co-founder of the Corvallis Sports Park stated that if one of his agents mistakenly lead a client to enroll in an undesired policy that he would make sure the client understood the correct information and be allowed to enroll in the desired policy.

I wonder how the El Sol de Mexico restaurant would handle this kind of situation? Actually I know how. They brought my wife a new plate at no charge and apologized for the error even though my wife had told the waiter that she was happy with the order they brought to her. El Sol won us over that day.

I believe that CSP should do nothing less than take responsibility for the mistake and reschedule El Sol de Mexico into the Competitive division.

CSP has provided me with good service in the past. I am appreciative that the business has reinvested in new field turf and lights that enhance my playing experience. The pub has added new items to its menu to provide more attractive choices for me and other customers. I think our soccer community deserves exceptional service all of the time.

Am I expecting too much? What do you think? Do you have a story of your own?