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People to People Invites Dead Girl ... Again

Student tour organization still using direct mail lists to sell its trips

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

November 7, 2007

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

The parents of a baby girl who died in 1992 say they are outraged by what they call the “sham” marketing tactics used by an organization that organizes educational trips overseas.

Eugene and Margaret Beil of Florida recently received a letter from People to People -- an organization founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower -- inviting their deceased daughter to join other high school students on the group’s 2008 summer trip to China.

Their daughter, Katherine, died of multiple birth defects on July 31, 1992, at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

She was 18 days old. “And she never left the hospital,” her father, Eugene Beil, told ConsumerAffairs.com.

But this isn’t the first time People To People has invited the Beil’s deceased daughter on one of the organization’s trips abroad.

In August, 2006, the couple received a similar letter from People To People stating Katherine was named for the organization’s Student Ambassador trip to Europe.

“It makes you very angry because it makes you wonder how they could do that to someone," Margaret Beil told WFTS in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida, after receiving that letter from People To People. "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."

Eugene Beil says it’s outrageous that this has happened again.

“It’s a sham,” says Beil, who lives in New Port Richey, Florida. “When we got the first letter, I was extremely upset because not only was it sad to get something in the name of a deceased child, it was also so fraudulent. When they said a teacher recommended her (Katherine) for the trip, we knew that was a lie because our child only lived three weeks. Then I thought about all the people who believed it was an honor that their child received this letter – and it’s not.”

What People To People is really doing, he says, is selling expensive overseas trips.

“They’re just a bunch of salesmen. I’d hoped they (People To People) were going to do something about this. But instead, all they’ve done is tidy up the letter so there are no fraudulent statements. The letter no longer says someone was recommended by a teacher…it says they’re invited.

“I’m very upset about this,” adds Beil, who has three other children, ages 17, 13, and 7. “We’re a family that believes in the value of travel. We travel every year to Rotary conventions. Our kids have been to Denmark, Spain, and Australia.”

Concept is OK

The concept behind People to People is worthwhile, Beil says. But the organization’s marketing tactics are egregious.

“The organization should have stayed as a true non-profit and not gotten involved with the for-profit group,” Beil says.

People to People International is a non-profit organization founded in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It’s headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. President Eisenhower’s granddaughter, Mary Jean Eisenhower, is the organization’s president and chief executive officer.

After the Beils received their first letter from People To People, Eisenhower told us: “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."

When asked what action her organization would take to prevent this from happening again, Eisenhower referred questions to the president and chief executive officer of the for-profit company that markets the Student Ambassador programs.

That publicly traded company is the Ambassadors Group, Inc. (EPAX) of Spokane, Washington, which sends letters to students nationwide on People To People letterhead.

Jeffery D. Thomas is the company’s president and CEO. He also lists his title as CEO of People To People, which Eisenhower says he has authority to do under the company’s contract -- even though it's not true.

“We're trying to work out a solution with the family in Florida," Thomas told us after the Beils received their first letter from People To People. He declined to elaborate.

Thomas also told us that a list service his company used provided Katherine Beil’s name. But People To People, he said, may fire that service.

"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, adding the list service uses multiple sources to gather names.

We contacted Thomas again – about the second letter the Beils received in September from People to People.

A spokeswoman for the Ambassadors Group’s public relations firm, Meggan Needham of Purple Door Communications, said People to People is “absolutely devastated” that this happened again to the Beil family. Needham also sent us a written statement Thomas issued about this matter.

“We sincerely regret that the parents of Katherine Beil received an invitation letter for their deceased daughter to travel on a People to People Student Ambassador Program again,” Thomas wrote.

This time, Thomas blamed a new list service company for the error.

“People to People receives the names of students through a variety of sources. One of those sources is Student Marketing Group. Unfortunately, Katherine’s name was misspelled on the list provided to us by Student Marketing Group and therefore didn’t come up when we did our pre-mailing search.”

His statement added: “There is not a unified, regulated, national database of youth information. In addition there is no way of monitoring youth deaths. We do our best to cross reference the lists provided to us and our list of people that are classified as 'do not invite' for reasons including death. Katherine Beil was one of those names.”

What is the Ambassadors Group doing to ensure this doesn’t happen to the Beils for a third time? Thomas said his company is “investigating” the creation of a deceased child registry.

ConsumerAffairs.com contacted the Student Marketing Group, which provided Katherine Beil’s name. That company did not return our call.

Florida sanctions

Meanwhile, ConsumerAffairs.com learned the Florida Attorney General’s Office reached an agreement with People to People in 2006 to resolve “questions about the manner in which the company developed its mailing lists.”

Under that agreement, People to People paid $10,000 in costs and fees. It also donated approximately $26,000 in tuition to the Pinellas Foundation -- an educational organization in Florida -- for People To People’s summer 2008 trips. That’s enough money to send approximately four students on the overseas programs.

The Beils filed a complaint with the Florida Attorney General’s Office after they received their first letter from People To People. Florida officials, however, would not say if the Beil’s complaint triggered this settlement.

The Beils weren’t the first parents of a deceased child to receive a recruitment letter from People to People.

In September 2005, a mother in Iowa received a letter from People To People stating her son was named for a Student Ambassador trip overseas. Her 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."

Iowa officials also discovered the organization misled parents during its in-person presentations.

"(Those) also convey the message that students are specially selected as an honor," said Iowa Assistant Attorney General Steve St. Clair. "And we found that representatives with whom our investigator had phone contact described the program in the same manner."

Iowa officials didn’t take any legal action against People to People in connection with its letters or presentations. After the incident, however, People to People donated $5,000 to Iowa’s SIDS Foundation and $20,000 to Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines. The organization also agreed to modify its letters and presentations.

But we heard from parents across the country who said People To People continued to send its misleading letter -- and duped students into believing they were hand-picked for the overseas trips that cost an average of $5,000.

ConsumerAffairs.com also discovered that anyone can nominate a student for one of People to People’s Student Ambassador Programs on the company’s Web site.

The online form doesn’t ask for any information about the person making the nomination – or any reasons why the student would be a good candidate for the program.

Baffled

Back in Florida, Eugene Beil says he’s baffled by People to People’s explanation for sending Katherine a second letter.

“Misspelling? What misspelling? The only misspelling is the company left the ‘e’ off end of Katherine’s name,” he told us. “Her last name was spelled correctly.”

Beil also isn’t convinced that People to People is serious about fixing its mailing list -- and ensuring his family won’t receive another “devastating” letter addressed to Katherine.

“The way big business works, money talks and People to People has no incentive to clean up its database unless someone brings legal action,” says Beil, who is an attorney. His wife is also a lawyer. “I’m not sure I want to do that, but I’m tempted. If they were hit with a class action lawsuit, they wouldn’t do this again.”

He adds: “People to People needs to say ‘OK, we’re not going to do all this mass marketing anymore.’ We’re going to try and do this the way it should be done legitimately – through recommendations and nominations. We’re going to make this program what it purports to be. But unless there’s some financial hammer, People to People will probably never voluntarily do that.”

Beil also offered some advice to Mary Eisenhower – advice he believes will protect the reputation of the organization her grandfather founded.

“I would ask Mary to seriously consider stop letting the Ambassadors Group use the name of People to People. They’re not a non-profit organization. People to People and the Ambassadors group need to go their separate ways.”

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