Forced to join Arbiter

[BuggBob]

The WOA* has forced us to join arbiter. Now I don't have anything against the arbiter, but I don't like "big brother" forcing me to join, just so they can monitor my assignments. My local association has a great working relationship with our customers, and the WOA does not. I feel that our customer relationships is now in jeopardy. And to top the whole dang deal off, there is talk of forcing us to use Ref Pay. I do have something against Ref Pay.

* WOA = Washington Officials Association, serving Interscholastic Officials in the state of Washington

[SRW]

We got the same thing down here too, Bob. It's state wide. We're probably gonna go to it for all our assignments (ASA SP, FP, etc). It's cheaper than what we're using now, and it's easier to use.

Roll with it... it'll be a good thing in the long run... even tho I agree that "they'll" be watching. Remember tho, this is for all WIAA sports, not just softball.

[Welpe]

Well if it is any consolation, The Arbiter does make managing your assignments easier.

What do you have against RefPay? I've never used it, so I don't know much about it.

[wadeintothem]

Not matter where you wanted to work around here youwould be added to a program - HS and NCAA is arbiter and our local uses a different one.

Welcome to 2009.

Big brother already has you locked, so dont worry about it anymore.

[Chess Ref]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Well if it is any consolation, The Arbiter does make managing your assignments easier.

What do you have against RefPay? I've never used it, so I don't know much about it.

We use Ref Pay here. Its basically a automated payroll system.

Upside I don't have to wait for the mail. Also have the money transferred into checking so no deposit runs to the bank.

Downside is if you make more then one transfer a month it costs $2 per additional transfer....

Interesting how we went from the fear of Big Brother to acceptance of Big Brother with hardly a whimper.

keep up the good fight Buggman.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Chess Ref

Interesting how we went from the fear of Big Brother to acceptance of Big Brother with hardly a whimper.

Defined in this country with three words: apathy, cowardice and laziness.

[AtlUmpSteve]

Originally Posted by BuggBob

The WOA* has forced us to join arbiter. Now I don't have anything against the arbiter, but I don't like "big brother" forcing me to join, just so they can monitor my assignments. My local association has a great working relationship with our customers, and the WOA does not. I feel that our customer relationships is now in jeopardy. And to top the whole dang deal off, there is talk of forcing us to use Ref Pay. I do have something against Ref Pay.

* WOA = Washington Officials Association, serving Interscholastic Officials in the state of Washington

I don't know if it makes me "Big Brother", but if you wanted assignments from me and my group, you would also need to get them on TheArbiter. That is how I choose to run my business; your option is to not get assignments from me. It my scheduling tool of choice, and, in my opinion, the best program on the market today for that purpose.

It is also the requirement of many NCAA Conferences. RefPay has some downsides (particularly the one transfer per month before paying a fee to get your own money), but it gets to me a lot easier than waiting on coordinators or treasurers to mail me a check.

[Skahtboi]

Originally Posted by AtlUmpSteve

It is also the requirement of many NCAA Conferences. RefPay has some downsides (particularly the one transfer per month before paying a fee to get your own money), but it gets to me a lot easier than waiting on coordinators or treasurers to mail me a check.

Yeah...but if each check counts as a transfer, that would be a whole lot of money being paid out for no reason. I would prefer to wait for a check.

[Skahtboi]

Looks to me as if RefPay is nothing more than a way to get into officials', schools', and officials' organizations' pockets. There sure seem to be a lot of hidden fees associated with this "service."

[MichaelVA2000]

Originally Posted by Skahtboi

Yeah...but if each check counts as a transfer, that would be a whole lot of money being paid out for no reason. I would prefer to wait for a check.

I work for several associations that use Arbiter. The associations using RefPay make lump sum deposts into my account at the end of the high school season, summer season, and fall season.

The other associations not using the RefPay feature on Arbiter issue a check at the end of each season.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Defined in this country with three words: apathy, cowardice and laziness.

Or just ignorant.

Or just liberal.

[Skahtboi]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

Or just liberal.

Funny! I was thinking just the other way around!

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by Skahtboi

Funny! I was thinking just the other way around!

And I probably should not have posted it in this forum, so I won't respond.

[BuggBob]

This is how it works in my area, My local association assigns all softball in the county, ASA, NSA, USSSA, NFHS, and Pony via the arbiter. When we accept the assignment we know what uniform to wear, what field to go, and what league rules to use (one league specifies in their rules, ASA by the book except allow the USSSA pitch). So the Arbiter is fine with me, it has made scheduling a lot easier on the scheduler and provides a simplified format to get all the game info I need. But what is not fine is the state wide organization representing about 1/5 of the softball games assigned telling my local association that they will use arbiter and that they will have access to my local association data. Many think that this is the state's attempt to take over assigning, or at least billing thereby freezing out our local assigners.

Originally Posted by Skahtboi

Looks to me as if RefPay is nothing more than a way to get into officials', schools', and officials' organizations' pockets. There sure seem to be a lot of hidden fees associated with this "service."

I see some of these fees sound a lot like banking fees. I wonder if RefPay has a banking license somewhere? An association might run into trouble in some states using this system.