Washington Commanders blame 'bank error' after fan's $14K raffle check bounced
After a fan announced that a check from the Washington Commanders bounced, the team blamed the issue on a "bank error" and wired him his money.
The Commanders addressed the issued a statement on Wednesday after season-ticket holder Drew Shipley called into The Team 980 radio with a story about the bounced check. Per host Chris Russell, Shipley claimed to have won a prize of more than $14,000 from a charity raffle the Commanders hosted during their season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Shipley then shared an image of the $14,822 check with local media, which he said came from the "Washington Football Charitable Foundation."
Just talked to Drew Shipley, the @Commanders
fan whose $14kprize check from the team bounced after winning the 50/50 raffle week 1. The team paid him what he was owed this afternoon but he remains stunned. "Who am I supposed to talk to? Am I supposed to call Dan Snyder myself?" pic.twitter.com/dSndJ8xBIT— Eric Flack (@EricFlackTV) October 19, 2022
After the story made the rounds on social media, Commanders media relations confirmed that the check had bounced. They blamed it on the bank and announced that they wired Shipley his money in a statement provided to local media, including Washington Post reporter Nicki Jhabvala:
“We’ve reached out to the fan and sent an electronic payment directly to his account. It was a bank error, and we have reached out to the bank to determine what happened and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Tuesday's news was the latest in a seemingly endless stream of dysfunction surrounding the beleaguered franchise. It certainly wasn't the biggest or most damning headline. That honor belongs to all things Dan Snyder. But it continued a trend of the team struggling to get things right, big and small.
Take, for instance, another Week 1 snafu. Social media caught wind of mugs being sold near FedEx Field that had the team's "W" logo emblazoned over an outline of a map of Washington state — not the team's Washington, D.C. home.
From team official: These were not INSIDE the stadium. Instead, they were being sold at a truck just outside it https://t.co/DoXPlXEbIJ
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) September 11, 2022
After declaring that the mugs were sold outside the stadium, the team eventually admitted that the mugs were sold from an official team truck.
Shipley summed up his take on the state of the franchise on Wednesday in an interview with WUSA's Eric Flack.
"You've got to do the small things right," Shipley said. "You have big enough scandals from the top of your organization. You've got to do the little things right, you've got to retain your customers. I have a hard time now thinking about spending a dollar at FedEx Field.
