May I suppliment my previous posts re above?

I have yet to receive the trophies taken by my son and me during the August 2004 hunt. What I have received is email from Franklin of Intercon, the outfitter, stating initially, that he had not received payment for trophy fees and, later in other emails, stating that he had not been paid for the basic cost of the hunt. The bottom line now is that he wants the cost of the entire cost of the hunt (initial cost plus trophy fees) to release our trophies.

My initial cost for the price of the hunt was paid directly to Phil Whittemore of www.bluewaterbiggame.com I don't know where the money went from there. The trophy fees were paid directly to Ian Dodds.

This is nothing short of extortion by Intercon and it pisses me off. As near as I can tell, Phil was my agent, Ian was Intercon's agent and Franklin is trying to extort additional funds. I have notified SCI and The Hunting Report and don't know what else to do. Any ideas?

Keith

By way of clarification, I previously posted that this was a great hunt.

Keith,
I'm sorry to hear of your situation. IMO it depends whether Phil books for Intercon or whether he books for Ian and then Ian leases from Intercon. If the latter than you can hardly blame Intercon but rather hound Phil for the screw-up.

Ian cannot be Intercons agent unless he works for them. More likely that Intercon was the "outfitter" for Ian. I would really put pressure on Phil to sort this out. Have you heard from Ian recently at all? the other thing you can do is submit a formal complaint to TAHOA (Tanzania Hunting Outfitters Association) - their Secretary General is Mr. Mohamed Abdulkadil (good guy). His email address is alm@cats-net.com - and TPHA (Tanzania Professional Hunters' Association) att: Michel Mantheakis and email michel@miombosafaris.com, giving details and names.

good luck!

We often come across similar problems in Zim- We have one before the association now concerning PH Peter Baker.

In Zim, The operator cannot export the trophies unless he has banked all the money and has proof (deposit slips). A freelance PH buys a hunt of him, but doesn't pay over all the money...sorry, no export.

In Zim, the representitive of the company reponsible for the export has to sign the TR2 form and should do so in the presence of the client (who also has to sign the form).

I would have thought though that the US agent can be held responsible for all monies paid to him at the very least!

Your only recourse is going to be against the agent. After all that is why you used an agent, he is supposed to make things right when they fall to pieces.

Ian Cundill Dodds has been suspended from SCI for 5 years. There are other reports that you are not the only one who has lost money to him. At least you got to go on safari. Others may not be so lucky.

Not that it is going to help you, but everyone knows of my dislike for using a suitcase PH in Tanzania and this is just another reason why.

Regards,

Terry

KWTX,

I'd be all over Whittemore. What did he say to justify the situation?

Nothing.

You have the required personal and subject matter juridiction with the US agent for legal action.

PM me if you want a non practicing attorney's suggestions. I would do something if it were my hunt.

JPK