Haiti relief fund donors angry over Colts merchandise deal gone awry

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Some Hoosiers who donated to Haiti relief efforts in the name of Colts wide receiver Pierre Garçon are mad. They say they donated months ago, thinking they would get a signed picture or football but never received the merchandise promised to them.

Betty Campbell from Sheridan, Indiana admits she is a huge Colts fan.

"I will put my money where my mouth is. Let's put it like that," she said.

Campbell said she did just that by donating $60 to Pierre Garçon's foundation to help Haiti earthquake relief. In return, Betty would get three autographed pictures of Pierre Garçon. She made the donation in January and the purchase appeared on her February credit card bill.

But Betty still hasn't received the pictures.

She said when she called the number for Ultimate Sports Connection, the company handling the donations and delivery of the merchandise, at times she got no answer and on occasion Brett Lemieux, the company owner, answered.

"I called and I even offered to come by and pick them up and about half the time you wouldn't even get an answer," said Betty.

24-Hour News 8 talked to Lemieux, who admits he didn't know what he was getting into.

"I didn't realize how big this was going to take off and how many people were going to be doing this. I understood that there was probably going to be some orders coming in and it obviously took off over night," he said.

Lemieux says it was his idea to collect the donations and send out the merchandise to donors. He used a new credit card processing program he had never used before and blames that for all the problems.

But Betty isn't the only one complaining. The Better Business Bureau of Indiana has gotten numerous complaints about Lemieux and Ultimate Sports Connection.

Diane Dove is the Director of Dispute Resolution. She says she has received complaints online and in writing.

"Right now, the complaints that we're getting they pretty well know that they have dealt with Ultimate Sports Connection. But they are concerned, you know, part of the reason many of these people mention ordering is because they wanted some money to go to that foundation and who knows what's happened with that. The complaints we are getting they are not receiving their product," said Dove.

"So this is something that I tried to help and right now for a simple computer error it's coming back to come upon me and my business and, number one, Mr. Garcon who had nothing to do with this other than his time and trying to help Haiti and his fans." said Lemieux.

Lemieux says he will honor all orders. He says if you have your order confirmation he can fulfill the order. Again, the error has nothing to do with Pierre Garçon or the Colts organization.

Lemieux did say he collected more than $12,000 for Pierre's foundation.

So far, Pierre Garçon's foundation has collected more than $125,000. 24-Hour News 8 traveled with Pierre and his family as they return to their homeland for the first time since the deadly quake.

Pierre put his donation dollars to work, money Hoosiers gave in support of Haiti.

Join 24-Hour News 8 and Pierre as we go "Home to Haiti", meet his family, see where they live and see how the Haitian people are surviving three months after the earthquake. Thursday night on WISH-TV at 11.

Brett Lemieux says he is going to make good on all of the donations. He can be reached at 317-752-7373 or brett@ultimatesportsconnection.com.