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Under what circumstances, if any, are businesses responsible for paying your overdraw fees?

Here's my specific problem: A couple weeks ago I paid online for 1-year membership to USFA (United States Fencing Association). When I went to a tournament the next day or so I had to fill out a membership form again because I had not yet received my official membership card in the mail. I was told to write duplicate on the form. I forgot to. Now, I am a poor college student, so I don't have a lot of money in my checking. The USFA ended up charging me twice for membership fees, which is how I ended up receiving an overdraw fee on top of those. Clearly there is a small case of negligence on my part, however, can I legitimately argue that they too are guilty of negligence? When they are adding people to registration, shouldn't they notice that someone from the save division, the same club, and the same name, with the same credit card number, is already registered? Another way of looking at it: Am I obliged to write duplicate on the membership form in order to guarantee that USFA has an obligation to pay for my overdraw fee? If not, then does that mean they have to pay for it? Thanks! -Jeff

Public Comments

1. You can't legitimately claim negligence on their part. They specifically TOLD you to write 'duplicate' for EXACTLY this reason. They process so many applications it is literally IMPOSSIBLE for them to catch duplicate registrations without UNREASONABLE delays. That said, It is not unreasonable to ASK them to at least split the fee. In the future, OMIT your account number from any duplicate applications. Had you PRINTED the confirmation from the online application and taken that to the tournament, I BET you would not have had to complete a second application.