Joined: Oct '11
Location: Sweden
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 1410
So, I contacted PartyPoker threw the live chat since I wanted to see if there was any possibility to get a rakeback deal. It turned out it didn't but the conversation took an interesting turn and I'm now waiting for an email from them where I hope we can get some interesting answers. Only thing is, the conversation was shut down unexpectedly so I really hope that I'll be contacted as promised! Here's the conversation I had with them.
You are now connected to "Strahil". For security reasons, please confirm your last name and your date of birth.
Erik: Is it possible to arrange some sort of a rakeback deal?
Erik: 'Last name'
Erik: 'Date of birth'
Strahil: Welcome to Live Help!
Strahil: Thank you very much for the verification.
Strahil: The loyalty system works in such a way that you accumulate PartyPoints which later on can be exchanged for various bonus or cash offers in the store.
Strahil: For more information you can go to My Account > Party Points > Benefits
Erik: yeah, I've seen all that but to be honest, what you can get in the store is of really low value compared to what a rakeback deal would be
Erik: for example, the $10 cash you can get for 500 points would only represent a 4% rake back
Erik: I really think that you as a company would earn a lot by putting in place a 5% rakeback on top of that loyalty program
Erik: my guess is that a lot of players who doesn't already play here actually would consider playing here just because of that sweet deal
Strahil: I would like to thank you for the provided feedback and suggestion and assure you it is highly appreciated.
Strahil: I can assure you we are constantly improving our games in many ways so we can provide our players with the mest gaming experience.
Strahil: But for the current moment this is how the loyalty system works.
Erik: well, if that's what you're working towards, then how come you segregate the player pool in cash games?
Erik: to be honest, this actually just makes the gaming experience worse
Strahil: We are continually looking for ways to balance our poker room ecology. As we have said before, we are testing various features to make poker a more fun and entertaining game for both new and inexperienced players. Our extensive research shows that new and inexperienced players enjoy the game more and continue playing for longer if in the early stages they play with players of a similar ability, this includes ,but is not limited to our welcome lounges. These players are free to play on any table they chose
Erik: so a personally arranged message can't be done eh? that's just a copy/paste of your official statement
Erik: anyways, if that's what your looking for, why not extend the amount of time new players can play in the welcome lounges?
Strahil: If you have some specific question I would gladly address it to the respective team for further assistance.
Erik: and why didn't you just come out and announced this instead of having to be found out before you came out with it? this would pretty much just make losing players lose their money more slowly and winning players win their money more slowly which just increase the amount of rake that you guys get
Erik: the whole thing just seems a little bit fishy to me... to be honest, it kinda feels like you're just screwing over your players for a bigger chunk of their money
Strahil: As I said if you want me to I can address your questions to the respective team so they can assit you further, since I cannot provide you with some specific information on hte case.
Erik: so since you get more rake from this, wouldn't it also be in place then to improve your loyalty program so the players also get something more out of it?
Erik: yeah, everything I've written in this chat I would like to be forwarded to the respective team and I'd very much like them to contact me on my email so I can get some answers to these questions
Strahil: Ok, I will address your queries to the respective team, once they provide me with answer you will be contacted back.
Erik: will it then also be possible to have a dialogue threw the email if I have more questions?
Unable to connect to the application server. This may be due to a firewall or network connectivity issue. Please try reconnecting later.
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 1646
LOL. So if this was a phone call, i think the term is "he just hung up on you" I doubt you will be hearing anything from any other department. Good on you for making him squirm tho
Joined: Mar '12
Location: Netherlands
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 617
and i just contacted pokerstars...support..wrote them a nice letter and made them an offer..
hoping to get a better offer from them..where we might both benefit from..
let's see what the best and biggest pokerplatform will give as an answer to my email.
will update you guys..
hope they will grant my request..if not, i will quit playing at pokerstars...(blackmail:0)
don't think they realy care if 1 or 2 custumors would stop playing there, but on the other hand you never know. i came up with some good arguments..hope they can't get around it..
Joined: Mar '12
Location: Netherlands
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 617
Hello loser,
Thank you for contacting PokerStars.
We have forwarded your email to the VIP Club for their review and action. Please allow some time for a reply from the VIP Club staff, as the club does not operate on a 24 hour basis.
In the future you can contact the VIP Club directly at the following email address:
Joined: Mar '12
Location: Netherlands
Age: 51 (M)
Posts: 617
obviously someone like to throw -1 thumbs at me...thank you soo much ,for whatever reason you've done that..
i'd apreciate it if the responsible dude would reveal himself and just admit he did this...and why?
I Also expect no answer from this certain person...since he's doing this anonymously.
reaction of pokerstars will be my next post in this thread...
------------ Hello Crusher,
Thank you for your query regarding rakeback.
PokerStars does not offer a rakeback promotion to our players. Please understand there are many conditions to rakeback deals, and such promotions must be paid for somehow. Usually this means higher rake charges in large pots, higher tournament fees, and/or reduced value frequent player programs. Most sites that offer rakeback will also deduct rakeback paid to players from deposit bonus payments or charge far higher redemption prices for items in their VIP programs.
Instead of rakeback, PokerStars prefers to simply offer the most competitive "base" rake in the industry and an extensive VIP program with the highest value player rewards available. If you compare the rake charges and rakeback conditions across sites, you will find PokerStars' rake to be the best deal for players. Our rake charges can be viewed on the PokerStars website:
If you are interested in cash back deals, included in our VIP program are the VIP Stellar Rewards, which allow players to purchase cash credits up to a total value of $1,200 (USD) based on the number of VPPs (VIP Player Points) earned during a calendar year. For more information, please visit the VIP Stellar Rewards page on the PokerStars website:
You may also be interested in the PokerStars VIP Store cash bonus offers? These cash bonuses are available to any player whose VIP status is BronzeStar or above, and players can purchase them using their FPPs (Frequent Player Points) earned in real money games at PokerStars. For example, a SilverStar VIP can purchase a $25 cash bonus for 2,250 FPPs. In many cases, these cash bonuses are of greater value than any rakeback deals. For complete information and conditions, please visit the PokerStars VIP Store cash bonus web page:
While we hope you are convinced already, remember also PokerStars provides the widest variety of games with the biggest prizes available online. Additionally, we believe that nowhere else on the Internet will you find a site that has put more effort into ensuring its games are fair, nor which has a higher regard for integrity or commitment to customer service.
Please let us know if you have any other questions and thank you for playing at PokerStars.
Regards,
Gareth PokerStars VIP Team -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- still not satisfied...will do some more research on the net..see what's possible and at what sites.
------------ problem here is : you need to become supernova-elite too fully benefit from there vip-program..
if supernova elite --you get 74% rakeback at max. considering all things mentioned above by support.
and 50% for supernova..
27% for silverstar... so that's me...only once made it to goldstar..then dropped back..and each month i almost reach it...but always 400-600 fpp's short to move up...
only solution for me : play better,,play more,play higher instead of micro's all the time ..
problem is ..if i play medium stakes all month and lose ..it will hurt me in my social live..(billsl i have to pay)
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Posted by erru9107: Here's the conversation I had with them.
No, that was a conversation you had with some poor sap in customer service. I never get why people have attitudes such as yours, maybe its just from working so many years in CS myself :/
Anyway, you weren't talking to "Party Poker" you were talking to someone who's paid to help you and you just treated them with very little respect and as a result, you got the same back; stock answers and no interest. I don't know why people thinking treating customer service people not as humans but as an extension of some in-human company entity will help their cause.I get that they ARE a representative of a company and in that sense, you are speaking with the company. But get some fucking perspective. There is zero point asking a customer service rep questions that relate to business management issues. They're just some bum paid a minimum wage to help you with your basic problems. Seriously, that is all.
+1 Jess, my mom works in customer service and trust me there is no point yelling at them over the phone, they will just wait untill you stop raging to say something
Usually rake back deals are offered as a first deposit bonus or an affiliate bonus... They're pretty easy to find, but when you already have an account on most of the main poker sites you might have to go play on a smaller site.
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Posted by TheMachineQC: +1 Jess, my mom works in customer service and trust me there is no point yelling at them over the phone, they will just wait untill you stop raging to say something
Hahaha yeah yelling and swearing is always bad, CS just laughs at you then and doesn't help at all.
But that isn't so much what I meant here, Erru was polite enough in that respect. It's just that using language like "You're doing this" and "You're trying that" is really impolite in that he is behaving is though he is actually speaking with "Party Poker" itself, some weird all-encompassing entity. When really he is chatting with "Strahil" who is probably just doing his best to try and help. Much better off saying addressing the customer service by their name and acknowledging that they're their to help you, be funny with them if you like, they are a human being, normal human being and if you treat them like some weird emotionless-machine then they'll probably behave that way too and you won't get anywhere.
------------ Oh and with pretty much anything - if you wish to address 'managerial issues' then you're much better off writing something formal (an email for example, lucky the days of having to pen a letter are long gone). Customer Service / Technical Support are just trained to help you with basic problems you may be facing, they aren't in a position to even comment on policy, let alone change or bend it.
Joined: Oct '11
Location: Sweden
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 1410
Jess: I get where you're coming from but all I really did was ask a bunch of questions, Strahil said he couldn't answer them but he would forward them to the respective team. I don't really think I was impolite or rude for asking a few questions.
Joined: May '12
Location: Belgium
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 275
What kind of name is Strahil? He is probably Indian.
Back to the point - Jess is right. You shouldn't have offended the guy, he was just trying to help you. Maybe you didn't mean to be impolite but the tone in which you wrote was quite attacking. The support on poker sites are there to inform you if you have any questions and to tell you about their promotions etc. They are not responsible for the economic side of the company, as Jess mentioned. So why speaking to him as if he made the software or he is the one not wanting to give you the rakeback deal? Next time if you have a 'complaint' just send it to their mail, not to their chat support.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
I dont think he was rude or something. If the customer support cant stand such behavior then i might add they are too touchy. Some things come along with the job Not that i applaud extreme behavior though from customers to simple employees. When you are addressing to the boss though its another story
Joined: Feb '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 5712
Customer Services staff usually find themselves up againstbpeople who arent particularly dissatisfied with a service that is provided, but a service that is not provided but the customer thinks it should be.
These kinds of people shoule go and get a life or start their own business that does provide the service they want and cant find elsewhere!!!!!!
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Posted by Mober: I dont think he was rude or something. If the customer support cant stand such behavior then i might add they are too touchy. Some things come along with the job
haha, yeah - by customer service standards he definitely wasn't being too rude. It's just a bit impolite in other ways, as I mentioned already. Maybe you're right about being touchy on it, but I've worked customer service and technical support for around 10 years, mostly on the phones and emails and I do know what I am talking about.. When ever I speak with PKR customer service, I pretty much ALWAYS get whatever I want, just from knowing how to talk to people in CS including having a $270 Masters ticket cashed into my account, despite a blanket PKR policy not to do that and this was well before I had any VIP status there.
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 58 (M)
Posts: 2432
Is useless to ask customer service for rake back,the only thing they can do is to inform and guide you .CS can not make personalized offers to a player.And above all ,increasing the rake is the main purpose of any poker room,take more money from players,give them bad beats and all the crap just enough to keep them hooked.Good luck
