intercasino free flight offer not honoured

[lauram]

Did you get this all sorted out I hope so and your on your way to one great trip.

[eichmann]

dear Herr Casinomeister,
i first recommended this site to friends a few years ago when they were having trouble getting paid by some shifty online casinos. in every case the casino suddenly paid after your involvement ( for amounts totalling in the thousands of dollars).

when a large numer of australian poker players qualified for this "free" flight and had no success claiming their prizes i had no hesitation in recommending they post on this site. i also posted on this site the link to the thread on an australian poker forum where many of the disgruntled "free flight" winners were posting. RyanH posted on the australian thread promising that no one would be denied a flight. since then there has been no change , TLC have continued to refuse to answer phone calls and emails or to reject almost every possible flight date. if pressed hard enough TLC will eventually offer a flight route with taxes and "surcharges" totalling in excess of $1,400 .

the one australian who tried posting on here has experienced a totally biased response from you where you accuse him of libel and imply that he is the only disatisfied customer and therefore must be lying . The reality is that TLC are trying their hardest to make sure no australian can claim a flight and Intercasino are choosing to do nothing to support any of the "free flight winners"

I see you are the "independant" arbitrator for disputes with intercasino and that this must put you in a difficult position. Are you actually able to assist in this situation or will you have to just going to run with intercasino's official line that it isnt their problem take it up with TLC




again a link to one of the threads on this fraud on australian sites
http://www.pokernetwork.com/forums/m...like-scam.html

[Spikey]

I sent my Flight Booking Request Form back filled out on the 3rd June 2008.

Since then I have read other posts where they are charged over $1400 for taxes and surcharges, and also now that TLC are refusing to answer phone calls and emails again.

I feel sorry for LuckyShades who tried to get in early because he was going to the WSOP and wanted to use his free flight. He got mucked around and didn't get his flight and then had to pay double what he would normally have paid to go to the US because he bought the ticket at short notice. So really, he lost a flight to the US rather than got a free one as he paid double for his. I certainly would have been fuming too if it had been me, it certainly looked and sounded like a genuine promotion when I took it up.

I personally just believe the posts I read, they have no reason to lie, and I won't be chasing it if my free ticket costs me over $1400, not to mention that I probably won't get the dates I want.

If anyone deserves compensation, LuckyShades certainly does. At least I know now not to get my hopes up.

[vinylweatherman]

I sent my Flight Booking Request Form back filled out on the 3rd June 2008.

Since then I have read other posts where they are charged over $1400 for taxes and surcharges, and also now that TLC are refusing to answer phone calls and emails again.

I feel sorry for LuckyShades who tried to get in early because he was going to the WSOP and wanted to use his free flight. He got mucked around and didn't get his flight and then had to pay double what he would normally have paid to go to the US because he bought the ticket at short notice. So really, he lost a flight to the US rather than got a free one as he paid double for his. I certainly would have been fuming too if it had been me, it certainly looked and sounded like a genuine promotion when I took it up.

I personally just believe the posts I read, they have no reason to lie, and I won't be chasing it if my free ticket costs me over $1400, not to mention that I probably won't get the dates I want.

If anyone deserves compensation, LuckyShades certainly does. At least I know now not to get my hopes up.

History repeats itself again - will big companies EVER learn.

Looking at the Australian site, it is becoming clear what has happened. When TLC made the deal, they had some kind of mathematical model as to how many players would be eligible, and of those would actually want to fly. This set their budget, and informed them of what price to quote to Intercasino.
It went wrong because someone promoted this offer to Australians as part of promoting the Intercasino brand. This has lead to far more applications from Australian players than TLC had anticipated, and TLC are unable to match these people with flights unless they buy in more flights. They also lack the staff to deal with this, as it has turned out to be more popular that they thought.
Now, they are using "trickery" of sorts to try to cut down the number of flights needed between Australia and the US. They are using the same tricks that were used in the notorious "Hoover flights fiasco" many years ago. This consisted of tactics designed to deter claimants. In the case of Hoover, the company had a policy of offering dates that they thought the customer was unlikely to accept, even though the customer's preferred dates were actually available. The other tricks were looking for minor loopholes that they could use to delay or decline the application. A fine example comes from a player who opted to pay the taxes by cheque, which was allowed, but then had their application returned as declined because they had not filled out the credit card details for payment (not necessary, and also against advice of many banks, as giving a card number when you do not intend to use it as a payment method means that an unscrupulous company could charge it).
Failure to return calls, answer Emails, and seeming to go to great lengths to "hide" their live contact numbers from the claimants is also what happened with Hoover (except it was not Email in those days, it was snail mail - they deliberately destroyed claims and then said they never received them when they were chased as to why nothing was happening).

TLC have already been caught out, telling one player that his forms were never received, clearly without ever checking, since it turned out the player had the sense to send them by recorded courier, and they had tracking data and a signiature of receipt from TLC.

This promotion should not be run again until all these issues have been resolved, and changes made to ensure it will not happen again.

Australian players should ask for a breakdown of these "taxes", they seem to be far too high, and if there is an element of payment towards the flight itself involved, would be a breach of the promise of a "free flight".

[eichmann]

it is now clear beyond any doubt that TLC is acting totally fraudulently with the australian victims. RyanH has apologised saying intercasino would never have dealt with TLC had they known. at this point we have to ask what this means for the future. Apparently even a previously reputable company like intercasino can involve a third party in any promotions ans then deny any liability. the facts are simple, an unknown number of australians joined intercasino specifically for this bonus and have been denied it by a series of blatantly fraudulent actions. intercasino have apologised , washed their hands of the affair and denied any responsibility or liability. when we consider that each individual victim here is being robbed of around $ 1,500 it is hard to see how intercasino cannot get rogued or at least come with a warning here at casinomeister.com


The Casinomeister himself has damaged his credibility with his vicious attack on one of the victims . The facts are all out there if he wishes to check. Perhaps he should ask RyanH exactly how many australians have been able to use their "free" flight. If RyanH can apologise then perhaps the casinomeister can too. Perhaps for the sake of restoring some credibility casinomeister.com should sever it's cosy links with intercasino

[spearmaster]

when we consider that each individual victim here is being robbed of around $ 1,500 it is hard to see how intercasino cannot get rogued or at least come with a warning here at casinomeister.com

The Casinomeister himself has damaged his credibility with his vicious attack on one of the victims .

I think you are out of order. Intercasino did not willfully engage with a third-party provider for the purpose of cheating players. They engaged TLC because they thought it was a good incentive for players.

Said "victim" claimed that Intercasino defrauded him. This clearly is not the case.

If RyanH can apologise then perhaps the casinomeister can too. Perhaps for the sake of restoring some credibility casinomeister.com should sever it's cosy links with intercasino

Irrelevant, and uncalled for. RyanH may apologize, and in my opinion he will try to find some way to make it up to the players affected - but this again has nothing to do with Casinomeister.

I don't know why some of you out there think that Casinomeister - or any other long-time members with any reputation - has any obligation to you - the site is here as a source of good online gambling information as well as providing a forum where all of you have the right to express an opinion - but many of these accusations go right into personal attacks which are unjustified.

If you don't like it here, or you don't like the way you think you're being treated, there are plenty of other places to go. Everyone is welcome here - but, unlike the Hotel California, you can check out any time you like AND you can always leave. No one is forcing you to stay.

[kavaman]

The casino offered the promotion, they should somehow honor it or atleast reimburse the players who wanted the flights for some amount in $$$ to their casino accounts.
Also there should be a rough estimate on the airport "taxes" , before even sending the flight claim vouchers. Around 1400$ sounds ridiculous. Thats like the full cost of the flight, not "just" the taxes.
It really is not the players fault if the casino made a deal with a 3rd party operator and the 3rd party operator failed to deliver the "product".

-kavaman

[eichmann]

spearmaster said -"I don't know why some of you out there think that Casinomeister - or any other long-time members with any reputation - has any obligation to you "

really spearmaster ? the fact that this site claims to be a casino watchdog combined with the fact that the casinomeister claims to be the "independant" arbitrator for disputes involving intercasino would appear to make him 100% obligated. His initial personal attack on one of the victims could be excused as a genuine error. His silence since then has been a disgrace .

[maxd]

the fact that this site claims to be a casino watchdog combined with the fact that the casinomeister claims to be the "independant" arbitrator for disputes involving intercasino would appear to make him 100% obligated.

If I may I think Spear is pointing out the difference between being _available_ to help players with problems and being _obligated_ to help them.

Yes, we are generally speaking here to help players out. However is someone is rude or nasty to deal with or a chronic PITA we are under no _obligation_ whatsoever to continue our relationship with them.

His initial personal attack on one of the victims could be excused as a genuine error. His silence since then has been a disgrace .

See above. You might also want to have a look at A message from Casinomeister before you continue shooting off your mouth about B's "silence".

[j_l]

There is no such thing as a free flight anymore.

All these companies offering free flights should definitely re-word their offers. Airport taxes and security charges are generally much higher than the actual fare.

Take this for an example:

Source: www.ba.com - 22 August 2008 07:50hrs

25SEP08 HEATHROW to LOS ANGELES / BA0283
16OCT08 LOS ANGELESM to HEATHROW / BA0282

Price: £46.00 + (and it's a BIG plus) £312.50 AIRPORT TAXES

Don't EVER fall for these free flight offers. They are a joke, unless taxes and securities are included.