Casino - Bait and Switch?

[furbert]

Hello there. Could I get some opinions please? I deposited £2000 at a casino and was given a generous 30% bonus of £600. They have now changed their terms and reduced the wagering contribution of the game I was playing to 10% from 50%. I am around halfway through the wagering and noticed the change today.

I have a screenshot showing the terms as they were on the day I deposited. I have spoken to their live chat who tell me that they have the right to change the bonus whenever they like.

Surely this should only apply to new bonuses? To do anything to an existing bonus is changing the deal after it has been accepted and is classed as a bait and switch?

The manager is supposed to be contacting me tomorrow but I am concerned about this as £2000 is a lot for me so I would appreciate the forums opinions.

The live chat have told me that the manager is happy to answer me here so I will reveal the casino name if I am unhappy with the resolution or with their permission if I am happy.

Thanks in advance.

[baldidiot]

The terms you should be held to are the terms that were in effect when you took the bonus. Taking the screenshot was very smart thinking

[KasinoKing]

You're definitely in the right.
If you can't resolve it with the casino then it could be Pitch-A-Bitch time!
(As long as they're not in the Rogue Pit).

{Edit} Just noticed this is your first post, so to explain PAB in case you don't know it:

First please send the casino representative (if they have one here) a Private Message about your problem.
Reps are listed here: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/showroster.php

After giving them a reasonable amount of time, if they do not put things right to your satisfaction, you can Pitch-A-Bitch.
This is CasinoMeister's FREE service to help players with problems at non-rogue casinos.
Before you start, make sure the casino in question is NOT in the Rogue Pit or on the No Can Do list.
To submit your PAB, click here: Pitch-A-Bitch
Be sure to read ALL the terms for submitting a PAB, including the Frequently Asked Questions here: PAB FAQs

Welcome to the forum!
KK

[maxd]

The live chat have told me that the manager is happy to answer me here so I will reveal the casino name if I am unhappy with the resolution or with their permission if I am happy.

Hello, Max Drayman writing, I'm the Player Complaints Manager here at Casinomeister.com

There's a couple things you should know before you proceed.

First thing is that you should check our I-Gaming Forum Reps page to see if there is a contact person for your casino. That should be your first step, before posting on the forums.

Secondly you should know that taking your issue to the forums like you have here can and likely will make you ineligible for our Pitch-A-Bitch dispute resolution service. If you have any intention of going that route you should stop posting now, and read the Pitch-A-Bitch FAQ ASAP.

Finally this "if it's resolved I'll post X, if it isn't I'll post Y" sound suspiciously like you are trying to strong-arm the casino into giving you what you want, regardless of your initial "Could I get some opinions please?" approach.

Blackmailing the casino and/or exploiting these forums for your own agenda are serious no-no's -- see the Forum Rules if you want to find out just how serious -- and will likely get you in a world of pain hereabouts.

Needless to say I'm suggesting you take a moment to think over your approach here. Proceed if you must, but you're quite possibly going about this all wrong.

[furbert]

Sorry to hear you feel that way. However I don't really see your point about strong arming. I'll reveal the casino name either way but only with their permission if I'm happy with their resolution.

[Casinomeister]

Sorry to hear you feel that way. However I don't really see your point about strong arming. I'll reveal the casino name either way but only with their permission if I'm happy with their resolution...

It has nothing to do with feeling a certain way, we have policies on dealing with complaints. There is plenty of information readily available for you to solve it.

The forum occasionally receives postings from players who threaten casinos behind the scenes with bad press. We just hope that this is not the case in your situation.

[furbert]

No. I don't believe I have done that. The casino has a rep here and I have given them a link to this thread and advised them that this issue relates to their casino.

I haven't told them do this or I'll post in the forums and tell everyone how bad you are. I have told them that I'll post on here though to ask for help as they seemed so adamant that they can do as they wish.

If the casino has done nothing wrong surely there shouldn't be an issue?

I accept you have a complaints policy and prefer that complaints be kept to that system but I'm not at that stage yet. Is it not ok to post here without raising a complaint? I apologise if I have got this wrong.

[SlotMonster]

Hello everyone,

As I said above, the casino in question is BigCasino. I’m posting here to explain the situation with the OP (and 26 more players involved).

We developed some kind of VIP promotion, when player who received from us a VIP Status (we don’t have VIP program, but will have soon) is getting generous bonuses on their large deposits (basically, on EVERY deposit). Please note, that in our Bonus Terms and Conditions we have xB but not x(B+D) so your WR depends only on the amount of your bonus, which IMO makes them more easy to clear and more attractive.

But after close analysis of our games we noticed that with 50% contribution of every Poker Game it’s too easy to clear the bonus and many players just deposited, cleared the bonus and then withdrew. We paid them in full and even didn’t block them and didn’t exclude them from our promotions, but our management has taken a decision to change the contribution. But unfortunately we can’t change contribution only for new players or for those who don’t have any bonus, we can change it only for ALL players. I know it’s not good at all, but I have to deal with what I have. We will update our SW to be able to do that, but the major release is not going to be very soon, sorry.

So we decided to count all players who have the bonus uncleared and contact them personally after we changed the contribution, explain the situation and find the best solution. I know, we could have just sent them emails, but we decided that the situation is extraordinary, and contacted them one by one by the phone. In the most cases, if player was close to complete the WR, we just released the bonus and made it withdrawable. If player wagered more than it required – we released the bonus and added a gift to their accounts. It’s free money, No WR, fully withdrawable, depends on how much they wagered above.

Unfortunately, we didn’t reach them all quickly, and there are still some players unreached (some of them just told us they don’t care, some of them were busy and asked to call them later etc). We also waited for calls, emails or Live Chat from these players to be able to deal with them. For tomorrow there are still 12 players to deal with, including the OP.

The OP actually was the first one who contacted our Support via Live Chat. I think I can explain by the fact that they played only Oasis Poker and noticed that something is wrong pretty quickly.

Anyway, after giving wrong explanation to the OP (Note: in or Bonus T&C we have a statement “BigCasino.co.uk reserves the right to modify, change, suspend or terminate bonus award at any time for any reason without prior notification to players.” – support operator thought the player was asking about Bonus Terms, not about contribution and sent this statement as an explanation) our staff advised to wait for tomorrow when I will come to work and will continue dealing with players.

But the OP disagreed with that and replied to our Support Operator that they are going to raise an issue at public forum.

I think I should reveal few strings from the chat to make it more clear:

Sergey
Please, contact him tomorrow via LiveChat. Starting from 10 AM.
7/14/11 8:29:52 PM
The Player
no I have raised this issue now
7/14/11 8:30:19 PM
I will post on the casinomeister website and ask for their help

And another one:

The Player
shall I give you a link to the casinomeister post?
7/14/11 8:41:03 PM
Sergey
Yes, please.
7/14/11 8:42:17 PM
The Player
1 second, Im posting it now
7/14/11 8:46:48 PM
I am just going to post this now, so just to confirm you are happy for me to post this on the casinomeister forum, yes?
7/14/11 8:48:13 PM
Sergey
We asked you to wait for our manager till tomorrow, but if you want to - he will reply to you on CM.
7/14/11 8:49:19 PM
The Player
ok I will wait till tomorrow before posting it, I hope it wont be necessary as I am sure you do not want to break the law
7/14/11 8:49:42 PM
Sergey
Thank you! We will contact you tomorrow.

But now we see the thread here.

You may consider it as our official statement: in no way BigCasino was intended to steal players’ money or make the wagering more difficult for players who has already had a bonus in our casino. As I said, it was technically impossible to change the contribution for new players only, so we are trying to deal with EVERY player involved and find the best solution for both sides. All players will be paid in full if they wish to withdraw their remaining balance including cleared bonuses. If it will require account verification – we will ask for documents, verify them and process players’ withdrawals.

From me personally: the OP will be paid tomorrow early in the morning (deposit + player’s winnings). It’s the first thing I will do when I come to work tomorrow.

If you have any questions – let me know.

I hope I informed you well.

Best regards,
Viktar.

[furbert]

Thank you Viktar. Unfortunately you have posted only selections of the chat and omited the sections that show me stating that I would post but not name the casino and the section were I provided your staff with the link.

[mrjones]

hi ,seems straight forward & thanks to victar ( slot monster )for letting us know its part of his casino , although the op does have a solid point in regards to changing terms on a whim & do hope that you inform all players asap concerning bonuses played at your casino so you dont run into these problems again )