backgammonmasters.com will not communicate

[helfer]

Hi,

I have been a player at backgammonmasters.com for some months. I have deposited and withdrawn several times. On my latest withdrawal there has been a problem. I initiated a withdrawal in the first days of Oct. I waited about two weeks, which is a bit long for them. It was then sent to Neteller but it was declined by Neteller. I emailed backgammonmasters to tell them. No response. About a week later I get an email from them telling me my withdraw was declined. It was a form letter-type email with no name. It said it might have been declined for various reasons, no ID, not fulfilled terms etc. None of the issues mentioned pertain to me I think. I emailed them again asking why. No response again. I then try to log into the download software to initiate the withdraw again. I cannot get in. It doesn't say I am locked out or anything it just hangs saying "communicating with server." But I never get in. I have waited for as long as 20 minutes and nothing. This had been going on for over a week. I have deleted and re-installed and that does not work.

My next step was to try and find some online affiliates who promote them but backgammon affiliates are not that common. I found a few but so far I have not been able to get them to contact backgammonmasters on my behalf. They have told me though that backgammonmasters is still operating and everything so that is not an issue.

As I mentioned, what I odd about this is I have been a player there for months. I have not had any trouble. They have not told me to go away or that I have broken any rules. They just simply won't get back to me for some reason. I don't know why. I'm perplexed.

Would someone here be nice enough to email them for me? They have no listed phone. It doesn't even have to be a "connected" type person, just a regular person will be great. I just want some indication as to what is going on. They have some of my funds and at the very least I would like them back.

If anyone is willing please send me a private massage and I will relay my username at backgammonmasters to you.

thanks a lot.

[vinylweatherman]

Hi,

I have been a player at backgammonmasters.com for some months. I have deposited and withdrawn several times. On my latest withdrawal there has been a problem. I initiated a withdrawal in the first days of Oct. I waited about two weeks, which is a bit long for them. It was then sent to Neteller but it was declined by Neteller. I emailed backgammonmasters to tell them. No response. About a week later I get an email from them telling me my withdraw was declined. It was a form letter-type email with no name. It said it might have been declined for various reasons, no ID, not fulfilled terms etc. None of the issues mentioned pertain to me I think. I emailed them again asking why. No response again. I then try to log into the download software to initiate the withdraw again. I cannot get in. It doesn't say I am locked out or anything it just hangs saying "communicating with server." But I never get in. I have waited for as long as 20 minutes and nothing. This had been going on for over a week. I have deleted and re-installed and that does not work.

My next step was to try and find some online affiliates who promote them but backgammon affiliates are not that common. I found a few but so far I have not been able to get them to contact backgammonmasters on my behalf. They have told me though that backgammonmasters is still operating and everything so that is not an issue.

As I mentioned, what I odd about this is I have been a player there for months. I have not had any trouble. They have not told me to go away or that I have broken any rules. They just simply won't get back to me for some reason. I don't know why. I'm perplexed.

Would someone here be nice enough to email them for me? They have no listed phone. It doesn't even have to be a "connected" type person, just a regular person will be great. I just want some indication as to what is going on. They have some of my funds and at the very least I would like them back.

If anyone is willing please send me a private massage and I will relay my username at backgammonmasters to you.

thanks a lot.

Well, thanks to eCogra, and a similar experience with one of their members, a lengthy investigation revealed that the cause of this "declined by Neteller" that you see means that while the merchant sent the request for the transfer from their merchant Neteller account to yours, Neteller did not complete the transfer as at the time the request was processed, the merchant account contained insufficient funds to make the payment. Neteller themselves told me that they themselves do not "decline transactions", it can only happen when the sender makes an error, and this is such a case.

One cause could be incompetence, however, the sudden loss of all communication at around the same time points to the distinct possibility that they might have gone into liquidation, or had their Neteller account terminated by Neteller for some breach of the conditions, but that might fall short of going bust.

The test for this is as you suggested, someone else see if they can raise a reply, perhaps pretending to be wanting to DEPOSIT. If they are in difficulties, they will reply as they would need the deposit to save their skins, and hope to juggle their way out of a mess.

A number of casinos have displayed similar patterns, ignoring communications from withdrawing players, but being available for those attempting to deposit. On many occasions, it has turned out to be a warning sign that they have been having cashflow problems, and ignoring Emails is less serious than deliberately stalling (they can argue that "technical issues" prevented them receiving them).

If they are running another skin, they might be up to some shuffling, moving assets away from one to the other, and then letting the less profitable one fold. Because of the lack of regulation, it is players who lose out, there is no real way to lodge a debt against the failed company with a liquidator.

The UK Kitchen and Double Glazing industry was packed full of such scams a while back, and they are still going on. It is simply a way for companies to walk away from their liabilities to customers, but preserve enough of their own money to simply rise up again, and do it all over a second time.

Action Online casino followed a similar pattern, they stopped responding even to their software supplier, but seemed to be up and running for a while for DEPOSITS. Eventually, they were found out to have gone bust some time before, but hid the problems for some months.