City Poker -- Withdrawal Fee Warning

[chalupa]

Be forewarned -- City Poker, unlike any other poker site I've run across, charges hefty fees for withdrawals.

For Neteller the fee is 2% of your withdrawal.

The cheapest way to get a large amount out is by check which is $15, and which is very dicey coming from overseas.

This is unlike ANY other Poker Room I know of. They also do not mention this anywhere on their web site so you don't find out until it is too late.

When I originally found out about this and complained, they said they refund fees for Neteller withdrawals of $500 or less.

About the third time I did that and requested the refund, they decided not to do it any more, and claimed it was a temporary promotion. Of course (if true) this was not mentioned to me either.

Deaf ears ensued after I tried to get the issue escalated to someone who might care, so I just ate the $25 or so and am moving on.

It's too bad because they did run nice bonus promotions from time to time and the withdrawals were very fast. I guess they should be if they cost you 2%.

[paul1]

I had never heard of them until you mentioned this. Just out of curiosity I downloaded just now, but stopped short of installing when I noticed "Microgaming." So I see they're part of the Prima Network.

Well how can they do that? I haven't heard of any others doing that. That sucks.

But anyway, Belle Rock has the best bonus of all the Primas so I'd just go THAT route. Besides, they're pretty reputable.

[jetset]

Isn't City Poker one of George Gutierrez's (Midas-Angelciti) operations? That might explain this....

[chalupa]

Belle Rock, i.e. River Belle Poker, right? does have a good sign-up bonus, though as I recall it took quite a bit of playthrough, enough so that I didn't quite collect it all in the 30 day time limit. And I have never received a reload bonus from them.

City Poker gave me a signup bonus plus a couple reload bonuses. The last one was a 10% bonus which is a small percentage, but I didn't care because the playthrough requirements were only 250 raked hands no matter how much you deposited.

So you could (and I did) deposit the maximum of $1000 to get a $100 bonus for 250 raked hands... good deal (I thought). I subsequently played in excess of 500 hands.

The problem is when you withdraw the 2% is charged on ALL your money including your relatively large (compared to the bonus) deposit, the bonus, and (hopefully) your winnings.

If you double up to $2000 (which I did), you are paying $40 in withdrawal fees, so suddenly the bonus is effectively only 6%.

Still not too bad for the playthrough but... man I hate paying fees. Especially when not clearly disclosed up front.

One other minor annoying thing... there is no way to check with the software or the web site how many raked hands you have played, so you have to e-mail them each time you want to know.

What is bizarre to me is that they ain't exactly the only game in town. I don't know why they'd want to alienate players this way after they have been lucky enough to attract them.

I guess their business plan is to extract as much as they can from one player and assume they will never return?

[Annorax]

Belle Rock, i.e. River Belle Poker, right? does have a good sign-up bonus, though as I recall it took quite a bit of playthrough, enough so that I didn't quite collect it all in the 30 day time limit. And I have never received a reload bonus from them.

City Poker gave me a signup bonus plus a couple reload bonuses. The last one was a 10% bonus which is a small percentage, but I didn't care because the playthrough requirements were only 250 raked hands no matter how much you deposited.

So you could (and I did) deposit the maximum of $1000 to get a $100 bonus for 250 raked hands... good deal (I thought). I subsequently played in excess of 500 hands.

The problem is when you withdraw the 2% is charged on ALL your money including your relatively large (compared to the bonus) deposit, the bonus, and (hopefully) your winnings.

If you double up to $2000 (which I did), you are paying $40 in withdrawal fees, so suddenly the bonus is effectively only 6%.

Still not too bad for the playthrough but... man I hate paying fees. Especially when not clearly disclosed up front.

One other minor annoying thing... there is no way to check with the software or the web site how many raked hands you have played, so you have to e-mail them each time you want to know.

What is bizarre to me is that they ain't exactly the only game in town. I don't know why they'd want to alienate players this way after they have been lucky enough to attract them.

I guess their business plan is to extract as much as they can from one player and assume they will never return?

In all fairness, they aren't making anything with that fee. Neteller charges 2% on transfers from merchants to individuals.

[nafanny29]

I had never heard of them until you mentioned this. Just out of curiosity I downloaded just now, but stopped short of installing when I noticed "Microgaming."

MIcrogaming is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it.

[chalupa]

In all fairness, they aren't making anything with that fee. Neteller charges 2% on transfers from merchants to individuals.

Well, they are making 2% more than every other poker site I know. But, my complaint is not so much that they charge a fee, but that they don't disclose this fee -- before you DEPOSIT. And they don't provide ANY fee-free (or cheap) alternatives for withdrawals either.

As an aside, are you sure that Neteller charges 2% on the entire amount both directions, or just on additional amounts?

I know that with a credit card transaction, when a merchant refunds an amount to the consumer the merchant gets his processing fee back on that amount.

I've wondered if Neteller works the same way. I sort of figured that's why Fortune Lounge casinos process withdrawals in a crazy contortion of several (as many as SEVEN for me one time) different small amounts. I figured they were "refunding" various people's deposits to weasel around Neteller fees. All conjecture on my part though.

If Neteller is in fact charging a full 2% on money flowing each way through a poker room, then those poker rooms ought to get on the stick and start promoting ACH bank transfers with whatever incentives are necessary. Pass some of the savings along to the player, and both player and poker room win. That's a huge amount of money to be giving to Neteller.

[paul1]

MIcrogaming is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it.

I didn't mean anything against Microgaming. It's just that when I realized it was Microgaming, I realized it was Prima. And I'm already in another Prima.

Actually, as far as Prima goes, I've liked my experience so far. Good games.

But regarding the withdrawal fee that the original poster mentions, that still sounds like it sux.

[pokeraddict]

In all fairness, they aren't making anything with that fee. Neteller charges 2% on transfers from merchants to individuals.

There is this fee from player to player transfers but it is my understanding from people in poker room cashier departments I talk to that if you produce a large enough deposit income Neteller waives this fee when sending the money from merchant to player.

This is a popular sportsbook practice. The best thing to do is just to say goodbye and play elsewhere. Isnt this why they take rake out of the pots? Only now defunct Zero Rake charged cashout fees. A couple of others have tried that were related to sportsbooks but quickly dropped this practice.

[jmildstone]

2% is really nothing...