Who appreciates your custom??

[Nifty29]

Hey Gang

I would like to share a little experience over the past few days which really surprised me (in fact, Im a little shocked).

My policy with playing casinos is if I have cash, then I'll play what I can afford, and if I dont have any spare funds, I just dont play. Simple as that. I dont hassle my fav casinos for a freebie etc - I just play again when I can afford it.

That being said, Im unusually low on funds for a while due to a family situation, so I decided now was the time to email a few of my favorite haunts and see if they would throw me a little something so I can play (I have never done this before in 5 years).

So, I sent out emails to 10 casinos (4 in the same group so its only 7 I guess) just pointing out my long association and that I was low on funds, and would they mind throwing me a lifeline to have a bit of a play. No amount stipulated - very polite - and I was pretty confident I would get $10 or something from all of them (hell even $5 would have been cool).

Here are the results of my emails:

7 flat-out said "NO" (although one said 'we cant because there is a 30% cashback deal on with slots the next 48 hours so all you need to do to get free cash is make a deposit' - kinda defeats the purpose eh?)

2 didnt bother to respond at all (I did get read receipts tho)

1 sent me a really nice email saying they are glad to give me a few bucks considering I never ask (they were VERY generous too)

Im not going to say who all the casinos were, EXCEPT for the one who actually showed they value my business, and that casino is

32RED

Well it just shows who cares about their players, and given their reputation it doesnt surprise me that they came to the party.

I dont deposit $10k a week or anything, but I am consistent and loyal - which dont count a can o' beans it seems.

Given Im not usually in this situation, it has been a real eye-opener and you dont have to be Einstein to work out where Im going to be heading for when I get some funds.

A BIG thanks to 32Red for seeing past the end of their noses

[winbig]

I guess you didn't try 3dice? They're very generous as well....

I'd really be surprised if they were one of the casinos that said 'no'.

[Slotster!]

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

I fluctuate between depositing regularly to hardly playing due to business/home commitments. I'm probably playing less now than I ever have, certainly a LOT less than in previous years. Throughout the levels of play however, 32 have always remained courteous, appreciative and generous.

It was probably during the time I played the most (about eighteen months ago) that I realised which casino's REALLY appreciate your business and which do not.

Put it this way, I've only three casino's installed on my PC - 3Dice, Intercasino and a certain MG...

[Nifty29]

Just wanted to say a big THANKYOU to John at ThisIsVegas for slipping me a little something in my account - TIV is building a really good rep around the place and this is a good example of why

Winbig - I didnt ask 3Dice as I know they are already pretty generous and have been good to me since they opened so I didnt want to hassle them

[vinylweatherman]

Casino Rewards will bung you $20 every now & then, but NOT if you ask, but if you IGNORE THEM for weeks.
Palace Group did indeed run that 30% crapback at Spin Palace, but their slots were as tight as a duck's ****, so not such a good deal in the end. I would have liked by money to have fought back harder before succumbing to the inevitable. (Maybe I should have tried playing it out at £67.50 a spin on Munchkins after the 3 month rest, and maybe I wouldn't have needed 30% cashback )

Others seem tied up in rules, and do not seem to give out freebies freely, but will, having first said no, then offer you something when you ignore them through lack of funds, because the "computer says YES".

[thisisvegas]

I was a little surprised to hear thisisvegas was one of the casinos listed so I had to investigate. It is unfortunate but finding out these things will help me do my job better and of course make the casino better for the players. The service team does handle a fair amount of requests like this and I have to admit we may have dropped the ball on this one. Because this happened I am working closer with them to ensure players get treated the best and for me to handle more of these requests, basically so this doesn't happen again.

I can say that things are improving and we are working on a better rewards and VIP program. I think we do a very good job but we are growing which comes with growing pains and I still see room for improvement.

Once again apologies to Nifty29 about the misunderstanding, anytime you need anything just ask for John next time

[vinylweatherman]

I was a little surprised to hear thisisvegas was one of the casinos listed so I had to investigate. It is unfortunate but finding out these things will help me do my job better and of course make the casino better for the players. The service team does handle a fair amount of requests like this and I have to admit we may have dropped the ball on this one. Because this happened I am working closer with them to ensure players get treated the best and for me to handle more of these requests, basically so this doesn't happen again.

I can say that things are improving and we are working on a better rewards and VIP program. I think we do a very good job but we are growing which comes with growing pains and I still see room for improvement.

Once again apologies to Nifty29 about the misunderstanding, anytime you need anything just ask for John next time

Problems like this may be down to CS teams being on a tight leash when it comes to what they can do on a discresionary basis. It is easier for them to send a "can't be done" form letter if their rule book stipulates an involved procedure for dealing with such requests. You will have players that will deliberately probe for weaknesses, such as asking several CS personnel for a free chip, and ending up with several with no overall checks being done.
Other casinos seem to have some kind of "bonus ratio" figure from their back-end processes that grade player accounts, and there is a simple yes/no threshhold for accepting or denying such requests, without regard to what case the player has made. This just makes the process impersonal, and the player feels they are just a number, not a name. Land casinos deal with this through the "host" system, where players can be guided and comped, as well as being encouraged to play longer.
I had no idea of this system until I went to Vegas in 2006, and worked out what they were up to

[chuchu59]

I was a little surprised to hear thisisvegas was one of the casinos listed so I had to investigate. It is unfortunate but finding out these things will help me do my job better and of course make the casino better for the players. The service team does handle a fair amount of requests like this and I have to admit we may have dropped the ball on this one. Because this happened I am working closer with them to ensure players get treated the best and for me to handle more of these requests, basically so this doesn't happen again.

I can say that things are improving and we are working on a better rewards and VIP program. I think we do a very good job but we are growing which comes with growing pains and I still see room for improvement.

Once again apologies to Nifty29 about the misunderstanding, anytime you need anything just ask for John next time

I have mentioned several times that some Rival casinos need to shake up their customer service at the support staff level. I think that besides adequate training, they should also be granted more liberty to do other things eg comp the customer and not be just a simple answering machine or worse still a mailbox. The excellent service that 32RED provides is due to the fact that support staff have the freedom to do simple tasks such as transferring funds from the poker room to the casino and vice versa. When staff follow the codebook too strictly this defeats the purpose of having customer service/live chat as the original intention was that customers should feel that they are treated well by warm reps and not by cold robots.

If casinos can loosen their grip slightly on the support staff maybe we will find contacting the reps to be more of a pleasant expereince than mere hassles and I am sure many of have have flet that way on numerous occasions in the past.

[Nifty29]

because the "computer says YES"

Awww...fank you misser dudree!!

Just wanted to say thanks to Enzo too for being a true gentleman (3Dice was NOT one of the casinos I emailed BTW)

The ones that didnt respond have been uninstalled, which is a shame really as Ive played quite a bit at those ones.

[Mousey]

Why is it that the majority of the bean counters at online casinos just cannot get past the 'new players=goood', 'established players=who?' mentality.
There are more than a handful of casinos that have lost my business over the years (more of them in the last couple of years) because of this single issue.

I'm not just talking about doling out free chips (and Nifty isn't either), it's about putting value on repeat customers, even if that player occasionally cashes out -- casinos, if you treat that player right, you'll get a chance to win that money back. You treat that player like goo on your shoe, or an enemy to be outwitted, then kiss that money they won, and the player, goodbye.

Thanks to a few in the industry... 3Dice, Rivals, 32Red (can't play there, but their rep can't be beat!), players have begun to find humans behind casinos who are willing to treat players as customers, rather than sheep for the fleecing.