PR: NEW HOPE FOR GRAND PRIVE AFFILIATES

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NEW HOPE FOR GRAND PRIVE AFFILIATES (Update)

Independent resolution commissioned in payment dispute

If you're one of the former Grand Prive affiliates and have what you feel is a legitimate and verifiable case for a financial settlement by the company's now closed Affiliate Program, now's the time to listen up.

This week the company started rather belatedly addressing a dispute that has created some acrimonious allegations on the Internet in recent months, issuing a press release on its intentions going forward.

The release refers to what the company characterises as 'often inaccurate information exchanges on the Internet' regarding the closure of its affiliate program, and as a 'responsible and respectable business' makes disclosures of fact.

"Management has reached the conclusion that there is a need to present its point of view, and more importantly to address any perceived shortcomings regarding payments to affiliates genuinely impacted by the Grand Prive Affiliates closure," the statement explains.

The disclosures include:

* For purely commercial reasons, a decision to close Grand Prive Affiliates was taken, and a communication exercise aimed at affiliates commenced.

* This was followed by payment to all active affiliates of all amounts owed.

* The termination was, in Management's opinion, conducted according to the terms of Grand Privs contract with affiliates, and in addition to these Grand Priv also entered into mutually agreeable compensation settlements with all affiliates who at that time had players considered to be reasonably active.

* Following these initiatives, Management is not aware of one single affiliate claim for compensation being submitted directly to Grand Priv, despite a rising noise level on the Internet.

The comment regarding a paucity of complaints is especially surprising in view of the considerable and often heated discussion among affiliates that the issue generated, and the opprobrium heaped upon Grand Prive as a consequence.

However, the company concedes in its statement that 'certain smaller and relatively inactive affiliate accounts may feel prejudiced by the closure' and acknowledges that this needs to be addressed with both an apology and a fair and reasonable financial settlement, all of which leads into its plan of action to deal with the situation.

That plan consists of commissioning the player protection and standards non-profit, eCOGRA, to deploy its audit-qualified professional staff to:

* Investigate the circumstances surrounding the Grand Prive Affiliates closure both within and without the company and issue a public report.

* Facilitate the submission of claims by any affiliate that considers an amount to be owing by the Grand Prive Affiliate program as a result of player wagering activity and

* Perform a full and professional review of the Program software and data to confirm amounts owing to claimants as at 21 December 2009.

The statement pledges that "Grand Prive will cooperate whole-heartedly with this process, and has asked eCOGRA to involve all leading affiliate watchdog organisations in informing affiliates of their opportunity to submit legitimate claims.

"We have accepted on eCOGRA's insistence that we will be bound by its findings and recommendations arising from the investigation, remaining at arms length from the enquiry unless asked for pertinent information," the statement avers, ending with an assurance that the company's primary concern is to address any genuine wrongs in a fair and forthright manner.

In summary, then, the door to payment of legitimate and verifiable affiliate claims is open and accessible through eCOGRA, which we understand will soon be issuing a statement of its own detailing its involvement and how claims can be lodged.


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* Following these initiatives, Management is not aware of one single affiliate claim for compensation being submitted directly to Grand Priv, despite a rising noise level on the Internet.

....

The statement pledges that "Grand Prive will cooperate whole-heartedly with this process, and has asked eCOGRA to involve all leading affiliate watchdog organisations in informing affiliates of their opportunity to submit legitimate claims.
If there are any disgruntled affiliates who fall into this category, here is the link for eCOGRA's dispute submission form:
You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.
 
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Interesting.

One of the problems here is that GP locked their affiliate program and subsequently removed access to affiliates immediately following the decision. It was therefore not possible for affiliates to see how many active players they had or how much commissions should have been due from the moment the decision was made.
 
Actually - this is happening about a year too late. This should have been done within weeks of the closing of their affiliate program.
https://www.casinomeister.com/rogue-casinos/grand-prive-bad-casino-practice/

Interesting.

One of the problems here is that GP locked their affiliate program and subsequently removed access to affiliates immediately following the decision. It was therefore not possible for affiliates to see how many active players they had or how much commissions should have been due from the moment the decision was made.

I'm curious on how many people actually submit complaints. If they paid off their bigger affiliates, why haven't these webmasters stepped forth to make this known?
 
eCogra's Announcement

Grand Priv Affiliates Investigation

eCOGRA facilitates submission of affiliate claims

London, 7 December 2009 - Following a number of Internet-based allegations concerning payments following the closure of the Grand Priv Affiliate Program on 1 December 2008, eCOGRA's professional services have been engaged by the management of the company.


Pursuant to an independent and fair resolution of the issues involved, eCOGRA has been tasked with:
Independently investigating the manner in which the Program was terminated and the reasons therefore; subsequently compiling a full and transparent report.
Gathering and verifying claims by any affiliate that considers an amount still to be owing by the Program as a result of player wagering activity subsequent to 1 December 2008; and
Carrying out a full and independent review by suitably qualified staff of the program software and data to confirm amounts owing to claimants at 21 December 2009.
eCOGRA is open to all submissions concerning the closure and payments owed, and urges affiliate watchdog organisations in receipt of this email to assist it in order to ensure that respective affiliate members are informed of this opportunity to submit legitimate claims.


Claims can be submitted prior to 21 December 2009 at
You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.
. Former Grand Priv affiliates who believe they have a legitimate and verifiable claim will be asked to complete the Claim Submission Form that they will find on this link.


The following information will be required on the Claim Form, and will be treated in strict confidence:

FIRST NAME
LAST NAME
BANNER TAG
EMAIL ADDRESS
WEBSITES
PHYSICAL ADDRESS
TELEPHONE NUMBER
BANKING DETAILS
AMOUNT OF LAST PAYMENT RECEIVED FROM GRAND PRIV
DATE OF LAST PAYMENT RECEIVED
Closing dates for submission of claims is 21 December 2009.


In the interests of transparency, eCOGRAs findings will be publicly released on conclusion of the investigation.
 
In the interests of transparency, eCOGRAs findings will be publicly released on conclusion of the investigation

That's excellent news since I've always wondered exactly how many webmasters were affected.
 
Actually - this is happening about a year too late...why haven't these webmasters stepped forth to make this known?

I think most affiliates, myself included, assumed there would be some sort of corrective action by either GP or Microgaming. The latter have stepped in before on issues like the CPS buyout by Rewards. It took a couple of months to realise that this wasn't going to happen. I'm sure some affiliates contacted GP to ask what was goping on but they sacked all the affiliate staff and I know emails were going unaswered. At that time, eCOGRA weren't dealing with affiliates either. Not many other avenues - I know you mentioned you would PAB for affiliates but at the time I didn't know that.

Claims can be submitted prior to 21 December 2009 at
You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.
. Former Grand Priv affiliates who believe they have a legitimate and verifiable claim will be asked to complete the Claim Submission Form that they will find on this link.

...back to the problem where access to the program was cut off. There's no way to find out what is owed prior to the cut, or waht the players have wagered/earned since the cut but I guess a claim can go in without an amount.

It's good something is finally happening, but there will have to be some flexibility on assessing claims in light of those actions I feel.
 
...back to the problem where access to the program was cut off. There's no way to find out what is owed prior to the cut, or waht the players have wagered/earned since the cut but I guess a claim can go in without an amount...
They might be able to track this via the back-end. I don't know, and I'm not sure what kind of claim or compensation will be granted to the affiliates.
 
Kind of a chicken and egg situation, it would appear.

I would guess that most affiliates know what sort of business they delivered and where they feel they have a claim they should go ahead and let the investigation sort out the details - the eCOGRA auditors clearly have access to the backend information as detailed in their release:

Quote:

* Gathering and verifying claims by any affiliate that considers an amount still to be owing by the Program as a result of player wagering activity subsequent to 1 December 2008; and

* Carrying out a full and independent review by suitably qualified staff of the program software and data to confirm amounts owing to claimants at 21 December 2009.

Unquote

But Bryan's right - this should have been attended to at the time of the closure.

Hopefully now if there are any unpaid affiliates their situation can be rectified/settled.
 
At least the form allows you to submit content like "Unknown" for date of last payment and amount owed. Just filled it in :thumbsup:
 
Regarding Simmo's claim above - IMO it's very useful that we have a CM member who can independently keep track of his claim, how it was handled and what happened at the end of the process.

It's another layer of assurance.
 
I sent my claim, minus data I cannot retrieve because the program is closed and the info not accessible.

Beyond that, I reserve opinion about this for now and have no comment.
 
In order to fully investigate your claim we require the amount and date of your last payment from Grand Prive. Please consult your bank records and revert asap.


For those that need to check back, to save some time, GP closed the affiliate program on the 1st December 2008.
 
Was this a calculated decision in the first place where they expect very little costs from this exercise due to the time scale involved and many unable to furnish the required information or not likely to find out they need to until it is too late. Or are they having to rethink because of the pressure of all the bad publicity throughout the internet!

It is very vague so far with regards to exactly what will be on offer, hopefully once the resulting action transpires there will be much to celebrate, however, for now it is hard to feel too satisfied.
 
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I've filed my complaint.

I want access to my affiliate account so that I can be sure that they are going to be fair and to get my affiliate tag. Either way they know who I am as I have promoted them since day one and have all of the contest/posts archived that will show HUNDREDS if not thousands of NEW player signups.

Here is one of the events that is still public: Link Removed (invalid URL)

Thanks again! :thumbsup:


Actually - this is happening about a year too late. This should have been done within weeks of the closing of their affiliate program.
https://www.casinomeister.com/rogue-casinos/grand-prive-bad-casino-practice/



I'm curious on how many people actually submit complaints. If they paid off their bigger affiliates, why haven't these webmasters stepped forth to make this known?
 
In order to fully investigate your claim we require the amount and date of your last payment from Grand Prive. Please consult your bank records and revert asap

What was their processor? Without that there is no telling which payment came from them.

What amount was paid? Most likely others used the same processor, so I need the amount too, and I don't know the amount unless I can access stats.

What date was it paid? Dunno when they paid, can't access my stats.

They can access stats and see all this info at a glance, I sure can't.
 
Who knows Dominique maybe Grand Prive shredded the DB. Maybe they deleted all the aff tags assigned to players? Then to make matters worse maybe amount earned will be all guess work.:eek2:

Who knows Grand Prive has not been exactly communicating for over a year now. Good points raised!

Good Luck to all I hope it is very special Holiday Season.

greek39
 
Who knows Dominique maybe Grand Prive shredded the DB. Maybe they deleted all the aff tags assigned to players? Then to make matters worse maybe amount earned will be all guess work.:eek2:

Who knows Grand Prive has not been exactly communicating for over a year now. Good points raised!

Good Luck to all I hope it is very special Holiday Season.

greek39

If they have, eCogra will not be happy.

Perhaps affiliates should also ensure eCogra are made aware of the fact that Grand Prive locked out access to data from day one, making it impossible for affiliates to gather what might be necessary data in order to submit a proper claim.
eCogra could be asked to ensure that Grand Prive unlock access to affiliate accounts, and populate the dataset with data for players wagering between 1st December 2008 and 21st December 2009.

The BIG issue is that whilst the program was closed, the CASINOS were not (except for US players). The program could justify closure on "commercial grounds" because no NEW players could be recruited from the US, but this neglects the fact that affiliates had EXISTING players, some of whom were NOT from the US, and who could continue to play, generating revenue. The contract was for the life of the PLAYER, and so long as the casinos remain open, this is "open-ended", and it is difficult to come up with a calculation of what any player might generate.
Other programs have closed, or casinos have changed hands, but affiliates' existing players have been transferred to the new program, which whilst possibly offering less generous commission, would certainly be offering more than ZERO % of net loss, the current situation with ex Grand Prive affiliates.
 
... Perhaps affiliates should also ensure eCogra are made aware of the fact that Grand Prive locked out access to data from day one, making it impossible for affiliates to gather what might be necessary data in order to submit a proper claim...

This is a key point since one should ask "What was the big deal? Why couldn't the accounts remain open for logistic purposes only?" Just goes to show how much this casino group values its partners :rolleyes:
 
Maybe eCogra should also know that this program use to be also known as Referspot, when they moved and screwed affiliates for the 1st time without a proper map over of all referred players. That is when we stopped promoting them heavy. They last paid on the 8th of Dec, 2008. I suspect they will take the value of the affiliates last payment and offer that amount times 12.

Who knows but no matter what they do they are still remaining blacklisted for the fact they shut down the affiliate program with no notice, if a condition of us collecting a large payment is to remove the blacklisted pages they can take a hike and shove that money where the sun don't shine :D
 
This should be intresting to watch unfold.

I predict that eCOGRA will come out with something that says only a handful people weren't pad and it added up to a couple of grand.

Grand Prive will pay these guys and use it to pretend that they are squeaky clean.

I'd like to know where I can fill in a form to request stats on all the players we sent them. This is what eCOGRA should investigate. Not a few affiliates who weren't paid and I think there will be a fairly small number.

It's just not the issue. The whole investigation misses the mark entirely.
 
That's rather cryptic - in your opinion what is the issue that you feel is not being addressed by the investigation?
 
I dont know what to think on this.

What happens after the 21st to earnings.. Is GP going to pay on earnings or are they settling the player base.. There is no offer on the table.

Why only until the 21st? Two weeks is a very short time span. It's the holidays and many may miss this. Will they be shut off if they don't claim by then?

That's just a few unanswerable questions.

To me it seems more like a fact finding mission to gauge numbers.

While it's good to have communication, it is difficult to form an opinion at this time.
 

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