Angelciti paid me in full yesterday.
All aggrieved players, with legitimate complaints, will be paid in due course. There follows a detailed report on 48 hours' activity.
This all stems from the Montreal meeting between Bryan Bailey (Casinomeister), Brian Cullingworth (Jetset) and the two new people at Angelciti - Ricardo Del Sol, the affiliate manager, and Wilson Lee, their Chief Operating Officer (I believe that equates to "troubleshooter"). Ricardo and Wilson evinced a desire to resolve the matter, and requested that Bryan re-submit all the claims, since all our information had apparently gone missing. After everything had been re-submitted things must have started happening fairly swiftly behind the scenes - I got an Email from Bryan telling me to expect word from AC, so I knew he'd been up to something.
Ricardo emailed me, asking to have a chat, so I phoned him. I found him extremely professional and a pleasure to talk to. He made it clear from the outset that this matter now WOULD be resolved, with full payment of all the legitimate claims, as quickly as realistically possible. I was top of the list (I suppose "he who shouted the loudest"), but all the other players would be dealt with post-haste. In return, he asked that I report the facts of the satisfactory resolution to the gambling public, so that it would be known that Angelciti had settled their outstanding depts. This was an entirely reasonable and quite unnecessary request - I was always going to update. He then asked me to choose my preferred payment method, telling me I'd be paid in installments. I asked about all the other claims - how soon would they be resolved? He said that the company wanted this finalized and out the way as soon as possible, and invited me to stay in contact with him as he got through each case, so I'd be up to date myself on the continuing process after my own claim was settled and would be able to keep the matter updated on the boards, in the event the other players choose (incorrectly) not to do so - I'll certainly be doing this. At the end of our conversation I was perfectly happy that the matter now would indeed be resolved, and I felt very upbeat about the whole thing. When the vast majority of one's online gambling telephone calls, web chats and other communications tend to be with CS reps who are often non-native English speaking, occasionally incoherent or just plain clueless (sorry, CS reps), to have a chat with a no-nonsense and honest professional who knows his job is quite an uplifting experience.
I emailed him back yesterday morning, and he got back to me with another request for a chat. This time it was to tell me that, rather than payment in installments, I'd receive the whole lot within 48 hours if this was OK by me - which it certainly was. He was still anxious that the resolution of the matter be posted in all the forums where it's been discussed, so for simplicity's sake I directed him to the links in my initial post, suggesting he check the boards out himself and possibly contact the webmasters of those sites carrying simple articles rather than bulletin boards where I can post updates.
I then had a chat with Wilson; Wilson's another recent addition to the company, with them only for a few weeks in fact, and he's basically been brought in in a "troubleshooting" capacity, if I understand him correctly. I think this was a wise move on AC's part, as apart from anything else I could tell he was another skillful, motivated professional who was clearly a big factor in this happy resolution. Wilson was in fact a little bit aggrieved at what he perceived as alack of acceptance of the good faith and promises to resolve the matter expressed in Montreal. Apparently there was a "bouncing Emails" problem, most likely due to circumstances beyond his control; also, he may have been perturbed by the fact that his request to "re-submit" all our complaints was met by most of us with derision, and it was mentioned in the casinomeister newsletter, next to Wilson's name.
I pointed out to Wilson that while I would probably have reacted in the same way in his shoes, he needed to understand that for one thing, this matter had already drawn out over half a year with no sign of any light at the end of the tunnel before he and Ricardo had come on board. People were inevitably going to be HUGELY cynical of anything emanating from Angelciti at this point. If you add to that the general enormous cynicism rife amongst players, and mediators too, when dealing with online casino problems - I pointed out that there have been and are a hell of a lot of crooks in this business, and many people have been burnt badly over the years - and you have a recipe for little tolerance and the worst possible interpretation of the smallest glitch on the casino's part. In short: Ricardo and Wilson were always going to be in for a rough ride on this one; neither of them should feel too badly about any initial cynicism and the odd bit of bad press - they were always going to be entirely exonerated in the final outcome, as they have been here, and will be on all the settlements to follow.
My brief chat with Wilson over - which I concluded with more profuse thanks to he and Ricardo for handling this matter so quickly and professionally - I checked my Email and found that the first payment had been received. A minute later, the second one came through. Their stated time frame was 48 hours. Two minutes, in the end!
I make no apology for reiterating my regard for these two new fellows Ricardo Del Sol and Wilson Lee at Angelciti; they said they'd do it and they did it - you cannot ask for more on their part. Yes, I could have asked for rather more on the part of the management in the months leading up to this, but not from them. They came and they sorted. Top marks, gentlemen.
I'm deliberately avoiding all the other credits due for the time being - that'll come when we know all the other legitimate claims have been settled, and we can say a final goodnight to the matter.
To the players with remaining unsettled claims: please make sure you have submitted ALL your information to Bryan Bailey (casinomeister). I believe ONE player hasn't even provided his name! If your information is incomplete then your case will not be settled. I think Bryan is off on holiday right now, so things may be put on temporary hold if you haven't got your stuff through. That'll be nobody's fault but your own, I'm afraid. For the players who now start to receive their money, it'd be great if you can post about it here.
Who'd have believed it, eh?
And, since this is CM, I will add just one relevant credit:
Thanks, Bryan.
