First time online casino experience was/is horrific.

[ronjoneshomes]

I would like to say that I play slots at physical Casino's about 10 times a year and thought it would be "FUN" to try online gaming. I did a quick review of Canadian friendly sites and started the process of signing up. What a horrible mistake so far!

It appeared that there were few options available to deposit and withdrawal funds without multiple tedious enrolments and fee based services. I thought that InstaDebit was the best choice and offered both quick deposit and withdrawals. I quickly signed up for a Microgamming casino (High Noon) and initiated an automated account registration with InstaDebit in a matter of minutes. So what am I complaining about?

The funds for the Casino were in USD and during the account sign-up at InstaDebit, I thought it would be a logical choice to use my Canadian Bank account that has US funds in it. Seems like a logical choice right? Wrong!!! Immediately after registering the account, a receipt was presented on my screen indicating the USD transaction was being converted to CDN funds and then would be removed from my account. I immediately got on the phone to InstaDebit to advise them of the problem, however, the "Customer Service" at InstaDebit does not deal with these issues, I was to e-mail the security group to resolve my issue. I cannot express my disappointment as I was expecting additional fees related to currency conversion back and forth and I absolutely did not want that. Obviously waiting up to two days for a response from InstaDebit was going to be too late.

I received a call from the Casino within 5 minutes explaining that I was all set to gamble so I figured it was a lesson learned and I was going to be out a few bucks for currency exchange. Now the problems begin. The e-mails to the security group at insta-debit were going to my "Spam" folder so I though they were ignoring me. I sent multiple e-mails begging for rapid assistance and tried to involve the support group on the phone. After a couple of days, the Casino blocked my account and notified me that there was a funds reversal by InstaDebit. Now at this point, it has been over a week and the issue is still not resolved, I can go into the ongoing extremely frustrating details in a different post but in my opinion it is all about the lack of customer service at InstaDebit to deal with customers in a quick, efficient and secure manner.

 

[Nate]

I was about to suggest you use Neteller but I see you are from Canada.

High Noon is a Real Time Gaming Casino. I can't comment on Instadebit as I have never used it.

Hope all goes well for you!

Nate

 

[vinylweatherman]

I had Click2Pay pull this bullshit stunt on me a few years ago, so you can rule that out as an option too.

My bank account was in Pounds, my casino accounts were in Pounds, and my Click2Pay account was in Pounds.


All worked fine, then all of a sudden I discovered that Click2Pay were requesting funds in US Dollars via my bank card, and then converting them back to pounds as they passed through my Click2Pay account. Click2Pay made extra money from this as they charged a commission. My bank also charged commission, but only because Click2Pay decided to make unnecessary currency conversions.

I also got terrible support from Click2Pay over the issue, it was a case of "tough, that's how it is now". I escalated the complaint and managed to get the charges refunded, but that was the end of Click2Pay for me.

It seems Instadebit is trying to pull the same stunt, unnecessary currency conversions so that they can make extra money from commissions. They also have poor support, so poor in fact that they went and made matters even worse by issuing a chargeback over the deposit you made.

It's a shame the better payment options have pulled out of Canada, even though the legal hurdles are in the USA.

If it is this hard to make deposits, it is going to be even harder to make withdrawals. It seems both payment processors and casinos are pulling out of Canada because they fear something akin to the aggressive US enforcement against online casinos spreading to Canada, even though it would first require new Canadian laws similar to UIGEA.

The casinos who accept Canadian players are best placed to find a solution, as not finding one costs them money in lost business. Unfortunately, Instadebit have blackened your record, and this may mean you are unable to play anywhere without running into problems. Players with a chargeback on file are considered "high risk", and are automatically assumed to have used the mechanism of chargeback to defraud casinos out of legitimate winnings. They often don't care whether it's the players fault or a screw up by the bank or a processor, it's a chargeback.

 

[sfcat]

Doesn't seem quite fair

I would like to say that I play slots at physical Casino's about 10 times a year and thought it would be "FUN" to try online gaming. I did a quick review of Canadian friendly sites and started the process of signing up. What a horrible mistake so far!

It appeared that there were few options available to deposit and withdrawal funds without multiple tedious enrolments and fee based services. I thought that InstaDebit was the best choice and offered both quick deposit and withdrawals. I quickly signed up for a Microgamming casino (High Noon) and initiated an automated account registration with InstaDebit in a matter of minutes. So what am I complaining about?

The funds for the Casino were in USD and during the account sign-up at InstaDebit, I thought it would be a logical choice to use my Canadian Bank account that has US funds in it. Seems like a logical choice right? Wrong!!! Immediately after registering the account, a receipt was presented on my screen indicating the USD transaction was being converted to CDN funds and then would be removed from my account. I immediately got on the phone to InstaDebit to advise them of the problem, however, the "Customer Service" at InstaDebit does not deal with these issues, I was to e-mail the security group to resolve my issue. I cannot express my disappointment as I was expecting additional fees related to currency conversion back and forth and I absolutely did not want that. Obviously waiting up to two days for a response from InstaDebit was going to be too late.

I received a call from the Casino within 5 minutes explaining that I was all set to gamble so I figured it was a lesson learned and I was going to be out a few bucks for currency exchange. Now the problems begin. The e-mails to the security group at insta-debit were going to my "Spam" folder so I though they were ignoring me. I sent multiple e-mails begging for rapid assistance and tried to involve the support group on the phone. After a couple of days, the Casino blocked my account and notified me that there was a funds reversal by InstaDebit. Now at this point, it has been over a week and the issue is still not resolved, I can go into the ongoing extremely frustrating details in a different post but in my opinion it is all about the lack of customer service at InstaDebit to deal with customers in a quick, efficient and secure manner.

So this sounds like it's totally an InstaDebit issue, but they were trying to contact you. You didn't check your spam folder for days, when you were expecting an email??? This is not the casino's fault, though I would recommend other casinos. If you noticed, their review is only a 6.6, and their RTP is a staggeringly low 94.
I use EZ voucher (paste & pay) with no problems. But if you're in North America, this is a pain, no matter how you slice it.

 

[vinylweatherman]

So this sounds like it's totally an InstaDebit issue, but they were trying to contact you. You didn't check your spam folder for days, when you were expecting an email??? This is not the casino's fault, though I would recommend other casinos. If you noticed, their review is only a 6.6, and their RTP is a staggeringly low 94.
I use EZ voucher (paste & pay) with no problems. But if you're in North America, this is a pain, no matter how you slice it.

Too many people trust their spam filters too much. It's OK to leave them alone normally, but when you are waiting for an email that should already have arrived, it's time to check the spam folder.

The downside to this is that spam filters were designed specifically so that users did NOT have to check all those dodgy emails themselves looking for the one or two genuine emails among the dozens of spam emails.

Blame "big business" for this, they are the ones that decided that spammers could prosper from even a very low percentage take up from spammed marketing. So long as it is possible to make money from someone reading an email and clicking through to make a purchase, spammers will continue to prosper, and unlike the post, emails are free to send, and so a low take up is not a problem.

Spammers are crippling email, and this case among others proves it.

The casino industry is even worse than many others, and affiliates generate as much spam as Viagra sales drives, and it is the casino industry's lack of effective policing of affiliates that allows this method to prosper.

When I am about ready to post "xxxxx casino has ignored y emails about this", I first check my spam folder. I only scan the sender and subject lines, not preview any content. If something looks genuine I open it to check, and if it is genuine, I click "not spam". In my case, these decisions teach the spam filter to identify similar emails as genuine. I can also tag emails that get through as "is spam" to teach the filter there is a new trick being used by the spammers.

It is also possible to have the filter merely tag the emails as "spam" in the header, and let them right through to my PC. I can then set up a rule in my mail software to look for this tag, and split the emails into local "inbox" and "spam" folders. This may make scanning the spam folder easier.

Most users seem unaware they can do this, and just use whatever default settings the email provider has provided. For casino players, the defaults are not appropriate as they tend to class casino mailers as spam, even the genuine ones you get from a casino you play at.

Mine has learned well. Not a single Casino Rewards spam has made it through in the last month, and not a single Casino Rewards genuine mailer has been snagged as spam. Very few casino spams get through, and I haven't found an offer for cheap Viagra in my inbox in a long time.

However, all of a sudden, my Neteller transaction receipts started being sent to spam, so my spam software got detention

If you REALLY dig into it, you will find that you can not only do all the above, but even have the email software look out for a specific email via a phrase you know it will contain, and bring it right to your immediate attention as soon as it arrives. For example, you could have it look for "instadebit", and alert you to anything with that word, whether or not it has been marked as spam. This trick can also be used to look for casino account numbers, as many casinos quote this in genuine emails offers.

Currently, I have been a lazy bugger and not set this up on my XP machine, although I had been using rules on my old 98SE machine to filter emails this way, having switched off the provider's spam filter. The current filter is driven by Google, as is the email now, and it performs better, so I have been able to get along with the provider's systems.

 

[sfcat]

Sounds good

Sounds good to me, I use both the white list and blacklist abilities on my machine, and I do check on a regular basis. Each provider has their own rules, in addition to what rules we add. Though granted, some seem to be as close to none as possible.

Even though I use the verboten AOL as my personal email (after 2 decades I ain't changing) I find it works great doing that.

But absolutely, so many people never do. And I think I have configured every family member, and quite a few friends...