Question How important is telephone support to players?

[CasinoBeacon]

I consider myself to be a fairly typical online casino player. I wouldn't become a regular player at a casino that doesn't offer telephone support. I might not ever pick up the phone to contact the casino - I'd more likely use livechat or e-mail - but I want to know that I can pick up the phone and call the casino, 24/7, if there is a problem. I rather assumed most players would think the same and I recently gave this opinion to a casino not currently offering telephone support - telling the rep that it's not acceptable these days not to offer telephone support.

Today, I wanted to telephone PokerStars and was gobsmacked to discover no number on their website, in the lobby, or anywhere else. If there's a number available, they ain't making it easy to find. It doesn't appear to be doing their business any harm. They don't seem to have LiveChat either but that's another issue.

Is telephone support as big an issue as I think it is? Even if you don't intend to use it?

 

[homerbert]

Hiho!
For me , telephone support means nothing, because nobody give players from Belarus call to any casino for free I dont want pay 2-3 euro per minute to ask questions. Also i dont like email support, live chat is the best option for me
About pokerstars, i think they dont have phone support for players, just imagine, they had about 120k people online, and how many calls they can had? Their email support fast , so phone support not needed. But if you had problems with deposit, you can request phone call from them.

 

[rainmaker]

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I personally do not think telephone support is important. I have never called a casino before. I prefer to contact casinos by e-mail so that I have everything in writing in case of any confusion later.

homerbert also made a good point regarding Pokerstars. It may be a bit difficult for some of the larger operators to take 1000 calls at the same time. Imagine if the casino (poker or whatever) server is down for like 4 minutes and people start calling.

But it is an interesting question. I think that most players today expect live chat, but not sure about telephone support?

I have seen some casinos offering support by Skype as well.

 

[dionysus]

never use it; don't even want them having my number..live chat all the way..plus I have the transcipts and they DO come in handy

 

[vinylweatherman]

It is important to have a backup, or to have something truly instant. I mostly use email, but sometime email seems not to work with multiple emails seeming to be getting ignored. Phoning them as a follow up gets an answer, and also alerts them to a potential problem with their email systems. Live chat would also suffice for this.

Whether or not a casino offers phone support, they still require a phone number as part of the registration process.

A well run operation should not find itself in the position of having to field thousands of calls over a single issue. For example, a known issue should feature prominently as a "we are aware" notice on the website and in the lobby. This will mean that players who encounter the problem will see the answer rather than having to call CS for it.

 

[spintee]

Rarely ring up, I have rang up a few bingo sites b4 when playing machines, Its always good to have a number (free) on hand, Saying that I have rang casinos b4 as they looked dodgy and it was a dead number, In this case it would of been better for them to leave the number off

 

[Mousey]

My personal opinion is this... if the email support system is working properly (emails don't mysteriously disappear without being bounced back to the player) and email support staff is prompt and efficient (that means actually reading and replying to the email query) phone support isn't imperative. A 'paper trail' is always preferred for any real problems. However... if chat is flaky or non-existent, and emails undependable, there should be another way (telephone) to reach casino support.

 

[Marie2473]

I dont care if they have phonesupport or not. In all my years i have never called a casino. For me Live chat is more important!

 

[Christoff]

I agree with the above - live chat is much more important to me

 

[threescatters]

live chat is the most important for an online casino as has already been stated. quality email support is next....and by that I mean non cookie cutter responses (they all seem guilty of this on occasion tho) ready by someone who can grasp the problem they are being told about.

I do think lack of phone support is a big fail by pokerstars. The reason being high rolling poker players are big targets for hackers and if your account has been hacked and joyridden on the site then you want it shut down INSTANTLY for obvious reasons. Telephoning them would be much quicker than sending an email and hoping someone reads it soon.

 

[rainmaker]

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I mentioned Skype. Here is a screenshot from a casino with support via Skype (+live chat, telephone and e-mail) as an alternative.

 

[Slotster!]

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View attachment 34990

That freaks me out a bit. "You are not alone" makes me think he's in the garden, stealing my washing.

I can count on one hand the amount of times I've actually spoken to a casino on the phone in god knows how many years of online gambling. Like most others have said - good live chat and email is probably equally important. Moreover, its very easy nowadays to publish a number from any country and have it answered anywhere in the world by a hired hand paid 7p an hour who may not neccesarily be directly employed by the casino.

Being able to speak to someone is important -- it's more important they actually know what they are talking about.

 

[all4greed]

Live chat and email is good enough for me.

I've only called a couple casinos and it was years ago for payment problems. I remember a payout problem with Windows Casino and I called them everyday after I knew my emails were being ignored. I called and said I would hold until a supervisor came on, and if that wasn't going to happen, I would keep calling them every day until paid. They got tired of me really quick and paid me.

But that is old school collections...

 

[skiny]

Live chat for instant answers, email for lengthy questions that require investigation.

Phone support is completely unnecessary but at the same time I would be a little suspicious of a casino that didn't have a phone number. I don't want these people calling me and I have no intention of ever calling them but seriously, what kind of business doesn't have a telephone?