[ROGUE] HippoJo Casino - Five weeks and still waiting for payment

[liquuid_fusion]

I signed up to the new RTG casino "HippoJo" in April this year after reading about it here and noticing that it was "Pending Accreditation" at Casinomeister (which it still is) - thus conveying that this casino is more than likely a reputable one:

https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/threads/hippo-jo-online-casino-launches.17298/

I played there several times in the following weeks and made three sizeable cashouts which were paid in reasonable time to Neteller. However, my most recent cashout of June 18th (a fairly large sum of money by most peoples standards) has failed to materialize.

Support are responsive and efficient in replying to emails (rarely taking more than a few hours) and the official line is that there is some kind of technical problem with their merchant Neteller account preventing them from paying. The first email advising me of this problem was sent on July 5th - more than two weeks have passed since then and a solution has not yet been found. HippoJo also seem unwilling to pay me by any other method, citing "delays". They are unable to provide me with any idea of a turnaround time, but assure my withdrawal will be processed in due course. I'm skeptical.

I have been in contact with Bryan over this issue as well as regular contact with casino support and their rep here at CM - I hope this post is OK with all parties concerned. I just feel that players should be aware of any problems since the majority of posts I find about HippoJo are positive.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I think that after 5 weeks of no progress on the technical problems they should use an alternative method as a one-off until the problem is sorted.

I wonder if this "technical problem" is the same one that Playtech had a while back, it was not so much "technical", but a ban on funding their merchant account imposed by Neteller, and payments had to be made from deposits by other players into the merchant Neteller account.
If it was "technical" in the sense of computer problems, it would have been fixed by now, but if it is "policy" that is the problem, it will need one side to budge before anything is fixed.
It may not affect all accounts, perhaps only those in UK Pounds.

I had a true technical problem with the Jackpot Factory, but although it kept recurring, once I complained hard enough it was pushed through manually, and the longest delay was just short of a fortnight.

These problems should be taken seriously, if NO players can be paid for a 5 week stretch, word starts to get around, just as it did when US members kept asking if anyone had actually received their check from Neteller while Neteller were pretending they were actually processing them, rather than admitting the cash has been seized.

HippoJo should enlighten us as to the nature of this technical problem, or we might believe it is not worth depositing or joining up till a post appears to say all is well. This could mean the casino surviving on reduced deposit activity while players believe there is an ongoing problem of 5 weeks and counting with withdrawals.

 

[liquuid_fusion]

Over 7 weeks waiting now and no progress. Their last email gave a timescale of 7-10 days for loading of their Neteller account after which payments should resume, but the 10 day deadline expired on Monday with no word from the casino.

 

[Casinomeister]

Just for the record, they are no longer being considered for accreditation at Casinomeister. My apologies if this appeared as an incentive to become one of their players.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Just for the record, they are no longer being considered for accreditation at Casinomeister. My apologies if this appeared as an incentive to become one of their players.

I believe this WAS material in decisions to try them out.
Their explanation just speaks volumes for their competence, they are only NOW getting around to having their Neteller account operative, but have been taking deposits for months!

 

[dancinggoon]

I had the same slowpay problems with them, i waited for a 2500euro neteller withdrawl over 2 months now and they alwys told me they habe problems with neteller.

Yesterday i asked them if they can send me the money over another payout method, and they confirmed me that click2pay is possible.

So i send them my click2pay details this morning and quess what, the 2500euro are already in my click2pay account.

 

[Casinomeister]

@ liquuid_fusion - have you heard anything yet?

 

[liquuid_fusion]

I had an email from them on the 13th saying that their Neteller account is still not funded, and suggesting that a part payment may be made next week if the situation does not improve...

 

[vinylweatherman]

I had an email from them on the 13th saying that their Neteller account is still not funded, and suggesting that a part payment may be made next week if the situation does not improve...

Perhaps they have nothing to fund it with

Else why the problem with other payment methods?

If they REALLY had the fine credentials as detailed on the "about us", this would simply NEVER have happened. Nearly 2 months to pay puts them well into "rogue territory", it's pretty much a technical non-payment due to the frequent stalling tactics followed by broken deadlines.
They have completely shredded any credibility they may have worked for before and during launch, and will now have to earn it back the hard way, as though they were a rogue just put on probation.

I am glad I was patient, and wanting to wait for them to be fully accredited before depositing - this has saved me a little money, and a whole lot of hassle.

 

[liquuid_fusion]

I asked them about being paid by Click2pay, as dancinggoon seems to have been. I was promised a reply either friday afternoon or first thing Monday morning. It's now monday evening in Australia and surprise surprise, i've not heard anything.

 

[liquuid_fusion]

Just thought I would update on my HippoJo saga.

I was promised a part-payment to Neteller (still no answer on Click2Pay) by the end of last week, but have not heard anything or received any money since the email letting me telling me this a week ago. I emailed them after the deadline had passed, but have not received a reply.

I have now been waiting 10 weeks and 1 day.

 

[GI Joe]

To bad seeing a nice casino go down the drain...

They started out with a nice different image...but must have hitted some big winners.

Hope you get your cash!

GI Joe

 

[liquuid_fusion]

I received the following email in response to my latest enquiry after the deadline (Friday 24th, almost two weeks ago) had passed for a partial-payment of my cashout.

Hi liquuid_fusion

I can see you have been discussing this with Katrina. She has been away this
week sorry, but will be back in the office on Monday and will get back to you
then.

Kind Regards
Victoria
HippoJo Accounts

It is now the early hours of Wednesday in Australia and I have not heard back from Katrina, despite sending another email to them this morning. The email appears to have been personally written but was in fact circulated round their entire cashout-pending database (probably most of the casinos customers!) as far I as can tell, as several people have posted exactly the same email on other forums!

The following link to the WOL forum describes another customers troubles at HippoJo, which seem to be similar to mine:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

I have now been waiting 11 weeks and 1 day. I have had many missed deadlines and broken promises from HippoJo, and absolutely nothing resembling a cashout, a partial payment, or a timescale for payment has materialised. They owe me just over 3700.

 

[liquuid_fusion]

I have sent a message to the HippoJo rep here, requesting that he replies publicly to this thread.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I have sent a message to the HippoJo rep here, requesting that he replies publicly to this thread.

This is looking more and more like a "can't pay" situation. Trying to fob someone off with a PARTIAL payout after 10 weeks is most telling.
Given that MANY players now have this problem, this is not just a freak technical hitch. There should be NO PROBLEM paying a BRITISH player in a timely manner, there are no "authorities" to hide the transactions from, it can all be done above board.
They might be giving priority to players who used credit cards to deposit, as these have more "clout" by disputing the charges - especially so where their net cashouts are less than net deposits. HippoJo marketed directly to the UK players with a GBP version of the software, and could have picked up quite a few GBP players who used a credit card.

Neteller may have banned this casino from holding a merchant account (high risk of insolvency), and this might be why they are "unable to fund" it!
Many Playtech casinos had similar problems with Neteller a while back, and were also unable to pay some players through Neteller.

When and if the rep shows up, there is a lot of explaining to do.

 

[br600]

I am waiting for more then 3 months now. Everytime excuses and promises but still no money in my account.

I suggested click2pay a couple of times but they didn't want that.

2 weeks ago i was promised a partial payment 200 within a day but still nothing. I am waiting to receive 1600.

 

[liquuid_fusion]

The HippoJo rep has visited the forum since I sent the PM to him.

Vinyl, you might have a good point. I did in fact make some of my deposits using a credit card.

 

[Casinomeister]

One of my first official tasks done after my holiday in the North Sea:

In the rogue pit:
https://www.casinomeister.com/rogue-casinos/

I would recommend that anyone with a complaint (br600, dancinggoon, etc...)PAB as soon as possible.

 

[maybe]

Thanks Bryan for the heads up.

I PAB right now. I am owed by these folks, too.

 

[br600]

One of my first official tasks done after my holiday in the North Sea:

In the rogue pit:
https://www.casinomeister.com/rogue-casinos/

I would recommend that anyone with a complaint (br600, dancinggoon, etc...)PAB as soon as possible.

Done

 

[liquuid_fusion]

10 days after the second deadline for partial payment has passed:

Thank you for your email and we apologise for the delay in responding to you.

Your email is being reviewed and you will receive a more detailed response over
the next 24 hours.

We appreciate your patience.

Kind Regards
Victoria
HippoJo Accounts

 

[pach]

I requested a withdrawal of 1300 on June 14th. I got the same answer..."we are having technical problems with our Neteller account...our bank in Cyprus is not the best when it comes to fund our account.... and blah blah blah.

They gave me 300 about a month ago as a partial payment and got some nice and polite emails from them telling me my money is on the way.

In the mean time I was so stupid to make another deposit and win another 1200, that I haven't even requested yet (why bother?)

When they say your email have been forwarded to whatever department it is, don't expect to get an answer in the next few days.

 

[jetset]

Just updating myself on Hippo Jo by reading through this thread, it unfortunately has all the hallmarks of owners running low on cash and for some reason not being prepared or capable of providing further operational funds to management.

These non-payment excuses are typical examples of a management trying to hold the fort until more cash arrives that we have seen in other issues just before a casino collapses....or more rarely takes on a new lease of life.

I genuinely hope this is not the case (the crash, that is!), but it has proved impossible to get at the facts because the experienced and hitherto honest and reliable Australian managers looking after business for the owners have uncharacteristically stopped responding to email communications.

That's a bad sign, I regret to say.

If the support and accounting people are still sending out "holding" style messages, then there's perhaps a hope on management's part that the owners are providing more funding and that cash is on the way, so all hope has not yet been lost, although I can truly appreciate the frustrations of unpaid players here.

Hopefully at least one of the managers will be in Barcelona for EiG and that will provide us with an opportunity to tackle them face to face on WTF is going on here.

 

[Casinomeister]

Just updating myself on Hippo Jo by reading through this thread, it unfortunately has all the hallmarks of owners running low on cash and for some reason not being prepared or capable of providing further operational funds to management...

I believe Liquid Fusion's issue had nothing to do with a Neteller deposit since he used a credit card, so the Neteller excuse doesn't fly. I told them straight out "just cut the guy a check!" but they stopped responding.

 

[liquuid_fusion]

12 days after the promise of a detailed response within 24 hours, i've heard nothing.