Silver Oak Casino warning

[daera]

After reading BigDaddy's response that I was paid several days ago, I called
Silver Oak. Wonder of wonders, I was told by Dan that a moneygram had been sent on 2/3. All I had to do was go pick it up. I asked why I hadn't been sent notification of payment and was told he didn't know why I hadn't received anything. But let me tell you, he knew who I was and what I wanted when I gave him my user ID.

On Wednesday afternoon when I talked to Alan, it hadn't been authorized much less sent.

I will let you know if it's there when I go pick it up tomorrow.

That's great news!

Did he give you the number you need to claim it? I forget what they call it. Transaction number, or whatever it's called?

 

[anniemac]

He gave me a number and a name. So we will see. Just because they might have paid me (can't be sure til money is in hand) it doesn't make them less than rogue. A good casino does not have to aggravated to death to pay a player.

 

[daera]

Just because they might have paid me (can't be sure til money is in hand) it doesn't make them less than rogue. A good casino does not have to aggravated to death to pay a player.

Exactly! I totally agree.

 

[anniemac]

I had a moneygram waiting for me for $75. I still never received any noticification from Silver Oak that it was paid. If I hadn't called them myself, I guess I would have never known for sure.

I want to thank all the people that helped me get paid. I really appreciate it.

Do I think they would have paid me if I hadn't bitched and enlisted the help of so many people. Absolutely not.

So my warning still stands.

 

[LaurieJim]

im glad you got paid annie, i still think there is something fishy about this casino, it reeks of virtual imo ..............laurie

 

[zebedy]

I had a moneygram waiting for me for $75. I still never received any noticification from Silver Oak that it was paid. If I hadn't called them myself, I guess I would have never known for sure.

I want to thank all the people that helped me get paid. I really appreciate it.

Do I think they would have paid me if I hadn't bitched and enlisted the help of so many people. Absolutely not.

So my warning still stands.

wtg on getting paid,

yes the power of posting can sometimes work miracles

 

[daera]

I had a moneygram waiting for me for $75. I still never received any noticification from Silver Oak that it was paid. If I hadn't called them myself, I guess I would have never known for sure.

I want to thank all the people that helped me get paid. I really appreciate it.

Do I think they would have paid me if I hadn't bitched and enlisted the help of so many people. Absolutely not.

So my warning still stands.

I don't understand how a casino can not understand the importance of a players first experience, and do everything they can to make it a good impression.

I'm glad this is a closed chapter and you've received your cashout now. I really believe you would have been paid whether you posted or not. However, I think you might have waited even longer for your payment, if you hadn't have posted.

I hope I don't have to wait as long as you did for my cashout. 2 Weeks and counting here..

 

[anniemac]

Daera, I really hope you get your money. I still don't think I would have been paid if I hadn't posted about it. If a casino doesn't want to bend over backwards to keep new players happy then they are not really too smart. All it would have taken was an answer to an email or any kind of an answer at all, and I would not have had to take it to the internet.

 

[mrracetrack]

What happened to BigDaddyMD??

His "silence" since he first posted in this thread speaks volumes...

I still would like an answer regarding Chris DiAngelo...

 

[daera]

What happened to BigDaddyMD??

His "silence" since he first posted in this thread speaks volumes...

I still would like an answer regarding Chris DiAngelo...

I wouldn't hold it against him that he wasn't here over the weekend. He last posted on Friday. If he's got some kind of management or supervisor job, he may very well work Mondays-Fridays and be off this weekend. That was my first thought anyway.

 

[BigDaddyMD]

re:

Howdy folks,

Yup, I'm a Monday - Friday 9-5er so on the weekends I try to disconnect from the computer and get some sunshine (Lord knows I need it!).

I'm very glad that Anniemac got her money. I printed out this whole thread - it's a great thing for me to show to the customer service agents on the importance of how to treat every single customer.

In regards to Chris DeAngelo, he is not an employee or part of the management structure at Silver Oak (he's not even based in any of our offices). He's a consultant who was contracted out by our Marketing team to do some PR and help structure our VIP program. So far, we've have been very happy with his contribution in these two areas.

I'm gonna make sure we try better next time everyone, but thanks for everyone's contribution to this thread.

 

[mercy]

Howdy folks,

Yup, I'm a Monday - Friday 9-5er so on the weekends I try to disconnect from the computer and get some sunshine (Lord knows I need it!).

I'm very glad that Anniemac got her money. I printed out this whole thread - it's a great thing for me to show to the customer service agents on the importance of how to treat every single customer.

In regards to Chris DeAngelo, he is not an employee or part of the management structure at Silver Oak (he's not even based in any of our offices). He's a consultant who was contracted out by our Marketing team to do some PR and help structure our VIP program. So far, we've have been very happy with his contribution in these two areas.

I'm gonna make sure we try better next time everyone, but thanks for everyone's contribution to this thread.

Why in the world would your company hire someone who's own name is synonymous with rogue?

 

[vinylweatherman]

Howdy folks,

Yup, I'm a Monday - Friday 9-5er so on the weekends I try to disconnect from the computer and get some sunshine (Lord knows I need it!).

I'm very glad that Anniemac got her money. I printed out this whole thread - it's a great thing for me to show to the customer service agents on the importance of how to treat every single customer.

In regards to Chris DeAngelo, he is not an employee or part of the management structure at Silver Oak (he's not even based in any of our offices). He's a consultant who was contracted out by our Marketing team to do some PR and help structure our VIP program. So far, we've have been very happy with his contribution in these two areas.

I'm gonna make sure we try better next time everyone, but thanks for everyone's contribution to this thread.

Before the rebranded Crystal Palace casino, and others, have any chance of gaining the confidence of players they need to ditch the baggage from the rogue days. Firstly, Costa Rica does NOT LICENCE CASINOS, it just licences BUSINESSES. There is no special regulation available other than normal business regulations to protect players. Online casinos need much stronger regulation due to the nature of their business. RTG also is associated with rogue casinos, but a few have shown that it IS possible to run with RTG yet be reputable.

Now, if Chris DiAngelo is merely the PR consultant, how come he gets top billing - surely this belongs to the casino manager, who seems to have no name or contact details at present.

The fancy new lobby is available to ALL RTG casinos, Club World has it, so why on earth would anyone from here play at Silver Oak at present, except perhaps because of the lure of too-good-to-be-true bonuses.

It is going to take some doing to make it look like Virtual really means it this time, and bad experiences posted by Casinomeister members who have dabbled only serve to support the "nothing has changed" view.

 

[BigDaddyMD]

Howdy folks,

After much discussion about this issue, I've been asked by senior management to post the following:


Hello Casinomeister Members

I thought it was time to address the forum, give you all some background as to who we are, and address this issue specifically.

As a Canadian that frequently travels to the US I'm not going to discuss any details about me nor will I speak of the new ownership behind Silver Oak. I hope for obvious reasons you can all appreciate this. However, I can say that I'm part of a new senior management team and I've been in the US facing gaming industry for many years with experience with several very successful operations, albeit, not exclusively casinos.

First of all, it is correct that Silver Oak Casino is a re-branded Crystal Palace. What does this mean? It means basically we took over the customer accounts. We are a completely new operation and no former staff, management or owners from the Crystal Group are involved in any way.

It is also true that from a business point of view, we have used the same bonus structure and operational procedures, at least the ones that make business sense. However, we are not in the business to stiff customers and our procedures are designed (and evolving) to provide a balance between business needs and customer expectations.

Anyone who has worked in the US facing gaming industry can certainly appreciate the challenges that we all face to provide US customers with a consistent level of service, let alone a quality one. How many of you have to now jump through hoops to get money in or out of the system? [I know from a personal experience that I'm having a hard time getting money in and out of one of the top US facing poker rooms and have been for quite some time.] I think if customers could actually see the challenges that every US facing gaming company goes through on a daily basis, they would be absolutely astonished.

As for the comment that we are treating non-depositing customers differently than depositing customers, being a veteran in this industry I can assure you that every operation have procedures in place to manage risk. The ones that don't, do not stay in business very long. This has little to do with cash flow and more to do with simple business.

While it is the intention of most operators to provide all customers with quality services regardless of player value, the reality is that some level of prioritization does take place in all operations, especially in today's US facing market. You get better service at your bank the more money you have in your account. Your bartender will pay extra attention to you the more you spend and tip. These are realities in life and not that one group of customers is intentionally being given poor service. If someone from payouts has two payout request to process at the same time, one from a customer that is spending money, and one from a customer who is not, which one would you process first?

I would like to be able to say that we won't ever have a month where payouts take longer than normal, however, given the nature of this business, it would be unrealistic for me to do. Some of the most well established operations get hit with unexpected challenges that temporarily affect the level of service given to customers [one of the biggest US facing gaming operators has gone public with the fact that the are taking 30 to 40 days to process payments]. The more volume that an operation does, the greater the challenges become, especially since UIGEA.

Now, as for the incident in question being discussed here, I understand that this customer has in fact been paid, albeit longer than the customer expected. It appears that there was some miscommunication to the customer and it was a simple thing to address that should have never become an issue. We'll learn from it, and make procedural changes.

However, I would like to add that the customer is question has claimed on this forum that there was no communication that payment was delivered. I can say without a doubt that I was in the room with the payout representative when she phoned to notify the customer, left a voice message detailing payment, then subsequently emailed the customer with the details of payment. I'm at a loose to explain why the customer claimed otherwise.

On a final note, if you all want to help US facing operators have payout times consistent with our European counterparts, please write to your congressman and senators and let them know that you support everyone's right to gamble online and just maybe they will back off putting pressure on the banks and the processing companies that take US business.

Thanks for reading,
Best Regards

---------------------

Please, if anybody has any questions, comments or just generally wants to know about anything in here feel free to email me!

Cheers everybody!

 

[mercy]

Why in the world would your company hire someone who's own name is synonymous with rogue?

Tell your bosses to get rid of Chris D'Angelo, that would be a good start in telling us that you have truly just re-branded.

 

[anniemac]

Let me address the 'senior management' on several issues.

I don't know who his payment person left a message with but it was not me. I don't have an answering machine on my telephone and haven't had for several years. Nor do I have voice mail on my cell phone but I don't think I gave them that number. I have never received an email from Silver Oak regarding payment and I will be more than happy to send a copy of each and every one I have received from them as well as the ones I sent to them and copies of two chats I had with the live chat. Plus you can ask Daera at Hodgepodge Forum when I started trying to get info. on payment and what she did for me. This was before I posted on this forum and others.

Take what you will from this. I had/have no other agenda with Silver Oak except payment which I finally received.

But I don't appreciate this unnamed person coming on this forum finally and making it seem like I was not straight with the people here. I really think my rep. here stand for itself.

 

[RobWin]

Howdy folks,

After much discussion about this issue, I've been asked by senior management to post the following:


Hello Casinomeister Members

I thought it was time to address the forum, give you all some background as to who we are, and address this issue specifically.

As a Canadian that frequently travels to the US I'm not going to discuss any details about me nor will I speak of the new ownership behind Silver Oak. I hope for obvious reasons you can all appreciate this. However, I can say that I'm part of a new senior management team and I've been in the US facing gaming industry for many years with experience with several very successful operations, albeit, not exclusively casinos.

First of all, it is correct that Silver Oak Casino is a re-branded Crystal Palace. What does this mean? It means basically we took over the customer accounts. We are a completely new operation and no former staff, management or owners from the Crystal Group are involved in any way.

It is also true that from a business point of view, we have used the same bonus structure and operational procedures, at least the ones that make business sense. However, we are not in the business to stiff customers and our procedures are designed (and evolving) to provide a balance between business needs and customer expectations.

Anyone who has worked in the US facing gaming industry can certainly appreciate the challenges that we all face to provide US customers with a consistent level of service, let alone a quality one. How many of you have to now jump through hoops to get money in or out of the system? [I know from a personal experience that I'm having a hard time getting money in and out of one of the top US facing poker rooms and have been for quite some time.] I think if customers could actually see the challenges that every US facing gaming company goes through on a daily basis, they would be absolutely astonished.

As for the comment that we are treating non-depositing customers differently than depositing customers, being a veteran in this industry I can assure you that every operation have procedures in place to manage risk. The ones that don't, do not stay in business very long. This has little to do with cash flow and more to do with simple business.

While it is the intention of most operators to provide all customers with quality services regardless of player value, the reality is that some level of prioritization does take place in all operations, especially in today's US facing market. You get better service at your bank the more money you have in your account. Your bartender will pay extra attention to you the more you spend and tip. These are realities in life and not that one group of customers is intentionally being given poor service. If someone from payouts has two payout request to process at the same time, one from a customer that is spending money, and one from a customer who is not, which one would you process first?

I would like to be able to say that we won't ever have a month where payouts take longer than normal, however, given the nature of this business, it would be unrealistic for me to do. Some of the most well established operations get hit with unexpected challenges that temporarily affect the level of service given to customers [one of the biggest US facing gaming operators has gone public with the fact that the are taking 30 to 40 days to process payments]. The more volume that an operation does, the greater the challenges become, especially since UIGEA.

Now, as for the incident in question being discussed here, I understand that this customer has in fact been paid, albeit longer than the customer expected. It appears that there was some miscommunication to the customer and it was a simple thing to address that should have never become an issue. We'll learn from it, and make procedural changes.

However, I would like to add that the customer is question has claimed on this forum that there was no communication that payment was delivered. I can say without a doubt that I was in the room with the payout representative when she phoned to notify the customer, left a voice message detailing payment, then subsequently emailed the customer with the details of payment. I'm at a loose to explain why the customer claimed otherwise.

On a final note, if you all want to help US facing operators have payout times consistent with our European counterparts, please write to your congressman and senators and let them know that you support everyone's right to gamble online and just maybe they will back off putting pressure on the banks and the processing companies that take US business.

Thanks for reading,
Best Regards

---------------------

Please, if anybody has any questions, comments or just generally wants to know about anything in here feel free to email me!

Cheers everybody!

All three of those statements there are total bullshit...all you have to do is look at INetbet and ClubWorld...both of these operations are Top Notch and pay their customers promptly the next day when a web wallet is used for the withdrawal means and within a week per other withdrawal means !!

If you ever want to earn the respect of customers in this business you should look at their business models and take a few lessons from them on how customers should be treated and how to also keep those customers retained, by paying them ALL Promptly !!

On another note I know you said you want to keep your identity secret but surely you can name the Casino Manager for all of us just like the rest of the truly transparent and great online casinos do can't you ??

 

[daera]

I just wanted to say that I received my cashout via Western Union today.

I do think that some changes need to be made in the communication or lack of communication with players throughout a cashout process. I never got one single email from the casino regarding my cashout. I would not have known how I was getting paid, or have gotten my MTCN number today, had I not been actively contacting the casino.

Today I called the casino and got the MTCN number. Yesterday I called and found out the MTCN would be there today. But they never contacted me to tell me anything about the cashout.

Anyway, I've been paid. Thank you!

 

[Jasminebed]

While I do appreciate BigDaddy posting a message from "senior management", the fact that it is unsigned does little to inspire confidence.

I appreciate that the players were paid, but delays like this and miscommunication are unsatisfactory.

And every customer is a valuable customer. Many people will only deposit a small amount in a new casino, to "test the waters" so to speak. You don't know in advance what kind of customer they will be, but you want every customer to be a repeat customer, and for support staff to openly communicate that you are not yet valuable to them is assinine.

 

[LaurieJim]

I still say avoid them at all cost as it only costs the player time and money and undue stress, glad you girls did get paid..................laurie

 

[zebedy]

I still say avoid them at all cost as it only costs the player time and money and undue stress, glad you girls did get paid..................laurie

i was thinking the same thing, why bother with them, people still have inet/clubworld/rushmore ect and playing at those casino'o you atleast know you wont get any hassles, and if you do you know your problems will be sorted out swiftly by support

 

[RobWin]

All three of those statements there are total bullshit...all you have to do is look at INetbet and ClubWorld...both of these operations are Top Notch and pay their customers promptly the next day when a web wallet is used for the withdrawal means and within a week per other withdrawal means !!

If you ever want to earn the respect of customers in this business you should look at their business models and take a few lessons from them on how customers should be treated and how to also keep those customers retained, by paying them ALL Promptly !!

On another note I know you said you want to keep your identity secret but surely you can name the Casino Manager for all of us just like the rest of the truly transparent and great online casinos do can't you ??

Rob, you Idiot...you forgot to include the "Rushmore Group" as also being one of the "Top Notch" RTG Casino groups...

Can I get in trouble here for flaming myself...

 

[jas2587]

Let me address the 'senior management' on several issues.

I don't know who his payment person left a message with but it was not me. I don't have an answering machine on my telephone and haven't had for several years. Nor do I have voice mail on my cell phone but I don't think I gave them that number. I have never received an email from Silver Oak regarding payment and I will be more than happy to send a copy of each and every one I have received from them as well as the ones I sent to them and copies of two chats I had with the live chat. Plus you can ask Daera at Hodgepodge Forum when I started trying to get info. on payment and what she did for me. This was before I posted on this forum and others.

Take what you will from this. I had/have no other agenda with Silver Oak except payment which I finally received.

But I don't appreciate this unnamed person coming on this forum finally and making it seem like I was not straight with the people here. I really think my rep. here stand for itself.

Your REP is good enough for me I wont be playing at Silver Oak Casino EVER
Cindy

 

[vinylweatherman]

All three of those statements there are total bullshit...all you have to do is look at INetbet and ClubWorld...both of these operations are Top Notch and pay their customers promptly the next day when a web wallet is used for the withdrawal means and within a week per other withdrawal means !!

If you ever want to earn the respect of customers in this business you should look at their business models and take a few lessons from them on how customers should be treated and how to also keep those customers retained, by paying them ALL Promptly !!

On another note I know you said you want to keep your identity secret but surely you can name the Casino Manager for all of us just like the rest of the truly transparent and great online casinos do can't you ??

Well, they named Chris DeAngelo, and we all know he works for Virtual. We are now told that apart from Chris, who is merely PR, not management, we are not going to be told who owns, manages, or works there. None of this is going to convince anybody that Virtual do NOT own the ex Crystal Palace casinos, given that a meister member contacted support earlier, but after the rebranding, and somehow got hold of the Virtual CS team - even though we have just been told Virtual are not involved at all.

The next question is this - if there REALLY is a new owner, then they will require a NEW "gaming licence". If this is simply yet another Costa Rican one, then players have no more protection than in the past, and are expected to put their trust and money into a casino whose owners and manager have no names, while they still have a choice of RTG casinos whose ownership and management are far more transparent.

The non-payment/payment to anniemac seems odd. The rep claims to have had first hand eye witness experience of anniemac being notified of payment, - on a voicemail she doesn't have (assuming we believe her - but surely a more credible witness than a rep for what may be a rogue casino that has changed for the better who has signed up on what might be a damage limitation exercise). What is more, the communications anniemac DID receive were pointing in the other direction, that she had to WAIT for payment because free chip players were assigned a lower priority.
The voicemail claim has another worry, if anniemac doesn't have voicemail, then the casino have very carelessly given payment details to ANOTHER PERSON, a clear breach of player security. It is insecure to hear a voicemail and simply dump a message that requires security, after all, you cannot ask voicemail to confirm that you have actually reached the correct number!! Same goes for email, I regularly receive an email with someone else's casino account number and an offer in their name - this shows a fundamental lapse in the way the industry as a whole handles linkages between automated mailings and player data. It is possible anniemac's confirmation was simply sent to the wrong player. It is also possible that the sent email had such a load of "irrelevant promotional crap" in the signiature that it was seen as SPAM and never seen. I regularly receive emails like this from casinos, and when they are stuffed to the gills with advertising after the main body of the message they invariably get tagged as SPAM. SPAM filters now see this kind of thing as general spam, and they are not clever enough to work out whether the offers are simply a signiature strip, or the whole body of the message.

As to the reps point about processing. If I received 2 (or more) payout orders to process, what order would I do it in (given that there is an overload of the service). Well, surely the most EFFICIENT way, which is to NOT waste time working out how much players have deposited or not, but simply processing as fast as I can in order of receipt, which is the way to get the highest number done, and clear the backlog as quickly as possible.

 

[suzecat]

Agree 1000% VWM! If this is not the way it is done, then why? Only thing that comes to mind is ................ there's no money to pay everyone when payment is due, so ................ Geeze, these guys make me believe they are out of business .......... and they're the only ones who don't know it!