VIP.com - terrible service

[Nifty29]

Hey Gang

I received an invitation 4 days ago from VIP.com (with whom I played for a time) to come back with a 200% bonus up to $1000 on my next deposit. Cool!

The only thing is, it did not state anywhere in the email how I should claim it after I deposit. So, being prudent as always, I decided to hold off on the deposit until I found out some more info.

I emailed 6 times over 3 days (not all at once of course), to 2 of their email addresses and from 3 of mine (in case the ISP was blocking them etc) and I did not receive one reply. So, I decided to jump on to live chat today. Not cool!

Check this out for shocking customer service (the whole experience lasted 20 mins BTW):

One of our Representatives will be with you in a moment
You are now chatting with Leslie
Leslie: Welcome to Casino Support.
Leslie: How can I assist you today?
ME: Hi Leslie. I have been emailing casino@vip.com for several days from 3 different email addresses but have had no reply - can you help please?
Leslie: May I please have your account number or email address so that I can better assist you?
ME: sure. it is xxxxx@xxxxxx username = xxxx
Leslie: Please hold on a moment, I will review your account.
ME: Thankyou
Leslie: I will be right with you.
ME: thanks
Leslie: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.
ME: ok
Leslie: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
ME: ok]
Leslie: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
ME: ok
Leslie: I will be right with you.
ME: What is the problem?
Leslie: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.
ME: why is there such a delay?
Leslie: I will be right with you.
ME: OK, it is obvious by not answering emails and making me wait forever in live chat that VIP doesnt want me as a customer
ME: You offered me a 200% welcome back bonus, but I cant get any support from anyone or even how to claim it.
ME: So I am wasting my time.
Leslie: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.

At that point, I just logged out and vowed never to return to VIP.com again.

Its a shame, as they used to be good and paid very fast.

 

[Casinomeister]

That sucks. You're right, they used to be very good.

I hate it when that happens.

Here is there casino rep's account into. You can always PM him t osee what's up. He hasn't been around since June though.
https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/members/

 

[VMSCasinos]

Hi Nifty29,

I apologize for the confusion surrounding this situation. We recently moved to an automated bonus at VIP.com which means that you will be automatically credited with the bonus after you make your deposit.

If you would like more specifics relating to this email I will send a follow up email. However, it doesn't appear that we have your email address on file. If you could provide me with it I will have our Customer Service Manager contact you directly.

Thank you,

John

 

[vinylweatherman]

Hi Nifty29,

I apologize for the confusion surrounding this situation. We recently moved to an automated bonus at VIP.com which means that you will be automatically credited with the bonus after you make your deposit.

If you would like more specifics relating to this email I will send a follow up email. However, it doesn't appear that we have your email address on file. If you could provide me with it I will have our Customer Service Manager contact you directly.

Thank you,

John

Err... Nope

I received the same offer, made the deposit, and guess what...

No automatic bonus,
No reply to E-mail requesting information about manually claiming it.

Exactly how many players were sent this "exclusive" offer? Could it be EVERYONE, and CS just had a meltdown?

This seems yet another of the good RTGs on a downhill slope, along with ClubWorld and their screwed up mailers, and Wager Junction with their misuse of personal information (opening new casino accounts for players with one of their new acquisitions, and having traps in the small print).

The only thing going for VIP.com is the rep has actually responded to the issues posted more or less straight away.

The problems seems to be that this 200% special offer has not been grafted onto the automated system, and CS don't know what to do. Answering the E-mails would help, even with a "we are looking into the problem".

 

[Nifty29]

So it wasnt just me....

Looks like its a system wide problem.

Be that as it may, the non-response to both mine and VWM's emails is unacceptable and is obviously another CS issue.

I's like to say its the first problem with VIP.com CS I've had, but it's not.

I have PM'd John VIP Rep so we shall see.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Another 24 hours, and STILL no response to my E-mail, nor any 200% bonus visible as offered.

I have checked the casino, where I placed my deposit, and when I made the transfer from the main cashier there was no sign of a "bonus balance" containing the 200% bonus.
This is the first time I have played under the new automated bonus rules, previously one had to claim from CS, which itself could take 48 hours, although was normally within 24.

I shall try resending the E-mail.

The rep needs to explain just how "exclusive" this offer was, and whether an unexpectedly large take up coupled with a failure of the automated bonus system has caused the CS "meltdown" I suggested; or, are they simply ignoring our E-mails for whatever reason, technical or otherwise.

 

[Nifty29]

OK, I have some feedback via PM (John) and subsequently from the CS manager via email. Im sure he wont mind the contents being posted as it is general information.

I have included my reply as well.

Hi Sean

Thankyou for the follow up.

I understand what you are saying, however there are 2 points which are still unresolved:

1. I am not the only one who is not receiving responses to emails (refer to Casinomeister thread via John) and this is still continuing. The emails were sent from xxxx@xxxxx xxxx@xxxxx and xxxx@xxxxx and no response was forthcoming on any of the emails. This is a huge indicator that there is a problem with your customer service systems

2. Another poster in the CM forums received the same email as I did, made a deposit as indicated, and only received the 10% bonus as indicated by the software. Again, it seems there is an issue with the bonus offer in the backend.

Im sure you can understand how frustrating it is, and why I am not going to deposit until I am 100% sure that any queries I have will be dealt with in a timely fashion and any bonus offers are honored without waiting several days for a resolution.

Again, I thank you for your time and hope this feedback is helpful.

Kind Regards

xxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: Sean Thomas
To: tdn30@bigpond.net.au
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 1:32 AM
Subject: 200% Bonus Follow Up.




Hello Mr. xxx



Thank you for choosing VIP.com



I understand that you were experiencing some difficult receiving some information regarding our 200% welcome back bonus. I searched our email program for your email address on file xxxx@xxxxx and was not able to locate any emails coming from you. In reference to the chat where you did not receive a response, the agent was confirming with a Supervisor that you qualified for the promotion hence the delay in response.



None the less the promotion is still valid and you can claim this offer. All you have to do is make a deposit in your account and the bonus will be automatically credited. Yes you are correct in seeing the 10% as this is the regular ongoing bonus each time you make a deposit. The 200% bonus will automatically be presented after you make your deposit. Vip has recently implemented an automated bonus program where customers will receive a pop up in their accounts where they will be able to accept the bonuses or deny it. Also we have implemented new wagering rules, please click on the link to go to the page for all the details. Link Removed ( Old/Invalid)



Here you will notice that all games qualify now for bonuses.



I hope I answered your questions appropriately.



Good luck at VIP.com



Sincerely,



Sean

 

[silkprint]

Were you credited yet Vinyl ?

 

[vinylweatherman]

Were you credited yet Vinyl ?

No, the "automatically credited" is complete BS. Since I received the mailer, there is no question about me qualifying, and I did indeed make a deposit after seeing the T & C had only one line. Seems no excluded games, but weighting similar to the MG EZBonus system (can anyone see future problems with this model).

When I deposited, there was NO "pop up" requesting me to accept or refuse a bonus, and even when I transferred the deposit to the casino I found no bonus added.

Under the old system, an E-mail had to be sent to support requesting the bonus. This I have done, TWICE, to the address on the mailer "support@vip.com". I have so far received no reply, and no "bounce" error diagnostic from their servers. My message is logged as sent in my outbound folder (they move to "sent messages" once received by the servers at my ISP).
The offer itself expires on the 26th, two days away, and I will not accept CS replying to me on the 27th to tell me I am "too late".
Live Chat didn't seem viable since a previous poster said what terrible service they experienced. Even if they were checking back with a supervisor, why didn't they say so, rather than just trot out variants of "Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment." each and every time. This clearly drove the player to breaking point before the supervisor could claim eligibility.

Non response to E-mails sent to the specified support address goes far beyond the issue of a 200% "exclusive" welcome back offer, no doubt other players are making contact with possibly more important issues, such as terms or cash-ins, and being met by a total lack of reply no matter how often they send the E-mail. If they don't appear on file, they are being swallowed by the systems between the ISP that forwards them to VIP, and the CS desk - probably the main inbound servers operated by VIP, or even software on them, such as firewalls. If the E-mails were not being delivered to the support addresses, then we would be receiving postmaster "bounce" messages informing us of the inability to effect delivery of the E-mail.


I have now sent the E-mail a THIRD time to general support, also a copy to "casino@vip.com" and a summary to the rep (who seems to be getting PM's & replying in around 24 hours).

 

[Nifty29]

Yep.

There is definitely a problem with their emails. Vinyl and I are at opposite ends of the earth and both using multiple emails and not getting a whimper - or a bounce either.

It was nice that they followed up so quickly, but Im not sure they looked too deeply into the issue.

The bonus offer is pretty good, but who would want to 'go back' to a casino that has issues like this???

Pass.

 

[lojo]

Yep.

There is definitely a problem with their emails. Vinyl and I are at opposite ends of the earth and both using multiple emails and not getting a whimper - or a bounce either.

It was nice that they followed up so quickly, but Im not sure they looked too deeply into the issue.

The bonus offer is pretty good, but who would want to 'go back' to a casino that has issues like this???

Pass.

Register a particular email for the offer? Help them through this (I know that you are trying)

I try not to play mixed books, but that's just U.S.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Register a particular email for the offer? Help them through this (I know that you are trying)

I try not to play mixed books, but that's just U.S.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but this was an offer for existing players, and in my case at least, was sent to the E-mail address I registered when providing the necessary registration details. My replies were also from this address, and additionally I quoted my account number.
I am not using one of the free services like hotmail,where lost E-mails have been an issue in the past, but an E-mail address from my ISP, which is linked to their own domain "@ntlworld.com".
Had I not received their reply, I would expect to still have seen the bonus added, just not been told about it. I believe there have been one or two missing E-mails, casino offers I would have expected, but not seen - I cannot be certain though, as casinos have this annoying habit of removing players from their lists without either telling them, or a good cause.

 

[lojo]

I don't know. Go figger. I know you are trying to help them sort it; for them, for you, or for the unknown player.

it may have been a bad suggestion to re-register to sort it for you; might confuse their data for them, and certainly a bad suggestion for the 'unknown' player if they weren't in communication with them on the issue.

Thank you for helping me clarify that VWM. i talk out my * sometimes.

 

[EasyRhino]

Guys, thanks for posting your experiences. I ALSO got that email. And while I was checking out the site (hadn't played there in quite a while), I noticed the automatic bonus system, and I saw I was entitled to 3% or something ridiculous, and decided to hold off. I guess I'm glad I did.

Sounds like a major snafu in even sending out the promos in the first place.

 

[Nifty29]

Well instead of saying 'we didnt get your email', I would have thought the question would have been a) when did you send it, b) from what email address/es and c) to which email address/es. How would they be able to see if their was a problem or not without that info??

In days gone by, VIP would answer within an hour every time - so either their is a serious issue with emails, or their CS has gone up the spout.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Well instead of saying 'we didnt get your email', I would have thought the question would have been a) when did you send it, b) from what email address/es and c) to which email address/es. How would they be able to see if their was a problem or not without that info??

In days gone by, VIP would answer within an hour every time - so either their is a serious issue with emails, or their CS has gone up the spout.

In my summary to the rep I gave much of this information. It shouldn't matter which E-mail WE sent it from, what matters is the ones we sent it TO. Only two seem appropriate for casino players, the general support & the casino. It is now 8 hours since I sent my THIRD batch, and still no reply, so this is a long term problem.
Even when this is sorted, it is going to make me reluctant to play there again if I believe the underlying problems still exist. For those who received this offer, and don't come to casinomeister, they are still going to be wondering what happened to the VIP.com they once knew.
If InetBet can convince me they have fixed the recent oddities, I may well remove VIP.com and replace it with InetBet.
One good thing though, I have barely played this week as I have spent all my time sorting out various minor issues that have conspired to prevent me either depositing, or completing promotions (like this one).

 

[vinylweatherman]

Partial Result.

I have had a reply from the rep, who has forwarded the issue to the CS team. No trace of my 4 E-mails were found on their files, but neither have I received any "bounce" messages.
The reason why the bonus did not automatically credit is down to another term added to the new bonusing system:-

You will not qualify for an automated bonus if your last transaction was a withdrawal.

There are further terms that block automated bonuses:-

Your current account balance must be equal to or less than 25% of your previous deposit amount. Note that total account balance
includes pending sports wagers and download casino and poker balances. Example: If your last deposit was $100, you must have
$25 or less in your total account balance to qualify for a bonus.
You will not qualify for an automated bonus if you have made a poker transfer in the last 15 days.

It would seem that this "come back" offer was "carpet bombed" to a load of players masquerading as a personal invite, even to players whose accounts were ineligible until they made a further non-bonused deposit AND refrained from transferring funds to the poker room within the last 15 days.

Previously, they had a simple criteria, no bonuses could be claimed by players who had won overall at VIP.com - I am sure this is still in effect somewhere on the site under the general terms.

Other players who are reading this thread and are deciding whether to use this offer should bear in mind the exclusion criteria above.

In my case, I was granted the bonus as an "exceptional case".

Still to be resolved is the issue of why E-mails are failing to make it through to their CS. It must only be affecting some customers, otherwise I would have thought they would have noticed a problem themselves.

Jackpot Factory have a similar issue (still undiagnosed), with periods where E-mails sent to them never make it to their CS desk, but are nevertheless delivered successfully to their E-mail server(s).