Virgin Casino / Virgin Games Bad Experience

Nate

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Hi All,

Just though I would share my experience with you before you decide to sign up at Virgin Games.

I registered an account a few days ago at Virgingames.com (Accredited here). I used my account to play for free and check the games out. I decided to make a deposit today and have not had a pleasant experience thus far.

I deposited and did not claim the welcome bonus. Im glad I read the terms because I had intially planned on taking their welcome bonus. The reason I did not take the bonus is because of the following:

•A minimum first deposit of £5 must be made to qualify for the Casino Welcome Bonus.
•You must play through 25 times your first deposit amount to earn your Casino Welcome Bonus.
•Earn your bonus by playing through your first deposit, additional deposits or winnings.
•Once the play through requirement above has been met, we will match your first deposit with up to £100 cash.


I find the bonus terms to be a bit ridiculous and I did not want to be held to such terms. To top it all off, you can't even play thunderstruck???

In any event, I just deposited and continued playing. Played for a bit and just as i started to go ahead, none of the games would load. I opened my email and noted an email from virgingames. The email basically says that my account is suspended until i submit documents???? So i get on the live chat function and speak to Dave. Dave advises me that the account is locked for verification. He further advises that it will take up to 24 hours.

I submitted my documents at about 8am (UK Time) and figured that it would be verified by the evening. At about 18h45 (UK Time) I get onto live chat and speak to Dave again... Dave advises me that my account is still not verified and that it takes up to 48 hours now. I asked him why is it now 48hours and he advises that there is a 'Backlog' on verifications and the Security Team have left for the day.

I express that I am not happy because my session was terminated and account locked during Live Play and my documents were not even looked at during the business day.

Dave promptly refers to the T&C's and ENDS the chat whilst i am still chatting???. What a rude little fart!!

VirginGames - Thank YOU, you certainly have made a GREAT impression!!

Nate

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Have had similar experiences with "UK bookies&casinos".
I guess it's part of their KYC (know your customer) policy that they verify player's identity before allowing them play. Has happened in few hours though.
As far as the bonus terms, I think it's an after wager bonus and once the wagering required is made, then it's plain cash with no restrictions.
I kinda like them- get some extra and have almost no restrictions with the deposits.
 
Just a few pointers Nate, the bonuses here are very good, bearing in mind you can deposit, take a bonus, if you get a good hit you can cash out as there is no bonus in your balance with a w/r to hold you back, and, if on the other hand you have made the w/r, the bonus you get has no w/r, it is 100% real cash..

As far as which games qualify i`m sure TSII is still okay, if not, you can still play these games but your bonus progress bar will not move, as far as account verification goes I never had this problem, but then again they are my ISP, landline and mobile Phone providers lol.

The abruptness of their CS is not the norm though, I would personally make a complaint about Dave tbh.
 
Thanks Nate I enjoyed that post. Much more amusing than other posts. :thumbsup:
 
Just a few pointers Nate, the bonuses here are very good, bearing in mind you can deposit, take a bonus, if you get a good hit you can cash out as there is no bonus in your balance with a w/r to hold you back, and, if on the other hand you have made the w/r, the bonus you get has no w/r, it is 100% real cash..

As far as which games qualify i`m sure TSII is still okay, if not, you can still play these games but your bonus progress bar will not move, as far as account verification goes I never had this problem, but then again they are my ISP, landline and mobile Phone providers lol.
The abruptness of their CS is not the norm though, I would personally make a complaint about Dave tbh.

They are my ISP, TV and backup phone provider.

TV = Crap, forever fouling up, on demand doesn't work, sound drops, etc...
ISP = Crap, buffering, stalling, instant disconnects. etc.....
Phone = Crap, more expensive than my other line, but good for free calls to CS.

Mobile = no chance mate, probably crap too.
Adverts = pack of lies.

Technical expertise = Crap, 4 years to fix a door on a metal cabinet:mad:

Email = Crap, always "server unexpectedly terminated........"

I am thinking of "unexpectedly terminating" something else:(

Casino = probably breaks down all the time just like everything else, and I bet half the bulbs have blown on Thunderstruck in any case, and no-one can be arsed to fix them.
 
Have had similar experiences with "UK bookies&casinos".
I guess it's part of their KYC (know your customer) policy that they verify player's identity before allowing them play. Has happened in few hours though.
As far as the bonus terms, I think it's an after wager bonus and once the wagering required is made, then it's plain cash with no restrictions.
I kinda like them- get some extra and have almost no restrictions with the deposits.

I fully agree on the KYC...should be implemented BEFORE a deposit is made and the account should not be shut down in the middle of real play...

Just a few pointers Nate, the bonuses here are very good, bearing in mind you can deposit, take a bonus, if you get a good hit you can cash out as there is no bonus in your balance with a w/r to hold you back, and, if on the other hand you have made the w/r, the bonus you get has no w/r, it is 100% real cash..

As far as which games qualify i`m sure TSII is still okay, if not, you can still play these games but your bonus progress bar will not move, as far as account verification goes I never had this problem, but then again they are my ISP, landline and mobile Phone providers lol.

The abruptness of their CS is not the norm though, I would personally make a complaint about Dave tbh.

I understand the bonus terms differently... just below the wagering requirements is this:

•You may ONLY play on the following games to qualify for this offer:
◦All Slot Games EXCLUDING the following:
■All MegaJackpots slots
■All Marvel Jackpot slots
■Millionaire's Club II progressive slot
■Pharaoh's Treasure progressive slot
■Texas Tea
■Thunderstruck
■Enchanted Unicorn
■Monopoly Here and Now
■Rainbow Riches - Win Big Shindig
■Wheel of Fortune Triple Action Frenzy
◦All Instant Win Games (excluding Multiplier, Casino Dice and Fortune36)
◦All Phantom Belle Video Poker
◦Ten Play Bonus Video Poker
•All other Games are EXCLUDED.

Maybe this needs more clarification. If the bonus is as you put it (Wagering only accumulates on some games) and you do not forfeit your bonus if you play 'Thunderstruck' as an example, THEN, it is a good bonus.

The CS issue of ending chat without hinting you are leaving is like slamming the phone down in someones ear. It's rude and should not be tolerated in the service industry.

If my account was locked when i signed up and before I made a deposit, i would understand!... But not after i have made a deposit and while im playing.... its just rude..again.

Nate
 
I know I would be furious if they locked me out in the middle of my session.
I would be even more furious if I got treated like that by CS afterwards.
And WTF is wrong with Thunderstruck??:confused:
I think I'd better not sign up...:(

My advice: Make them pay!
As soon as your account is re-opened, get your lucky rabbitfeet, horseshoe, everything and win LOADS of money, withdraw, and run for the hills!

Does that sound like a good plan or not?:D
 
I signed up at Virgin casino some weeks ago. They suspended my account before I got to do a deposit, because my account was not verified yet.

I acctually think this is good practice. Usually people gets frustrated because the verification prosess starts when they try do to a withdrawal (first withdrawal).

I think that every casino should have verified accounts as soon as possible after registration.

But in your case Nate, I think Virgingames are to blame for your bad Experience.
 
They are my ISP, TV and backup phone provider.

TV = Crap, forever fouling up, on demand doesn't work, sound drops, etc...

I`ve never had any problems with their T.V. package whatsoever, admittedly I rarely watch T.V., but when my son is here it is tested to the limits believe me (which reminds me I must change my pin number, they grow up so quick don`t they, from Walt Disney to Debbie does Dallas, all in one summer holiday
:eek:).

ISP = Crap, buffering, stalling, instant disconnects. etc.....

Buffering is part and parcel for any ISP is it not?, especially for streaming videos, stop watching pr0n, you bad man;)).

Phone = Crap, more expensive than my other line, but good for free calls to CS.

Phone = excellent, I make many work related calls to other landlines that are 100% free.


Mobile = no chance mate, probably crap too.

Not the cheapest mobile provider i`ll grant you that, but their long distance mobile to mobile rates take some beating.

Adverts = pack of lies.

Not sure what you mean here, but, a latest advert from their website, also these rates for fibre optic etc are gonna take some beating....

Old Attachment (Invalid)

Technical expertise = Crap, 4 years to fix a door on a metal cabinet:mad:

I cannot comment on this aspect, i`ve never required them to fix a door on a metal cabinet for me.

Email = Crap, always "server unexpectedly terminated........"

Ever since I 1st made an account (back in the old NTL days I have always used my main e-mail address - a hotmail one).

I am thinking of "unexpectedly terminating" something else:(

Hehe, I feel your angst, however, I feel completely different re:- Virgin media.

Casino = probably breaks down all the time just like everything else, and I bet half the bulbs have blown on Thunderstruck in any case, and no-one can be arsed to fix them.

As far as the casino goes Virgin is only one of two casinos that I am in profit with, what I like here is - Just as Ladbroke`s they use more than one software (wagerworks and MG), so if you are running dry on one, try the other, normally works very well for me.

Footnote....

If you are having problems with Virgin as your ISP, some tips......

1). They use a proxy server, have you configured your browser for this aspect there are regional proxy server IP`s, configure your browser to suit.

2). What browser do you use?, I find Opera is by far the best for online flash games and Firefox for downloadable casinos.

3). Override windows default browser settings, some of these really do restrict your connections, there are many browser tweaks/hacks out there, use them, Firefox 100% clean browsing begins with about:config, learn it, use it, max it ;).
 
I fully agree on the KYC...should be implemented BEFORE a deposit is made and the account should not be shut down in the middle of real play...



I understand the bonus terms differently... just below the wagering requirements is this:

•You may ONLY play on the following games to qualify for this offer:
◦All Slot Games EXCLUDING the following:
■All MegaJackpots slots
■All Marvel Jackpot slots
■Millionaire's Club II progressive slot
■Pharaoh's Treasure progressive slot
■Texas Tea
■Thunderstruck
■Enchanted Unicorn
■Monopoly Here and Now
■Rainbow Riches - Win Big Shindig
■Wheel of Fortune Triple Action Frenzy
◦All Instant Win Games (excluding Multiplier, Casino Dice and Fortune36)
◦All Phantom Belle Video Poker
◦Ten Play Bonus Video Poker
•All other Games are EXCLUDED.

Maybe this needs more clarification. If the bonus is as you put it (Wagering only accumulates on some games) and you do not forfeit your bonus if you play 'Thunderstruck' as an example, THEN, it is a good bonus.

The CS issue of ending chat without hinting you are leaving is like slamming the phone down in someones ear. It's rude and should not be tolerated in the service industry.

If my account was locked when i signed up and before I made a deposit, i would understand!... But not after i have made a deposit and while im playing.... its just rude..again.

Nate

Like I said previously i`m not going to get to involved with your temp account locking, as I have no xp of this sort of thing, so back to the bonus terms... When you take a bonus here you can check on how you`re doing, a few weeks ago I took a 50% deposit bonus upto £25 max (iirc) I burnt out on 96% aaargh, this bonus ran to the end of January and was still showing, so I thought what the hell, deposit again, and within a few minutes I got the £25 bonus.

If you play games that are not in the bonus T&C`s all that happens is there will be no progress on your bonus graph ie:- it will freeze until you play allowed games again.

IMHO, once your account is open again, give them a try, I don`t think you`ll be disappointed, 1st impressions are sometimes misleading, remember waking up to that seemingly hawt girl from last nights club session, now the lager goggles and her make up effects have worn off?, and screaming inside as you think `F^&k me i`ve brought a doorman home :eek:`.
 
I sincerely don't doubt them and I am certain they are a great outfit despite what my first impression has lead me to believe! Just a frustrating experience I suppose?

Seventh777, you mention Ladbrokes run off different software platforms like Virgin - I haven't seen this... which games are you referring to?

Nate
 
I sincerely don't doubt them and I am certain they are a great outfit despite what my first impression has lead me to believe! Just a frustrating experience I suppose?

Seventh777, you mention Ladbrokes run off different software platforms like Virgin - I haven't seen this... which games are you referring to?

Nate

Here we go Nate....

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.
 
I`ve never had any problems with their T.V. package whatsoever, admittedly I rarely watch T.V., but when my son is here it is tested to the limits believe me (which reminds me I must change my pin number, they grow up so quick don`t they, from Walt Disney to Debbie does Dallas, all in one summer holiday
:eek:).



Buffering is part and parcel for any ISP is it not?, especially for streaming videos, stop watching pr0n, you bad man;)).



Phone = excellent, I make many work related calls to other landlines that are 100% free.




Not the cheapest mobile provider i`ll grant you that, but their long distance mobile to mobile rates take some beating.



Not sure what you mean here, but, a latest advert from their website, also these rates for fibre optic etc are gonna take some beating....

Old Attachment (Invalid)



I cannot comment on this aspect, i`ve never required them to fix a door on a metal cabinet for me.



Ever since I 1st made an account (back in the old NTL days I have always used my main e-mail address - a hotmail one).



Hehe, I feel your angst, however, I feel completely different re:- Virgin media.



As far as the casino goes Virgin is only one of two casinos that I am in profit with, what I like here is - Just as Ladbroke`s they use more than one software (wagerworks and MG), so if you are running dry on one, try the other, normally works very well for me.

Footnote....

If you are having problems with Virgin as your ISP, some tips......

1). They use a proxy server, have you configured your browser for this aspect there are regional proxy server IP`s, configure your browser to suit.

2). What browser do you use?, I find Opera is by far the best for online flash games and Firefox for downloadable casinos.

3). Override windows default browser settings, some of these really do restrict your connections, there are many browser tweaks/hacks out there, use them, Firefox 100% clean browsing begins with about:config, learn it, use it, max it ;).

It's fully tweaked. I even used the Virgin Media broadband tweaking tool, so everything should be set up for their server configurations.

Every time an engineer comes out, he tells me what the last one did wrong, or didn't do. They can't seem to make their minds up what settings to use.

Last one told me I was "off the wrong port" in the street cabinet for FOUR YEARS, and moved me to the "right port".

Their adverts SPECIFICALY claim that "buffering" is a thing of the past on their fast broadband. It is NOT, it's a thing of the PRESENT.

Whenever I complain, I am told there is too much usage in my area, but it doesn't stop them connecting ever more customers, which only makes things worse.

Things were supposed to have got better at the end of last year because of a major upgrade that was meant to deliver greater capacity. Things have actually gotten WORSE.

The advert is a pack of lies because they have NEVER delivered what is promised in my area.

There is a "postcode lottery" as far as they are concerned, and some areas DO get excellent service, and you are probably in one of these favoured areas.

BT now has fibre optic here, and I may consider switching to this network in the summer. Usually, the mere threat of switching has Virgin throwing offers at me that were previously "unavailable" when I have asked, so it is possible they DO know why my service is crap, but ONLY make the effort when they think their customer will leave. This has certainly been my past experience when they cut £20 off my bill when they ditched SKY1 without notice, and I said I would get it back by switching to SKY:D

Now, for that Virgin BONUS.

What is all the COMPLICATION in aid off, WHY have a list of "excluded slots" for a "slots bonus". This is NOT just an exclusion of the progressives, it seems to be a random selection of non-qualifying games, and would require players to have a good memory, or write down the list so that they made sure to avoid these games. The only good thing is that playing these games doesn't get winnings confiscated, you just don't make progress towards the bonus.

What's wrong with "keep it simple". Just have a slots bonus for slots, simple!
 
I must be totally blind or these games don't exist at Ladbrokes. In any event, it has been 28 hours without a hint of verification from them...

Nate
 
It's fully tweaked. I even used the Virgin Media broadband tweaking tool, so everything should be set up for their server configurations.

Every time an engineer comes out, he tells me what the last one did wrong, or didn't do. They can't seem to make their minds up what settings to use.

Last one told me I was "off the wrong port" in the street cabinet for FOUR YEARS, and moved me to the "right port".

Their adverts SPECIFICALY claim that "buffering" is a thing of the past on their fast broadband. It is NOT, it's a thing of the PRESENT.

Whenever I complain, I am told there is too much usage in my area, but it doesn't stop them connecting ever more customers, which only makes things worse.

Things were supposed to have got better at the end of last year because of a major upgrade that was meant to deliver greater capacity. Things have actually gotten WORSE.

The advert is a pack of lies because they have NEVER delivered what is promised in my area.

There is a "postcode lottery" as far as they are concerned, and some areas DO get excellent service, and you are probably in one of these favoured areas.

BT now has fibre optic here, and I may consider switching to this network in the summer. Usually, the mere threat of switching has Virgin throwing offers at me that were previously "unavailable" when I have asked, so it is possible they DO know why my service is crap, but ONLY make the effort when they think their customer will leave. This has certainly been my past experience when they cut £20 off my bill when they ditched SKY1 without notice, and I said I would get it back by switching to SKY:D

Now, for that Virgin BONUS.

What is all the COMPLICATION in aid off, WHY have a list of "excluded slots" for a "slots bonus". This is NOT just an exclusion of the progressives, it seems to be a random selection of non-qualifying games, and would require players to have a good memory, or write down the list so that they made sure to avoid these games. The only good thing is that playing these games doesn't get winnings confiscated, you just don't make progress towards the bonus.

What's wrong with "keep it simple". Just have a slots bonus for slots, simple!

Sounds like you`ve had a real rough ride with Virgin :(, but as far as the bonuses goes, I think the exclusion of certain slots is a small price to pay for a no strings attached early big hit w/r so no withdrawal penalty, bonuses are very much swings and roundabouts.
 
Hi,

I have used virgin games a lot over the years and only have positive things to say about them. The OPs story with KYC check is bad tho, as was his customer service experience. However I urge him to try out Virgin properly when his account is verified, they really are great.
 
Now, for that Virgin BONUS.

What is all the COMPLICATION in aid off, WHY have a list of "excluded slots" for a "slots bonus". This is NOT just an exclusion of the progressives, it seems to be a random selection of non-qualifying games, and would require players to have a good memory, or write down the list so that they made sure to avoid these games. The only good thing is that playing these games doesn't get winnings confiscated, you just don't make progress towards the bonus.

What's wrong with "keep it simple". Just have a slots bonus for slots, simple!

Their terms do not explicitly state that 'You May' wager on the excluded Games and not forfeit the bonus. How can one be certain that this is actually the case with the current T&C's? They start it off with... 'You may ONLY play on the following games to qualify for this offer' ... does this not seem as if your bonus will be forfeited should you decide to play Thunderstruck as an example?

Nate
 
I can say for certain Nate you will NOT run into problems wagering on excluded games, you can do this no problem, its just it wont count to releasing your bonus. As soon as you switch back to an allowed game your play will start counting towards releasing your bonus again
 
Their terms do not explicitly state that 'You May' wager on the excluded Games and not forfeit the bonus. How can one be certain that this is actually the case with the current T&C's? They start it off with... 'You may ONLY play on the following games to qualify for this offer' ... does this not seem as if your bonus will be forfeited should you decide to play Thunderstruck as an example?

Nate


The question is WHY have this complication at all. It can only serve to create problems for players who think slots means slots, and do not consider it to mean "some slots".

I mentioned in another thread that some casinos are even having slots as excluded games, and this was greeted with disbelief, and "examples please".

Well, this is example number TWO!

If the average player cannot believe that slots will end up as an "abusive game" as far as bonus play is concerned, they are not going to be expecting this kind of issue, hence it will cause problems.

The most likely one is players arguing with CS because they are playing slots, but their progress bar or WR does not move, and the casino having to tell them that the SLOT they are playing does not count towards the "slots bonus" they claimed. This could cause the player to think it is a scam, and they won't return.

The other example is iNetBet, where they have many "slots bonuses" that are only valid on certain slots, and if the wrong one is played, all winnings are confiscated. This caused one hell of an argument in that thread, and all over a complication that served no purpose in protecting the casino from "abusive play".

Some Cryptologic casinos also have slots bonuses with excluded slots, although more often it is a set of slots that count only 50%, when slots generally count 100%.

Since slots are all a single game category, it is NOT so easy for a player to avoid picking the wrong game, since there is no way just by looking in the lobby to see the excluded slots as a separate category in the game listings, as you can when a game class is excluded, such as "no Blackjack or Video Poker allowed on this bonus".

The industry is already struggling to convince players that they can be trusted, and creating situations like this for no good reason is NOT helping.
 
Virgin Games' response to Nate

Hi all,

I’m responding as a representative of Virgin Games. Firstly, Nate, I couldn’t agree with you more about your CS experience. As we would hope that you would expect from a Virgin company, customer service and resolving customer issues promptly are hugely important to us and I am only sorry to hear about your recent experience. I will be looking into this as a matter of urgency and have requested the chat logs between yourself and Dave so we can understand exactly where we can improve in the future.

As the Casino Manager at Virgin Games, you are always welcome to contact me directly through Casinomeister if you have any concerns that you feel aren’t being adequately dealt with. I’m very happy to help and will make resolving your concerns a priority.

As far as the Welcome Bonus goes, Thunderstruck is an excluded game but Thunderstruck 2 is definitely one you can play. We don’t offer any free bets at the moment but this is a feature that we are currently developing which will be available for customers later this year. The reason we don’t have it yet is because we want to be able to offer the bonus for all of our games and it has taken us a while to develop our bonus tool so that it can plug into our multiple game content integrations from suppliers such as IGT, Microgaming, Virtue Fusion etc. We understand this isn't ideal but we're working on it and we hope that the end result will give you exactly the kind of bonus promotions you want to play for.

In the meantime, we do try to make our retrospective cash bonuses as competitive as possible. The reason for some of our game exclusions is purely due to bonus abuse within the online casino world. That said we are trying our best to be competitive and a fun place to play.

Nate, as you’re from a country outside of the UK, we do have some pretty stringent verification protocols. We do this because we want to ensure that all of our player are protected from fraud and can play with Virgin with confidence. I do however agree that it’s a bit rubbish being able to deposit only to be shut out mid session. This is something I’ve taken up with our security team to see how we can improve. Additionally, it shouldn’t take too long for verification once docs are received. I’m pleased to see that you have since been verified.

If there is anything else I can be of assistance with, please feel free to drop me a PM.

All the best and good luck!

Virgin Ace
 
Dear Virgin Ace,

Thank you for taking the time to respond and acknowledge the issues. I appreciate your response and the fact that issues of this nature will be addressed and rules reconsidered.

I can verify that my account has been unlocked. I sent through my documents again and stayed online with the rep until it was completed.

Nate
 
Hi all,

Nate, as you’re from a country outside of the UK, we do have some pretty stringent verification protocols. We do this because we want to ensure that all of our player are protected from fraud and can play with Virgin with confidence. I do however agree that it’s a bit rubbish being able to deposit only to be shut out mid session. This is something I’ve taken up with our security team to see how we can improve. Additionally, it shouldn’t take too long for verification once docs are received. I’m pleased to see that you have since been verified.



I played the slots at Virgingames for a long time and had no problems with them, but because i came from Norway they suspended my account when I tried to download the poker room,telling me that i had to send them some documents to verify the account.I think that is showing that they are taking security very serious here...
I have also now been an affiliate there for the last 3 years, and they have always paid me before 12th in every month...Not earning that much though, but I earn about £250-400 every month.A nice extra income for me that is though.

FosenKing
 

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