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Sorry bennymacca for the following post, I know you toot the horn of 888 poker (Formerly known as Pacific Poker) but what they did to me is unacceptable, and unbelievable. I know I must take some blame for not sticking to solely pokerstars who have proved themselves to be honourable and trustworthy (sure some mistakes but overall they are head and shoulders above the rest)
I’ve been looking for a poker site with good satellites to the Aussie Millions. When I came across 888 poker. They have some great steps to a major $525 Satellite for the Aussie Millions
I deposited $500 via my credit card (I have a low stake credit card I use for internet stuff). It took several hours but it was rejected. There was a phone number to call to deposit over the phone. So I did, I wanted to play step 2 on Saturday night. I called the phone number and the deposit over the phone via the credit card was successful and my balance appeared in my lobby immediately. I received and email saying your account is approved and your ready to play. (I deposited that much, because they also have a really good Sunday Major. $90 100K for $5000 chips, 20min blind levels and if you want you can rebuy once for another 90$ for 5k in chips, so 10k chips stack with 20min levels, I was going to give it a crack.)
Great, I played step 2. $25 MTT to advance to step 3 for every $115 in the prize pool. As you can see pretty good, approx 1 in 4.5 advance. It was paying 18 seats and 19th got the remaining change in cash. I managed to win a seat to step 3 (quite easily actually) which was being played the following night Sunday Night Australian time.
Step 3 had 70 runners paying 14 seats and 15 getting the remaining $105. I played it and pretty much guaranteed myself a seat barring being really card dead or some crazy suckout or cooler. I had over 9K with approx 25 players left and coming 7th.
All of a sudden, I was disconnected from 888 poker. Initially I thought it was my internet connection, but it couldn’t be, I was playing on stars as well and that was working ok.
The software froze, i panicked, got my bearings , ctr alt del, ended the program via task manager, took a while but finally closed. I reopened 888 poker and went to log in, and it wouldn’t log in. After a while a dialogue box popped with the following message.
“Your account has been temporarily disabled. Please check your E-mail
account for a message or contact our Operations team at: operations@cassava.net“
I checked my email but nothing. I’m freaking out, went to web site to see if they had live chat support which they do, but no operator was available to chat. I then remembered that the phone number I called to deposit would still be in memory on my phone which it was, so I called it. I got the same person who deposited my money. I told her what happened, she checked my account and said you have no available funds in your account.
By this stage it’s been probably 20 mins or so, I’m irate. I’m telling her “I don’t care what you do, get me back in that tourney, I have a seat pretty much wrapped up, get me in that tourney. This is your problem not mine. You cleared my funds, you let me register, you let me play now fix it!!!!!! FIX IT NOW!!!! “
She just kept saying there is nothing I can do, your account has been disabled because we need some documents that prove you are who you say you are. Please check your email. I did and told her there was nothing there. You can imagine how angry I was and her inability to help me. I basically hung up on her.
An email finally arrived.
“Dear Don,
I am Ivan.P from the Operations Department at Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd. I am contacting you with regards to your 888poker account with username “Donskey”. As part of our continued efforts to provide confidence and security for all of our members, we will always seek to verify the ownership of any credit cards used to make a deposit. As such your account may experience enhanced security steps at deposit stage, including processing through Verified By Visa or Mastercard Secure.
To process your deposits without this requirement and in order to become a fully verified customer, please send us the following documentation –
– A photocopy of your credit card ending # 2514 (front & back)
– A photocopy of your national identity document such as an ID card, Passport or Driver's License”
Can you believe this????? I quickly emailed them back and told them what happened, and that I want something done about it, and that I want to be compensated accordingly.
I received and auto generated email telling me I will be contacted within 72 hours.
I’ve since emailed them several times, called them, no one wants to help. No replies, no answers. I’ve given them long enough. If they contacted me within reason, (I mean surely this is a very serious issue), I would not be writing this post. Simply contact me and say we are sorry we are looking into this situation and we will get back to asap with some sort of solution. But nothing??? Such a serious breach of player trust and no reply?? UNREAL.
Anyways, I took screen shots of the lobby, by the time I took the screen shot which was at least 30-40mins I had blinded down to 14th and 22 runners left. The email they sent me conincides with the tourney time. I have hand histories of tourney, so I have all the necessary documents to verify my story.
October 6, 2010
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Wow, that sounds pretty dodgy.
In terms of providing documents, it seems to be standard procedure for 888 – i have had to provide documents, and to be honest, i am happy doing this. It is standard policy for them and i think it is a good policy.
BUT
From my experience in talking to people about the provision of documents, their accounts have never been disabled, they have just had their withdrawls halted until documents have been provided, i have never heard of anyone being locked out mid-tourney. that is pretty dodgy in my opinion.
If i were you, i would keep up emailing them – i have been disconnected in the past and they have given my my buyin back for a tourney, or when in the cash they have given me chip equity at the time. so i would email them with tourney ids and hopefully they can get something sorted out.
I had some issues in the past and i remember getting the email of the poker room manager directly. When i get home from work tonight i will see if i can find if for you.
I have heard issues like this before, but this seems to be about he worst example i have seen.
Definitely keep up on it donskey.
In general i dont think they are dodgy at all in terms of your money being safe, mostly because they are listed on the london stock exchange, which means that they have to report all of their business dealings, but having said that their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.
here is a link to the twoplustwo 888 poker thread, or you can of course start your own
Im sorry if my recommendation was what made you deposit, i havent had any issues with the site, and i have played there for about 3 years now. I hope you get your money back and you get some compensation for that tourney.
Hey Benny
Please don't apologize, yes your recommendation is what made me check out the site, but this has nothing to do with you. It was my decision and mine alone. I would've of eventually found the site. I've been searching for good satellites to Aussie Millions. I still can't believe they've done this.
TPE Management
March 17, 2010
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This is unbelievable. I hope they do the right thing and compensate you. Sorry you are going through this!
Mate this is outrageous! I was getting irked off just reading this stuff.. Locked out mid-tourney is completely inacceptable and i really hope you get compensation for all of the trouble! Give you a seat to the aussie millions ME is my suggestion!
Good luck and keep us informed!
Appropriate word hapetimes, it is OUTRAGEOUS.
What is more outrageous is there flippant attitude and lack of communication after such a serious breach. I've made so many phone calls and emails, you have no idea.
Below is the most recent email i've received from them.
Dear Don,
I am Yurihanna V. from the Operations Department at
Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd, which provides operational services
for 888poker.
I am contacting you with regards to your 888poker account with the username “Donskey”. We are in receipt of your documents, these are being further reviewed before your account restrictions can be lifted.
Once this is completed you will receive a prompt response via email.
Thank you for taking the time to respond with your busy schedule with these documents.
Don, we appreciate your patience in this matter and in regards to your tournament issues, you may query this with our support department after you receive notification that your account restrictions have been lifted.
Kind regards,
Yurihanna V.
Operations Department
Cassava (Gibraltar) Ltd.
operations@cassava.net
Can you believe that???? They want me to query this with support. When this incident happened managers should've been woken out of bed and told 'Houston we have a problem”
Finally got a reply. Below is the email I got this morning. Really don't know if it is fair or not. It's true I opened my account in 2006 and I also was surprised my account was still live. In those days, pacific poker had terrible tournies and software so I never deposited.
Secondly if someone compromised my account, they wouldn't play a step tourney to win a seat at a major live tourney where their identity would be exposed. They would play cash games or cash tournies. I am not complaining with their security checks, it's good they do such checks, especially if someone had stolen my identity, but it's how they went about it that is the issue. It was not handled properly.
Another scary thing is that they funded my account without the money coming out of my bank. Sound familiar??? One of the major contributing factors Full Tilt is in “liquidation.”
So what do ya's think? Should I accept this gesture??
***************************************************************************************************************
Dear Don
Firstly I apologise for any delay that there has been in dealing with the current issue with your account.
Unfortunately we are experiencing a high number of enquiries and this has meant that we were unable to respond to messages within the normal timeframe we would prefer.
Thank you for uploading your documents using our “Upload Documents Feature”. I am pleased to inform you that the documents have successfully passed the verification process, as such your account has been upgraded and any restrictions have been lifted from your account.
I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the security issue with your account. As well as implementing suitable security policies, rules and technical measures to protect and safeguard our members, from time to time during the life time of our members we carry out routine security checks.
During this security check we decided to suspend your membership as a precaution, as we suspected that your account may have been compromised. This is because your account was registered 22th July 2006 and the first deposit was made on the 15th October 2011 for the amount of 500 USD.
As part of our continued efforts to provide confidence and security to our members, we are required to verify the ownership of the credit cards used to deposit, and we thank you for your assistance in this process.
At the time of the temporary closure we voided your deposit, in essence no funds were taken from your Entropay account.
In light of this as we value your membership, we understand that you were in a tournament at the time of the temporary closure and have decided to reimburse your second step tournament fee of 115 USD.
In an effort to fulfil our agreement in good faith, we have also added a bonus to your account in the amount of 200 USD as a gesture of goodwill due to the inconvenience and any distress you may have encountered.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding in this matter. I trust that you will continue to enjoy gaming at 888poker.
Regards,
Tracey S
Operations Department
Cassava (Gibraltar) Ltd.
operations@cassava.net
October 6, 2010
Offline
Interesting regarding the deposit- are you saying that they didn't take your money at the time, or they still havent? Dont confuse Australian law regarding deposits with the US one though, they are very different. I have only used neteller to deposit onto 888, and it has been instant every time (but these have been after my verification so i dunno)
In terms of them shutting down your account mid-tourney, i still dont agree with that, but locking your account generally because you havent deposited in 5 years, i dont really have a problem with that. And them refunding the tourneys and giving you an extra bonus, i dont mind it either, though an entry into the $500 satellite would have been a better result. maybe you could still ask for this?
Thats much better news mate!
Can't fault them for thinking something was going on after the delay between opening and depositing.
Still cant understand the mid-tourney lockout though.
Also nice gesture for the 200usd. U reckon that at the time you were locked out you had more equity than $200? How sure were you of making the next step?
I'd probably be happy with that refund and the 200 though, at least now you essentially have three step 3 tickets which i'm sure you will turn at least 1 into a step 4!
Good on you for keeping on their backs and pressuring them mate. nice result imo…
Firstly Benny, no money was taken out of my account. I checked my bank statement and no money was withdrawn.
Secondly haptimes.
Obviously I can not say 100% that I would've won a seat, but I reckon I can safely say 80% with the stack I had and position I was in. Remember, in steps you don't have to win the tourney. In step 2 players with 3K managed to win a seat with roughly the same amount of runners.
I was basically one more good pot from 100% guarenting a seat. All I had to do was win the blinds and antes every 2 orbits or so and I would've got there easily. Players really tighten up late in step tournies and you get some great spots to steal the blinds and antes not to mention a really really soft field.
Anyways, gonna pursue it more. At least they've admitted their mistake and trying to make amends.
Well, I will have to say as frustrating and as angry as this ordeal has been, 888 poker has come to the party and has bought me into the main satellite. They have made amends and congratulations to them. I suppose I will have to give them another chance and play on their site. I hope I don't regret it. I really wanna play their Sunday Major. Great structure and apparently a really soft field. Below is the latest email.
****************************************************************************************************************
Dear Don
I understand your frustration at the delay bringing this case to an acceptable conclusion and as such this matter was escalated to management.
We appreciate your feedback on our security checks and the actions that we took however we are not at liberty to discuss our procedures with you.
Thank you for your clarification on why you deposited a while after you opened the account
We have carefully considered the details in your email. We understand your concerns about the tournament and management have made a decision. We have decided to remove the original goodwill gesture of 315 USD from your account and we have entered you in the Aussie Millions Qualifier Tournament instead.
It starts on January 7th at 11:OO am GMT+1 buyin 500+25, please look in the lobby under Tournaments, then live events go to ‘Aussie Millions Tour lobby and you will see that you are registered. Please note that if you decide to unregister you will not receive the value for the buy in.
Your membership is valuable to us and we wanted to resolve this amicably with you. We can also confirm that there is no financial loss from your side as we have not taken a deposit from you.
We hope that this issue is resolved to your satisfaction.
Regards,
Tracey S
Operations Department
Cassava (Gibraltar) Ltd.
operations@cassava.net
wow just great news mate!
Now all you have to do is ship the thing and make them pay you to wear their logo in the ME lol
Seriously though, well done for sticking to your guns and getting the desired result.
They def deserve another chance imo
October 6, 2010
Offline
Thats a pretty good result IMO, they have definitely redeemed themselves i think. Now go and ship the satty!
TPE Management
April 6, 2010
Offline
yay for good news!
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