Poker Stars customer service?

Stacked-up

Yesterday, I had enrolled in a "sit n go" turbo tournament. During the action, I was disconnected and was unable to reconnect due to "no local object". I was subsequently blinded out. During this ordeal, which lasted a while, I emailed poker stars and got a reply saying they are aware of the issues some clients are experiencing and that refunds will be available to those who were affected. All I had to do was email them the tournament number and my online name. I did, and by the time I awoke this morning I had received an email saying my situation was reviewed and I was eligible for a refund and that it had been added to my poker stars account.

This evening however, I received another email. It stated that during this technical error some players got refunds that they did not deserve and that I was one of them. They deducted the refund from my account.

First of all, if I pay to play, I should not encounter technical errors on poker stars behalf. If I do, like this situation, I should be awarded a refund. What stuns me the most, and what makes me question Poker Stars' ability to handle issues, is the fact that they did award me the refund. Then the took it back.

Stacked-up

Has anyone else experienced customer service like this?

UBetIFold

Don't play on P* but that sounds pretty bad. I always thought they had the best customer service in the industry.

trigs

i've never had any issues with stars support. it does seem pretty strange that they actually gave you the refund and then took it back. i'd be a little pissed about that as well. not too much you can do about it though.

Tcarnage

> > Thank you for contacting us.
> >
> > We have looked into your playing history for tournament #961566538 and
> > found that your disconnection caused you to miss very few hands.
> > Nevertheless, as we consider you a valued player at PokerStars we have
> > issued a one time credit of $100 to your account.
> >
> > Also, we see that several goodwill refunds have been granted to you in the
> > past for connection problems. While we appreciate your business, please
> > understand that this may be the last time we are able to grant a refund. We
> > do ask that you investigate what is causing your disconnections and we will
> > gladly offer assistance to help improve your connection so that you are
> > able to play on the site without experiencing such issues.
> >
> > Please understand that we did not suffer any server-side problems or
> > disconnection during this tournament. Any issues appear to have been local
> > to your computer or ISP, otherwise many players would have been
> > disconnected and that was not the case.
> >
> > Part of the inherent risk of playing poker online is the possibility that
> > Internet connections may fail for any number of reasons. From a practical
> > business standpoint, it is impossible for us to be responsible for the
> > Internet connections of our players.
> >
> > Please note rule 18 of the tournament rules located at:
> >
> > Poker Tournament Rules for Texas Holdem Poker Tournaments
> >
> > This rule states, in part:
> >
> > "18. By participating in a tournament, a player accepts the risk of
> > Internet disconnection, due to problems with the connection between their
> > computer and the servers, lag or freeze or some other problem in the
> > player's computer or the Internet.
> >
> > * a. PokerStars does not accept any responsibility for a player
> > disconnect except in the case of a server crash."
> >
> > If you have any further questions, please let us know, and thank you for
> > making PokerStars your choice for online poker.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Silvia F.
> > PokerStars Support Team

Hello Konrad,

Thank you for your patience in waiting for our response regarding your tournament refund request.

The nature of the Internet is such that incidents like these can happen for reasons beyond both your and our control.

We have reviewed your playing history for the tournaments in which you were experiencing some connection issues:

T#790793744 - Materially affected. Entry was $100
T#790796582 - Materially affected. Entry was $60

As we consider you a valued player at PokerStars, we have issued a credit of $160 to your account for the tournaments that were adversely affected.

Please be aware that part of the inherent risk of playing poker on the Internet is the possibility that Internet connections may fail for any number of reasons. From a practical business standpoint, it is impossible for us to be responsible for the Internet connections of our players.

Rule 18 of our tournament rules states, in part:

"18. By participating in a tournament, a player accepts the risk of Internet disconnection, due to problems with the connection between their computer
and the servers, lag or freeze or some other problem in the player's computer or the Internet.

* a. PokerStars does not accept any responsibility for a player disconnect except in the case of a server crash."

The complete rule list is available on the PokerStars website:

Poker Tournament Rules for Texas Holdem Poker Tournaments

For these reasons, we cannot make a practice of refunding tournament buy-ins in large batches of events like this and expect to continue running tournaments.

In closing, we appreciate your business and hope that you continue to enjoy playing at PokerStars.

Regards,

Loriana
PokerStars Support Team

Hello Konrad,

Thank you for contacting us.

We have looked into your playing history for tournament #961566538 and found that your disconnection caused you to miss very few hands. Nevertheless, as we consider you a valued player at PokerStars we have issued a one time credit of $100 to your account.

Also, we see that several goodwill refunds have been granted to you in the past for connection problems. While we appreciate your business, please understand that this may be the last time we are able to grant a refund. We do ask that you investigate what is causing your disconnections and we will gladly offer assistance to help improve your connection so that you are able to play on the site without experiencing such issues.

Please understand that we did not suffer any server-side problems or disconnection during this tournament. Any issues appear to have been local to your computer or ISP, otherwise many players would have been disconnected and that was not the case.

Part of the inherent risk of playing poker online is the possibility that Internet connections may fail for any number of reasons. From a practical business standpoint, it is impossible for us to be responsible for the Internet connections of our players.

Please note rule 18 of the tournament rules located at:

ETC ETC, they have been good to me for the most part with them. I didnt get a refund when I left my registering program on once which kinda sucked...

Stacked-up

It seems that you are a more valued customer than I am. The first email I received was much like those ones you show. The second one however was basically saying I am not a valued customer and that they thank me for understanding.

Tcarnage

Yah I guess given them 30k+ a year in rake gets you a valued customer.

Switch0723 got same e-mail as you today too, we joked about and said that 3 years ago Stars would not take the $60 out of ur acct but prob give you another $60 for your troubles...


Or whatever they took out of ur acct

Stacked-up

It was $60, the 18 player sit n go. Its not about getting my money back. I am more concerned about what would happen if there was a more serious issue. Clearly, this approach of going into my account and taking back money was not right. How can i trust them? Thanks for your posts Tcarnage.

Tcarnage

Stacked-up wrote: »

It was $60, the 18 player sit n go. Its not about getting my money back. I am more concerned about what would happen if there was a more serious issue. Clearly, this approach of going into my account and taking back money was not right. How can i trust them? Thanks for your posts Tcarnage.

To be fair though, it's like someone giving you $60 cashback by mistake and than taking it back. They are a business and obviously since your not the first one I heard it from it was prob thousands worth of refunds that gave back.

The fact the gladly returned without investigating more at first was nice of them, prob not the best business practice though. If you like you can try to fight the issue, send them a refund request

Email support@pokerstars.com and in the subject put in "Refund Request: Tourny id"

In the e-mail stat your reason for a refund and post the tourny ID number again. (if you dont have it look on sharkscope, or pt4/hem) They will do an investigation and give you a reply, they have been very good with it to a lot of players. It's worth a try, pretty much a freeroll actually...

Edit: if u ended up cashing in this, they will not refund you 100% for the buyin, but if you didn't you can try