Ridiculous exchange with AP security

[Sifmole]

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They cashed out 5k for me in 24 hours no questions asked

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I have cashed out from AP numerous ( > 20 ) times for thousands and never had any issue whatsoever. I find it interesting that its always the guys who are jerks to the support staff that have the problems. Don't you?

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Actually the recently implemented a policy whereby you need to send the pertinent doscument for all cashouts over $3k. He isn't being a jerk, he is a customer and should expect at least a basic level of customer service. In this instance he has not received it.

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He isn't being rude? Did you read the exchange? You did realize that this entire transaction of something like 6 emails from him happened in less than 12 hours right? Did you read this email?

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Thank you for repeating back what you sent 5 days ago.

Now please read my e-mail again and answer what I asked.

I did send those documents, and I want to know the status now.

Please read what I write to you in the future before insulting my
intelligence with form letters.

Thank you.


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That was his response to only the second email!

What basic level of service does he deserve? They responded to most of his emails within 5 minutes! Yes they were confused, but that happens -- and there are two ways to deal with it; be an ass like this guy or try to figure out what went wrong and work it out.

My experience with AP lately is a free $30, $50, $25, and $150 tourney. I am sure I am not special but I'll take it.

[IggyWH]

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Actually the recently implemented a policy whereby you need to send the pertinent doscument for all cashouts over $3k. He isn't being a jerk, he is a customer and should expect at least a basic level of customer service. In this instance he has not received it.

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I don't agree and I do think he was being a jerk.

Guess what? EMAIL ISN'T PERFECT! Just because he says he sent it doesn't mean they received it. That was the basis of this whole exchange.

I can understand the "jerk" replies at first since neither party knew full details (op didn't know abs didn't receive the documents & abs didn't know he had already sent). Once it was made clear that they hadn't received them, then why the hell now just attach them again and send another email?

Instead, the OP wants to get into a pissing match. There was nothing wrong with the CS the OP received based on the fact that abs never received the documents & never knew he had sent them untill they were told. Once they found that they were sent, they apologized and said they were looking into it but the system was down.

What's so wrong about this service?

[MicroBob]

I also agree. I think Dan's rudeness shows his general frustration with internet-poker customer-service in general.

I think that on the 2nd e-mail one should be courteous enough to say, "As I indicated in my previous e-mail...I did, in fact, send the documents that you requested. Did you not receive them somehow? I sent them in an attached file on Jan 4 and am certain that you have them. Here is the attached file again."


which leads me to wonder...how hard is it to just attach the file on the next e-mail anyway just to speed things along? doesn't strike me as a big deal in the least to just do this. if they lost them the first time then so what...just attach them again instead of saying 'you already have them! you already have them!'

should they have lost them in the first place?

no.

should he have to send them again?
no.

would it be a lot easier then insisting they go find them and waiting 12 hours to hear back from them?
yes.

would i just like to have my damn $6k instead of proving my point about how stupid they are?

'absolute'ly

[SinCityGuy]

This is the third time this has been reported recently, so it can't be a coincidence.

Check out the following thread:
Absolute Stonewalling on Audit

Absolute is going to shoot themselves in the foot if they keep jerking around their high volume players. This BS is ridiculous.

[Dan Druff]

A few clarifications are in order here so people might better understand why I am not being a "jerk" in this situation....

1) If it was just a matter of quickly resending the e-mail with the documents, I would have avoided this whole song and dance from the beginning. However, I am traveling right now and do not have access to that e-mail or the documents in question.

2) This exchange occurred AFTER a back-and-forth exchange a few days ago, which concluded with me sending the documents, and getting a reply SPECIFICALLY TO THE LETTER WHERE THE DOCUMENTS WERE ATTACHED. Therefore, it's impossible for the e-mail to have been lost in transmission. I had assumed for all of this time that my cashout was in process. When nothing arrived, I sent the initial e-mail you saw in this thread.

3) They totally ignored the content of my first letter and just sent me a stupid form letter -- the same stupid one they originally sent me last week, where the matter was resolved.

4) After I insisted that they did indeed receive the documents, they immediately denied it instead of researching it properly (i.e. looking over every e-mail I sent within the last week).

5) When I finally directed them specifically to the exact e-mail in question, they suddenly went silent for 7 hours and didn't respond to me -- until I got the "technical difficulties" form letter. The techincal difficulties obviously began at the time that notice was sent (7 hours later), because I received an identical letter at the same moment regarding a different matter I had just e-mailed them about, after that department had been responding to be throughout the evening. Therefore, the 7 hour gap wasn't due to technical difficulties. They just decided they were tired of me and were going to ignore my e-mails for awhile.

So where did Absolute Poker go wrong in this customer service issue?

a) The request for my ID was ridiculous in the first place, given my regular cashouts there for many months for similar amounts. Upon seeing that, anyone with common sense would have waived the requirement.

b) My initial e-mail explaining that I had sent the documents was not read for content, and instead a form letter was kicked back as soon as they saw the word "cashout."

c) They somehow lost/misplaced/didn't notice the attachment I put onto the original e-mail a few days ago, even though they acknowledged receiving it, and made me falsely believe a cashout was in process.

d) Nobody felt like looking into the e-mails I had sent (all supposedly of which were on file) and finding the attachment again. Instead they just denied getting anything. When I brought the exact letter to their attention, they just decided to ignore me for the rest of the night, and eventually kick off a form letter to me when they truly did have technical issues 7 hours later.

I pay a lot of rake there. I deal with large sums of money. $6000 is not a joke, and when a cashout of that size is made, they need to take care not to mess things up. If they do not have a support staff competent enough to properly treat bigger game players and make them feel comfortable with their money, they shouldn't offer such games.

This is not to say that low limit players don't deserve good support -- they do, too. However, this is even more egregious when dealing with many thousands of dollars, and they lackadaisically treat the matter like it's a burden for them to get it right.

[MicroBob]

I understand, and mostly agree with, what you're saying.

But a little 'sugar' can go a long way towards them actually helping you instead of ignoring you imo.


There have been a couple of times where I felt the support I was getting at party was inferior (nooooo....really?!?!?!) so I just re-explained my position as politely as I could...

and then, if necessary, might say something like, "I don't think you are understanding what I'm saying. I sent the requested documents to you last week and you already have them. If necessary, please forward this situation to another customer-service representative or a supervisor who better understands the issue."



It's stupid and annoying to have to repeat the same thing over and over and over again because they SHOULD be able to get things right the first time if they just pay attention.
But I find that repeating things in such a manner can (sometimes) actually be effective.



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"Therefore, the 7 hour gap wasn't due to technical difficulties. They just decided they were tired of me and were going to ignore my e-mails for awhile."


This may or may not be correct...but I don't think it's warranted to just automatically assume that your take on it is DEFINITELY the way things transpired.



I do think you deserve better service though for being a high-limit player for awhile and do believe they should be able to bend-over backwards as much as possible to process a $6k cash-out as quickly as they can.

But I also think your tone of 'now go back and read it like you should have in the first place' (or how ever you worded it) isn't going to help your cause at all...and may, in fact, hinder your chances of getting it resolved quickly.

You have every right to be frustrated...but I just don't think that tone is in your best interest.

[TStoneMBD]

hi dan, i disagree with everyone saying that you were being unreasonable. you havent been unreasonable at all. you have every right to be irritated.

[obsidian]

I understand getting irritated but seriously, go to that email you already sent and hit forward and change the subject. Problem solved.

[benkahuna]

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I understand getting irritated but seriously, go to that email you already sent and hit forward and change the subject. Problem solved.

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They obviously lost it. The action prescribed here is obviusly the most sensible and efficient one.

As for rudeness, I think it's my prerogative as a customer to be rude when their service is poor. Sometimes it's the only way to get a clear message across that the service is far below satisfactory.

Was Dan rude? Yes.
Was he out of line? Not really. And he wasn't that rude either, just clearly impatient and frustrated.
Would being nicer be a good idea? Maybe. But, I get the sense that most people take e-mail less personally than live conversations so I don't see it as a huge concern. For almost everyone, there's a certain extent to which it just feels like text on a screen.

I appreciate hearing about this sort of thing because it does impact what sites I'll play.

[IggyWH]

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1) If it was just a matter of quickly resending the e-mail with the documents, I would have avoided this whole song and dance from the beginning. However, I am traveling right now and do not have access to that e-mail or the documents in question.

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What email service now-a-days doesn't keep sent emails?