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Good customer service requires three things: Intelligence, heart, and authority. Richard G., of Kelowna, BC, kept dealing with customer service reps at Sportsbook.com who had the first two -- but only after Gambling Grumbles got involved did someone with enough authority to solve it learn of his problem.
In November, Richard wanted to withdraw the $3,868.70 he had in his account. He ran into two problems -- the sportsbook has a $2,500 limit on checks (his preferred method of withdrawal) and it only allows one free cheque per month. The second one carries a $40 charge.
Richard could have withdrawn the $2,500 and waited a month for the remainder, but Marco, a customer service rep who dealt with him via "Live Help" thought he had a better solution.
A transcript that Richard had of their chat shows what that solution was:
Marco: Make two withdrawal requests today.
Marco: The limit is not per month it is per withdrawal.
Richard: Will there be a fee for the second withdrawal?
Marco: So if you make them both today, there will be no fees, involved.
Richard: Super. So if I make 2 cashouts today by cheque, there will be no fees?
Marco: Not, if you request right after the first.
Richard: So just to confirm - I will receive 1 cheque for $2,500 and another cheque for $1,368.70.
Marco: Correct, most probably is they will issue you one check for the whole amount.
Marco's heart was unquestionably in the right place but he was wrong about Sportsbook.com's policy. The computer immediately caught it and charged Richard $40 for the second cheque.
Marco dealt with rep after rep after rep trying to get the $40 refunded. From Gabrielle to John to Rachel to Carlos each tried helping Richard, but to no avail. Carlos, in fact, tried putting the $40 into Richard's account as a bonus but the computer rejected that. Finally, Andrea told Richard by e-mail that they simply could not refund the $40 to him.
After Gambling Grumbles contacted the Sportsbook, Carlos was apparently authorized to put the bonus into Richard's account. In fact, he increased it to $50 -- which is the minimum cheque that Sportsbook.com will write.
"I am pleased to inform you that we have credited your gaming account with a complimentary bonus of $50.00 due to the misinformation given about the withdrawal fees over the chat," Carlos told him.
There was, however, still one problem -- Sportsbook.com requires a rollover of 20 times for any bonus and Richard wanted to withdraw the money, not bet with it.
A second letter from Gambling Grumbles resulted in the problem being brought to William's attention and William apparently has the authority to waive the rollover requirement.
Within minutes he sent the following e-mail to Richard:
"Dear Richard,
"This is a note to inform you that any roll over requirement from the recent $50.00 bonus that has been credited to your account has been removed.
"We truly apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your time and patience. Have a great day.
"We are always here to help you. Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional questions in relation to this or any other matter."
It is unfortunate that Richard's problem couldn't be solved in the very beginning but that was perhaps unavoidable. No casino, after all, can afford to allow each and every employee to give away money. That has to be a management decision. Still, given the good intentions that all of Sportsbook.com's reps had (including Marco, who made the original mistake), and the willingness of management to solve the problem, Richard is a happy player today.
As we said in the beginning, all it required was intelligence and heart -- as well as the authority to use them both.
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