did I overreact?

[intheknow]

Hey Guys,
You know what I find impressive in this thread is that a player had a complaint and was able to talk to the Manager about it. That kind of access for a player shows the customer service that this book is trying to deliver. Also the fact that Jake (the GM) sits up there with Chester to keep a feel for the business shows me a lot too.

Gentlemen,
Your not going to please everyone everytime, but you have shown me (and I hope some others here)that you are striving to address every complaint made against your book, either here at Bettorsworld or in house during business.

I salute you

[GM]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your responses. Zippy, your point is well made and I couldn't agree more. I would like to point out that, had Chilly handled the situation differently, Chester would have been willing to honor his original wager. Unfortunately, cooler heads did not prevail. Hopefully, they will in the future. Thank you for taking the time to post, it is appreciated. As always, I am here for your questions and comments. Just give me a call at 800-214-1788 ext. 256.

Jake Slater

[sportshobby]

Even if the sportsbook did nothing "wrong", the incidents which irritated Chilly would have a similar affect on some other customers. I think Jake is smart enough to review internal procedures and try and prevent them from happening again.

[Trujillo]

Hey Jake, heard a lot of good things about you but you are going to tell me that you are going to let a losing customer go that sends you his money? You must have a REAL good business to let this guy go, especially for a dime, whether or not he screamed his head off or not.

Chilly, there are a ton of other good books out there that would really like to get your money and NOT throw you out.

[Chilly]

Well, it's out now, and I guess the gloves came off. I was restrained in my explanation of what happened, and I disagree with what Jake is saying, and here is why.

(First, when I posted about a problem with Chester and the lines before, they locked me out of my account until i called them to talk about it; when I blew my top the last time, they locked me out, which is also why I was leery of naming names this time, not because I have anything to hide.)

I did not mention that my first bad experience occured (and was posted here, check archives) when I overbet a total by a nickle on-line because their software does nothing to prevent this. I took the initiative and called them to report it, and asked if I could have the nickle by betting it over the phone, which they claim they will allow. Chester would not take my bet even though he never moved the line for the rest of the evening. It was not a major incident, so I moved on, but it raises issues about money versus a particular person's money no being "good".

I like your sincerity, Jake, and I respect your position in that you must defend sportbet, Chester, and yourself, but in my mind the incidents did not play out as you described, and make me look foolish when this is not the case.

First, I am not a complete dullard; I asked a clerk whether any more money would be put back on my card, or if I would now be receiving payouts as cash. Since I had previous withdrawls returned to the card, I wanted to verify I had paid them off, and I was told that I had. Thus, my complaint is that I was assured by your employee all credit backs had been completed. To find out otherwise, a week later, is not my error, and not just company policy: it was a mistake by sportbet, and that is why I was mad. Of course I know any money deposited by credit first goes back to pay off the credit. We are not disagreeing here. I got bad info from your employee, and you imply that was not the case when it clearly was. I was not satisfied; I accepted the explanation of what went wrong because there was nothing else I could do. In fact, what I didn't mention is that some money was sent to me by bank wire, while 3/4 went to the card even though you found additional money after that could still go back to the card. Why did i get a little by wire when it should have all gone to the card?

Incident #2: again, you ignored my request to verify that I called in time, and your clerk should have been required to tell anyone calling after 1:00 that the request was too late. I suggested that this should be policy, and you didn't seem to take it seriously. Since you won't verify my call time, and won't explain why you won't do this, and you ignore the fact the clerk said nothing about a late request when given the opportunity, I can only believe I made it in time and OF COURSE you should have done what you did, send the funds on thursday. That was the only right thing to do. Did I mislead anyone with my original description? I'm glad you fixed the error, but that doesn't mean you have done a great job.

Incident #3. First, if you were sitting there the whole time, why the #*#**#* didn't you help the poor clerk? I heard laughter in the background--was that you laughing at him trying to handle my call? I'd hope not. And, when I requested to speak to you as the situation unraveled, the next clerk told me you had left for the day. Why the lie? Third, after the line quoted was repeated, I accepted it, and so I still believe I should have been given the line. No matter what transpired, how can one bet take over five minutes? And that has nothing to do with the real issue, the line itself, which you would not give to me, and would not listen to the tape to hear the line quoted twice (and if you were right there, you know I'm correct in describing what I was quoted). And please explain how a clerk saying "the line is off the board" means I now can only place half the maximum at a different line? He now offered, "500 to win 400" which was not even the line you supposedly said was the original line.

I admit by the time I talked with Chester that I was extremely irritated. Five minutes on the phone (which apprently felt like 10) with different lines being "randomly" quoted, and the game about to start, and I have few options left to place this wager, and the first thing Chester tells me is that I'm wrong about how much time I've been waiting? Please. Wrong response. I don't care how good Chester is at moving the lines, he is responsible for granting me the line I was repeatedly quoted. And this is not the difference between Notre dame -2 and ND -7, clearly a mistake, but the difference between -115 and -105: surely I could have been granted a twice repeated line even if it was off by a ten cents (and if you really moving it to -135, I could have middled you right then, which doesn't seem like such a smart line). Have I even called and asked for anything special before? No. How am I to know that you are not trying to add a little juice and see if I take it? You quote a line; you honor the line.

I went out of my way to give sportbet credit, and to not make this out to be more than it was, so I disappointed in having to defend myself from "spin". What, factually, have I incorrecrtly described? I started this thread to see if others thought I overreacted, and now I'm convinced that I didn't. Look. For X number of clients, something is bound to go wrong for one of them, once in a while. But these incidents happend too close together. Was winning in your book related to this?

Eddie at PL did something you should have done. When his clerk fed me bad information, he HONORED it, and then went to tell the clerk the proper policy afterwards. I was not punished for his employee's mistake. For that, I will always plug them when I can (like now).

Chilly

[This message has been edited by Chilly (edited 09-14-2000).]

[GM]

Chilly,

"Well, it's out now, and I guess the gloves came off."

In no way did I mean to come off like I wanted to get into a war of words with you. I apologize if it sounded as such. I just felt the need to respond. I even credited you with keeping it clean and commenting on the fact that it was only your side.

That being said, and as you know, I didn't get involved in your situation until after incident #1. In fact, if you re-read my original post, we keep agreeing. It was definitelty a clerical error for telling you that you had already fullfilled all credit backs. When we spoke, I admitted to that, and that is when you seemed satisfied.

Our phones in Customer Service were not recorded, so I am unable to find the time of your call, in regards to Incident #2. I had been on the phone with you earlier in the day discussing your account, so I gave you the benefit of the doubt. When a redemption request is made, the request is labeled with a time. Your request shows at 1:12, but this is unimportant. What is important is, that when I found out about this incident, it was handled immediately and appropriately. For the time being you will have your story and our system will have ours.

As for incident #3, this is my main reason for posting. I want to clear the air. Chilly, do you honestly feel that I would be laughing as a clerk makes an error while talking to a client? If so, then you should never return to our book. That would be unacceptable, by any stretch of one's imagination. As for a clerk lying to you and telling you that I was not there, well sir, I will say that that, of all your statements, is the only bold untruth.

While I admit that Chester could have started the conversation on a different tone, that is not his area of expertise. He tried to talk to you and you were upset and would have none of it.

Eddie at Premier League is a class act. If you were to give him an ultimatum and not listen to what he has to say, and he still gives you what you want, more power to him.

I wanted to accomodate you. I tried to be a gentleman in this situation, even acknowledging the fact that you tried to keep the posters here impartial. You seem upset, and I hope that you realize I have not put any "spin" as you say on this story. No two versions of the same story are the same, especially opposing views. I guess, we will agree to disagree about the way things went. I have meant no disrespect towards you, and I hope that my posts come across as such.

Trujillo,
I hate losing a client. I am not happy about Chilly's decision to leave, if that is his final decision. However, I will also not keep bending over and over for a client who might not appreciate it. True, all these incidents occurred within a very short period of time, with myself and Chilly speaking on several occasions. Maybe it was coincidence, as he stated. However, as he also stated, there were too many coincidences in a short period of time.

Chilly, if you would like to talk about this some more, I would be more than happy to do so. Please call me. Otherwise, I will assume this matter closed and wish you the best of luck.

To everyone else, thank you for taking the time to read this entire post. I hope that if anybody is unclear on what happened, you feel you can contact me if you need to. Have a great day and good luck tonight.

Jake

[freak]

To sum this up in 1 word.....

Bizarre

[Chilly]

Fair enough. Case closed. This was not meant to be a witch hunt. As readers can see, there aren't many negative posts about sportbet. If others were to be posting what i've said, there would cause for concern. I suppose it was a "bizzare" set of circumstances in my case, a three team parlay that paid 5000-1.

However, I do not lie. Jake, I asked to speak with you after the situation with Chester, and the clerk told me you were gone for the day, which is why I left you the message saying I was leaving on monday because of how I was treated (which is why you locked me out of my account, right?). I wouldn't have left the message if they let me speak to you; why was I told you weren't there? If you have phone logs, again, I implore you to check them if this doesn't sound right to you.

Chilly

[SAMMY3]

I am not taking sides in this issue one way or another, it's one persons word against the others.
I will say this however, in every single problem i have ever seen Jake Slater handle, he has been a complete gentleman. Typically the customer comes on this forum after having spoken with him and raves of how Jake handled their situation. This includes problems with G.S.C., Betmaker.com and i can only assume with his new company as well.
I would strongly advise you to call him personally. The GM who takes time out to speak with customers is in my opinion the exception, not the rule. I think we all know there are books where you never are allowed to speak to "THE MAN". Chilly call Jake personally and see if the two of you can't work something out. Although you admit you were frustrated (and rightfully so!) after five minutes on hold, you still seem like a level headed man and i respect the fact that you didn't "Slam" them without opinions and feedback. You both seem too classy for this.
My money is on Chilly coming back here with positive things to say about his conversation with jake.

Positive -200
Negative +185

Who wants action on negative?

[GM]

Chilly,

Please contact me at your earliest convenience. I have tried to contact you, but my emails are returned. Please call 800-214-1788 or email help@sportbet.com. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sammy3,

Thank you very much for the kind endorsement. I firmly believe that the best customer is a happy customer. If Chilly calls me, I would move that line to at least -500, and quickly. Have a good one, and thanks again.

Jake Slater