a rant at gameday

[parlay]

i currently have accts w/4 books: 5dimes, sportingbetusa(formerly betmaker), ibet and topoftheworld. i had recently had discussions about consolidating to 5dimes, aces and gameday. picking up the later 2 to take advantage of the 'no juice' policy.

i pointed out the no juice policy at gameday to a friend who became very interested. he decided to post a nice sum at gameday and referred me for a referal bonus. while my acct at gameday is still active and i still get all there promotional emails, i have no money there. i expected that to change with the referal.
i called today to find out why my acct still stood at zero and was told b/c i have no money in my acct, i can't receive a bonus -- company policy.
i asked to speak to a manager figuring logic and reasoning would prevail and why would they want bad blood over $150. i was wrong. i nicely explained that the purpose of a referal bonus was to reward those that brought in new customers, which i did. certainly you wouldn't want to discourage that. i was met with the 'this is one of the biggest sportbooks in the world and that is our policy, when you open a sportsbook, you can make the rules' response in the typical tone. as i tried to reason further(they kept claiming i didn't have an acct there b/c there was no money in it, yet the can look it up and find it in seconds), i was told to 'give him a break, it' sunday and i don't have time for this sh1t.'
i know sunday is a busy day but i called at 1:15 which should be a not too busy time.
great customer service.
rather than waste any more breath on mr.friendly, i decided to take it to the customers. am i right or am i wrong?

there are lots of folks to chose from out there, this really didn't make me want to chose them.

[azbob]

it's amazing that the books spend time and money touting their "great" referral programs and then, when someone actually signs up and sends real dollars, they nickle and dime you like this

gameday isn't the only book with this attitude but i'll add them to the shops i will avoid

[parlay]

azbob - thanks for the response. good to know i am not crazy to think this was wrong.

btw, i was informed that this week, gameday was conveniently down during their no juice window.

[Socceroo]

Wager

Of course you are in the right, I don't believe that anyone could dispute that! Then again I do not believe that anybody would even dream of speaking to you the way you indicated, you were joking right!

Anyway I checked on their website under bonus' and it makes no mention of having to have a balance to claim any bonus, they also talk about a reload bonus which would indicate a customer would reload an account as opposed to re-open it. So I don't see how they could claim that your account would be of closed status if you did not have a balance.

They do have some rules regarding bonus' printed on the site as follows:

** To withdraw any Bonus, you must wager in the Sportsbook and/or Casino, an amount equal to two times the amount of deposit plus bonus. No time frame is required.

This seems fair enough, I'd get back onto them as soon as the 1PM Pac games go and make sure they give you your dues, you can wager on the Sunday night Footie then.

Oh and by the way they also give you a $25 Ideas Bonus, with the way they treated you I reckon that you could make an absolute fortune on that one!

[Underdog7]

I had a strong feeling that someday there will be some negative comments said from one of their players and it so happened it was you PARLAY.

My experienced with Gameday was good "at first" but after asking for a couple of payouts I decided to transfer my account immediately. Here is my story:

Asked for a W. Union payout on a Friday called them after three hours for the control number. I was told (don't have to mention names) that someone "missed" the process and I couldn't get my money that day instead it will be available Monday. I had a strong impression that it was a "delaying" tactic and didn't have a second thought but to transfer my account. My philosophy on this whole thing is very simple. "You get my money in 10 minutes during a deposit, I should get it the same way on a payout". Good luck!!!

[Jeff K]

Parlay... Last season, I called them numerous times to let them know they posted bad lines. The first 2 times I got $50 bonuses, then they dropped to $25. The last 3 times they had the lines reversed, and I got zip. There's no way you shouldn't have gotten a referral bonus. I guess they're having a bad season.

[dog]

I got booted out of Gameday earlier this year after winning a few dimes over a period of a few months. At first they bonuses if I called in an obvious bad line, or let me have lines that were off a little, but later after I started winning they became rude and would change bad lines while I was on the phone. So then if they were slow to move a line I would bet on the internet. Sometimes they cancelled these wagers. In one instance I bet a nickel on the Phoenix Suns at -200 when they'd been bid up to -5 1/2 at Gameday, maybe -6 elsewhere. Since the line was not that unreasonable I did not expect any problem, but later that night I found that my wager had been cancelled. Since I had no knowledge of this prior to the game (they did email me a cancellation notice, but I was working and did not see it until after the game, and it also only specified a bet #), I contested the "no action" and wound up getting my $500 credited. In the process the manager Mr. Weatherspoon claimed I knew the policy, but the fact is I had bet games with similar slow-moving lines before and those had not been cancelled. He was quite rude in implying that I was trying to cheat the book, when I had gone out of my way to call on similar occasions in the past. They closed my account, and I didn't regret it much, since they did give me credit for the game. I suggest that anyone betting online with them use the email confirmation option, so that if they cancel a wager on a line that's only slightly off, you have more ammo to contest it. I've bet NBA moneylines with Caribsports for years and occasionally there are weird numbers, but they do honor their posted lines.

[Radar_6]

In response to Parlay, the referral bonus was not granted due to the fact that "Parlay" has an inactive and unfunded account with GameDay. The only experience "Parlay" has with GameDay is through a free $25 account he was awarded through a contest.

In reference to the treatment you received, no foul language was used, and yes, you were hurried off the phone and invited to call back as the 1 o'clock hour on Sunday's is extremely busy.

Parlay - Regarding your payout, I apologize on the behalf of GameDay as with any company, there are always mistakes made. In no way were you being "stalled" as GameDay has never not paid or intentionally slow paid a player. As you stated, it was a Friday and our accounting department simply overlooked your Western Union, a mistake occured that we openly accepted and corrected. Monday morning comes, your Western Union is sent, and your funds are wired upon your request and made avialable to you that same day.

[sportshobby]

Radar, I don't see anything in your bonus rules about the referring player having to be active, or having a non-zero balance. So it seems to me that GameDay owes him a referral bonus.

[parlay]

radar - it was after the 1 pm hour. 1:15 or 1:20 which should be a good time to call. if you insist, omit the word sh1t. that is still no way to treat a customer or a potential customer, especially one that referred you a $3000 acct. i could have referred it other places.
don't you think you should have had this listed in your rules on your website? it wasn't. i checked. but there are rules listed about the bonuses, including that i have to play it before i can receive anything, so how does it hurt you?

lastly, don't you think you owed a duty to your customer to let him know that the referal bonus he requested you to give would not be given? he didn't hear word one from you. you dropped the ball.
as i just finished writing at another site, in a business which is so competitive, you would think people would cater to the customer and be kind. i guess that is too much to expect in this case. but that is the reason that 5 dimes has me as a customer for life. they deal w/problems and resolve them.

[parlay]

btw, why does the size of the acct or how i got it matter. are u saying it's ok to mistreat the smaller players? are you saying that people who win accts with you will be treated differently than those who didn't?

should people skip contests sponsered by gameday but when they win the accts, they will be ignored?

the fact remains that i had an acct. i recommended your book to someone who posted with you based on MY recommendation. that person wanted me to get credit for that. you won't give it despite there being an acct there for you to credit it to.

[Underdog7]

I just don't understand why some shops are so difficult to deal with. I had been a master of bonuses (referral or as a new customer) although I don't abuse the system and had some difficulties with other shops due to experimental and experienced but here are my top four who are the
"easiest and most professional" to deal with. No BS, "strictly business".

1.) Dunes
2.) Premiere League
3.) Top of the World
4.) Aces Gold

[greg]

Pay him. He has an acct. Perhaps hire parlay to close up some of the loopholes in the bonus/referral program as he is a gambling lawyer. Sure parlay could have referred other books but GDay hat the best package, I dont view a $25 free acct. as an impressive basis for a personal referral. Gday you did not qualify that the free money bonus accts. were not eligible for referral money. If they were not that would be fine but it is clear they were not excluded. At least refund the guys balance - sign up bonus and voud the whole transaction. This deal does not imply that gameday is not solid out. However the voiding of bets based on line movements does.

[chestrockwells]

This is silliness beyond belief. So if Parlay had $1 left over in his account he would then receive the bonus right? If he had 50 cents left over he'd get it as well. An account whether inactive or not, is an account. There are books out there who kick money into "winning" players accounts for suggestions on how they can improve something or even a players birthday to say nothing of bringing them a new customer. Perhaps Jeff or Sonny over at Jaguar can remind all of us again how much money on average it costs to bring in a new player with an above avg. opening deposit. This is totally Mickey Mousish behavior.

[Brick]

You should be paid. I've tapped out my account 3 times at 5 Dimes and was given a referral bonus all 3 times even with a zero balance.