Many of you know me from the virtual tables here in NJ as I'm a cash game regular from 50NL all the way through 1000NL. I've dealt with all of the bugs, disconnects, and location nightmares since Day 1. I've been told I'm not longer in NJ while being heads up in multiple tournaments, only to not be allowed back on for a few minutes and being nearly blinded off. I HAVE been blinded off on two other occasions after not being allowed to log in for 20+ minutes.

I have looked the other way. Been annoyed and complained but didn't make a huge fuss.

This all starts at the beginning of the month (May 1st) with an email I received from WSOP for the new 'Climb' promo. As with all promotions, I opted in immediately from my iPhone. For those who are not familiar with the 'Climb' promo, it awards cash bonuses depending on how many points (APPs) you accumulate in the month.

I play 50+ hours per week across the 3 New Jersey sites. On May 26, I decided to contact live chat to see where I stood, points wise, for this month. There isn't a meter on WSOP to tell how how many you've accumulated for the month so I figured live chat would be able to tell me.

Live chat then tells me that I did not opt in to the promotion on May 1st. Immediately, I check my emails and see that I'm not crazy...I did opt in, the email is even open! I notify the person on the other end of chat and they tell me to send the email over and they will get back to me within 72 hours. I head back to my inbox, click all of the links in the email to make sure none of them were 'dead', and forwarded the copy of the email over.

After not hearing a peep from WSOP, I decided to contact them today to see what was going on. First, I contacted live chat. Here is how that went:

Melanie M. : Hi My name is Melanie M.. Welcome to WSOP.com Live Chat! One moment while I look up your account.
Melanie M.: Can I please have the answer to your securoty question First School?
@hotmail.com: *********
Melanie M.: hi how can I help you with the promotion
@hotmail.com: hi, i opted in at the beginning of the month but when i contacted live that the other day to find out how many points i've accumulated they told me that i didnt
@hotmail.com: they said it would be sent to whoever handles those things and they'd get back to me
@hotmail.com: i sent a screenshot of the email too
@hotmail.com: still havent heard anything and this was days ago
Melanie M.: ok let me check on this give me one moment please
@hotmail.com:sure thank you
Melanie M.: what was the email that you sent in?
@hotmail.com: i forwarded a copy of the email from the first of may
@hotmail.com: to support@wsop
Melanie M.: ok and the email stated that you opted in?
@hotmail.com: the email had the opt in button right there and the date on the page
@hotmail.com: i opt into every promo obviously i play 50 hours per week
@hotmail.com: across the 3 sites
@hotmail.com: the link takes you to your site and says something like 'you have opted in' etc.
Melanie M.: ok I am not seeing this give me one moment to look further into this
@hotmail.com: no problem, thanks for your help
Melanie M.: your welcome just give me a sec
@hotmail.com: sure
Melanie M.: ok the email opt in link was on 05/26/2015 that is when you opted in
@hotmail.com: no, that is when i clicked it for a second time after i spoke to you guys to see if it would say anything on the page about dates, etc
@hotmail.com: i've clicked that link about 1000 times by now, haha
Melanie M.: ok that is when the confirmation got sent through your email
@hotmail.com: but on may 1st when i received the email i opted in
@hotmail.com: i never even received any confirmation email either
@hotmail.com: something must be wrong with your automated system because nothing on this site seems to work
@hotmail.com: from bugs in the regular software, to now this
@hotmail.com: i am 1000000% certain i clicked the opt in button in the email on or around may 1st when i received the email
@hotmail.com: it should not even be an issue
@hotmail.com: i've generated thousands and thousands in rake over the past year and you guys are going to give me an issue over opting into a promo because your software/link wasnt functioning properly? seems extremely unfair.
Melanie M.: I am sorry but the only time through emaikl that you opted in was on 05/26/2015 it will only allow you to opt in omce and that is when it was opted in
@hotmail.com: i understand what you are saying
@hotmail.com: please understand what i am saying
@hotmail.com: i clicked the link on may 1st
@hotmail.com: on my email
@hotmail.com: that goes directly to my cell phone
Melanie M.: i do understand you frustration and I am sorry that you went through this
Melanie M.: we do not have the option to back track an opt in date
@hotmail.com: is there someone i can speak to that can actually get this handled? because it's ridiculous that i have to go through all this hassle over something like $100
Melanie M.: ypu can email the same address and we can have that escalated to the relevant department

As you can see, that didn't go well. Not only could she not help me, she referred me to the same support@wsop email that NEVER ANSWERS ANYWAY!

My frustration grew, so I decided to just call.

I spoke to a very nice, well spoken gentleman. Much different from the people I've spoken to before. Seemed like this guy might be able to actually get something done.

I was wrong here too.

After being put on hold a couple times so he could ask his supervisor, he basically told me the same thing live chat did: I'm beat on it. Their system says I opted in the 26th (when I clicked the link again about 5985498498 times) and I will only receive credit for the past couple days. He says there is nothing he can do about it. Cool.

What I don't understand is, why the hell can't they just admit fault one time? I know for a fact I clicked that link and opted in at the beginning of the month. Maybe their automated system wasn't working properly that day? That hour? Maybe they have poor record keeping? I have no idea. I have no reason for it. I also have no reason for why they can't fix basic bugs in their software that we are all well aware of, but that's a whole different subject.

Also, to touch on the same subject though, why is it even necessary to click these ridiculous 'OPT IN' emails in the first place? Things like this happen. Things fall through the cracks. If you are sending the promo to everyone, why not just OPT EVERYONE IN?!

Anyway, I just urge everyone to move their money to PartyPoker/Borgata and wait it out for Pokerstars. Party/Borgata actually have decent CS, almost instant withdrawls, and can (usually) tell when I'm in NJ! Many will brush this off I'm sure but when it happens to you, you'll be just as livid as I am. It's not even about the measly $100 I would be credited for the month. It's about the way they are going about it and essentially picking my pocket.

/rant.

I've experienced this type of thing a million times with wsop.com support. If I wasn't leading POY in NV I would play live or on sketchy oversees sites rather than deal with the worst customer support on the planet.

Damn, didn't even know you HAD to opt-in until this post right now. That stinks. I thought I'd be making that 100 bucks too... WSOP are often very unclear on their promos

To be fair to the site, it is stupid that you have to opt-in... but when your messages have a giant "Opt-in now" prompt each time you log in, that only way it isn't clear is if you aren't paying attention.

I never saw that Opt-in now prompt when I opened. I get other messages though.

They messed mine up and sent me $15 when I had earned $35... see if they fix it or not

They are easily the worst, and they way they run their promotions is the worst of the worst.

I had the same issue I did the "opt in" a day after the start and was not given credit for the apps I earned the first day. I contacted support towards end of the month to ask how many points I earned during promo and was told a number that got me to the next camp level. However was then told I didn't reach that number.

While I appreciate this promo, you can't help but feel pretty crappy about the whole thing. First it started on May 3rd and ended on May 30th instead of the 31st. It only stated that in the small print though despite saying in the description in the bigger print "Opt in through the pop up in our game software, and then grab a seat in your favorite cash game to start earning Action Player Points (APPs) all month long. Climb as high as you can before the month ends to reap the rewards that come with reaching each new plateau.

On top of all of that they don't provide any type of status bar to see how close you are to each level and can't even tell you if you call them during the promo. Due to my experiences with the last promotion like this I wrote down where I was at with APPs on the year prior to starting my session on May 3rd.

I made sure that I made enough APPs by the end of the month to reach the 10k APP plateau and even played extra hours on the last day of the month to make sure it wasn't even close. I was then notified on the 1st that I had only reached the $500 plateau. After an hour on the phone with a supervisor who informed me that I had reached 9,818 points I realized that the promotion ended on the 30th and not the 31st and she basically told me that I was screwed. Again, I'm extremely grateful for the promotion and I recognize that its my duty to read the fine print but its hard not to feel slighted and have a bad taste in my mouth as someone who likely earned more APPs then anyone on the site and has consistently started games and kept them going since the beginning of NJ online. It would be nice to have someone that had some sort of customer service experience in the poker world to be able to talk to these things about. Unfortunately its unlikely we get that with WSOP and hopefully the entry of Pokerstars into the market shakes things up.

888 had a status bar on their last promo so hopefully WSOP has it for the next one.

I emailed this to WSOP last night and today they called me and talked to me for a while to get my feedback on the promo and then gave me the extra $500 bonus. I talked to them about adding a status bar for the promotions as well as making the promos a month long thing rather than dates randomly set in a month. This is certainly a very positive step in the right direction for WSOP customer service and I'm obviously extremely appreciative that my concerns were heard.

party/borgata CS isnt anything to get excited about either but yes they are the quickest with payouts by far out of all the nj sites from my experience.

this feels like a user error

They can never admit fault, because on the advice of their general council they do not want to open themselves up should there ever be legal action against them.

The opt-in system is ridiculous. However, they cannot opt-in everybody. They just don't budget enough marketing dollars for that. So they have to figure a way to thin the player pool of those who are opted in.

They absolutely need to have a listing on their site that says: You are currently opted in for these promotions.

They absolutely need to have a status bar to show you how far along you are with each promotion.

The only thing Party / Borgata is good at is fast withdrawals, which don't require customer service assistance. WSOP customer service, with all it's flaws, is LIGHT YEARS ahead of Party / Borgata.

It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway:

sorry you had to deal with this frustrating experience.

Most of us have been there, I would guess.

This is the system that is in place, and we all have to take our lumps. It's better than not having these sites operating, so we grin and bear it.