I used to be active in the poker community many years ago on Full Tilt and mainly Pokerstars, until it became illegal. Earlier this year I received an email from Global Poker and realized it was an option. I signed up and have been playing since.

I am on dialysis 6 days a week for roughly 4 hours until I either die or get a kidney transplant(hopefully the latter). So I play in tournaments during dialysis to keep my mind off everything going on.

A few weeks ago I received a promotional email for $150 sweeps cash for $100 and decided to use it as my account was down to around $25(not the greatest player). I later realized that my bank account was charged twice for the purchase. I verified my transaction history on GP to make sure that I was only credited with one purchase and not two; which was correct. So I called my bank and let the know of the error as I wasn't sure who was at fault and there is no phone number to contact GP. My bank said they would take care of it and credited me back the $100 that should not have been taken out to begin with.

Fast forward to yesterday morning when I awoke to an email from customer service saying that my account is locked due to disputing a transaction. I responded and explained my situation as I have done here. Unfortunately, either I get no response and the ticket shows "solved"; which obviously it isn't; or I get a response that they conducted an investigation and I am guilty of abusive activities and banned permanently. Seriously???? I am the victim here!!! I am getting ready to dispute the other charge as I obviously cant access the money I have legitamately in my account.

This whole situation is ridiculous and the customer support system is HORRID!!! If they would just look at my transaction history for the date in question, it would take roughly 10 seconds for them to wee and understand what happened and that THEY are at fault here. There needs to be a way in which 2 people can have a continuous dialogue and discuss a situation and come to a resolution. I am not trying to rip anybody off and I would assume that GP is not trying to rip anybody off; but their system is so horrible that it makes communication nearly impossible.

Does anybody have a phone number or any suggestions on how to resolve this issue?

emaill support

I tried that, it gave me an automated response to contact the support site. I went there and noticed it had already opened a ticket with my response and that it said "solved" but with no response or explanation. So I did a "follow-up" which is where I got another scripted response with the same exact wording as another member in a thread a few down from this one; saying that they did an investigation and due to abusive activities(lol) I was permanently banned. I did a "follow-up" to that one, but it remains unanswered. I'm just spinning in circles. Kind of ridiculous for someone who didn't do anything wrong.

Wow, I just received the following response and am speechless:

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Your request (#2709073) has been solved. To reopen this request, reply to this email or click the link below:
https://globalpoker.zendesk.com/hc/requests/2709073


Domel Gerilla (Global Poker)
Oct 31, 7:27 AM AWST

Hi Amy,

Thank you for your email regarding your recent purchase attempt.

We understand you’re having difficulty purchasing and we apologize for the inconvenience.

While most similar transactions have gone smoothly, there have been a few customers with a similar situation to yours. Other customers who have had similar issues have informed us that contacting your bank/card issuer and authorizing the payment being requested by "VGW Malta" has resolved the issue.

Please also remember to double check that you are entering the correct information for your VISA or Mastercard before attempting to make a new purchase.

Kindly let us know of how this works out for you and don't hesitate to get in touch should you require further assistance on the matter and we will be more than happy to assist you.

Thanks and have a great day.

Regards,
Marshall

Muscle96ss
Oct 31, 4:20 AM AWST

This is a follow-up to your previous request #2708842 "Problem With Account and Getting a Response!!!"

Why does this issue say "solved" when I have yet to get a real response? You made a double charge to my bank account, I am assuming unintentionally. So I checked my transaction history to make sure I was only credited for one purchase and then let let my bank know the second charge was an error. Now you have locked my account and tell me I am banned permanently. This is absurd!!!! I would love to actually be able to speak with someone or have a continuous dialogue with a human being to get this issue worked out, but instead I am stuck with this horrible customer service system where nobody is listening to my story or checking my transaction log to verify that I am actually the victim here. I plan on taking my story to social media and all the poker boards if I don't get some actual communication here. I am certain that the error on your part was not intentional, but getting communication with someone who can intelligently sort this out is near impossible and very frustrating.

[7OVYRE-Z4E8]

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Obviously reading comprehension is not a strong point at GP. Either that or the person responding did not take the time to read the complaint. This is so frustrating!!

OMG!! Here was my response and then their response follows:

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Avatar
Muscle96ss
43 minutes ago
Hi, I have no idea what you are referring to. My account was locked because you double-charged for a single purchase and I disputed the second charge as only one was actually made and my account was only credited once. Please re-read what I wrote and what the initial complaint was as your response doesn't make any sense and leads me to believe that you are not understanding what transpired. Thanks;
Leigh

Avatar
Domel Gerilla
13 minutes ago
Hi Amy,

Thank you for your response.

We do apologize for the confusion. Having checked this further, we can confirm you had a dispute with your bank regarding your last purchase. We do apologize but we won't be able to re-instate your account.

If you will need further help, please feel free to contact us again.

Regards,
Marshall
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I guess they think that when they accidentally double-charge me, I am supposed to just pay double, lol. This is ridiculous!!!!!

Lot of people must be charging back so as soon as you dispute the charge account blocked at least thats the trend ive been seeing.

You're not the first person this has happened to. I don't remember if other people were able to resolve this issue with them.

As you've learned, Zendesk support is a joke. Try contacting one of the GP reps here and see if they can help you.

Thanks, will try that!

Ok, really dumb question here. How do I send a PM? I clicked on the reps profile and there is no option for sending a private message. I consider myself an educated person, but having a few doubts at the moment.

similar situation happened to me last weekend...
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=859

That's absurd. So basically they screw up and double charge and we are supposed to just take it and do nothing? It gives them incentive to rip us off.

Who can we contact; this is borderline illegal?

Why would the first thing you do is dispute / charge it back to the bank?

If you have a problem with a retailer, don't you go to them first?

Is the situation different because this is a poker site?

Two reasons, firstly, I had no idea whether it was a bank error running the charge twice or whether it was a merchant error posting it twice; which is why I checked my transaction history on GP first to make sure that I only did make one purchase and was only credited for one purchase. Secondly, GP has no phone number with which to reach them and I have experienced their horrible customer service system before; so had much more confidence in getting a resolution via my bank.

Got another reply from them:

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Avatar
Mark Bathan
9 hours ago
Dear Amy,

We are writing in relation to your recent contact with us.

Please accept our sincere apologies for this inconvenience whilst this has been determined by the time you filed a chargeback to your bank as to any dispute/s filed against us, automatically, will result to a permanent ban of the pursuers account. This policy has been established and deemed as final as per managements decision.

We understand how you feel towards this situation therefore as much as we would like to help out we're afraid we can no longer extend assistance as this shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by final and binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. Please check Global Poker sweeps rules page for further information at https://globalpoker.com/page/sweeps-rules.

Kind Regards,
Madison
Global Poker Customer Service
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So basically, I have to goto arbitration with them in order to resolve. What a joke; there is no logic, no common sense, no ethics or morals. Last time I checked, when you make an error(i.e. double charging someone), you own up to the error and rectify without further inconvenience to the victim. Here not only do they not rectify, they then blame me and steal all the money I have left in my locked account. I cannot believe that this is normal operating practice. How are we ever going to get internet poker legalized in the US again when we have companies operating like this.

Update: I have filed a complaint with MGA - Malta Gaming Authority who issues the license for GP to operate. I don't expect a quick response but will keep everyone updated as it seems like I am not the only one who this double-charging has happened to and the only resolution GP has is that you either accept and pay the second charge or you dispute it and automatically get your account locked; what a joke!

Sorry, I forgot something important. It's not a dumb question at all, because you actually can't send a PM until you've reached a certain post count. This is done because there used to be a problem with new accounts spamming people's message boxes. I don't know what the post count is, but it is supposed to be very easy to meat, so I'd try again after you make a few posts. It might even work now.

Hey Browni,

This just happened to me on a 1k deposit. I sent several E-mails to them and they couldn't find the money after I put in a claim with my bank only then did they find the money. I told them I had one opened and would close it out. I closed it out then they banned my account.

Who should I PM on here? Who should I E-mail as well? Thanks.

As a healthcare worker that deals with a lot of dialysis patients I really empathize with your situation. I hope things get worked out for you with global, but in the meantime I suggest making the move to ignition. The software is better, support is better, and the games at your stake are probably softer. I understand what it's like to need an outlet to take the mind off health issues, and i would hate for you to have to give up poker if it helps you to cope with your situation. Good luck .

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

This is CS rep Kimbr's profile page. Like I was telling muscle, you do need a certain post count to be able to send a PM, and I don't know if you're there yet. I know it's very low, but not the exact number. If you are able to send a PM, there's a link under the "contact info" tab on her page.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/members/478722/

You can also try Zendesk support through. I suspect you'll get very similar replies as muscle posted in this thread.

https://globalpoker.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

I don't know what else you can try after that. Perhaps consult with a lawyer.

There is a time element as well as a post count element before you can PM on our forums. One of the accounts in question was already able to PM; I've enabled the other.

The one comment I'd have on this is that unless you're up against the time window for disputing a transaction, that should be your last step. It can be a sign of bad intentions, and it affects the poker site negatively, so I'm not surprised that they're not fond of people using that tool - most poker sites (and merchants in general) aren't. That's not to take a side here; just general advice for others.

Thanks for the feedback. Ironically I was checking out Ignition earlier today. My strong point is tournaments and with a high number of players(used to play the $22 every night on Pokerstars many years ago). It seemed like most of the tournys on ignition had late registration until 2-3 hours of play. Do they have normal tournys too without late registration as I don't know if I like that structure?

I work/worked in healthcare as well; never thought I would be in the situation of being on the other side; at least not this soon in life. I have been on dialysis since May 2017, but the good news is that hopefully it will be coming to an end soon. The local news, here in AZ, aired my story in June and we have over 30 donors that have come forward. So we are hoping for a match in the next few months.

I mainly play cash on ignition, zone and reg tables. I have played a handful of tournaments and all the ones i played usually late reg until the 14 level which is a few hours in...not sure if they are all structured that way but the ones I played were.
What a blessing that you were able to have your story aired and that you have donors lined up, that's incredible ! Good luck with everything I hope you get back on the tables soon

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Thansk Browni, I messaged Kimbr and let them know of the situation. Hopefully I can get my money back.

"The one comment I'd have on this is that unless you're up against the time window for disputing a transaction, that should be your last step. "

Yeah Boba I didn't realize that this should have been my last step since I told them I would need to do this because they said they never received any money. How am I supposed to know if my bank sent the money or not if they are telling me no money was sent? It was a situation that they created by telling me they had no records of my deposit when clearly my bank was debited that amount.

I'll be closing this thread now since OP's issue has been resolved. Thanks!