POLE!!!

Ok, I'm going to post this series of emails I've had with FTP support about a $500 bonus they offered me. This isn't a huge issue (were not talking about how zomg online pokers is rogged!!!1!) but it's driving me wild how ridiculous they are. Or then again maybe I'm the one out of line and I'm missing something obvious. Take a look at these messages and let me know if it's them or if I'm just losing my mind.

Summary...

I get an email from FT trying to woo me back with a $500 bonus. I'm on the fence about throwing some dough in there to clear the bonus so I log on to the client to check the details on the bonus offer screen. Screen says "Bonus Offer" then nothing. So I email them about this glitch. I tell them I'm considering the bonus but I can't see the details in the client. Basically I want them to know about this glitch - maybe it's on their end or maybe I need to reinstall the client.

They email me back and acknowledge it’s a technical issue on their end. They apologize for the error but then opt me in for the bonus. I email them back stating I was only contacting them about the glitch and if I'm going to opt in I can't do it at the moment (April 22nd) and I'd like to wait until the last day (May 3rd).

I know my schedule is crazy at the moment and it will be at least the 2nd week of May before I can even try to clear the thing. With an April 22nd opt in date my bonus period will expire just as I’m getting started.

Basically they refuse to change the opt in date and place the blame on me for never saying that I didn’t want to be opted in. This obviously isn't about the bonus... I don't really care about it that much. It's about how they are handling it. I'm a very laid back guy so I was surprised how my blood boiled as I read each response.

Anyway they win and I'm through sending emails but I'm shocked that they wouldn't ammend the expiration date. I haven't played a single hand at FTP since they opted me in. This entire issue starts with their software glitch. If their software is running properly we obviously don't have this problem.

Then again maybe it's just me....


I've only edited the emails to put them in chronological order and to delete some personal data:



1) On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 4:00 PM, Full Tilt Poker Support <support@fulltiltpoker.com> wrote:


Hi XXXXX,
As you are a valued player on our site, we are pleased to offer you a special Full Tilt bonus of $500.
To activate this bonus, log on to Full Tilt Poker between now and 23:59 ET on Sunday, May 3rd and click "Check my bonus offer..." under the "Requests" men
And so on…
Sincerely,
Full Tilt Poker



2) Original Message Follows:
------------------------
Greetings,

I'm considering taking advantage of the bonus offer so I went to the Full Tilt client to check out the details. However when I go to REQUESTS > CHECK BONUS OFFERS, the information box that pops is blank. It states BONUS OFFERS at the top of the box but there are no details listed and no option to opt in. I'm assuming this is some sort of glitch.

Could you take a look and clarify please.

Thank you,

XXXX
Full Tilt Name: XXXXX


3) On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 5:32 PM, Full Tilt Poker - Support <support@fulltiltpoker.com> wrote:

Hello XXXXX,

Thank you for contacting Full Tilt Poker Support.

We're sorry to hear that you're experiencing difficulty opting in to your latest Special Bonus offer. We are currently aware of a minor technical issue that is preventing some players from activating their bonus. We apologize for the inconvenience, and can assure you that we are working towards finding a resolution as soon as possible.

Rest assured XXXXX, in the meantime, we've reviewed your account and are happy to inform you that we have submitted a request to have a $500 bonus applied to your Full Tilt Poker account.

Please allow 3 business days for the bonus to be applied to your account. Once the bonus is activated, it will display in your Bonus Account and you will have 28 days to earn the full amount.

and so on...

Kind Regards,

Kristen
Full Tilt Poker Support



4) Original Message Follows: ------------------------
Hi,

I had contacted you regarding a technical issue that was preventing me from being able to see the bonus offer I had been extended. I appreciate that the glitch was acknowledged however I was opted into the bonus a little earlier than I would have liked. I had until May 3rd to accept the bonus however I was opted in by your support team on April 22nd when I emailed about the software glitch. I don't plan on even starting the bonus until at least the 3rd of May due to other constraints on my time.
Could you please adjust the expiration date of the bonus to reflect an opt in date of May 3rd as opposed to April 22nd? If further clarification is required I've included our previous correspondence below.

Thank you,
XXXX
Full Tilt Name: XXXXX





5) On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 5:43 PM, Full Tilt Poker - Support <support@fulltiltpoker.com> wrote:

Hello XXXXX,

Thank you for emailing Full Tilt Poker Support.

In reply, I have reviewed your previous email and see no mention of your wish to delay the activation date.

That said, while we regret any inconvenience that your bonus offer was activated on your account before you would have liked, regrettably, we cannot change the details. This offer will expire on May 21, 2009 and we cannot extended this timeframe.

Should there be anything else we can help you with, XXXX, please feel free to ask.

Best of luck at the tables!
Sincerely,
Natashia
Full Tilt Poker Support



6) Please read my email again. At no time did I say I was interested in having the bonus activated. In fact what I said was that I was considering the bonus - I had not yet made up my mind.

My email was to inform you that I could not see the bonus offer in the Full Tilt client due to your software glitch. My assumption was that you would repair the glitch... at no time did I think that you would go ahead and activate the bonus. Again I never requested the bonus be activated. I emailed to say that I was considering the bonus and I wanted to notify you of the software glitch.

In your reply to me you state:
"In reply, I have reviewed your previous email and see no mention of your wish to delay the activation date".

Could you show me where I stated that I would like the bonus to be activated? The email was to clarify to software glitch only.

It will be after May 3rd (the last day to opt in) before I even have a chance to look at this bonus. Could you please amend the expiration date of the bonus to reflect the May 3rd opt in date.

Thank you,
XXXXX
Full Tilt Name: XXXXX



7) Hello again XXXXX,

Thank you for emailing Full Tilt Poker Support.

In reply, while we apologize for any miscommunication, the majority of players that wrote in regarding this issue had their bonus activated when the email was responded to. As you did not specifically state that wanted to wait on your bonus activation, we submitted the request as soon as possible.

In fact, we had a handful of emails where activation was specifically requested to be delayed, and we were happy to accommodate those requesting players.

Regrettably, this was not the case with your account, XXXX. As stated a moment ago, each of those players specifically mentioned their intentions.
Again, I apologize that you feel your bonus was activated too soon, XXXXX. However, we cannot delay, or extend your expiry date. We regret any inconvenience.

As always, if there's anything else we can help you with, XXXXX, please feel free to ask.

Best of luck at the tables!
Sincerely,
Natashia
Full Tilt Poker Support



8 and final) Obviously you people are making this up as you go along. It was your software error that forced me to contact support in the first place. You went ahead and activated the bonus - which I did not request. In fact I stated in my original message that I was only considering the bonus and had not yet committed if I would opt in. You made the decision to opt me in... not me.

This all originates with your software error. All I emailed you about was to see if the error I was getting was a known error or if maybe I had to reinstall the client on my end. You made inferences that were not there.

If you do not have the technical glitch I would have opted in for the bonus on the last possible day (May 3rd). I never would have requested to opt in earlier due to my busy schedule at that time. So your software malfunction and incorrect inferences have cost me the opportunity to deposit money into my Full Tilt account and take advantage of the bonus offer.

Obviously this isn't about the bonus any longer but instead the horrible way in which you have dealt with this.

Nice work.

XXXXX (not XXXX as you continue to refer to me)
Full Tilt Name: XXXXX




I mean seriously. Even if they incorrectly made the inference that I wanted to be opted in and went ahead a did so... no problem. But what's the issue with them amending it after I've clarified the issue.

tl;dr

ftp is wrong here

Wow. FTP is horrible. I haven't played there in years. Don't think I'll be going back any time soon.

Clearly FTP is wrong. It's obvious that the problem is they were just taking a standard action on massive amounts of email about the problem. Their slightly trained monkeys probably didn't bother to ask what action to take they just followed their little script.

The only other thing I can think of trying is to ask if they could "deactivate" your bonus and allow you to activate it later. It seems like they're opposed to extending the expiration. That's not really what you're asking for. You're asking to deactivate the bonus and start it from the beginning at a later date. Maybe the wording is just not quite right for them to understand.

I'd guess the support team is not in native English speaking country. So, some communication issues may at play. I always find it best to use screenshots when at all possible in those situations. I can't see a reasonable way to do that here, but if you can come up with one that doesn't seem condescending I'd go for it.

Yeah, I'm not really sure what I'd accomplish with screen shots - the situations is what it is. And, as I mentioned in my OP, I'm pretty much done with the issue. Just a little irritated is all.

I think I did a good job of not being condescending even though the temptation was enormous Besides I was hoping to have the issue resolved so playing nice was definitely in my best interest. By the final email though I had lost hope of that ever happening so I made a few mild digs... but relative to my level of frustration it was pretty light stuff.

So that nobody can call you a liar based on the subject title:

Well and had all but given up but I just logged on to my email and it looks like FTP support has done the right thing and corrected this situation. It took a week longer then it should have but I'll give them credit for doing the right thing in the end.

----------------------------------------------------------------------


Hello XXXX,

Thank you for your recent reply to Full Tilt Poker support.

I have taken the opportunity to review your email history and would like to extend my apologies for the unfortunate circumstances in this situation. It appears early on there was a misunderstanding regarding your Special Bonus and unfortunately it was activated prematurely.

I do understand that due to your schedule you had intended on opting into this bonus closer to the expiry in order to give yourself the best opportunity in which to earn your bonus. As such, I have gone ahead and sent a request to have a new bonus applied to your account, once the new bonus has been applied you will see a new expiry date.

Also XXXX, I do appreciate the patience you have shown thus far and would like to extend the bonus to an amount of $600 as a good will gesture considering the inconvenience you have gone through.

Once this new $600 bonus has been applied and activated to your account you will have the full 28 days in which to earn it. Though I will be expediting this request, please allow up to 2 business days for this to be reflective on your account.

I thank you for your co-operation in this situation and look forward to the opportunity to assist you again in the future and in restoring your faith in Full Tilt Poker customer support.

Should you have any further questions, please feel free to email us back again.

Regards,

Neal
Team Lead
Full Tilt Poker Support

Didnt read any of it except the short replies. Cliffs please.

It's almost like they hired this guy from Stars.

+1

This is amazing for FT's CS. After screwing up for so long, they actually recognized that the problem was on their end, fixed the problem, gave the new bonus starting time and even gave a larger bonus for the added frustration...even complimenting the player for being patient in the emails.

If they were always like this, their CS would stop getting the bad rap it always gets.

FTP's CS bad rap doesn't really from them having poor/stupid policies, it's more from their slow response time (albeit IME it's gotten better over the past few years) and occasional incompetence (like here). That, and it's tough to be considered good or even average when compared to Stars' often above-and-beyond CS.

Funny it has to go all the way to their cs leader to get it right. Personally, I'm still not impressed.

I'm not super impressed either but at the same time at least they did finally get it right so kudos to FTP.



I don't think I've ever dealt with FTP support prior to this but I would estimate the average response time in my case was approx. 36 hours - give or take a little. I don't play on Stars so I'm not sure how this compares.

Not particularly impressed (really how can we be given the exchanges)- but they got it right finally.

I didn't get a bonus...

FTP is notoriously bad with email comprehension. They just seem oblivious the things you write. I'm glad they at least eventually got this one right.

Good they eventually figured it out at least. Their stubborness and failure to comprehend at first is kind of indicative of the general problems people have with them though. But they seem to be making strides from what I understand. Response-time I think has improved for them and they are more frequently seeming to make sense and show an understanding (with this situation as something of an exception of course).

Them giving you a little bit extra on the bonus is also pretty classy. That's something we have practically come to take for granted from Stars and it doesn't seem nearly as common from FT. Just finding out about this gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling about FT making strides in the right direction.

Also noteworthy how they are actually giving some of their customers rakeback now which is also some decent flexibility and a smart change on their part.



I especially like how he substitutes the word 'reflective' to 'reflected' in his response.