I’ve had an account with PokerStars for ten years, no issues. I’ve never deposited more than $20 at a time, or spent more than that on play chips.
Well on St Patrick’s day they had a 100% bonus play chip promo, and I bought $140 worth.
As ‘chance’ would have it, 2 weeks later my account is frozen. I have to email them and wait a couple days to get a reply.
Apparently my account was selected for a ‘random’ security screening and what do you know, it didn’t pass. No reason or excuse as to why, and every email since has been ignored.
“Hello Paul,
Thank you for your email.

In line with our internal security processes, we carry out periodic business risk assessments on randomly selected accounts.

We regret to inform you that your account has not passed this recent screening process, which has resulted in the permanent closure of your account.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Regards,
Joel
Stars Security”

Total scam, all just to take my $140 worth of play chips no less. How pathetic.

I come to learn a Canadian company owns and created PokerStars. YET, they operate out of ‘Isle of Man’. Wonder why? I wrote to the Isle of Man governing body and haven’t gotten anything but a automated reply.

They didn’t create it. It’s been based in IOM since inception (or close to it). Gambling friendly and generous tax policies. Was also well over a $25M fine.

Could be warranted a refund of whatever you recently spent on play chips (are you USA based?) if there is nothing more to your story - it would be helpful if you gave more information though. Post ALL emails between you and Stars on this

I’m in Canada and I wish there was more to my story, and or more emails. You’d think they’d come up with some lame excuse. Ten plus years is a long time to ‘slip past’ security screening.

Why are you buying playchips?

Because he wants to play "play money" I guess!!
Why do you drink water? :-)

I like to live on the edge, lol.

Post ALL emails between you and Stars on this

I have. They only replied once.

You have no chance of getting any help here if you dont post those emails.

I can understand it’s difficult to believe there isn’t more to the story but there’s not. I’ve stated 3 times now that I’ve only gotten 1 email, and it’s in my first post.

Seems weird for you to never have emailed them

Please read my first post again.

I tried to log on and got a notice my account is frozen and to email them.

I emailed them right away, but waited 2 days to get a reply.

Note, REPLY. You have to email to get a reply right? lol

Mine too!


Post ALL emails between you and Stars on this

Post ALL emails between you and Stars on this

*bolded for awareness

I asked why my account was frozen. One sentence.

So when you received their email, you immediately contacted the IOM „governing body“ without even asking Stars for further explanation and/or asking whether they would refund your recent purchase?

Sounds like they did you a favor and you can now play poker like a real man with real money somewhere else.

Guys, it’s not April fools day yet so trying to mess with me is too early.

I’ve waited 3 WEEKS for Another reply from PS. Not to mention them stating why and if I would get a refund, shouldn’t need to be follow up questions.

I didn’t post this to invite interrogation, with people demanding things, and refusing to believe I’m telling the truth.

A multi billion dollar company stealing my $140, using some generic lame excuse is pathetic. And the one reply, with literally no information, followed by ignoring me is the antithesis of Customer Service.

I’m in contact with Apple since the purchase was through ITunes / App Store, and next will be Visa. After that I’ll be looking for local government resources, like police.

I’m the last person you want to rip off, trust me.

... is kinda unlikely, doncha think?

If you weren't trying to scam them, somehow, (and I admit I can't work out how or why you might do that by buying play money chips), or you don't owe them money from a previous scam, then you'll get your money back as soon as they are sure it was good money.

You're wasting your time and effort stressing about if you have been honest with them up to now. If you haven't, you're wasting our time.

(If you or your brother or someone in your household is a self-excluded gambling addict, then spending your money on play money chips would probably fall under their requirements to ensure you don't play on their site.)

Why are you waiting for another reply from PS if you never sent them a reply to their first reply? They are not going to send you another e-mail if you don't reply to their first e-mail asking for more information and asking for a refund of your recent $140 purchase that you now cannot get the benefit of.

If you did send them more e-mails, then what people wanted was you to post all of them.

I don’t think it’s that uncommon as one would presume. Walmart makes billions on double scans, and they haven’t done a thing to try an fix it.
My cell company just billed me $110 after I paid out my account and closed it. It took me 4 separate phone calls for someone to quit trying to BS me and take the 5 seconds to look at my invoices and put ‘2 & 2’ together and give me my money back.

The only waste of time I feel is being interrogated and questioned about irrelevant things. If there was anything of interest about this I’d include it.

And Yes I’ve REPLIED to their one email, say 3 times. I tried emailing them separately in case I was being blocked or ignored by Joel.

My uncle who lives with me also has had an account for almost 10 years, and we both only play with play chips. We don’t play at the same tables ever, and again for 10 years there’s been no issue.

I don’t even know how I could scam Apple App Store and PS for PlayChips, and if I did it would certainly be criminal.

If you have spent any time at all reading this forum, you know that your case is similar to many others. You post something has been done wrong by a poker site, and then a whole bunch of people reply about how you must have done something and you aren't being honest, etc. This happens because a lot of the time in the past it has turned out that the poster was actually at fault - which somehow made the taking of their money acceptable in the eyes of many.

The fact is that poker sites operate in a somewhat different world from the companies we usually deal with. They are housed in far away lands, under their own sets of rules, and they provide players with virtually no recourse. They have a simple fall back response which is that if you violate their terms in any way they have the right to keep all of your funds and ban you from play. They also are the arbiter when it comes to whether or not you violated their terms. Strangely, just by playing there you implicitly agree to those terms, whether you actually agree or not.

I personally can't imagine why anyone would spend $140 (or $1) on play chips, no matter what bonus they give you. But you obviously thought it was worthwhile. If I were you I'd try to get the money refunded, and if I didn't hear quickly I'd contest the charge with my credit card company and let Pokerstars deal with them.

Where do you live? and where were you playing from?

I just moved to Washington state and got a popup saying it was against TOS to play from Washington so I contacted support ->

Hello David,

Thank you for your email.

Yes, David, unfortunately, participating in play money games is now illegal in the State of Washington.

Due to a recent judicial decision, please be advised that playing from the State of Washington is not allowed and will be considered a violation of our Terms of Service.

In line with our Terms of Service ‘you agree to comply with all country, province, state and local laws when using the service’. We strongly advise that you check and ensure that your use of the service is lawful in your jurisdiction.

We will endeavour to provide further updates as soon as there is further clarity on the situation.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your cooperation.

Regards,

Frank V
Stars Support

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

wow, just wow... I wonder what recent judicial decision was made?

Ya that sounds pretty lame.

I do at times use a VPN, and will choose a location / sever in the States to watch American Netflix and such. It’s possible I played PS while the VPN was on.

Yet I don’t know why my email reply is vastly different and void of any reason, compared to a few others I’ve seen. And I’d say it’s not likely I was using a VPN, yet it’s possible.

I wasn’t even aware PS wasn’t allowed in the States, or some states. About half the players at the tables I play at are American.

Does anyone know of a way to contact a support agent who has some authority to actually help? VS just regurgitating previous decisions like most customer service agents do these days.

Irrelevant. No questions please. Sure, gotcha

What’s your stars username?