In Praise of Party/skins Customer Service

[Izaak_Walton]

Seems to me that the "customer service person" at a site is in the same boat as a dealer in a B&M--lots of stress and abuse--but without the tips. Probably the abuse is a lot worse online since the cowardly abusers are in no danger of getting their teeth knocked out.

I genuinely believe that all the customer service people are decent people trying to do a decent job under very difficult, confusing, and stressful conditions. Think about it--at peak times there are 50,000 players online at once on Party skins alone--can you imagine the number of emails that come pouring in??--and what a high percentage are rude, mean, and insulting?

Many poker players (including me) act like spoiled brats when we don't get exactly what we want, exactly when we want it--and the poor CSR in India has to take our guff.

I have just sent the following email to info@(each party skin) and encourage each of you who has a little love in your heart to copy-and-paste it to YOUR sites:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++
Hello--

I just want to thank you for the good service you provide under difficult conditions.

I'm sure that I could not do as well if I were trying to do your job.

Thanks again for your patience and consideration in dealing with us.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

Please share this message of thanks and gratitude with as many of your co-workers as possible.

Merry Christmas! Regards, (your name here)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++
Thank you!! /images/graemlins/smile.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[Tim&Joe]

Tim: What do you think Joe, time to cut and paste?

Joe: Not so fast Tim. Do you prepay your waiter or waitress a tip when you enter a restaurant just because you think they are trying their best?

Tim: Can't say as I do Joe.

Joe: Me neither Tim and I don't see any reason to start now.

Tim: Hey Joe

Joe: Yes Tim

Tim: You're the best

Joe: I know Tim.

Tim: Edit to correct Joe's spelling

[gabyyyyy]

[ QUOTE ]
Hello--

I just want to thank you for the good service you provide under difficult conditions.

I'm sure that I could not do as well if I were trying to do your job.

Thanks again for your patience and consideration in dealing with us.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

Please share this message of thanks and gratitude with as many of your co-workers as possible.

Merry Christmas! Regards, (your name here)


[/ QUOTE ]

What the hell is wrong with you?

Oh ya, support sucks and they can never find a solution. I have an idea, lets send an e-mail praising them.

Please see Avatar

[Izaak_Walton]

I said this was for people who have a little love in their hearts. Try being nice, even if you think the recipient doesn't "deserve it". Might change your world view and make you a nicer and happier person! /images/graemlins/heart.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

I'm sure they are hard working people doing their best to earn a living. I don't mean to sound like an ass, but that's not my problem.

It is the job of management to provide users with adequite customer service. If these people are understaffed, undermotivated, or just lazy, then customer service is bound to suffer. If management feels that this is acceptable, which apparently they do, then it will. Otherwise it is the job of management to fix it.

Regardless, I do completely agree that you should remain courteous with these folks. It most likely isn't their faulk with whatever your problem is, but that does not let Party of the hook of having god aweful customer service.

[gabyyyyy]

I don't think it is nice for a customer support rep to blatently lie to a customer. This was the case with a poster here when he was told he would get the igm bonus but never did. It took him 2 e-mails and lots of time to get what he was promised. In the end the rep said they would do it as a "gesture of goodwill". Gesture of goodwill? How about not lying to your customers to begin with.

These idiots should be fired instead of praised. Nothing personal, just my opinion.

[gabyyyyy]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sure they are hard working people doing their best to earn a living. I don't mean to sound like an ass, but that's not my problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny, as I was thinking the same exact thing.

I have my own problems. Lots of people work and do their jobs well without getting praise. Idiots who are lazy and offer $hitty support deserve to get fired, not thanked.

[Izaak_Walton]

I agree that the overall level of customer service could be improved--I also agree that is a management issue.

This is for the guy in the trenches who is poorly trained, dealing in languages other than his native tongue, dealing with an entire culture with which he is not familiar (poker in India???) dealing with (apparently) incompetent management, high turnover, etc.

[Cubswin]

I don't think it is nice for a customer support rep to blatently lie to a customer. This was the case with a poster here when he was told he would get the igm bonus but never did.

Gabyyy... in all of your wisdom would you please explain to us how you know this was a blatent lie and not an honest mistake? I suppose youve never made a mistake at your job?

cubs

[gabyyyyy]

[ QUOTE ]
Gabyyy... in all of your wisdom would you please explain to us how you know this was a blatent lie and not an honest mistake? I suppose youve never made a mistake at your job?

cubs

[/ QUOTE ]

Well he told a customer that he would get the bonus, and when the customer inquired about it another rep said he would get no bonus.

I would say that fits the definition of a lie.

[Izaak_Walton]

I don't believe Gabbyyy is employable.

[gabyyyyy]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't believe Gabbyyy is employable.

[/ QUOTE ]


This coming from a person who thinks a poor performing customer service department is worthy of praise.

Actually, I am going to vegas on monday after saving my social security checks.

[Cubswin]

I would say that fits the definition of a lie.

Did you not say the customer serivce rep 'blatently' lied? Do you see there is a difference between a lie and a blatent lie? Would you like me to define blatent for you?

cubs

"i see dumb people... and they dont even know they're dumb"

[gabyyyyy]

Well I get your point, I don't think he lied on purpose.

Maybe he did not blatently lie, but he still lied to a customer.

Also don't mince words with me. Atleast act like you have some semblance of a life.

[Izaak_Walton]

In the same spirit as my original post, here is my email of thanks to Gabbyyy:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++
Hello, Gabbyyy--

I want to take just a moment of your time to thank you for your gracious participation in the 2+2 forums over the past year.

I know it is extremely unpleasant and stressful having to deal with morons and cretins like us--if I were in your shoes, I'm sure I would not be able to maintain the high level of patience, consideration, and fraternalism which you consistently display.

We have all learned so much from your insightful and mature appraisal of life in general and poker issues in particular. I can think of no better role-model to emulate than you.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!

Thanks again for setting such a great example, regards, (your name here)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++
(All are free to send the above as a PM to Gabbyyy) /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[Cubswin]

Well I get your point, I don't think he lied on purpose.... but he still lied to a customer.


lied: 1. to make untrue statements knowingly, espcecially with intent to deceive.



game, set, match

[Izaak_Walton]

"Thank God and Greyhound she's gone . . ." /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[PhatCasino]

[ QUOTE ]
Seems to me that the "customer service person" at a site is in the same boat as a dealer in a B&M--lots of stress and abuse--but without the tips. Probably the abuse is a lot worse online since the cowardly abusers are in no danger of getting their teeth knocked out.

I genuinely believe that all the customer service people are decent people trying to do a decent job under very difficult, confusing, and stressful conditions. Think about it--at peak times there are 50,000 players online at once on Party skins alone--can you imagine the number of emails that come pouring in??--and what a high percentage are rude, mean, and insulting?

Many poker players (including me) act like spoiled brats when we don't get exactly what we want, exactly when we want it--and the poor CSR in India has to take our guff.

I have just sent the following email to info@(each party skin) and encourage each of you who has a little love in your heart to copy-and-paste it to YOUR sites:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++
Hello--

I just want to thank you for the good service you provide under difficult conditions.

I'm sure that I could not do as well if I were trying to do your job.

Thanks again for your patience and consideration in dealing with us.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

Please share this message of thanks and gratitude with as many of your co-workers as possible.

Merry Christmas! Regards, (your name here)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++
Thank you!! /images/graemlins/smile.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


<font color="red"> PLEASE POST THE REPLY YOU GET FROM SUPPORT, OH WAIT.. YOUR GONNA HAVE TO SEND IT AGAIN FOR A REPLY!!!!!!!!!!!! </font>

[MicroBob]

i agree to a certain extent.
Courtesy can indeed get you somewhere...although it appears that whining as much as possible gets the job done too.

The fact is, Pokerstars and Paradise both have OUTSTANDING customer support....even now that Stars is hitting well over 20k at peak hours (not sure what paradise hits).
They have consistently had great service when they had 2k during their peak (when I first started playing in Feb, 2003) all the way up to today.
(I just wish more fish played there...but I think that's beginning to happen now).


Party has had pretty mediocre service (at their best) even when they only had 30k or less at peak hours.
Yes, they get flooded with a ridiculous amount of crap....but I'm sure Stars does too. And Stars finds a way to respond to you within 5-10 minutes and frequently go far beyond answering your question.


FWIW - I sent an e-mail similar to yours to UB once. I had been trading e-mails with them for awhile on an issue that seemed pretty obvious ( as I was just repeating what THEY had told ME) but they still didn't get it.

Even though they didn't really resolve the issue I wrote to them thanking them for taking the time to look into it for me.

I then got a reply back from a different CS-rep there saying "Sorry....I don't understand your problem. Could you please write back and state what your question is?"
I thought it was kind of hilarious as I was just thanking them for handling my situation (even though they didn't) and complimenting them on the variety of promotions they had been running lately.


Same thing happened to me when I wrote to Absolute complimenting them for all of the reloads and other promotions they had been offering in order to try to attract new players.
"Keep up the good work. I'm one player that appreciates the effort your site is putting forth." etc etc.
I got a similar e-mail back asking me to please re-state my question.

Since then, I have written a couple of e-mails to absolute politely explaining my thoughts on the problems that some players (including me) have with slow-downs when playing multiple tables there.
I invited them to come to the 2+2 forums for further feedback on this issue as I'm sure their tech-team could receive some input from some players here who are having problems. These are players that, of course, might be interested in bringing more of their high-volume business to absoulte.

Twice I got no response.



I have written one complimentary e-mail to Stars....and also wrote a complimentary post on these forums when one of their reps appeared here to address an issue with disconnects of certain players throughout Texas (that did not effect me...and wasn't even Stars fault).

Both times, I received the appropriate response thanking me for my kind words.
On the forums, the CS rep said that he was going to share my post with the other CS reps.


I have certainly done my fair-share of bitching at various sites when they screw things up....so I do feel it's not too silly to point-out the times when I feel they are actually getting things right and are going in the appropriate direction.

But, on some sites, when I have tried to do this they don't even understand that I am just trying to give them a bit of friendly customer feedback.

[Izaak_Walton]

Dear xxxxxxx ,

Thank you for contacting us.

I would like to thank you for taking the time to respond and inform us of your appreciation of our work. It has and will be a pleasure assisting our players.

For any other query or assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care Department at any time. We are here 24/7 to assist you via email.

Thank you for choosing us as your online gaming site!

Reetu
Poker Customer Care
/images/graemlins/heart.gif /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[Izaak_Walton]

pmub