Pokerstars Response

[Exitonly]

Hello Ray ,

Thank you for your email.

We did record a small but noticeable number of players experiencing a
short term disconnection problem. However, this problem seems to have
been a basic internet problem rather than a problem with our site, as
the vast majority of players remained connected without any sort of
problem.

The problem does seem to have subsided now; please try once again to
connect; note that it may take slightly longer than normal, so please
give it a minute and it should connect. If it does not connect, please
close the PokerStars software and try to reconnect, as this may help.


Regards,

Anna
PokerStars Support Team




---
No refund for me /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[Exitonly]

Hello Ray Coburn,

Thank you for your email.

We did record a small but noticeable number of players experiencing a
short term disconnection problem. However, this problem seems to have
been a basic internet problem rather than a problem with our site, as
the vast majority of players remained connected without any sort of
problem.

The problem does seem to have subsided now; please try once again to
connect; note that it may take slightly longer than normal, so please
give it a minute and it should connect. If it does not connect, please
close the PokerStars software and try to reconnect, as this may help.


Regards,

Anna
PokerStars Support Team

[Steve Giufre]

I was just heads up in first level of double shootout with 4-1 chip lead and got blinded off. I just emailed them, and I really hope they dont send me the same response they sent you.

[C-Dog]

It wasn't their fault, should they refund everyone when parts of the internet go down?

C-Dog

[Exitonly]

I think it has to do with server location (this could be Waaaaaaaaaaay off base) so they could be party responsible.


What they should do, probably is cancel the tournaments that were started.

The $3 one guy abused the disconnects to make his stack go from 250k to 2million on the buble of the FT.

Somesthing has to be done.

[AtlBrvs4Life]

Yea I was above avg in the 45k on Stars with 60 left. Been disconnected about 10 minutes now.

[ZBTHorton]

This may sound simplistic to you guys, but I'd sure as hell find someone to play for me. I've done it before, and you may be losing thousands of dollars by just hoping it comes back up.

[OrcaDK]

[ QUOTE ]
I think it has to do with server location (this could be Waaaaaaaaaaay off base) so they could be party responsible.


What they should do, probably is cancel the tournaments that were started.

The $3 one guy abused the disconnects to make his stack go from 250k to 2million on the buble of the FT.

Somesthing has to be done.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it is server based, but no way in hell does that make them responsible. Sure enough, were the servers placed somewhere else, you might've avoided the problem, but what about when something goes wrong at that area (something out of PS's hands), should PS then again be blamed, since they could've just placed their servers somewhere else?

[Exitonly]

Well they could have backup servers in other locations to prevent from somethign like this.


but i think my main concern is that they didnt cancel them as soon s this happened...Cancel all tournaments and refund prizemoney to the entrants still in according to whatever policy they had set up.

[AtlBrvs4Life]

Only problem is the only people I know that could play for me right now and are awake are having identical problems.

[Steve Giufre]

[ QUOTE ]
It wasn't their fault, should they refund everyone when parts of the internet go down?

C-Dog

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I wasnt aware it wasnt specific to their site. I guess there isnt much they can do.

[Exitonly]

Hello Ray Coburn,

Thank you for your email.

We did record a small but noticeable number of players experiencing a
short term disconnection problem. However, this problem seems to have
been a problem with one particular major internet backbone ("Level 3")
rather than a problem with our site, as the vast majority of players
remained connected without any sort of problem.

You can see further evidence of this problem at the following site:

http://scoreboard.keynote.com/scoreboard/Main.aspx?
Login=Y&Username=public&Password=public

As you can see, the full Level3 backbone is in critical status, causing
this problem. This link may be outdated by 5 am ET -- it is a current
picture of the Internet's major backbones. As of 3 am Eastern, it
shows Level3 with well under 10% connectivity.

The problem does seem to have subsided now but is flaring up from time
to time; you may wish to wait until the problems are fixed on a more
permanent basis before attempting further tournament play.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this outage. We can
assure you that this situation in no way represents normal operations
at PokerStars.

If you were in a tournament at the time of the downage and did not
complete the tournament, please e-mail us with the subject line:

"REFUND: Txxxxxx, $a+b buy-in, USERID"

...where "xxxxxx" is the Tournament ID, "a+b" is the buy-in of the
tournament (for example, $20+2), and "USERID" is your PokerStars User
ID.

Please be sure to replace "xxxxxx" and "a+b" with the actual
tournament number and buy-in for fastest service (though all refunds
may take 24-48 hours to be issued).


Regards,

Anna
PokerStars Support Team

[Sniper]

From my post to pokerstars support... nice!

Your welcome Anna /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[MicroBob]

This is extremely classy of Stars and is pretty much just a PR move.

They will lose money on this....as those who were left to play in the tourneys most certainly got the full prize-pool, while those who got disconnected are apparently going to get refunds (although maybe they'll give partial refunds to short-stacks, etc).


While the situation isn't Stars' fault I think they could implement a policy something lik if 30% or more of their players disconnected then the tourney will be delayed until they can return. And if they can't return then it is cancelled and the refund is given out.



In other amusing news....Empire and Euro both put up bulletins that they will be having a scheduled maintenance from 4:45 - 6:45.
It's right there in their lobby and was posted up there at around 2:30 or so I believe.


Yet they continued to take sign-ups for their 4:00 and 5:00 tourneys (the 4:00 one is running right now) and are also still taking sign-ups for brand new SNG's.

So it would appear that they will be handing out a LOT of refunds because they are too stupid to cut-off the tourneys before the maintenance...and their players are too stupid to not sign-up when it says right there in the lobby that they will be shutting down in 15 minutes.

[2easy]

actually, i think this is yesterdays scheduled maintainance that you are seeing referred to.

still, it doesnt speak well of their competency.

[Ro-me-ro]

Well normally we would pause or cancel the tourneys, but this problem was only affecting about 10% of players. What can we do? Inconvenience 90% of players or make right with the remaining 10% after the fact.

It wasn't my call, but that's food for thought anyway.

Okay refunds are calling, gl all /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Ellis

[Arnfinn Madsen]

They can't in any way be blamed and I think nobody should expect a refund. Their servers were physically accessible all the time via the internet. The reason somebody could not connect was that some router(s) directed packages/spread false information on routes. This is a service your pay your internet provider for and he pays other internet providers and the backbone runners for. So it is your internet provider that is responsible for you to be able to connect. Your internet provider though has probably a clause towards you that he is not responsible for damage caused by fallout.

[IndieMatty]

PokerStars is amazing.