Pokerstars freeroll prizes: can they do whatever they want??

[jojobinks]

a few weeks ago i finished 18th in the P* blogger championship freeroll and won a 4GB Ipod Nano. woohoo! when it came in the mail, i was a little bummed b/c they sent me a 20GB Ipod.

i'm not crying, please don't chastise me.

here's the question, though. I wanted a nano. i won a nano. they sent me a less expensive, older model.

questions:
1) can they change whatever prizes they want b/c it was a freeroll?
2) can i press the issue? how?
3) has anyone else had an experience like this? if so, how did it work out?

[TylerD]

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questions:
1) can they change whatever prizes they want b/c it was a freeroll?

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Yes

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2) can i press the issue? how?

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Yes, email them. Stars support is the best in the business, it may be a simple mistake, see what they say.

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3) has anyone else had an experience like this? if so, how did it work out?

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No

I think this is worthy of a Stars boycott! Their software and interface sucks anyway

BTW, they can do whatever the [censored] they want, including on real buy in tournaments. They're just a few netgeeks running an internet server outside of most legal jurisdictions. Your only recourse is

a) Whine
b) Take them to court

The first option is infinitely more satisfying.

[Sniper]

Did you try emailing support before posting this here?

Let us know what they have to say!

[theben]

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Yes, email them. Stars support is the best in the business, it may be a simple mistake, see what they say.


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stars has great support. if any support team will help you, it'll be them

[Lee Jones]

Hi Jojo -

I am very sorry for the mistake here. We did, indeed, promise you an iPod Nano (assuming that you finished in one of the winning positions in the blogger tournament). Please keep the one that you received boxed up - you are going to get a Nano. I'm just learning about this, so it may take some time, but we'll get it straightened out.

Again, I apologize for the problem.

Best regards,
Lee Jones

PokerStars Poker Room Manager

P.S. As others have said, it really is faster and more efficient to write support@pokerstars.com directly. Had you done so, that email would have been in my hands in a matter of minutes.

[2+2 wannabe]

well done Mr. Jones

I have NO IDEA why people post here before they actually contact the poker room itself /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[tubalkain]

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I think this is worthy of a Stars boycott! Their software and interface sucks anyway

BTW, they can do whatever the [censored] they want, including on real buy in tournaments. They're just a few netgeeks running an internet server outside of most legal jurisdictions. Your only recourse is

a) Whine
b) Take them to court

The first option is infinitely more satisfying.

[/ QUOTE ]

Shut the [censored] up.

[teddyFBI]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Jojo -

I am very sorry for the mistake here. We did, indeed, promise you an iPod Nano (assuming that you finished in one of the winning positions in the blogger tournament). Please keep the one that you received boxed up - you are going to get a Nano. I'm just learning about this, so it may take some time, but we'll get it straightened out.

Again, I apologize for the problem.

Best regards,
Lee Jones

PokerStars Poker Room Manager

P.S. As others have said, it really is faster and more efficient to write support@pokerstars.com directly. Had you done so, that email would have been in my hands in a matter of minutes.

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JoJo and Lee Jones:

I am in exactly the same situation -- I won what was supposed to be a Nano, but received the big fat 20GB iPod in the mail yesterday. I was kinda pissed too, because I had already bought all the accessories and docking station in anticipation of receiving the Nano.

I emailed support yesterday (the blogtour@stars email addy) but haven't heard back yet.

What I did was take it to the Apple Store that's actually a few doors down from my apartment -- I was initially happy because the friendly folks there said that they would let me exchange it there. But then came the big surprise. I took the iPod box down there and the clerk examined it and said that it had been opened already (not be me, to be sure), since the cellophane wrapper was missing. He also looked up the player's serial # in the Apple database and informed me that it had already been opened, and possibly used (he couldn't tell for sure, because it had been reset to the factory settings, but he made it clear that they couldn't resell it as a new unit. At the very least, I would have hoped that Stars would have sent me a new / unopened unit!

As for the end result, the Apple Store agreed to give me a $200 store credit (the 20GB iPod stars sent me retailed for $250 new). I told them screw it, I'll take it the Nano for which I had to pay the $75 price difference, since i had already bought the accessories for it. So I'm out around $75 thanks to the Stars mixup, plus a lot of my time.

I hate to look a gift-horse in the mouth, but fact is that i DID manage to finish in the top 30 out of 1450 in that freeroll, so I'm not thrilled I didn't get the prize advertised and I'm "out" $75. Anyway, it sounds like Lee is at least on top of this, so maybe I'll get a satisfactory resolution from the support team once I hear back.

[FlyWf]

Why in God's name would you do all that before hearing back from Stars? If you tried to buy an Ipod from Apple's store and they sent you the wrong one what would you do? Pawn it?
You got it YESTERDAY. You were materially harmed by an error by Stars and there is a very obvious solution(mail back the 20GB to Stars, get Nano from there).

The saleslady at the Apple store better have been smoking hot.

[2+2 wannabe]

no offense but that is pretty dumb

[teddyFBI]

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Why in God's name would you do all that before hearing back from Stars? If you tried to buy an Ipod from Apple's store and they sent you the wrong one what would you do? Pawn it?
You got it YESTERDAY. You were materially harmed by an error by Stars and there is a very obvious solution(mail back the 20GB to Stars, get Nano from there).

The saleslady at the Apple store better have been smoking hot.

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The iPod had taken nearly 4 weeks to get to me from Stars, and then turned out to be an opened / possibly refurbished model -- I sure wasn't going to put everything on hold again and wait for them to get their ducks in a row. Only around 50% of my emails to them about the prize had been returned. At this point, I had gotten frustrated to the point that I finally decided to take things into my own hands. If Stars decides they want to provide some kind of restitution to me, terrific. If not, well that's a risk I took when I made the decision to take the Nano exchange offer from the store, -$75.

[jojobinks]

Mr. Jones:
Thanks for the reply. I replied to the e-mail from which i had recieved email about the ipod, which is blogtour@P*.com.
That was friday, and i haven't heard back yet. when i tried contacting the general support email shortly after the tourny was over (but before i had recieved contact from P*), i was told that general support could not help me.

the ipod is still boxed up, and i'll wait.

I think the important unexplained question here is why would someone get upset about receiving a bigger, better prize?

[teddyFBI]

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I think the important unexplained question here is why would someone get upset about receiving a bigger, better prize?

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You are wrong. Nano > regular 20GB iPod.

In Stars' defense, they both retail for $249, so it's technically a substitution of an item of equal value. But I had already bought a bunch of Nano accessories and docking station in anticipation of receiving the Nano. Coolness factor also overwhelmingly favors the Nano.

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You are wrong. Nano > regular 20GB iPod.

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How so?

[TylerD]

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Coolness factor also overwhelmingly favors the Nano.


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[Marc H]

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Coolness factor also overwhelmingly favors the Nano.

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5x song capacity overwhelmingly favors the "classic" iPod!

I also love the poster who complained about the "big fat" iPod. It's the size of a pack of cigarettes fer Crissake!

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Coolness factor also overwhelmingly favors the Nano.

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5x song capacity overwhelmingly favors the "classic" iPod!

I also love the poster who complained about the "big fat" iPod. It's the size of a pack of cigarettes fer Crissake!

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What he said.

My 60 gig is smaller than a pack of cigarrettes and so light I don't even notice it. Unless you're planning on hanging it from a nose piercing, it isn't too heavy. I also have about thirteen gig on it and it's not enough.

[2+2 wannabe]

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Coolness factor also overwhelmingly favors the Nano.


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it's not really close either

[teddyFBI]

Follow-up to the issue:

They recently emailed all Nano winners with an absolutely outstanding reconciliation offer...long story short, they'll replace it with the right model and give us a nice $75 credit to our account.

Stars once again comes out with the best CS in the industry.

[TylerD]

i was gonna say "amazing" but actually this is almost to be expected from Stars.

[jojobinks]

yes, i got the email too. good peeps, over at P*.