STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

Before I come off as a crazy loon here, I've been a lurker for a while and I post at other Poker sites.

Anyway....

So, on the website they have a special. Get 150% bonus up to $150 for 1500 POP. I signed up yesterday and didn't even bother to look at it until today. Well, I looked at my bonus history and it was showing 2700. That's odd, it should only be 1500 So I talked to live chat. Here is a summary of what I said between myself and the CSR:

ristina: Welcome to Client Services, how can I help you?
you: hello
you: i just recently signed up for the poker site and made a deposit
cristina: Can I have your username and password please?
you: sure
you: xxxxx
you: xxxxxxx
cristina: One moment please.
you: in the bonus history, it states i need 2700 POP to clear the bonus
you: the $150 initial deposit one
you: that doesn't seem correct in my bonus history
cristina: One moment please.
you: thank you
you: are you still there?
cristina: Sir you are one of our lucky customers you see our regular bonus is of 150%, meaning you must reach 1500 pop points, but you got one lucky wild card in our poker room you have to reach 2700 pop points
cristina: you will get back $225 instead of the 150
cristina: good luck!!!
you: what if i don't want to do that?
you: i'd prefer the 1500 POP for $150
cristina: as soon as you hit 2700 poppoints it will setup automatically.
you: you aren't understanding me, if i only wish to do the $150 deal for 1500 POP
you: will i get the $150 immediately upon completeion 1500 POP
cristina: Sir many player die for receiving more money through poker!!
you: umm, i understand that. however, if i wanted extra. i'd do this deal and then do the reload bonus
you: i'd prefer the 1500 pop for $150
cristina: One moment please.
you: thank you
cristina: Sir you can call the poker manager Jack at 1-866-238-999 extension 2120
cristina: he will be waiting for your call.
you: i guess. i'm not sure why I need to, but that's fine
cristina: he needs to talk to you
cristina: but thank you for your time!!!
you: wow. ok. not very helpful.



So, I go back to the T&C to just make sure I didn't screw up. Here's what their site says:

150% Sign up Bonus!
Increase your betting power by an incredible 150% up to $150 when you open a new account with Ninepoker.com. Simply make your initial deposit directly into the poker room and you will instantly receive 150% Bonus!



Ok, so I call this Jack guy. Well he's talking to me. I'm telling him I don't want that bonus, only the one I had signed up for. He says he can't do that. Then he hangs up on me.

Ok, second go around. I call him back. Tell him I didn't sign up for this extra stuff, and I want my $150 for 1500 POP. He tells me it can't be done. Once the bonus is entered into the computer, it's done. They claim that the bonus switched, and it "must have occured as I was signing up" I tell him that they are "baiting and switching" me on this deal, since I see the website now and it's exactly the same as it was when I signed up. He says he can't do anything to help me and that I should be gracious to accept extra money from them. I continue to argue with him, and he continues to maintain they did nothing wrong. I asked to speak to a supervisor. He says he is and won't connect me to anyone else. I hung up on him. I was sick of dealing with him and the [censored] lies he was giving me.

Basically, they bait you in with one deal and give you something else that you didn't sign up for. They are unwilling to work with me on this issue, claiming they are doing me a favor by increasing the bonus amount, but it's just making me have to play longer there for more rake in their pockets.

Stay away from these shady assholes. They are cheaters and liars.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

What a bunch of morans. Whore the other skins instead.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

The best part is the "one lucky wild card" that makes you play more. LUCKY YOU!

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

I think the best line that sums up the entire ordeal is this: Sir many player die for receiving more money through poker!!

Hahahaha

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

[ QUOTE ]
ristina: Welcome to Client Services, how can I help you?
you: hello
you: i just recently signed up for the poker site and made a deposit
cristina: Can I have your username and password please?
you: sure
you: xxxxx
you: xxxxxxx
cristina: One moment please.
you: in the bonus history, it states i need 2700 POP to clear the bonus
you: the $150 initial deposit one
you: that doesn't seem correct in my bonus history
cristina: One moment please.
you: thank you
you: are you still there?
cristina: Sir you are one of our lucky customers you see our regular bonus is of 150%, meaning you must reach 1500 pop points, but you got one lucky wild card in our poker room you have to reach 2700 pop points
cristina: you will get back $225 instead of the 150
cristina: good luck!!!
you: what if i don't want to do that?
you: i'd prefer the 1500 POP for $150
cristina: as soon as you hit 2700 poppoints it will setup automatically.
you: you aren't understanding me, if i only wish to do the $150 deal for 1500 POP
you: will i get the $150 immediately upon completeion 1500 POP
cristina: Sir all your base are belong to us!!
you: umm, i understand that. however, if i wanted extra. i'd do this deal and then do the reload bonus
you: i'd prefer the 1500 pop for $150
cristina: One moment please.
you: thank you
cristina: Sir you can call the poker manager Jack at 1-866-238-999 extension 2120
cristina: he will be waiting for your call.
you: i guess. i'm not sure why I need to, but that's fine
cristina: he needs to talk to you
cristina: but thank you for your time!!!
you: wow. ok. not very helpful.




[/ QUOTE ]

My first FYP

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

NH

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

WAAAAAA! they gave me more money...

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

[ QUOTE ]
WAAAAAA! they gave me more money...

[/ QUOTE ]

Sometimes people don't want a bigger bonus than what they've already signed up for. In fact, sometimes people DON'T max out bonuses.

Why?

I am assuming in this case (because it wouldn't be a problem if it was released in increments), the entire bonus is released in one chunk, once all the play requirements are met. Well, a bigger bonus requires that the OP play more at the site. There's a chance that the OP might lose more money between the 1500 POP (I assume these are the site's "points") and the 2700 POP than he receives in additional bonus. So what did the extra bonus money accomplish then? Nothing except losing the OP money and giving the site more rake.

Or, the OP might be a low stakes player and this bonus is tough to earn at low stakes, so an extra $120 would take a long time.

One site I see people not maxing out bonuses because of these potential scenarios is PokerRoom.com. In fact, when I first signed up for PR, I was only playing .5/1 fixed limit and $5 S&G's, which made it very hard to earn the max bonus. I cashed out before I received it. In a case like this, it's better to deposit an amount that would give you a bonus that you are comfortable earning.

I see no problems at all with the OP's complaints.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

[ QUOTE ]
WAAAAAA! they gave me more money...

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha.

First and foremost, it has nothing to do with the bonus amount. It has EVERYTHING to do with principle. I signed up for a specific promotion, and they switched it on me. That's lying and cheating. If you don't understand that, then, well I'm sorry for you.

Second, going from 1500 POP to 2700 pop is a huge jump. Let's think about this. 3000 POP should be $300, right? Essentially their bonus is taking it from being 10 POP per $1 of bonus increment to 12 POP per $1 increment. If they gave me 2250, then I'd be a little less angry, but still pissed off about them lying and switching. Now, I have to clear a bonus that is more difficult due to the raised POP requirement.

Third, they haven't given me [censored] yet. Maybe you can't read but the money isn't instantaneous. I have to play through to get the bonus in one lump sum. So, instead of doing an easy 1500, I need to do almost double that.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

No, they didn't. They made it harder for him to clear his bonus and increased his chance that he would bust first. What's to stop them from "extending" the bonus again? What Cristina meant to say is, "Sir, many people die before receiving more money through our bonus scheme."

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

Support does suck but you wont find a better bonus to clear at 2/4 and up. Even this larger bonus will clear like water at small stakes. I clear about 3 of these a week. Game selection is horrible though.

Weird about the bonus thing though. They propbably can't change it, I dont see why they'd throw a fit about it if they could.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

This sucks for you and clearly they could be a little more upfront about things, but it isn't quite as insidious a business practice as you're making it out to be. You can still pull your money out and decide not to play there at all right?

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

This is why I like the Ultimatebet bonus. After each session they give you the portion of the bonus that you have earned so if you never play enough to unlock the whole thing, you at least get some of it.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

I'd disagree. When their own website lists the bonus and you sign up in good faith assuming that's what you'll get, and you don't, that's shady.

In response to an email I sent them, I got this today.

Funny what a little unwanted press will do for a place. Got this email today:

Dear Christopher,

I received a note from Thomas Mathiesen regarding an issue you experienced yesterday with our sign up bonus. I want to apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced due to this bonus issue.

I was aware of this issue when you spoke to Jack T. Burton, the Poker Customer Service Supervisor, however I was informed that the issue was under control and that you agreed to play the assigned bonus. I assure you that I am not looking to get more money out of your bonus, nor I want to force to play more than what you need to redeem your bonus. That's why I sent out a request today to the data base manager to relocate your bonus and set the correct amount. This may take a couple of days as it is not a simple process and it has to be added to the data base schedule, but I will make sure to get it done this week. In the mean time Christopher, you can continue playing and earning POP points towards your $150 bonus. Remember that you need to achieve 1800 POP points and not 1500, as we changed the settings about 1 week ago.

Finally Christopher, let me explain to you why this happened as I feel you have the right to know. As I mentioned above, we recently changed our bonus configuration and it seems that a bug was created causing that your deposit exceeded the limit established on the system; the result was that on $200 deposits it was giving 150% on $150 deposit which was around $225 in bonus. Fortunately this issue was fixed this morning, so you shouldn't see anymore of this issues happening again.

I appreciate your time and patience Christopher, and I hope to keep
seeing you at the tables.

Best regards,

Jeremy Taylor
Product Manager


So, they are going to honor what I signed up for, albiet slightly different (12 POP instead of 10 POP). I'm satisfied with this resolution for the most part. However, I didn't and still don't appreciate the customer service essentially lying to me about the situation on two different occasions.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

So your going to play there after all these shady business practices?????

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

I never said I was. I was simply posting what their response was. I am still undecided if I should continue or not.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

When ever stuff like this happens and you have someone of authority on the phone, always mention you post at 2plus2 and all the other poker forums and that you will be posting threads such as this one. It usually does not do much, but from what I understand, Pnine, is a new site, and these sites lose alot of buisiness from bad PR. I for one will not bother with them.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

I signed up at Nine a while ago. I deposited $200. My pending $150 bonus never showed up. I called them and got

"I'm sorry sir, but you have to deposit $150 to receive the bonus, and you deposited $200."



btw..
cristina: Sir many player die for receiving more money through poker!! LOL did she say it exactly like that ?

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

[ QUOTE ]

"I'm sorry sir, but you have to deposit $150 to receive the bonus, and you deposited $200."

[/ QUOTE ]

Classic.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

[ QUOTE ]
I never said I was. I was simply posting what their response was. I am still undecided if I should continue or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't. And I would advise no one else do it either. Their customer service representative FLAT OUT LIED to you about why you got the extra money (wild card my ass), and then the manager told you it was a bug, not some lucky wild card. I would not trust my money in a site this shady, I'd get it out immediately. Cust. Support at sites like Party Poker may be ridiculously incompetent and stupid, but I've never caught one in a lie like this before.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

It is also a bad sign that it was not possible for non-US players to sign up in the beginning due to them requesting a phone number in a US format. It was a bug probably, but it is a witness of a non-customer related organisation.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

[ QUOTE ]

Cust. Support at sites like Party Poker may be ridiculously incompetent and stupid, but I've never caught one in a lie like this before.

[/ QUOTE ]


"Your VIP bonus is being worked on right now and you will receive it in a couple days."

"If you play less than the target amount of your November goal you will be paid proportionally. For example, if you play 75% of the target number of hands, you will be paid 75% of the goal."


these are two lies (and really bad errors) I have caught Party in.

The second one was probably just a C/S rep giving incorrect information and possibly not knowing any better (and/or possibly the boss finding out about this and then saying "no way...we're not going to do that!!")

the first one though was a blatant lie.
Many VIP members were specifically told that their December bonus was currently being put together.....when this clearly wasn't happening at all.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

[ QUOTE ]

btw..
cristina: Sir many player die for receiving more money through poker!! LOL did she say it exactly like that ?

[/ QUOTE ]

That is the chat log, verbatim.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

Yeah...that chat is pretty funny.

And I don't blame the poster for being a bit ticked at this site.

I would still be ticked for changing the bonus-clearing requirements.

If they had changed the software...then they shouldn't have left the old info up on their website.


And I would continue to complain about the treatment I received from that other guy. I mean...he freaking hung-up the phone on you?? Really??
That's pretty bad.

Re: STAY AWAY from 9 poker....
 

I can confirm that they had a glitch in their poker bonus system. I deposited $500 for the 25% reload. Instead of giving me $125 pending in bonus, it gave me $31.25 (25% of $125) in pending bonus.

The bonus system at all action gaming skins is somewhat new and there have been some serious growing pains. Nonetheless, I will continue to play as long as the players there are as bad as the ones at pacific poker.