New Party Bonus Rule

[JerseyTom]

I too was denied the bonus due to this new rule. I had made a "matter-of-course" withdrawal a couple of days before I even heard about this bonus.

While I don't necessarily have a problem with the rule, I found it aggravating that there was no mention on their web page of the start date for this particular "Bonus period" (other bonuses have generally had definitive start and end times). When will the "Bonus period" for BONUSJULY begin? Today? June 18th at 12:23? July 1 at 00:00? Should I not make any withdrawls from Party in the near-term?

I think I'm going to follow the advice of many in this thread and keep after them.


Tom

[wbrumfiel]

If my post came off as a "screw your customer base" post it wasnt meant to. Im just stating who it hurts the most. Stars does the exact same thing and most 2+2ers have enough BR (not at stars) to handle this. Its nothing new in the online poker business, just new to the Party network. Im not worried as I dont keep a lot of money in party in non-bonus times.

Edit: I wonder one thing, maybe someone else did it and knows. If you cash out using Empire or other skin during the promotion does it affect this bonus? Since they all use the same payment system I was wondering if it affected it at all.

[Exsubmariner]

Good luck, looks like vagury is the new weapon of choice for fleecing the masses. If you don't know the start date, what are the chances that the CS people are going to? How many of them will be fired for violating policy by giving you a bonus when you made a "bonus period" withdrawal? How long before the rest stop caring? I've got it... why not deny anyone who has ever made a withdrawal at party a bonus?

[Exsubmariner]

Coming soon to a skin near you....
The Big Brother Bonus Cops.
Oh wait, it's against their policy to have an account on more than one skin.
God, this attitude on their part is really annoying the hell out me.... sorry so gruff. Time to stop thinking about Potty and go do something else...

[BruinEric]

This rule is clearly spelled out in the promo T&Cs and I pointed it out in a thread on the last Party bonus. So this should come as no surprise.

Some of the value to a poker site in offering a bonus is that not all players reload/withdraw with the speedy service that Neteller gives. Some send money from their checking accounts, use the phone-card-method, or use a credit card. And then some cash out by getting checks.

I'm sure there are many players who very infrequently withdraw and probably play through most or all of their deposit. So a big benefit to Party are those players who deposit $500 for the bonus and play through far more than the 1050 hands with it.

Clearly the purpose of the bonus is not to reward players for taking an existing bankroll on the system and doing a cashout/re-deposit, but to reward players bringing what might reasonably be presumed to be "new money" into the system. Furthermore the cashout/re-deposit method costs Party money in neteller fees. I think it entirely resonable that they restrict this. I am certain that Absolute Poker restricts this as well.

What we must understand is that the average Bonus Chaser is not PartyPoker's "ideal customer." I don't believe Bonus Chasers are BAD for PartyPoker, but they are certainly not in the perfect demographic.

It seems that Bonus Chasers and grinders are totally welcomed at PartyPoker, and I think that is entirely reasonable within the context of how gambling and casinos treat "advantage play" customers.

There are plenty of things Party could do like regular casinos if they didn't like Bonus Chasers. They could offer account specific comps (ie bonuses) only to losing players. Or they could do promos only targeting big $$$ playthrough players for example by requiring bonus clearing on high-limit tables.

If you don't have the bankroll to take full advantage of this bonus, just work hard to build one and save it in Neteller for next time.

[Exsubmariner]

It's not an issue of not having the bankroll to take advantage of the bonus....
Put yourself in the shoes of the average play through player, though. Say you have a poker budget of $500 a month that you regularly play through. Until now, you have been able to take that money out, redeposit and get yourself some more gas mileage. Now, you are suddenly told that you can't do that. What's more, Party seems to randomly give out new bonus codes. So, there's no way to predict when the bonus will be. Message is clear - Party want's to give as few bonus' to players (any players not just BW's and winning players) as possible. This has a tendency to alienate the clients. I know what they were intending, but once again I think they missed the mark in the translation to action. Any policy that discourages action is bad for business.
I think we are seeing a shift towards the type of policies employed by casinos. The evidence may prove me wrong in the future, but things are certainly pointing that way.
X

[J_B]

Keep the minimum you want to play with in your account at the end of the month. For a .5/1 player, maybe 100, for 1/2 200 and so on.

But yeh, this sucks for the recreational players.

[cold_cash]

I withdrew a few hundred from my account during the bonus period before I realized it would disqualify me for the bonus.

I called phone support and the guy told me, in not so many words, that I was screwed.

I also sent them an email but haven't heard anything back yet. Maybe something good will come of that.

[Grinder]

My policy is not to play Party Bingo unless there is a bonus and 1 minute and 30 seconds after reciving my bonus i cash out all but the pennies.