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Your complaint is falling on deaf ears

Online poker is a tricky world. It’s predictible to a fault, and in a way that the true player can’t really do anything about. There are rampant accusations of fraud on the side of the sites themselves, but are impossible to prove and even harder to fight. This brings me to a recent post I saw on a site from a player complaining about customer service from a big-name gambling site (I won’t mention it by name). And yes, it got me thinking…

First of all, big poker sites are about the furthest thing from Sony, Panasonic or Best Buy. Not to say that those companies have the greatest of customer service departments, but there’s a reasonable expectation of attention to an issue by a customer who committed money for a product sold by said company. In the poker world, you might think you’re a “customer,” but there’s really not stake in the site putting time and effort to address a complaint that may or may not even be remotely valid.

This person e-mailed the site regarding a complaint on a hand, or a series of hands, and was irritated that he didn’t even hear anything back. Now, an auto-reply letter stating that they received the complaint, they’ll review it and they may or may not respond back would be nice, but it can’t be expected. There are hundreds of sites (reputable) and they all probably receive hundreds of complaints a day – many of which are probably rudely accusing them of being cheats to begin with. So sifting through all of that, first, is never going to happen.

But let’s say you 1) have a legitimate complaint about another player, 2) are polite and well-spoken in your letter and 3) the site actually takes the time to read it. You’re still stuck with dealing with the burden of proof. These sites know more often than not a player is just sore that he got taken for a ride and was dealt a nasty loss, or he didn’t hit the cards over a series of time that he expected, and thus it hurt his gameplay and wallet. The complaints have no merit. But on the off-chance that one did, that you really suspect another player of outright cheating – you have absolutely no way to prove it. Maybe – maybe – you complain enough times and that person’s username is “watched” for a little while. But even that takes up resources from the website and adds to their operating expense.

I’m not saying don’t complain. I’m just saying you should understand the odds are slim your complaints will be heard or acted upon. And next time you get baited into riding a hand out only to get slaughtered on the river, maybe you should examine your gameplay before you point fingers at someone else.