Petronela Kontos: "Almost every month we resolve the most complaints in the Center's history"

Petronela is leading Casino Guru's Complaint Resolution Team, and her speciality is to be the first responder. Even though she is now taking care of the whole complaints team, she still finds herself regularly replying to cases from the first line. Petronela believes in the inevitable victory of good over evil, which makes her one of the most competent people out there for solving casino-related complaints.

In this interview, Petronela reveals to us the background of the Complaint Resolution Center, which she has been a part of almost since its inception. She also explains the complaint categorization process and their resolution procedures.

Why is it important to communicate transparently with players? What is the point of dealing with player complaints? And how come the services of the Complaint Resolution Center are always free? Let's shine some light on the subject!

Q: Petronela, can you introduce us to the Complaint Resolution Center and describe how your team operates?

The Complaint Team that I am leader of has a total of 17 members, divided into so-called first responders and solvers. At this moment, the First Response Team consists of four people, including me. We are the first contact the players have with our Center and the first ones to deal with submitted complaints. Complaints reach us via the form on the Casino Guru website, which the players fill out, describing their problem in greater detail, and submit.

Our job is to publish all these complaints, ask the players for additional information regarding their problems and eventually try to come up with an adequate solution. Sometimes the complaint is resolved immediately, but when we get to a point where first responders' capacities are no longer sufficient or the assistance of the casino is needed, we move these complaints to the solvers.

Q: How is complaint handling different now compared to when you first started working for Casino Guru?

I joined Casino Guru about four years ago. In the beginning, only two people dealt with complaints, helping players via emails, which was too slow and too complicated at times. Nevertheless, they did well, and the number of complaints kept growing until the two of them simply couldn't keep up with the demand for our services. As a result, the Complaint Resolution Center was established in the fall of 2019. Our two colleagues were joined by four other people, myself included, and all of us did everything. That is, the entire process from the admission and publication of the complaint to its closure. As the number of complaints started to grow exponentially, our ranks had to expand as well. That's how the First Response Team was created.

Q: What skills or abilities does a person need to become part of the Complaint Team?

I must admit that I steal people from the Data Team – we work shoulder to shoulder on a daily basis, which gives me a terrific opportunity to observe my colleagues. When I see that someone from the Data Team manages all the processes and would like to try complaints as the next step, I usually lure them into joining me in the Complaint Team [laughter].

As for some skills, advanced English is a must, since communication with players, all argumentation and problem solving is done in English. In addition, one must be prepared to really work hard. Complaints are an unstoppable force, and even when people in my team travel on vacation, they travel with their work laptops. So, I would summarize it like this: willingness, flexibility and solid English are the basis of everyone in the Complaint Resolution Center.

Q: How do you remember your beginnings? Would you go back to the days when there was less work?

Not really. I enjoy breaking records – almost every month we have the most resolved complaints in the Center's history. I am immensely proud of my team, because in addition to being smart and passionate, each one of them has great individuality and expertise. Some focus on self-exclusion complaints, others on complaints related to multiple accounts. Everyone has their own style of communicating and negotiating, and it fascinates me how we are persistently improving, how our numbers are growing and how, at the same time, we manage to grow with them.

Q: How did you initially get to work for Casino Guru?

I used to work in brick-and-mortar casinos. From being a croupier and an inspector to being a casino host – I tried all the jobs possible in casinos from all around the world. I started in the Czech Republic, then moved to the UK and spent five and a half years on transatlantic ships. When I finally settled down in 2016, my gambling career had already lasted 12 years.

A couple of years later, I was looking for a new job and a simple ad led me to an interview at Casino Guru. My future colleagues called me the very next day, informing me that I had passed all the necessary tests. In the second round it became clear that I was ready to join the team. I am extremely grateful I made the decision to join Casino Guru, because I found out that the most wonderful people from all over the world work in this company. For me personally, this job is a dream come true.

Q: What charmed you about working in the gambling industry that you stayed in for more than 12 years?

As a croupier, I could travel worldwide. Thanks to working on transatlantic ships, I went to places I've never even dreamed of before. I was accompanied by remarkable people of different nationalities – that was wonderful. At Casino Guru, it's honestly once again about the people. The company culture is remarkable, and I couldn't have asked for a better team. Also, in my line of work, I feel like I'm helping a specific person and I love the satisfying feeling after a job well done. For example, we managed to solve a complaint worth 250,000 euros, which was, at the time, the highest value we had helped a player to get back. I felt as good about it as if the money were mine.

Q: What problems do players most often contact the Complaint Resolution Center with?

About one-third of all complaints we receive are related to delayed payments – that is, players have submitted a withdrawal request and the money has not yet arrived. Another wide area is account verification, i.e., when the player for some reason fails to verify his identity in the casino. We often deal with loss of deposits, multiple accounts, bonus terms complaints and many others.

Q: What complaints are the most complicated to resolve?

Multiple accounts and responsible gambling cases are always the most complex. We often deal with unclear bonus conditions as well, when even the casinos themselves do not have clearly defined rules in their terms and conditions. As a tradition, we meet every Wednesday, sit down, and solve the most difficult cases. We follow the principle of more heads being better than one.

Q: When do you consider the complaint resolved?

Before we mark a complaint as resolved, we always require confirmation from the player that their problem has indeed been resolved. We never close complaints as resolved when we only have an assumption, although our assumptions are 99% correct. Rejected complaints are those in which we find that the error is on the player's side, or the player stops responding to us. Unresolved complaints mostly occur when the casino doesn't cooperate or stops communicating with us altogether. There are currently 23 such casinos on our list.

Q: How does a casino get on this list?

A casino obtains the so-called No Reaction Policy mark in Casino Guru when it has received more than 15 complaints to which it has not responded at all. We close such complaints as unresolved already at the first response phase, since it's impossible to negotiate with these casinos, as they absolutely ignore all complaints. Casinos receive black points for such behavior, which lowers their reputation rating.

Q: Is it possible to reach the Complaint Resolution Center by phone or e-mail?

Not at all by phone, and I hope it never comes to that [laughter]. There would have to be even more of us, and operationally it would be much more demanding and exhausting. However, sometimes players connect with us via e-mail, since every published complaint includes contact details of either someone from the first response or solvers team. We still encourage players to visit our site and file an official complaint.

Q: Why is it necessary to report a complaint through the Casino Guru website?

This is partly because we can have all complaints registered and draw hard data from them – our experience and know-how are then used in other Casino Guru projects, such as Gamtegrity or Casino Guru Academy.The second reason is that the complaints we deal with are visible and accessible to other players, or basically anyone who visits our website. We communicate transparently and consistently, which gives us bigger negotiating leverage against casinos. If we exchanged emails among ourselves and no one else would know about them, it wouldn't make much sense.

Q: You recently achieved another milestone, namely 6,000 resolved complaints – soon to be 7000. What is behind this success?

We passed the turning point of 5,000 complaints sometime in November, and I have to say that each new thousand is faster than the previous one. It's incredible how the numbers are constantly going up. Compared to 2020, in 2021 we had a 34.6% increase in published complaints, and the following year it was almost a 72% increase. In total, we published about 21,000 complaints, and we have currently managed to solve about 6,600 of them. To be perfectly honest, it involved many hours and a lot of effort. In the best sense of the word, I am afraid of what awaits us in 2023. Think about how many people I will have to steal from the Data Team! [laughter]

Q: Why is solving player complaints such an important part of Casino Guru?

First of all, we do what we do for free, and we want it to stay that way forever. It is important for us that all players can afford our assistance. In addition, through us resolving complaints, casinos learn what Casino Guru considers fair. We have a Fair Gambling Codex, and we award black points to casinos for non-compliance with the rules.

I truly believe that overall, we are contributing to a safer, fairer, and more sustainable online gambling industry, pushing casinos to make their system accessible and user-friendly. As I already mentioned, our team also works closely with the Data Team and the Affiliate Team, and we advance our insights through projects such as the Casino Guru Academy or the Global Self-exclusion Initiative. In the end, we help the players as well as the industry, and learn a lot along the way.

This interview is part of Casino Guru Insiders, a series of interviews during which experts from Casino Guru share their unique workflow, reveal insider information, and offer an exclusive overview of experience-packed know-how.