Springbok Casino - Player’s winnings were voided.

On the 5th of August my payout from the 4th was cancelled and my winnings void for redeeming a coupon while the payout was pending. After speaking with several consultants the issue was not resolved. I was unaware of the wrongdoing because I had on two previous occasions done a payout and continued playing. One of the consultants admitted that these three events have been an oversight of the casino’s — I have proof. Each time I have won, I have redeemed coupons with no issues. It seems to me that this issue has occurred now because of the larger amount that I won. I would like the payout to go ahead as planned on the 4th and the void of my winnings to be reversed as I would not have played if I had known this would occur. To confirm, a precedent has been set. On previous occasions my payouts have been successful after I have requested a payout and then redeemed a coupon. This should be no different.

Dear Michelle,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. Please understand, that having multiple active bonuses at the same time is prohibited in most casinos. I checked the T&Cs (https://www.springbokcasino.co.za/terms-and-conditions) and I found this:

"Players with one or more pending withdrawals currently in their account are not eligible to receive any bonuses, promotional or otherwise, until such withdrawals are either processed or cancelled. Abuse of this policy, as defined by the casino, may result in cancellation of the player's winnings"

Would you be so kind and forward all the relevant communication between you and the casino (together with proof you were talking about in your message) to kristina.s@casino.guru?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Kristina

It won’t accept your mail address. my issue is that the rule should be applied always otherwise it sets the precedent that it’s acceptable

I have recently raised further issues with the casino that has hopefully gotten the message across better. Once they reply to that- if the response is unsatisfactory I will let you in on that too. I just want to give them a fair chance to respond

Futhermore- if the bonus is not allowed why doesn’t it stop you like it does when you want to deposit

There has been no success. On their website they mention that they have the Central Dispute system (CDS) to help cases that can’t reach a happy point- well I can’t submit the form as Springbok Casino is not with them. Not in the list. No one in their call Centre knows a damn thing.

here is the last mail I sent them

I have cashed out a 3 times. 

The first two were smooth sailing. Cashed out played some coupons to keep busy. Assumed the rule didn’t apply. Did the same with my next one. Also no problem

Third one- without warning boom- gone. My 10750 disappeared. Because I broke a "rule" one that has not been a problem before. 

This is getting out of hand. I am over retelling the story and being told the cashout is declined. That’s not good enough. 

Reon one of the first I spoke to said that the other two cashouts where I redeemed coupons were and oversight. I have screenshots of this. 

I then spoke to a superior on Sunday who was first closed off and then loosened up. I explained what I did above and then also asked her about the Central Dispute System- which is mentioned on the site as a means to take matters further if you don’t come right. Well Springbok is not one of the casinos they handle disputes for even though it’s on your website. None of the customer support people even know what this is- which is weird considering they work there and us as players are expected to uphold and remember a million terms and conditions. Seems very unfair. 

So I ask, If I can’t contact them then who do I co tact to dispute the matter. 

Then the last 48 hours I have been waiting for good news as the supervisor I spoke to seemed to think a resolution could be reached. I have sent messages to customer support all day to find out when I will get answers to my issues. For the past 6 hours it’s been- "keep an eye on your inbox"

Now I spoke to Liam who told me that they still busy investigating and a few messages later says he doesn’t know what I’m waiting for though as he can see it’s been rejected. So why is my time wasted. I am very tired of this

Now I was told one was an exception then an hour later they say two exceptions were made and that I was made aware of this rule so a third can’t be done.

Thank you very much Michelle for your reply. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Matej who will be at your assistance. I wish you the best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction soon.

The casino is also now claiming they granted courtesy with the previous payout- however no one had any idea of this until I mentioned CDS so correspondence I request isn’t sent and when I ask for all the chat to be forwarded as a whole I’m told it’s against casino policy

On the 21st of July I won and cashed out, I then knew about the term that said you can’t use coupons while its pending, I tried to redeem and it worked, other times if I redeemed too many or something like that it would stop me.so when it let me Horray I could carry on playing. 3 days later the money was in my account.

A week later, same thing. Played, won, cashed, coupons coupons coupons coupons. All good fun. Few days later I got my money. So in my mind if it let me redeem the coupon no problem.

On the 4th of August I was super lucky and kept winning. I eventually cashed out at R10750. In my life this was a life changing amount. Once I cashed I claimed my daily spins and had some fun. The next day I received an email to say that my winning were voided due to playing coupons.

My concern was why now when the precedent had been set when previous cashouts were allowed.

Thus began my soul sucking experience.

One of the Consultants confirmed that the other two payouts with coupons used while they were pending were an over sight on their part, he said this after he went to check.

All say sorry, maybe you will be lucky again.

I spoke to supervisors and call centre people who said that there is no way I would have been paid out if I had a coupon pending. Then I was fed up and getting nowhere. I googled how to handle such disputes and saw this ON SPRINGBOKS WEBSITE:

Make use of the Central Dispute System - If your issue cannot be resolved with the help of the customer support team and it revolves around the payment of winnings, we advise you to make use of the onsite Central Dispute System (CDS). It’s a player-oriented payout investigation program unique to all Real Time Gaming casinos. Provided you submit your claim through the online application form within 60 days of the dispute taking place, CDS will investigate the claim on your behalf.

Awesome, I though now it can get sorted. Click on the link on their page fill in and when I submits its an error. I went to the website to try and fill in the form there but Springbok is not an option on the drop down menu. That’s fishy. I asked them about it and no one could answer, even now this question is still dodged by them.

Yesterday 12/09 they all of a sudden have record that I was granted courtesy. This is untrue.

I asked them to send transcripts on 3 ocassions, one sent a conversation between her and someone else, Liam didn’t send at all and the other was received. I last night asked for the full set of transcripts to be sent to me, I was told they could only send the current as the rest was against policy.

My main issues

1.    If it paid out twice even though I played coupons why not now. A Precedent was set.

2.    Why do much of their call centre people know nothing of CDS

3.    Why do they claim to be registered with them if they not

4.    Why are they changing stories

5.    Why do they not stop you from redeeming a coupon if you not supposed to, like it does with all the others

6.    I must remember a million different terms and conditions but thgey don’t know what CDS is.

Hello Michelle.

What happened to you is a common RTG platform problem. 

Our opinion: 

You won the money, and you were waiting for withdrawal - so technically this winnings was yours. If redeeming of coupon code void these winnings the casino should not allow doing so. 

Unfortunatelly, the casino doesn't enforce it because of the RTG platform and almost impossibility to make any changes.

Because of this, we decided to penalise cases like yours because in other (non-RTG) casinos situation like this can't happen.

It's simple: user experience matters, and I can imagine that you feel like they robbed you.

Actually they act according to their T&C's, and we can't convince them to pay you. You can complain to the Curacao Gaming Authority, but they will high likely decide in favour of the casino.

The only thing what we can do is to publish your complaint and hope that more complaints convince the RTG casinos to eighter switch to the safer platform or force RTG to make some changes.

I am very sorry, Michelle, that we can't help you more.

I will invite Springbok casino representatives into the discussion. We will see what they will write.

Thanks so much. I am also so tired of their changing stories and inability to answer me with regards to CDS

Dear Michelle,

It is understood that upon registration and before game play all players would have read and agreed to our Terms and Conditions. While we provide awesome bonuses, it is the duty of our players to ensure that these bonuses are used in such a way that will allow them to withdraw when they win. All decisions made by our payments team are final and, so unfortunately, we are unable to retract them. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with our Terms & Conditions to avoid any future mishaps.

As Kristina mentioned before:

I checked the T&Cs (https://www.springbokcasino.co.za/terms-and-conditions) and I found this:

"Players with one or more pending withdrawals currently in their account are not eligible to receive any bonuses, promotional or otherwise, until such withdrawals are either processed or cancelled. Abuse of this policy, as defined by the casino, may result in cancellation of the player's winnings"

We understand your frustration, however, an exception has been made in the past, and after investigating a bit further, we could see that you were advised about this rule by our agent Isabelle on the 22nd of July, as you can see below:

Actual Start

22/07/2020 07:56

Actual End

22/07/2020 08:04

07:56:52 Player: Hello there

07:56:57 undefined: Thank you for contacting Springbok Casino. We will be with you as soon as possible.

07:56:55 Chat was assigned to Isabelle

07:56:57 Isabelle has accepted the chat!

07:56:57 Isabelle: Hi! :) Welcome to our live chat service. My name is Isabelle and I am happy to help you today!

07:57:13 Isabelle: How are you today Michelle?

07:57:15 Player: I would just like to find out. What’s the estimated wait time

07:57:23 Player: For a wire transfer

07:57:55 Isabelle: After being processed on our end, it takes 2-3 days to reflect on the bank account Michelle 🙂

07:58:34 Isabelle: It should be processed on Friday :) once it is processed, the funds will be sent on your way

07:59:00 Visitor auto responder was reset because of sync timeout, returned after 97 seconds!

07:59:42 Player: Ok thanks. Because I can’t deposit until then

08:00:16 Isabelle: You are right, please do not deposit or redeem bonus as it is against our rules to do it with a pending payout :🙂

08:02:04 Isabelle: Are we still connected?

08:02:18 Player: Yes we are

08:02:24 Isabelle: Perfect!

08:02:24 Isabelle: May I assist you with anything else?

08:02:48 Player: So am I not to do the free daily spins either?

08:03:00 Isabelle: It is against our rules and the payout might be denied. Please wait until the payout is processed to play 🙂

08:03:16 Player: Thanks

08:03:39 Isabelle: No worries :) have a good day, please take care

08:04:14 The customer was redirected to survey!

08:04:23 Isabelle: As it seems we are no longer connected, this chat will be ended. Please contact us again if you need any further assistance – we are here 24/7!

We hope we have clarified everything and we wish you all the best in the future.

Kind regards,

Springbok Casino Representative

My questions remain and require an answer

1- why was it permitted twice with no mention of concession being granted- also why does the actual site allow it- so that you can catch good honest and well spending customers. So unethical. You may feel you are well within your rights but m- this lope hole is slimey to say the least

2- Why can I not contact CDS about Springbok- you say it on your website but it’s in true

I well and truly believe you could have settled this is a proper manner - offering a sort of settlement.

please make all transcripts available not just the ones that strengthen your case. I have asked for the others. This is about more than the money. Your rule is an escape out of paying. I took the "risk" with the first cashout and when it work I thought lekker. I like this place. Second time again.

then one of your consultants said it was an oversight and when I didn’t stop your story changed.

I want answers about CDS- I am expected to uphold your million t&cs but you not keeping up your end.

sorry Springbok but you can’t just ignore me and not allow me to speak to supervisors.

I am still awaiting a response

Dear Michelle and Springbok casino representative.

We discussed a few weeks ago about the rule:

"Players with one or more pending withdrawals currently in their account are not eligible to receive any bonuses, promotional or otherwise until such withdrawals are either processed or cancelled. Abuse of this policy, as defined by the casino, may result in cancellation of the player's winnings."

And we conclude that such a rule isn't safe for players and should be enforced by software.

We are well known about the RTG platform problems - almost impossibility of changing something. However, we are doing a rating of all the online casinos. This rule and technical difficulties are connected with one (technically two) platforms only. It is our moral obligation to the players to inform about cases, where they should be careful because a situation like this one is impossible in other casinos.

Therefore, we decided to be on the side of Michelle. We believe that the situation caused by this rule is a problem. Because she was informed about the rule by live chat, we decided to lower the black point amount.

For cases where we disagree with the rules of the casino we have a special classification, "Against Fair Gambling Codex" the amount of Black Points is reduced, however, the case is published and warn other people to be careful on a certain situation.

Michelle - I believe that complaining through CDS will not help you, but sure you can try it.

Thanks for the responses. I literally cannot lodge a complaint through CDS as Springbok( despite claiming to be on their website) are not registered there.

i will not quit until my questions are answered as to me they are exploiting rules to steal. If such reals apply they should be upheld always and not sometimes as this creates the wrong impression.

Because of all the written explanations above and no further reaction from the casino, we decided to close this complaint as unresolved with classification: "Against Fair Gambling Codex."