Comments on: Problems with Promotions

By: Mission146

Mission146 — Tue, 06 May 2014 02:31:23 +0000

First time comment, first of all, would like to say I thoroughly enjoy this Blog and have followed for a long time.

That said, I recently had something similar happen at a Local (non-Vegas) casino, yesterday, in fact.

Every Sunday for the last (insert absurdly long length of time here) there has been a, ‘Swipe & Win,’ promotion by which you earn 100 points ($500 coin-in, VP or Slots) and you will spin a wheel that appears on the Points Screen and win between $10-$100 Free Play. Given the ~98.44% JoB and ~98.44% Joker Poker and the fact that you are guaranteed to win no less than 2% of coin-in, this has been a very small advantage play for a long time.

Anyway, I’m in there Friday in the early a.m. hours playing off some Free Play and earning a free hotel (200 points—$1,000 coin-in—is a free hotel room any Sunday-Thursday in the month, can earn 1x per week, any day the player chooses…best combined with other points-driven offers) and they still have all the, ‘Swipe & Win Sunday’ signs, it was the month of May and five days since Sunday, so I assumed it was still going down.

I played on Sunday and noticed all of the banners were gone having earned 36 points, when I inquired at the PC, they told me Swipe & Win was gone for the forseeable future and is replaced by machines randomly selected to play a Horse Racing game for earning 40 points within select two-hour periods, non-guaranteed.

Basically, we just can’t assume anything. Probably want to call ahead and verify any desired promotion is still happening, and then ask again at the PC when you get there just to be safe! If someone says something is going on when it is not, then at least there is someone to hold accountable and one could make a (usually successful, in my experience) argument that he/she should be entitled to the minimum possible Free Play that the promotion would have yielded.

By: dan

dan — Sun, 04 May 2014 12:42:46 +0000

I/we stopped going to casinos. Not worth the hassle and annoyances any more. Screw is what I say. They got rid of the games we played or made the games unplayable. To worried protecting the money they aren’t making

By: Richard and Darla

Richard and Darla — Thu, 01 May 2014 09:02:40 +0000

To Kevin, we don’t come back any more. We stopped 2 years ago. We go to a casino one hour away when we feel the need. We’re also watching the construction of a new racino 15 minutes away.

By: Lorrainw

Lorrainw — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 02:30:37 +0000

So I’m not the only one that gets confused ! whew ! What is the benefit of confused customers ?
I also dont understand why casinos run a really good buffet special one day that causes too long of lines and stressfull work for the employees.

By: mo

mo — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 02:51:06 +0000

I am not sure about the west coast but some areas on the East coast allow you to do a survey on their website). I think that a united front on a survey ( example everyone does the survey at 6AM the first of the month) might get someone’s attention.
If the computers could handle that amount of “mail” it might be worth the try.
I you are willing to STAND in line twice,
what’s a few minutes more for the month.

By: Kevin Lewis

Kevin Lewis — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 12:38:06 +0000

My favorite recurring annoyance has been, you have to earn X points to get a free buffet or a billion dollars’ free play or a whack on the head or something. Because the requisite game was -EV, you played JUST enough to earn that 1,000 points or whatever. You triple-checked that the reader said you’d earned those points. So you stand in line at the slot club while some LOL shows the boothling pictures of her grandchildren, etc. etc., and just as you’re beginning to hate yourself for having gone to all this trouble, the brightly smiling girl asks, “Can I help you?” and after bringing up your account, tells you that you’ve only earned 999 points today. After you start to lose it, she cheerily suggests that you just go back and play one more dollar. Fuming, you do so (losing that dollar), and then stand in line all over again. By this time, you’ve wasted half the afternoon. The slot reader says you’ve earned 1,001 points, but the boothling says it’s 1,000. Seething, you clutch your buffet comp ticket and stand in line at the buffet. You don’t get to enjoy the buffet, though, because you faint from hunger before you can get in.
It’s hard not to believe that casino promotions are constructed to produce maximum annoyance for the customer. I know of no other industry that blithely and deliberately antagonizes its customers but still expects them to come back. But we DO come back, don’t we??