Rod

PartyPoker - Deducted $4 as an "Inactive Fee" - Virtual Blackmail?

Posted Tuesday, September 09, 2008 in Online Poker, Questions

6 Comments | 1236 Views |

I have many online poker accounts but I hardly ever play these days as I am always working on improving PokerDIY ;)

I was shocked to receive this email from PartyPoker yesterday:

Subject: Your Account has been inactive for 180 days
Dear PokerDIYcom,

Our records show that that you have not logged in to your account for 180 days.

A $4 administration fee** has been charged to your inactive account. The next charge will be deducted from you account balance on: 07-Oct-2008 ET.

However, this fee will NOT be charged if your account, or any related account, is reactivated on or before 06-Oct-2008 ET.

Reactivating your account is easy: Just log in and place a cash wager, enter a tournament with a cash entry fee, or play a raked hand.

**TERMS & CONDITIONS If you do not access your Account by "logging on" to your Account using your Account name and password for any period of 180 days, then after those 180 days (the "180 day grace period") your Account (and any related account with any ESP) will be deemed "Inactive". If your Account becomes Inactive, then the Company is entitled to charge you an administrative fee (the "Inactive Account Fee"). The Inactive Account Fee shall be deducted from your Account Balance at the end of each calendar month in accordance with the Inactive Account Fee Schedule. We will stop deducting the Inactive Account Fee from your Account Balance if your Account is re-activated.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our Customer Care team is available 24/7.

Sincerely,

Party Team

Is this normal? I am of course closing my account and not promoting PartyPoker at ALL on PokerDIY - I find this shocking and unacceptable. It's obviously in the Terms and Conditions but I am insulted beyond belief! This is shock tactics and completely uncool... do any other poker rooms do this?

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Rod said at 9:35 PM on Tuesday, September 09, 2008

My reply: Take my $4, close my account and don’t bother me again.

MoneyM8 said at 9:42 PM on Tuesday, September 09, 2008

This is absolutely crazy! Especially for a poker site that used to be #1. Why they want to do something like this to alienate poker players is beyond me. I don't blame you for wanting to end it with them.

I can understand them wanting to remove inactive accounts, but after 180 days they should just give you a little reminder that you haven't played there in awhile.

It's not like you take up too much space on their computer.

I think poker rooms should have the same rules as banks. I think it's 10 years of inactivity at banks if I'm correct, although that may be different depending on which country you're from.

Rod said at 10:00 PM on Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Yes, this thing is, as a developer, an Inactive Account is literally a check or flag - there's no massive switch that needs to be pushed by a team of monkeys, it is purely a device of forcing people to play poker on their site. It also looks like it is recurring, so I'd get charged $4 every month. I am not reactivating my account as I don't want to play just yet, and I'll be damn if I am paying them $4 a month for choosing them as my online poker room!

Rod said at 3:01 AM on Friday, September 12, 2008

Update: They responded and closed my account. No apologies, explanations or anything other than "Your account has been closed". Oh well, I'll take my money to another poker room with a less dodgy attitude.

Joe said at 10:23 AM on Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Hi

I just noticed that I'd been deleting these inactive account mails and I've been deducted a total of $54! What annoys me most is the subtlety of the email's subject. I had been deleting them because I KNOW my account is inactive, and I didn't care. The subject should surely mention a FEE! If I read every seemingly pointless poker email I got, I wouldn't have time to play poker.

The irony is, I was about to deposit $500 and play poker - but now they really can forget about that! The way I play and the way they rake, they have just lost a lot of money by alienating me, and I really hope it's the case with other players.

Don't they realise that even an inactive player is still likely to play sometime - we're addicted to poker after all! Whoever thought of this idea is a fool, although I guess they might be making good money from it - i don't know the stats, I'm jjust thinking of my case.

Rod said at 4:53 PM on Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Very annoying - they don't mention this or make it obvious when you sign up - this is why I closed my account and will cost them way more in lost business by publicizing this...

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