My letter to NeTeller support

DavidMatthews · Feb 17, 2004

I made an EFT of $300 to NeTeller, a tiny amount of money, on Feb. 10 and it is still showing as "pending." I just wanted to fund an online poker account so I could play. A few years ago it was always 2 days either way. Tonight it's been a whole week. They gave this line about some "clearinghouse" and a holiday on Monday (NeTeller is in Canada). The truth is NeTeller is a scam operation now, in my opinion. They used to provide a valuable service and I'm sure they made some good money. Now they provide a scumbag service and probably make more money. I think it's time that some honest people with some money start a new money transfer service.

Here is my letter I just sent to their customer service department:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>I realize that this will probably fall on deaf ears but I would like to voice my extreme displeasure at how NeTeller treats it's customers these days. I used to use NeTeller frequently and deposits and withdrawls only took 2 days, sometimes 3 at the most. Now you have some 4 or 5 "business" day crap. I made a deposit on Feb. 10 and I still can't play poker until tomorrow. It's been a full week. When I called I got the standard "it takes a few days in the clearinghouse" line which I am sure some executive at NeTeller decided to make up as the line to give people who are upset at not having their money quickly. Your greed in holding people's money so that you can collect a couple more days interest is despicable. Unfortunately, as you are aware, you have somewhat of a monopoly. There is little viable competition so you can make the terms as you like.

"You want your money now? Ok... pay 8.9% for InstaCash otherwise we'll just hold on to it a little bit longer so we can usurp a few more percentage points on your money."

When PayPal went down, I'm sure you had some pretty wild parties knowing that you had the lock on the territory now.

That "clearinghouse" line is a complete falsehood I am sure since you had no problem making transfers in 2 or 3 days (even on weekends) in the past.

It would be nice if a company would not try to nickel and dime it's customers, and treat them with some respect.

I sincerely hope that you get some strong competition and you have to treat customers like customers again. You're getting 3% from the freakin gambling sites both when they receive and when they send money, and even at 2 or 3 days you get some interest to put in your pockets off the players. Such blatant greed is very sad to see.

I hope that some higher ups will get to read this email, but my guess is that it will be deleted immediately. Nice job in taking something everyone enjoys to use and ruining it for your own greedy intentions.

Best,
David XXXXXX
acct: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

p.s. Let me guess, you're going to lock my account now for some "security" issue.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

jimmyk+ · Feb 17, 2004

haven't had any of these issues w/ firepay.............yet

theswami · Feb 17, 2004

Dave...you are wrong here.

I'ved used NETeller since the month Paypal "announced" it would no longer do gambling site transfers as of a certain date. During that time the few deposits I did with them took an extended period of time, 3-5 business days.

Depending on the time of day you conducted your transaction, I bet you see your money tomorrow. Monday was a bank holiday in the US so it does not "count" when calculating when you should see your deposit. NT uses the US banking system and I'm guessing you did an EFT from your bank to NT.

The bottom line is that they tell you on the site 4-5 business days. If you get it early great if not you will see the funds when they say you will.

NT NEEDS competition. They can get the money in your account sooner without question. With that said, they have a policy that they adhere yet you go bonkers.

Complain when you have a case, here you are just plain wrong. Unfortunately, when folks like you complain when a company follows its policy when you do have legitimate complaints with merit, they are devalued. You need to choose your battles more wisely IMO.

DavidMatthews · Feb 17, 2004

I can see your point. They give me a contract, I accept it so I shouldn't complain, but I think their contract sucks. In 2000 I did numerous transfers. If I made a deposit by EFT on Thursday, it was in there on Saturday. Same if I made a withdrawal on Thursday, it was in my bank on Saturday.

They went from 2 days to 4-5 "business" days. On top of that they LIE and say it is some banking "clearinghouse" thing, when in fact, they already have the money in their possession.

The business that they are in is so insanely lucrative since they can charge the books commissions on every transaction and they get to sit on people's balances and collect interest. They never have any risk of loss, that even the gambling sites do.

A well-financed group that is honest could make some serious dollars.

Somewhere with a bunch of money like Pinnacle or Olympic should look into starting a money transfer business. NeTeller would have to change VERY quickly or they will be out of the business.

Halifax · Feb 17, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by theswami:
Dave...you are wrong here.

I'ved used NETeller since the month Paypal "announced" it would no longer do gambling site transfers as of a certain date. During that time the few deposits I did with them took an extended period of time, 3-5 business days.

Depending on the time of day you conducted your transaction, I bet you see your money tomorrow. Monday was a bank holiday in the US so it does not "count" when calculating when you should see your deposit. NT uses the US banking system and I'm guessing you did an EFT from your bank to NT.

The bottom line is that they tell you on the site 4-5 business days. If you get it early great if not you will see the funds when they say you will.

NT NEEDS competition. They can get the money in your account sooner without question. With that said, they have a policy that they adhere yet you go bonkers.

Complain when you have a case, here you are just plain wrong. Unfortunately, when folks like you complain when a company follows its policy when you do have legitimate complaints with merit, they are devalued. You need to choose your battles more wisely IMO.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Basically agree with theswami here.
--------------

"Your greed in holding people's money so that you can collect a couple more days interest is despicable. "

Dave, do you actually think this is the reason for the delay ?

Hell, once they've got your money in the Neteller account, they make more money on one transfer than they would earn in an entire year from interest in a bank account.

DavidMatthews · Feb 17, 2004

You make a good point Halifax. They would make more on one transfer...

My guess then is that they extended the time on transfers to make their InstaCash option more attractive. The couple extra days interest is just gravy. They charge 8.9% to get your money now... or you can wait...

If transfers only took 2 days, a lot fewer people would probably pay the loan shark 8.9% amount.

Good point.

Halifax · Feb 17, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by David Matthews:
My guess then is that they extended the time on transfers to make their InstaCash option more attractive. They charge 8.9% to get your money now... or you can wait...

If transfers only took 2 days, a lot fewer people would probably pay the loan shark 8.9% amount.

Good point.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would say that's the most likely reason.

I guess another possible reason is that they have a pile of clients, and not enough staff to process things as quickly as they used to.

jwblue · Feb 17, 2004

They are providing a service to bettors at no cost. They should be entitled to some type of profit.

IS

drunkguy · Feb 17, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by InSpades:
They are providing a service to bettors at no cost. They should be entitled to some type of profit.

IS<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

that is far from true. They charge a fee on each transfer (except from EFT to/from your bank).

Transfer fees to/from the books are generally picked up by the books and you never notice...

NickDouglas · Feb 17, 2004

I strongly dislike using EFTs to fund my Neteller account for the same reason. I use the option of depositing cash into a Neteller bank account at a local bank branch. Once I make the deposit I just fax over the receipt and my Neteller account is funded in 20 minutes or less most times. Obviously it is a little bit of a hassle to wait in line at the bank but in my opinion it is worth it to not have to wait 4-5 business days.

marc · Feb 18, 2004

The main problem I hvae with neteller is that they are more than happy to allow unssupecting players to send money to pure scam operations. There is a long list of deposit only books and casinos, and neteller is more than happy to assist them in their scam.

Personally, it makes no sense to me why they do. If you have a player who is prepared to send funds, and you sit back while he deposits his money with thieves, you will only make commission on that one deposit, and that player may never come back. But if that person send his money to a legitamite operation, than neteller will not only make money on the deposit, but hopefully on the withdrawal, and future deposits and withdrawals.

I'm very suprised that no Canadian or English bank has chosen to fill the void left by paypal.

TheGeneral+ · Feb 18, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR> Players who use Neteller and experience slow pay behaviour from online casinos would appear to have a friend in Neteller, too - Herman says that this sort of behaviour can be an early warning signal of impending financial hassles, and as such players are invited to report such issues in order that Neteller can investigate and possibly even pull the merchant's authority if he or she is consistently giving problems. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

http://therxforum.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=100090022&f=988094022&m=987100011&r=133105011#133105011

I could easily see that Neteller would slow a bit to allow more attraction/addiction to insta cash. They are looking for dollars. I do not know if this is the case, but likely.

Sodium Pentethol V · Feb 18, 2004

It's a scumbag service because there is a problem with one transcation? Extrapolate ad infinitum about crap you know less than nothing about all because they delayed a $300 EFT?

Why do you people take guys like this seriously?

Service has provided untold utility to him and thousands of other gamblers.

lakerfan · Feb 18, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>The truth is NeTeller is a scam operation now, in my opinion. They used to provide a valuable service and I'm sure they made some good money. Now they provide a scumbag service and probably make more money. I think it's time that some honest people with some money start a new money transfer service.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Scam operation ?? No more than Fezzik's (LVA) college football picks.

LMAO

Scumbag service ?? Maybe, but if you check out the alternative providers you will find out how truely bad customer service is.

PanchoSanza · Feb 18, 2004

I think this post by D Matthews is the silliest post ever made on this board.

What a complete moron.

marc · Feb 18, 2004

General,

WIth all do respect, Herman is a liar. YOu can send all the emails you wnat to Herman, Coiln, and Tyler, and they will never remove a merchant for simply being a no pay.

Goto every watchdog site you can think of. Compile a list of sites which everyone agrees are pure scam operations. And see how many of those sites are neteller merchants.

Jazz · Feb 18, 2004

"It's a scumbag service because there is a problem with one transaction?"

Complete agreement with that statement by SPV - calling it a scam over this is really so far removed from my experiences with them it's not even funny.

[This message was edited by Jazz on February 18, 2004 at 11:55 AM.]

TheGeneral+ · Feb 18, 2004

Thanks marc.

Can we agree that he is lying then and using this as a way to promote his Company? He said it and I copied it, but you are right.

theswami · Feb 18, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Sodium Pentethol V:
It's a scumbag service because there is a problem with one transcation? Extrapolate ad infinitum about crap you know less than nothing about all because they delayed a $300 EFT?

Why do you people take guys like this seriously?

Service has provided untold utility to him and thousands of other gamblers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You are right....

I have no idea why I even reply to the posts that are completely off base. Wait a second, I know why....I always try to help those less fortunate than I. His email is so asinine that I thought it would be worthwile to enlighten him a little.

marc · Feb 18, 2004

My apologies General.

For a minute when you copied it, I thought it was because you believed it. But yes, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Those staments are purely menat for PR