http://www.gambling911.com/telemarketing.html
09/01/2003 - 1:58 PM ET
Stop Calling!
Christopher Costigan, Sports911.com
Although wagering shops like First Fidelity, BetUs and Diamond have long used cold calling techniques as a method of driving in new business, some less likely groups are now entering into the fray and pissing off long term clients in the process.
CRIS, whose customer service has slipped drastically over the past couple of months, seems a less likely candidate to engage in this type of activity. Nonetheless, CRIS has begun cold calling some of their "inactive" customers.
The real shocker, however, comes from Rio Sports International (Skybook.com). Long considered an elite wagering operation among Don Best books, Rio has looked at various ways to break into the casual betting market. As such, they recently instituted a new "cold calling" campaign, but apparently some of the employees have failed to adhere to preset protocols.
"There was a situation where two employees had to be reprimanded after calling females at their homes," a Rio Executive told Sports911.com. "Everyone was told specifically that if a woman answers the phone, they are to hang up."
The majority of sports bettors are males whose activity is not always approved by their spouses and Rio International respects its players need for privacy.
But it's not just women who are offended by the cold calling.
Marlowe, a long time player at Rio Sports had considered signing up with one of their sister books, but not any longer.
He posted on the Gambling911.com forum:
In the last eight days Skybook has cold called me on four separate occasions. Each time I told the caller that I was not planning on reupping with Skybook but the fact that they cold called me guaranteed that Skybook has lost me as a customer for life. Of course this did not deter them from continuing to cold call me. While I was not planning on re-upping with Skybook, I had intended to send their sister book IIS three dimes. I am now sending them nothing and will do no further business with any of Skybook's sister books for at least one year.
"I am going to do whatever I can to stop this now," explained the enraged Rio executive. "This program was never intended for calling long term customers and what happened here with Marlowe is totally unacceptable to me."
The Rio Executive requested to have Marlowe's phone number, which was probably best gotten from the cold calling culprits.
He explained that Rio's protocol required that if an individual asked to be removed from the "call" list, employees were to abide by his request.
"Our employees are not supposed to be badgering and harassing people. As someone who has bet on sports myself, I actually liked the idea of having a bookmaker contact me to inform about unique product offerings."
It is obvious though that the Rio executive has already begun to second guess this program.
"I don't think we are signing up many people from it (the campaign)," he acknowledged.
One must also weigh the number of new signups against those long term customers like Marlowe who may be leaving Rio as a result of what they perceive to be an "intrusion". If Marlowe was called four times, chances are the majority of Rio customers were called at least once and most may not be as willing to express their frustration in a public posting forum.
This could also be a case of bad medicine administered before the disease is diagnosed. First Fidelity, Diamond Sports and BetUs have long left a bad taste in the mouths of offshore players as a result of less scrupulous cold call methods. First Fidelity in particular is known to call people at 8 in the morning, on their cell phones and at the workplace during meetings.
"I want to make a distinction between how we cold call and how others cold call," said the Rio executive. "We do not condone badgering. There is a distinction that needs to be made."
Unfortunately some Rio employees are not helping to make that distinction. It is obvious that Rio never intended for their campaign to get out of hand and they will now start to put their foot down. All of this will be a mute point in four weeks anyway.
"Nobody will be able to cold call starting in October," explained the executive. "A law will go into effect that will impose strict fines on telemarketers regardless of which countries they operate from."
09/01/2003 - 1:58 PM ET
Stop Calling!
Christopher Costigan, Sports911.com
Although wagering shops like First Fidelity, BetUs and Diamond have long used cold calling techniques as a method of driving in new business, some less likely groups are now entering into the fray and pissing off long term clients in the process.
CRIS, whose customer service has slipped drastically over the past couple of months, seems a less likely candidate to engage in this type of activity. Nonetheless, CRIS has begun cold calling some of their "inactive" customers.
The real shocker, however, comes from Rio Sports International (Skybook.com). Long considered an elite wagering operation among Don Best books, Rio has looked at various ways to break into the casual betting market. As such, they recently instituted a new "cold calling" campaign, but apparently some of the employees have failed to adhere to preset protocols.
"There was a situation where two employees had to be reprimanded after calling females at their homes," a Rio Executive told Sports911.com. "Everyone was told specifically that if a woman answers the phone, they are to hang up."
The majority of sports bettors are males whose activity is not always approved by their spouses and Rio International respects its players need for privacy.
But it's not just women who are offended by the cold calling.
Marlowe, a long time player at Rio Sports had considered signing up with one of their sister books, but not any longer.
He posted on the Gambling911.com forum:
In the last eight days Skybook has cold called me on four separate occasions. Each time I told the caller that I was not planning on reupping with Skybook but the fact that they cold called me guaranteed that Skybook has lost me as a customer for life. Of course this did not deter them from continuing to cold call me. While I was not planning on re-upping with Skybook, I had intended to send their sister book IIS three dimes. I am now sending them nothing and will do no further business with any of Skybook's sister books for at least one year.
"I am going to do whatever I can to stop this now," explained the enraged Rio executive. "This program was never intended for calling long term customers and what happened here with Marlowe is totally unacceptable to me."
The Rio Executive requested to have Marlowe's phone number, which was probably best gotten from the cold calling culprits.
He explained that Rio's protocol required that if an individual asked to be removed from the "call" list, employees were to abide by his request.
"Our employees are not supposed to be badgering and harassing people. As someone who has bet on sports myself, I actually liked the idea of having a bookmaker contact me to inform about unique product offerings."
It is obvious though that the Rio executive has already begun to second guess this program.
"I don't think we are signing up many people from it (the campaign)," he acknowledged.
One must also weigh the number of new signups against those long term customers like Marlowe who may be leaving Rio as a result of what they perceive to be an "intrusion". If Marlowe was called four times, chances are the majority of Rio customers were called at least once and most may not be as willing to express their frustration in a public posting forum.
This could also be a case of bad medicine administered before the disease is diagnosed. First Fidelity, Diamond Sports and BetUs have long left a bad taste in the mouths of offshore players as a result of less scrupulous cold call methods. First Fidelity in particular is known to call people at 8 in the morning, on their cell phones and at the workplace during meetings.
"I want to make a distinction between how we cold call and how others cold call," said the Rio executive. "We do not condone badgering. There is a distinction that needs to be made."
Unfortunately some Rio employees are not helping to make that distinction. It is obvious that Rio never intended for their campaign to get out of hand and they will now start to put their foot down. All of this will be a mute point in four weeks anyway.
"Nobody will be able to cold call starting in October," explained the executive. "A law will go into effect that will impose strict fines on telemarketers regardless of which countries they operate from."
