PokerStars says I'm only 16 years old

[Georgia Poker]

Get this BS- PokerStars just locked my account because they claim I'm only 16 years old! Yesterday this moron at my cash table kept talking shit so I typed in that he couldn't be any older than 16. That was the extent of the exchange, nothing else said, nothing.

This morning I log in to PS and get an error message. I play with it a few times and still get the same message. So just when I'm getting ready to email them I see an email from PS support in my inbox. Imagine my surprise when I read this:

Hello Todd,

We have recently observed your chat in which you claim that you are
only 16 years old.* The minimum age requirement to play on
PokerStars is 18 years of age.* PokerStars treats such chat claims
just as airport security treats "jokes" about bombs -- serious and
factual until proven otherwise.* As such, I have closed your account
pending reception of proof of age.*

Please forward to us by Email as an attachment, or by fax to Costa
Rica, a legible copy of government-issued photo ID demonstrating that
you are at least 18 years of age.

So a few minutes I faxed them my ID, a recent paystub, my W2 (SS# removed)from last year, and the Deed to my 800K piece of real estate in Florida. My response to this was, "How many 16 years that you know have a 2M net worth?". Please unlock my account immediately so that I may transfer these funds to a room that can READ english and treat their 20-40 customers with RESPECT.

[Georgia Poker]

I guess you don't always have to jump through hoops when you can talk to someone with reasonable intelligence. (Probably doesn't hurt when you have enough to buy a good used car in your account either!).

After I sent the first email (this was before I sent the follow up with the scanned ID, etc) so he was replying to my first inquiry which was asking what the hell they were smoking!

Hello Todd,

Thank you for your email. I've reviewed the entire chat log and agree with
your assessment. It appears you mis-typed a '?' character which made it
appear as though you were making a statement rather than asking a question.
I have however now re-opened your account, and there will be no need to
send us ID.

If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to get back in
touch with us.

Regards,

ScottW
PokerStars Support Team

"How many 16 years that you know have a 2M net worth?".

That's a classic..........

[ICISIC]

what a joke they suspend ur account based on a chat? amazing

[PPP]

That's exactly what they should do. Accounts should be closed based on chat very often.

This is a great example of a cardroom doing something exactly right, in a professional manner.

[hoursurfing]

Haha gotta love it. I once got my chat disabled for calling a guy a f@#)(# but never had my account closed.

Thats funny.

[Georgia Poker]

Originally posted by PPP@Sep 5 2005, 02:41 PM
That's exactly what they should do. Accounts should be closed based on chat very often.

This is a great example of a cardroom doing something exactly right, in a professional manner.

You make some really odd statements but WTF are you talking about?

So you're saying if you're on PS acting like a complete ass and I call you out for it calling YOU a 17 year old that the poker room should take ONE line out of context and freeze my account? How exactly is that professional?

Or put it in another perspective:

I'm in sales working with a client and during the procurement process a girl in accounting accidently puts an invoice marked payable into the wrong bin. We don't get paid so we fly off the handle and refuse to deliver our services to that client. We don't ask questions we just do it. You would consider that professional? I'd consider it a slap in face and would have to think twice about doing business with a company that would govern themselves that way.

Care to counter?

[PPP]

This is obvious. They thought you said you were 16. If they think that, they should immediately freeze your accout. You agree, right?

They then reviewed the chat and saw that what they thought was a statement turned out to be a question, so they immediately unfroze your account. That was the correct action, right?

Honestly, what the heck are you complaining about? They did EXACTLY what any sensible person would expect that they do. Exactly.

Since you haven't posted the hand history we can't know whether your original statement was a mistake on your part, or a mistake on their part in understanding it, but if it was a mistake on their part they immediately corrected the problem. If you expect them never to make a mistake, you are being completely unreasonable.

You might want to give this a little more thought, and also be more careful with the clarity of what you type in the chat.