08/27/2003 - 11:24 PM ET

Loyal CRIS Customer Cries Foul

Christopher Costigan, Sports911.com

If a course in Customer Service 101 were ever offered to the offshore gambling community, chances are CRIS (Costa Rican International Sports) might just barely squeak by with a C- (incidentally my highest grade achieved in High School I am embarrassed to say).

They can't be that bad when considering guys have played there for years, in some cases decades (CRIS commenced operations in 1986). 

Things aren't the same as they were back in 1996 and CRIS cannot get by on offering just okay customer service.  Competitive forces have made CRIS rethink their strategy in both marketing awareness and software upgrades.  Customer service still lags behind however.

Case in point, a Sports911 reader, Paul L., has played at CRIS for more than five years now.  Despite his loyalty to the company, Paul was recently treated shabbily by management and he decided to take his money elsewhere. 

"In this business it's not what you do that people look at, it 's what you don't do that is recognized.",  commented Paul.  "I am sad to say my relationship with this outfit is over."

Paul recounted his beef with CRIS.

I sent a Western Union cash transfer like I have always done around 45 minutes prior to the game I wanted to bet.  For me this is standard practice of depositing money into my account.  After calling in my control number, I was told at the very latest this should take 20 minutes to verify.  Once again I just assumed it was standard procedure.  After 20 minutes I called to place my bet and my money had not been cleared at that time.  I called back and the rep who answered said I have nothing to worry about, and that I would have absolutely no problem getting in on the game I wanted.  From that moment on a gentleman named Gary handled the situation. 

We should point out that Gary is widely considered the second in command at CRIS right now, following the leadership of main man Mickey.

He told me that the numbers didn't match.  I had no clue what he was talking about.  He suggested that I call Western Union to double check my control number.  This made no sense to me whatsoever as I was starring at a print out of the transfer with the number clearly readable at the top right of the page.  At this time the game was a minute from starting.

I had asked him to write my bet down as I was to verify at his request what happened to the money I sent.  HE REFUSED.  I asked Why and he replied and said "You Know Why".  Once again I had no clue as to what he was talking about.  He went on to say that if the game wasn't going my way I would pull my money.

Let's stop here for a moment.  Under normal circumstances, CRIS has a solid argument.  This type of Western Union scam is quite common within the industry. 

However, we can look at this in one of two ways assuming Paul L. has in fact played at CRIS for over five years (and there is nothing to suggest he has not). 

One possibility, he has pulled this type of scam before in which case CRIS should have closed the individual's account immediately.  I want to caution there is nothing at this juncture in time to consider Paul L. has ever pulled back a Western Union.  If he has, then CRIS should not be taking his action in the first place...plain and simple.

So let's now jump to the second and more likely scenario.  Paul L. has played at CRIS for a number of years without once ever perpetrating a scam.  Assuming this to be true (and we will never assume when it comes to this business), CRIS should not have been so quick to draw such conclusions in light of the player's loyalty.  There is nothing in our conversations with Paul to suggest he is anything but a loyal and honest customer of CRIS.

Paul L. continues....

It is amazing that one minute he (Gary) is saying I didn't send the money and in the next minute he is telling me I did send it, and had the option to pull back the money if the game wasn't going my way.  I went on to say the game is just starting and suggested that if this isn't cleared up in five minutes to nullify the bet.  He said "Absolutely not".  He told me that if the error was his fault, he would make it up to me. 

This is when it got scary.  Well, let's say that I called Western Union and after giving the info, I was told that the money had already been picked up.  It had been picked up when Gary was a hundred percent sure that the numbers didn't match.  When I called Gary he still was telling me the numbers didn't match.  He checked again and finally saw that my transaction had been cleared into my account. 

I then said you kept telling me you will make it up to me.  My game started you didn't allow me to make the bet which at this point I knew would win (just because that's the way it goes).  In the five plus years with CRIS, I have exchanged over one million dollars.  Ninety percent of my wagers are $1000 bets. 

Gary offered me a $100 free play to make up for the mistake. He told me he didn't want me to make this a drawn out issue and I should take the $100 free play. I suggested that he take a look a my history of the way I deposit and play and then tell me again that a 100 free play would fix this problem.

For what ever it is worth, my bet was going to be Boston on the run line at minus 1 1/2 +165 for 1,000. I 'm thinking this guy has cost me $1,650.00 and wants to make it up with a 100 free play. Now obviously he didn't know I was going to win the bet, so I am not suggesting that's why my money didn't clear.

My point to this story is that after a great 5 year relationship, I expected a little more courtesy and respect from Gary. I also want to say I never once had any payment issues with CRIS.

I am glad that this happened on the heels of the football season. Gary told me I should take this up with Mickey tomorrow but before we hang up let me raise the free play to $150 to resolve this problem. If you say no he said, I can't make any guarantees that I can offer this to you again. I told him, I'll take my chances. I do not want to forget about this, as I want people not to get screwed the way I did. People say that there is 2 sides to every story, but I can tell you this, I will challenge and denial to this situation as all conversations are recorded. I hope Mickey listens to this conversation.

While CRIS is certainly among the most solid shops out there, 911 cannot help but express some disappointment in the way this matter was handled.

Keep in mind the player is not exactly coming out and blasting CRIS as a scam.  In fact he had nothing but positive things to say about the sports book prior to this unfortunate incident.  Paul is simply expressing how let down he is by this sports book and has since moved on to join Marty Monroe and Scotty Mathews organization, BetPanAm, realizing their emphasis on top customer service. 

Now of course we realize there will be those who jump on this story and start condemning CRIS as a disreputable operation.  Such an outcry defeats the purpose of establishing a solid legion of sports betting operations offshore, and as we already pointed out CRIS is among the most solid....few industry experts will argue this fact.

But as a leader in the industry, CRIS must also lead by example.  This type of shabby service sets a very bad precedent.  Hopefully maybe there is still time to make this right. 

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