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Thread: Latest Rincon customer service disaster: "You can't talk to the front desk!"

  1. #1
    Another incident occurred tonight that has left me speechless.

    It all started when I noticed that I had not yet been credited back the $81 that was charged for checking in after midnight on Saturday. This is standard practice at the Rincon, where they auto-charge you for no-showing once midnight hits, but will refund the full $81 if you do check in after that.

    My credit card is fast at posting these credits online, so I was surprised not to see it yet, as it's been 5 days. I decided to call the front desk, ask if it had been credited back. If they said yes, I planned to give it another few days before inquiring again.

    Simple stuff, right?

    Apparently not.

    At 9:30pm tonight, I called the Rincon, and an operator named Mary answered the phone.

    I asked for the front desk.

    She asked what I was calling about, so I briefly explained it.

    "That's a billing matter. The front desk does not handle that. You will need to speak to billing, but they are closed. Call back tomorrow."

    This was nonsense. The front desk definitely handles these $81 charges and credits.

    Again I asked Mary to connect me to the front desk. She refused. We argued back and forth for 5 minutes. She absolutely refused to connect me there. I told her I was a Seven Stars member and high limit player. She didn’t care. She refused to connect me to the front desk. She said she could connect me to her manager, Gretchen. I agreed, but Gretchen refused to speak with me, and just told Mary to come back and tell me that I could leave her a voice mail, but not to connect me to the front desk under any circumstances. I argued some more. Eventually she hung up on me.

    I called back and again asked for the front desk, acting as if I was a different person. Mary recognized my voice and again refused to do so, eventually connecting me to the 1-800 reservations number without my permission.

    A few minutes later, I called up using a fake British accent and asked for the front desk, claiming there were bedbugs in my room. This "got by" Mary and she connected me. At that point, the front desk helped me and told me the $81 had been credited, and just to wait a bit longer. Why did I have to do phony accents to get this information? Can you believe this story?! It sounds like an episode out of Seinfeld!

    As a final kick in the rear, I called back and asked to speak to that supervisor Gretchen. After several long calls on hold, Gretchen finally got on to talk to me. She told me that Mary was correct in what she did, and that they have the option to deny Seven Stars speaking to the front desk 'if it's a billing matter'. I asked if they ever have a right to refuse Seven Stars to speak to the front desk, and she said, "It depends on the circumstances". She admitted to instructing Mary not to connect me under any circumstances. Eventually she also hung up on me.

    I can't believe the way I was treated tonight. Something so simple -- inquiring about this $81 refund -- turned into a nightmare where employees were trying their best to frustrate me and prevent me from speaking to those that can answer my questions. In my almost 42 years on this earth, I have never before encountered a hotel that acts as a "gatekeeper" and refuses its customers to speak to the front desk if the operator doesn't like their reasons. They also wasted well over 45 minutes fighting with me over this mess.
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  2. #2
    Was it really a nightmare? Frankly, had they told me to call back the next day to speak to "billing" I probably would have called back the next day to speak to billing.

  3. #3
    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson View Post
    Was it really a nightmare? Frankly, had they told me to call back the next day to speak to "billing" I probably would have called back the next day to speak to billing.
    They can advise me it would be best to call tomorrow, but they should never REFUSE to connect me to the front desk if I want to speak to them anyway.

    Do you think they should be REFUSING to let their Seven Stars guests speak to the front desk if they want to?

    And the front desk employee I eventually reached (by using the fake accent and bedbug story) told me that the operator was incorrect. Indeed, the front desk DOES handle these $81 refund matters -- not just billing.

    You simply do not treat VIP guests like this if you want their repeat business. In fact, you shouldn't treat ANY guests like this. Operators should never act as gatekeepers for any department, aside from someone important like the head of the entire property.
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  4. #4
    Actually, it has nothing to do with being a 7 Stars player or not. I agree if you call and ask for the front desk, they should connect you to the front desk. It appears that in this case the operator could have connected you to the front desk and not made a fuss, but maybe the operator thought she was doing the right thing. Okay, one demerit for the operator.

  5. #5
    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson View Post
    Actually, it has nothing to do with being a 7 Stars player or not. I agree if you call and ask for the front desk, they should connect you to the front desk. It appears that in this case the operator could have connected you to the front desk and not made a fuss, but maybe the operator thought she was doing the right thing. Okay, one demerit for the operator.
    Something I didn't mention is that the operator works directly under the front desk supervisor.

    Gretchen is actually a front desk supervisor, and was more at fault than Mary, who was just a low level operator following an idiot's orders.

    The other front desk employee I finally reached said that I should have the right to reach them any time for any reason. Gretchen just wanted to be a bitch and pawn me off to billing tomorrow.

    While Seven Stars has nothing to do with this, they are also taught at all CET properties that Seven Stars should be given the benefit of the doubt when applying minor rules. In general, they're told, "Unless totally unreasonable, make the exception for Seven Stars."

    This makes sense, as you don't want a power hungry operator driving away a whale from your property.
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  6. #6
    Anyway I am going to call the hotel manager tomorrow and will get clarity on this. I also emailed my host about the matter.

    This is an incredibly stupid way to conduct business when you are looking to bring high limit players back to your property. Most customers dealing with this crap don't post about it on the Internet and call the hotel manager. They just take their business elsewhere very quietly, and the hotel big wigs can't figure out what's going wrong.
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  7. #7
    If indeed they allow their operators to treat people this way, I'm never setting foot there again.

    I'll take my video poker action to Tahoe next time. I hear at least they are nice up there.
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  8. #8
    Dan, really? Is that much of a problem for you?

  9. #9
    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson View Post
    Dan, really? Is that much of a problem for you?
    I have given them $225,000 of coin-in since November.

    I am a big believer in good and respectful customer service practices.

    If one of your customers wants to speak to the front desk, you let him, just like every other hotel in America does.

    If these actions were taken by idiots in contrary to proper company policy, then I have no problem returning, provided this doesn't happen again (and the employees are instructed to stop similar stubborn behavior over petty matters).

    If management is okay with this, I don't want them getting my coin-in.

    BTW, if I had been connected to the front desk and THEY told me that they have no access to my bill, and to call back tomorrow, I would have accepted that, provided they were telling the truth. Turned out that wasn't the case, but if it was, and if the front desk told me they had no way to look up the info, I would have accepted it. I didn't even get a chance here. The operator wouldn't let me speak to them because "those are the rules".

    These casinos are based upon service and rule #1 (dating back to before either of us were born) is, "You don't piss off the big gamblers, especially over idiotic trivial matters."

    Also, in general I hate when employees anywhere use their jobs to run power trips over me. I'm the jerk who will call back tomorrow and get you in trouble. If you make a human mistake, no problem. If you turn these matters into a battle of egos. I'll make sure your boss knows about it.
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  10. #10
    In my book there's always two sides to every story. So far we have only heard Dan's. I'm not a whale or seven star and I solved, basically the same problem in about three minutes.

  11. #11
    Originally Posted by spojoey View Post
    In my book there's always two sides to every story. So far we have only heard Dan's. I'm not a whale or seven star and I solved, basically the same problem in about three minutes.
    There's no way to hear the other side, because obviously they won't be posting here, but if you "solved the same problem" then clearly you must believe me because you went through it yourself.

    Yes, I could have just had my girlfriend call back and ask for the front desk about 5 minutes later (with an "acceptable" reason), and then taken the phone, but at this point it became more about the principle of the matter. That's why I pushed this as far as I did. This was my second bad incident with the hotel portion of the Rincon in just 5 days, and it was pissing me off.
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  12. #12
    I heard the other side of my complaint when I made It. Don't recall saying I didn't believe you. You sound like a pretty upstanding guy to me. Maybe you get a little hot under the collar to quickly. I'm 80 years old and have learned over the years that some things just aren't worth it. The important thing is to get it resolved without getting hot under the collar. At least to me anyway.
    Last edited by spojoey; 12-13-2013 at 11:05 AM.

  13. #13
    Update:

    The "billing" they wanted to transfer me to was a "billing dispute voicemail" which never answers the phone and says they will call you back in 48 hours (which I hear frequently doesn't happen).

    So basically I was being told there's no way to reach a live human being about this matter at any hour, which is crazy
    for a hotel of this size.

    This would be incredibly frustrating for anyone, not just Seven Stars.
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  14. #14
    Hello Dan

    I too have had my own problems with the front desk at Rincon. My last visit there I arrived at 7:30 p.m. and they already charged my credit card the $81.00. When I made the reservation I said I would be arriving at 8:00 p.m. The credit showed after 2 days. They did however give away my suite and gave me a garden room with a view of a wall.

    The thing that really gets to me is, the next morning I asked for a late check-out and they stated they would only give me an extra hour.

    The 1 hour late check-out must be their policy because this has been given to me before. I should probably book another day and leave early as all I want to do is gamble longer and freshen up before the drive home.

    Just before 11 a.m. on Labor Day 2013 I walked to the front desk and asked for a late check-out and was also only given until noon. I went back to play my lucky slot machine and at 11:50 I hit. It took over half an hour for the payout. The minute I received my money I retrieved my bags from my room and left. I wanted to stay and play longer but didn’t want to deal with the front desk.

    Spojoey, I agree it is not worth “getting hot under the collar”.

    They do need to look into their customer service and policies. Until the I just deal with it and don’t let them put me on tilt.

    It is my choice to go to Rincon (I pass 3 casinos to get there).

  15. #15
    Todd,

    Complaining again? You mentioned at least ten times that you are a seven stars member. Maybe you can explain to the forum how you "achieved" your seven stars status. I'm sure all would love to hear. You are a whiny bitch and deserve everything you get. You expect the world from everyone. Yet, you are a complete asshole to every employee you encounter.

  16. #16
    Originally Posted by Dante View Post
    Todd,

    Complaining again? You mentioned at least ten times that you are a seven stars member. Maybe you can explain to the forum how you "achieved" your seven stars status. I'm sure all would love to hear. You are a whiny bitch and deserve everything you get. You expect the world from everyone. Yet, you are a complete asshole to every employee you encounter.
    What happened to our meet-up at Caesars that you wanted so badly?

    Decided against it because you didn't want to give me your name?

    I earned Seven Stars just like everyone else did -- by grinding up tier credits at games that were least positive expectation for the casino.

    I am not an asshole to employees who treat me with respect. That's all I ask.

    Your anonymous trolling is getting really tiresome.
    Check out my poker forum, and weekly internet radio show at http://pokerfraudalert.com

  17. #17
    Anyway, I spoke to the hotel manager tonight. She was very nice, and apologized repeatedly for the behavior of the employees there.

    Perhaps she was blowing smoke up my ass, but she sounded sincere.

    She told me (as she did last week) that she was brought in recently to clean things up from a customer service standpoint, and that she's still in the process of training her employees to stop doing shit like this. She agreed that there are some big holes in the customer service model at Rincon at the moment, but that she's working hard to take care of them.

    I hope she succeeds. The property has a lot of potential (being southern California's only CET location), but they really need to squeeze the rudeness and customer-hostile policies out of their culture. The hosts aren't the problem -- all of them seem pretty reasonable and friendly. It's the front desk/hotel operator group that really needs to be overhauled big time. There are a few decent employees in those departments, but also a lot of people who think that it's their job to fight petty battles with customers over stupid crap. In general, they obsess over "rules" (many of which they incorrectly interpret) and then get really obnoxious if you dare ask for anything out of the scope of their immediate familiarity.
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  18. #18
    Originally Posted by Dante View Post
    Maybe you can explain to the forum how you "achieved" your seven stars status. I'm sure all would love to hear.
    Dante are you suggesting something out of the ordinary? If so, I would like to know! If there is a way to get 7Stars quickly and with less play, I'd like to know the trick.

  19. #19
    $81 still hadn't returned to my credit card, as of today.

    I called today and found out that indeed they had forgotten to do it, but it is now being processed.

    FAIL!
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