So, there is word brewing that the entirety of Merge network will cease taking new players from the US temporarily, as they attempt to make some headway regarding the backlog of cashouts and poor customer service, and too few options for depositing. Supposedly in a few days.

http://www.holdempokerchat.com/onlin...layer-signups/

On 2+2, it has pretty much been confirmed by reliable sources (you can find it easily, and I'm sure it will be commented on here, but I'm not going to speak for anyone) that at least the first three paragraphs of that article are true; so they will definitely pull out for a time, hopefully not too long. They will be trying to hire new Customer Service (come back to us, Live Chat!) and find new processors so they can hopefully not rely on credit cards for deposits, and will be able to find a more reliable, timely manner to get players their cashouts as well. If true, and if only for a short time, I can't help but think this is a good thing. Just thought it would be good to get some fellow P5'ers thoughts and opinions on this, as a current player on the Merge network.

Edit: Crap, not sure how to edit titles...I guess "pull out of US market" is a bit misleading, as they'll continue to serve their current players; they'll simply be halting signups from the US for a time.

Looks like this starts on Friday, June 3rd and may last 4-6 weeks.

Sign up today, if you haven't already and want to..

It's all about processing, and this is definitely happening. We're posting an article shortly on the front page about it. Their processing is capped, and they're having a lot of backlog trying to get all the transactions made with the gigantic surge of new players. This is what I've heard around the industry, at least. They're going to take a few weeks to retool their processing and support channels, so that they can come back prepared for the kind of growth that's been happening

I'm definitely not buying that they have this 'super backlog'. I have worked for two major Fortune 100 companies for the past 15 years in customer service and in management roles where the customer service reps : customers base ratio is ABSOLUTELY FAR GREATER than a merge gaming poker network (ABSOLUTELY TINY) : customer base ratio . Do they have like one or two customer service representatives that are handling very simple tasks?? It is not even close and these large companies are able to run their business with a 24-48 hour response time and processing times of tasks that involve a much more comprehensive role than replying to an email or cutting a check. I mean seriously, how many players are really requesting checks?? everyone is winning?? do they have a customer base of 700k or something??? I could obv go on and on. I dont know exactly what their job entails, but how long does it take to respond to an email or approve a withdrawal?? How many emails do you think you could respond to in an 8 hour day??? EXACTLY. I am definitely not buying it and for people that are, you apparently haven't worked in 'the real world' lately..

 

Originally Posted by SlappyJay74

I'm definitely not buying that they have this 'super backlog'. I have worked for two major Fortune 100 companies for the past 15 years in customer service and in management roles where the customer service reps : customers base ratio is ABSOLUTELY FAR GREATER than a merge gaming poker network (ABSOLUTELY TINY) : customer base ratio . Do they have like one or two customer service representatives that are handling very simple tasks?? It is not even close and these large companies are able to run their business with a 24-48 hour response time and processing times of tasks that involve a much more comprehensive role than replying to an email or cutting a check. I mean seriously, how many players are really requesting checks?? everyone is winning?? do they have a customer base of 700k or something??? I could obv go on and on. I dont know exactly what their job entails, but how long does it take to respond to an email or approve a withdrawal?? How many emails do you think you could respond to in an 8 hour day??? EXACTLY. I am definitely not buying it and for people that are, you apparently haven't worked in 'the real world' lately..

this, it seems that most poker sites(except stars) are run by novice businessmen. They get into the game because demand is there and then as soon as the demand deviates from the norm they have no clue how to deal with it.

Hopefully they retool and become a more efficient business.

I really hate cover up excuses. Fact is that they are mismanaged and are restructuring because of that.

Common for novice businessman.

 

Originally Posted by tyson219

How is this a cover up excuse or mismanagement? They experienced rapid growth over a 45 day period and didn’t have the framework to handle it. Very few companies in any industry could respond to a demand shock like that given the regulatory complications that exist. Restructuring is a good move and a sign of a good business decision.

It’s better to temporarily halt growth than to create a mess that grows out of control and leads to the company’s demise. Also, rather than slam them for caring about customer support, why not give them some props. You of all people should be happy that they are doing this. Don’t be such a hypocrite.

.

i agree its better to slow down and restrucutre. In all honesty they may have increased their business by one hunderd percent since black friday...but its still only been about one thousand players on average per day above what they had before.

This is not a monster jump and not being able to handle this increase is a sure tale sign the they were slightly to mainly incompetent to begin with.

I understand the payment processing can take time. But, in all honesty there is much more than that cause oodles of new business is always a good thing.

They seemed unprepared for any potential growth which leads me to believe they did not have proper businessmen installed from the very beginning.

maybe i am wrong but i think there is much more to this than just finding payment processors.

 

Originally Posted by tyson219

Do you really think the backlog is in writing a check and putting it in the mail? Come on, 12 years old could handle that. Reality check please. Do you think it's easy post black friday to set up a processing network to move money from the sites accounts into US players bank accounts? I highly doubt it. The backlog is likely in finding a way to setup processors who can handle the check requests, not on the customer support level of writing it out.

I agree that their customer support sucks and doesn’t respond often. But that is irrelevant to the issue of a “super backlog” as the two likely aren’t related.

If the backlog is related to finding ways to setup processors, then why are a few checks being sent out and not others? If they have at least one processor that is active, why are they only able to do so few? Do the current processors only have a VERY limited amount of funds available? I really dont understand that. And, like you said, that is irrelevant to the customer support issues which somewhat makes my point that the timeframe of many weeks (and often never) to reply to emails is unexcusable in my opinion. They should do whatever it takes to answer all emails within a couple of days.

 

Originally Posted by Prestonluv

Maybe they feel huge growth will draw even more attention to them than they already have.

Could be this as well. We can all guess, but hopefully a Merge skin rep that is allowed to speak about the situation will do so.

 

Originally Posted by SlappyJay74

Also, merge traffic has been dropping for the past week (which is normal this time of year) and probably will continue to do so throughout the WSOP so I don't think they were going to be bombarded with a huge amount of new sign ups soon (unless of course FTP pays out).

This was always the case on stars and FTP during this time period, so not surprising its happening on Merge. The timing isn't terrible for them to regroup themselves and figure out what they want to do next.

 

Originally Posted by SlappyJay74

and another thing (lol), like the title of this thread suggests, there has been rumors all over the poker forums in the past 2-3 days about this. Surprisingly, no representatives from any skin has addressed it. (that i know of)

Well, as I said in my OP, there actually has been one Merge rep to comment on it (That's what I meant by "it's been confirmed by reliable sources"), but I figured maybe he'd pop his head in over here. It wasn't much, but David Jung (Hero CEO) at least confirmed that the first three paragraphs of the article I linked were true, and that he can't comment on the final paragraph, and that he is confident that it will be a positive for the network, Hero, and his players.

+1 to everything tyson said... I feel like this is a good LONG TERM decision by Merge, they need to restructure their software and payment processors because they are not READY to take on the demands of tens of thousands of players.

They need to hire more people for customer service and for processing transfers and withdrawals... otherwise, there would be such an influx of players and withdrawing/depositing/transferring, and getting inquiries via email would be more delayed/chaotic than it already is... so I think this is very good for the longevity of the merge network... hopefully it takes only a few weeks for them to allow US players to sign up, and not 4-6 weeks like stated above, but as long as it's still going strong when WSOP coverage hits ESPN, it will be a good thing.

 

Originally Posted by PSISRIGGED

so i am an existing customer on hero poker....was gunna make a deposit tonight
not sure if i will be just wasting money...so my question is since im already a player if i deposit i wont have any issue as they are ONLY not accepting new usa players...not shutting down current usa players?
also had anyone used click2pay?

Existing US players are allowed to play on Merge, and in my opinion Hero has the best support and communication towards its players on that network. I have never used click2pay so I can't advise there.

 

Originally Posted by Adam

I definitely don't think this has anything whatsoever to do with the DOJ, and everything to do with not having any way currently to handle the processing volume that's on their plate.

I sure hope you are right...i just got a funny feeling it might be longer than four to six weeks.

 

Originally Posted by PSISRIGGED

so i am an existing customer on hero poker....was gunna make a deposit tonight
not sure if i will be just wasting money...so my question is since im already a player if i deposit i wont have any issue as they are ONLY not accepting new usa players...not shutting down current usa players?
also had anyone used click2pay?

I have used and still use click2pay...they stopped new USA customers after UIGEA passed a few years back i believe. So i am not sure if you can get a new account.

This is strictly a wallet to transfer money...USA players cannot w/d to their checking account. I believe they can still deposit there.

Its efficient and fast as a transfer wallet

stop being so naive people, this is definately a bad sign, no expanding company that is basically the sole player in its market would stop taking on customers to do things they can do while running the business as usual. Backlog is just withdrawals which has nothing to do with taking new players. This is definately related to the DOJ somehow as earlier merge skins stopped new us sign ups. This must be some kind of balance between legal advice and market desire.

Any bank account that accepts transfers from Merge, Cake, Bodog etc...... will eventually be seized, why is this even a debate any more? I can bet that Merge is having issues with transactions because of this and it can really only get worse.

I am failing to understand why so many intelligent people are willing to just keep playing and risking this until online poker gets regulated. I'm also wondering why these US facing sites are still accepting US players at all after seeing every other site get indicted one by one.

It's kind of like living on a street where the entire block sells drugs, including you... one by one you watch your neighbors get busted, raided, and sent to jail, (ala Pstars, Ftilt, UB) but you continue to sell drugs from that same house on that same block thinking you won't eventually get busted too??? What the fuck!??

Where's the logic in that thinking?