The Casino caller and the missing loyalty points

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

I went to the service desk at our little local casino a few weeks ago to pick up some pre-paid event tickets. There was one lady customer in front of me.

The one and only CSR at the counter was on the phone when I got there - and was still on the same call a good 30 minutes later.

Turns out SC and SC's boyfriend kept tag teaming the poor woman. It seemed to be a story of missing loyalty points, and SC and SCBF just weren't getting it.

(Long story - two casinoes in the state, until recently loyalty points at one didn't register at the other, but now they do, so CSR was doing her level best to get it all fixed and just getting through to the SCs what she was doing.)

SC was on the phone for ages with the CSR, going through detail after detail, over and over, repeating the same questions (well I assume they were the same, the CSR repeatedly said 'as I told you, blah blah'). The SC ended up putting the BF on the phone, going through the same rigmarole, with the added delight of 'I cannot discuss SC's points with you, but as I told her, blah blah blah...'

Poor CSR, I really felt for her! As annoying as it was waiting, she was doing her best to get this pair sorted and off the phone. And still being polite and pleasant about it too.

Anyway, she eventually finishes, looking just the tiniest bit frazzled. Lady in front gets sorted, then it's my turn.

Smart-arse me: 'Wow, that sounded rough... now about my missing loyalty points...' She saw the humour, thankfully!

[smileyeagle1021]

Quoth LesserSouthernFroglet

loyalty points at one didn't register at the other

I can't find a picture of that cat with just the "as they should be" but that is exactly my response. Loyalty cards should actually be about, you know, loyalty. Let's face it, if it comes down to any place will give you rewards for gambling anywhere, it's now about being a compulsive gambler and not a loyal customer.

[wolfie]

Quoth LesserSouthernFroglet

(Long story - two casinoes in the state, until recently loyalty points at one didn't register at the other, but now they do, so CSR was doing her level best to get it all fixed and just getting through to the SCs what she was doing.)

Quoth smileyeagle1021

Let's face it, if it comes down to any place will give you rewards for gambling anywhere, it's now about being a compulsive gambler and not a loyal customer.

Don't know about Oz, but in Ontario all the casinos are operated by OLG (crown corporation - Ontario Lottery and Gaming). The "loyalty card" would be a play tracking card, with points being used for comps. If Australia is the same way, having a loyalty card that works at both casinos in-state would be (from an American viewpoint) like having a loyalty card where points could be earned (and traded in on comps) at both "Nero's Villa" in Las Vegas and "Nero's Villa" in Atlantic City, but not at any "roaring lion movie studio" casinos (since they're under different management).

[WIphone_lady]

In states other than Nevada and New Jersey, our casinos are owned and operated by Native Americans. I can only think of a couple casinos in my home state of Minnesota where they could share a loyalty card because they're owned by the same band of Ojibwe.

[Jetfire]

Quoth wolfie

Don't know about Oz, but in Ontario all the casinos are operated by OLG (crown corporation - Ontario Lottery and Gaming). The "loyalty card" would be a play tracking card, with points being used for comps. If Australia is the same way, having a loyalty card that works at both casinos in-state would be (from an American viewpoint) like having a loyalty card where points could be earned (and traded in on comps) at both "Nero's Villa" in Las Vegas and "Nero's Villa" in Atlantic City, but not at any "roaring lion movie studio" casinos (since they're under different management).

OLG gets its cut eventually, but other companies can and do run the actual Casinos.

For example, the Casino in Windsor is part of the Harrahs group (Same group that controls Rio/Ceasars/Balleys/Planet Hollywood/Paris/etc... in Vegas). The Total Rewards card that you use down at those sites in Vegas also works at Ceasars Windsor.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

The casinos in question are owned by the same group, but until recently points at both accrued separately. Silly system, I suppose, but there's a serious north/south divide here. Not quite Mason Dixon line bad, but still present.

[Seshat]

For the curious: part of the reason for a North-South divide in Australia is the alleged "Brisbane Line".

A summary of the line is in the link above; and that link itself refers to more detailed documents. But the summary of the summary is:

During an election campaign, a member of the then-opposition party accused the previous government of having had a plan to abandon the northern part of Australia to the Japanese, if they got this far. (This all happened in WWII, so it was a plausible accusation.)
Despite there being no evidence at any point, the whole thing became a huge public controversy, leading eventually to a Royal Commission inquiry. Which found there to be no evidence at all that such a plan ever existed.

But some people still believe it did. Of course.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Seshat, the divide I'm actually referring to is just local here in Tasmania. The amount of rivalry and animosity between Launceston and Hobart is truly astonishing. Because I live near Hobart, I blame the Launceston folk of course! ;-)

Thanks for the link though, it's fascinating! I lived in Brisbane for ~25 years, and never heard of it.

Travel around in FNQ though, and it is amazing the number of old WWII defensive structures still around.