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Let me preface this article by stating that this is not a recent occurrence – this issue occurred back in April/May of 2011. However it has only came to light this past week, when I discovered that a player who was tracked to me at Carbon Poker, and was confirmed by Chipsplit as tracked to me – was no longer tracked.
This issue apparently occurred as at the time, Carbon Poker would allow bonus codes to override any affiliate signups. However this is different than “player clicks through your link, sees coupon code field during registration process and googles it”, as this player was already registered, and signed up via me.
This player went through my links to register at Carbon Poker, was signed up under me at Carbon Poker, AND I received multiple reports from Chipsplit confirming that this player was tracked to me. Then he apparently used a bonus code from another affiliate when first depositing, and it removed that player from me and tracked it to the other affiliate.
This situation apparently wouldn’t occur today because Chipsplit say that bonus codes don’t override prior tracking anymore. However it is still an extremely frustrating situation that I would like to vent about.
On November 13th, 2012 a player e-mailed me to state that he had signed up at Carbon Poker via my main rakeback website, RakebackResource.com. Whenever a player signs up under me, I always ask them to e-mail me so I can confirm they are tracked, provide them with additional details, and add them to my database in case we run any promotions at that particular room.
I e-mailed Chipsplit Support to verify the player was tracked to me. On November 15th, I was informed that it was a duplicate account. The player had previously registered at Carbon Poker under a different username(Kilica), and was tracked to another affiliate.
However, when I checked my player database, I noticed that this player was listed as tracked to me, with the Kilica username. I went through my old e-mails, and confirmed that he had signed up under me. I also have numerous reports that were manually run and sent to me from Chipsplit, confirming that this player was tracked to me.
Here is a screenshot showing this:
I have another one which only displays his e-mail address and I’ve had to blur that out but here it is below:
The player had registered under me at Carbon Poker in April, 2011. As you can see above – this was confirmed by Chipsplit that he was tracked to me.
I e-mailed Chipsplit support back to verify this, because I knew for a fact that Kilica was tracked under me. They e-mailed me back to reaffirm that he is tracked to another affiliate.
At this point I took the issue to Atil and Cory, two of the top men at Chipsplit. This issue was looked into, and Cory stated that when the player deposited, he used an “offline bonus code”. Due to this, he was tracked to whatever affiliate had that bonus code.
So this whole thing is extremely frustrating. I understand the whole issue of bonus codes overriding cookies etc – but this situation does not sit right with me. This player registered under my link. This player was verified multiple times to be tracked to me. Then because he apparently deposited with another bonus code, he’s not tracked to me?
This is particularly frustrating because I correspond with all my players. I confirm they are tracked to me with Chipsplit so I can then confirm to the player that they are tracked under me. Now I look like an idiot who has to say to this player, and any other players that this happened to – that they are now no longer eligible for any promotions we are running because when I e-mailed them telling them they were tracked to me back in 2011 – that’s now no longer the case!
It makes me look like a complete idiot, and is a completely embarrassing thing to have to do.
Furthermore, the inconsistencies are driving me up the wall. On November 22nd in their e-mail to me, Chipsplit stated:
“In fact you have an offline bonus code as well RBR35 was a code that switched players to your affiliate account upon use.
However on April 26th 2011, when they set up the RBR35 bonus code, they stated:
The code that I have created is an initial deposit bonus with added tracking and rakeback, if the player is not tracked to any affiliate when they use it, they will get tracking to you and rakeback added upon use.
In addition to that, Chipsplit also stated to me:
This was also listed in our Ts&Cs at the time when these were offered.
Here is a link to the terms and conditions of Chipsplit in April 2011. Yes, I save that shit.
At no point does it state that the signup bonus code overrides the tracking link – nor does it state that “all players you bring in and who registered will be stolen from you if they use another affiliates bonus code to deposit”. I should also note that despite Chipsplit stating that their signup code policy has changed – the terms and conditions in regard to signup codes have NOT changed. Bar a few sentences, the terms and conditions now are the EXACT same terms and conditions from back in April of 2011.
It’s bad enough to feel like an idiot – please don’t treat me like one as well.
What Can Be Done Now?
Honestly, at this point nothing can be done at this stage to rectify the situation. It is what it is. I’m frustrated, and have a bit of a sour taste in my mouth over the whole ordeal, but life goes on. I’ll move on, and I’ll continue to promote Chipsplit because despite this situation, I feel they still have strong brands and I think Atil/Cory are two of the best affiliate managers out there. Hell their stat system tried to screw me out of thousands of dollars of sub-affiliate income and I’m still promoting them; losing a couple of players a year ago isn’t the end of the world.
Whatever could have been done about this situation has already been done – Chipsplit have changed their tracking so that bonus codes do not override tracking links anymore – so this situation should not occur again.
I’m still not happy with the way it all went down, however. I understand the whole “bonus code overriding cookies” deal – but to me, this is a lot different. With other programs who have this rule, the player is usually only switched to the bonus code affiliate during the registration process – NOT after they have registered and been tracked to the original affiliate.
For a player to sign up under my link after I spoke to him and referred him personally, and to have that player confirmed as tracked to me numerous times by Chipsplit themselves, then I lose that player? That isn’t right at all.
I’ve been in contact with Chipsplit as I want to run an independent inquiry into this. I’ve requested they provide me with information like the specific date that the bonus code overriding was canceled, the date the player made the first deposit so I can confirm when he was detracked to me, and a list of all players tracked to me so I can see if I’ve had any other players stolen from me. Unfortunately it’s been 24 hours since I requested that information and I haven’t received a response yet – but I will update this page when I do hear back.
I’m a very positive guy. I like to believe that “every cloud has a silver lining”. One of my main goals in life is to make lemonade out of lemons.
But there’s no positive spin I can put on this. It just sucks.
And sometimes a dudes just gotta rant.
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This article was written on November 23, 2012 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
