Support and Customer Service

Whether you’re shopping for a new restaurant to eat at or an online poker room to play some cards, customer service is an important factor in how well you’ll enjoy your stay.  If you’re like most players, chances are you’ll never have the need to contact them for help - but when the need for service does arise, it’s important to know you’ll be taken care of promptly and properly.

Online poker rooms (not unlike other online businesses) have a few options to provide this support to customers:

E-mail Support:
For general questions and inquiries that aren’t of real urgency, e-mail support is generally adequate for getting help.  Of course, that depends on the competence of those answering said e-mails, as well as the turnaround time on receiving a response.

Most rooms, at a bare minimum, offer some kind of e-mail support, either through posted addresses or online forms that can be filled in to contact support.

Telephone Support:
Support by phone is always a good thing.  For more urgent concerns it gives the player the opportunity to get a hold of someone quickly, without the wait of an e-mail response.  Many poker rooms have a call center to handle these inquiries, and the better support lines are available 24/7 for their clients.

Hours of operation are important to bear in mind, as well as the competency of the people on the other end of the line.  Some venues may outsource their support center, which can result in timely, but not always quality help. 

You should verify that telephone support is available in your specific area as well.  The majority of places will have a toll-free option for the U.S. and Canada.  But is there an 800 number for your region?  If not, is there an international number posted at all?

Live Online Support:
Chances are that if you’ve been surfing the ‘net for a while, you’ve probably seen one of these ‘click here for live help’ buttons once or twice.  Usually they are accompanied with a picture of an operator.  This type of live support is basically a quick chat application that allows you to type and receive text messages in real time with a support operator.  It’s quicker than e-mail and, provided you can type at a good pace, it’s not a bad option and also allows the operator to pass along URL’s easily if there’s anything they would like to refer you too.

Hopefully you’ll have a smooth playing experience wherever you get your game on.  Knowing beforehand that solid customer service is available can save you a lot of heartache if problems should ever arise.