Merge Just Cracks Me Up

[villaridge]

Ok, Merge has those little stars that they put on your Avatar. Bronze , Silver, and Gold, and they are filled 1/2 Star at a time.


Now, I am up to 1 Silver Star at Carbon. Got that back in the "Comp Points" days, and it took about 1,200 comp points to get 1/2 of a star filled. Easy to understand.
I have not gotten any further increase in my stars at merge since they went to the VIP points. At Big Bet (merge skin) I have 255 VIP points, all built by MTT buyins. and I have been winning there, up around $650 on the last 3 months.


But, I am not really concerned about getting "stars", until a buddy of mine is sporting a new 1/2 Bronze Star at Rio. I ask him, "how many VIP points did it take you to get that?" He tells me 130 or so.


So I am thinking WTF, and he tells me he also has 1/2 Bronze Star at Reefer, he just joined there, and only 35 or so VIP points. so double WTF


This was a week and a half ago. At that time, I sent a email to Big Bet Support, asking how many VIP points it took, to earn 1/2 a star? Their response was the usual generic Merge crap response of:
"Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting us.

Stars are awarded to real money players only based on factors such as hands played,
VIP points earned and winning percentages. You will first receive half a bronze star,
and work up to three bronze stars before moving up to half a silver star,
and eventually reaching the maximum of 3 gold stars.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions."
To which I sent this response:
"well, this is a TYPICAL Merge response to a SPECIFIC freaking question LAURA. glad that u FINALLY found the "form response" to send me on my freaking specific question to u. YOU ARE USELESS LAURA!

I have 227 VIP points at Big Bet (Merge) and I want to know at what point u guys give me a freaking 1/2 bronze star on my avatar ( AS DISCUSSED WITH LAURA, WHO PROMISED TO FIND OUT, BUT INSTEAD SENDS ME THIS GENERIC FREAKIN RESPONSE)

i HAVE $350 AT Big Bet, and I guess that means NOTHING to u. It cERTAINLY didn't to LAURA. But I guarantee u, if I don't hear back to this freakin issue from u, in an UN_LAURA response, I will pull my money off of Big Bet and bad mouth your site at every poker forum I know of.

Why they hell do u have 24 hr support if u just ignore the question and send stupid responses?"


I got a response 2 days later, and it was to please wait 24-48 hrs for a response. I waited a week, then asked then again, what's up? I got:
"I would like to apologize forthe generic response you received earlier.
I have looked into the matter andI notice that you need another 173 points before you reach 1/2 star level.

We are currently still waiting on a full breakdown on the points needed in order to get to each star level as soon as we have this we will be able to grant you more information."
Ok, this response cracks me up. as it says exactly how many VIP points I need to get my first 1/2 bronze star at Big Bet, But like, lol, "by the way" we have no idea how the system works.


So I went to Carbon live chat for Carbons (Carbon and PDC are the fronts for the owners of Merge, all other merge skins just buy a franchise, as it were from them) take on this. Here is that chat:


"You are now chatting with 'CS Allan'
Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK615033608X
CS Allan: Hello! How may I assist you?
villaridge: could u please give me a breakdown on how many VIP points one must earn to achieve 1/2 a star on ones avatar?
CS Allan: Unfortunately, we dont have the exact formaul as to how stars are awarded or earned. However, if you continue to play well, you will earn them.
villaridge: how odd
CS Allan: Stars are awarded to real money players only based on factors such as hands played,
CS Allan: VIP points earned and winning percentages. You will first receive half a bronze star,
CS Allan: and work up to three bronze stars before moving up to half a silver star,
CS Allan: and eventually reaching the maximum of 3 gold stars.
villaridge: is there a difference in VIP points (cash vs MTT) that also influences the awarding of the stars?
CS Allan: It really depends on hands played and vip points earned. And as I have said, we dont have the exact formula as to how it was awarded.
CS Allan: Do you have any other questions that I can help you with?
villaridge: well, that just makes no sense, as basically it comes down to a whim of you guys at Merge, without a set formula guidelines
villaridge: nope. thanks for your time
CS Allan: Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further enquiries.
CS Allan: Have a Nice Day!
CS Allan: Good Bye!


Soooooo Folks, This is funny Merge, has no freaking idea of how they award those little STARS on your avatar. Could be ANYTHING. ROFLMAO.

[Logan]

LOL Villa, don't be rude with the girls

Talking serious, i see that have a star in Cabon like months back, now i have zero stars, i don't know if is because withdraws but to be true i don't care about stars, i am more concerne about this rumors running around forums about merge having problem lately, the Pic-club broke, the longer cashouts, the less and non adds to forums, less forums games lately etc, etc.

Already take out most of my money from Carbon and yesterday cash out from Nordica, lets see how long they take to give me my money.

[LombardiStix]

Well I thought the stars were easy to come by at first and much harder once you got into the silver/gold region. This would make some logical sense. Lol man did you go on a witch hunt about stars though! hahaha i give you one gold star for tenacity. HAHa

[Poker Orifice]

Never had a clue what those little stars meant. I have 'zero' stars but have 5 - 1st place finishes in tournaments on Carbon (i save the little trophies).
Now I have a bit better of an idea as to what the stars are all about (sort of... lol).

[pokerdushi]

Too bad you had problems with customer service, it’s really frustrating when that happens! I guess some people just don’t know how to explain things in a simple way, but hope this helps! I contacted them and this is what I got...

Comp points - They don't actually serve a purpose other than to indicate how good a player you are, so in simple terms, to “brag” how good you are. And, it seems pretty silly, but they don't have an exact formula because it depends on a number of factors, like rake made, hands played, win rate, etc. Truth is, I rather focus on VIP points than break my head to get a gold star! LOL

PICclub - Merge and PICclub did dissolve their agreement and are no longer working together as of Oct. 2009 (I believe). However, Big Bet Poker has their own support teams and uses their own cashier system, so it continues to accept PICclub as a payment method.

Cheers...and good luck!