Vegas Affiliates Change Predatory Terms!

[bonustreak]

Hey All,
This has been a long time coming and we have worked with Monica for some time discussing why the terms need to be reverted.
As such, a newsletter went out today from Vegas Affiliates stating that they:
1. Will no longer bundle casinos!
2. Will no longer have a 'Minimum Activity Rule'!

At the moment I cannot change their status here at AGD due to a machine crashage However, as soon as that is resolved, VA will be placed back into the certified section with a warning (and a retroactive change warning icon as well).
This is a great step in the right direction for a program that (for a very long time) did not see the light. Thanks very much to Monica who worked her tail off to get this implemented.

What a nice change so out with the old and in with the new, it is always nice to have a new AM in that realizes the harm being caused to a company with such terrible terms! Great job Monica

[Anthony]

We have been seeing a lot of positive changes from VA.

[alexpratt]

Excellent news - And they are sponsoring the bar at the Super Show so we can celebrate with a free drink or two

[arkyt]

Hopefully things will get back to where they used to be real soon. Personally, I think I will wait and see what happens over the next few months before I start promoting them again.

Have to love their email though >

Since Vegas Affiliates is highly considered as one of the well established and most reputable affiliate program ...

While working towards these goals, we have improved our communication with affiliates and affiliate associations such as AGD, GPWA, APCW,

I thought they were in bad standing with most affiliates at AGD / GPA / CAP ? Did I miss something while I was on vacation? Looks like they might be feeling some pain and needed to send out a hook line and sinker in an attempt to pull in some new suckers errrrr fishies?

Maybe its a sick attempt at an April Fools Joke?

Maybe we will all start making money with them again?

[Monica]

Hi there everyone,
Thank you so much for the support and yes Alex some drinks will definitely be on us!!!
And no this isn't an April's fool one

Regarding the quote by arkyt, this is nothing but the truth, the standing we had in terms of communication did need improving and that is exactly what we did with AGC, GPWA, CAP, among many affiliates, they spoke and we listened.

Anyways I can only promise to try and keep up, as I am sure the Vegas Affiliates team will do, and offer our affiliates the best possible service and tools.
Long road ahead but who doesn’t love a challenge J

I don’t know how things happened in the past regarding VA, all I know is hope to be given the opportunity to truly change and improve things, being this announcement a first step.

Anyways if any of you need anything, have a suggestion or just want to have a talk I’ll drop me a message.

Take care all and thank you once again,
Monica

[Daera]

Well this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Good work Andy, and all those who helped encourage this positive change.

[universal4]

Have the official terms been released yet?

Will the terms for new affiliates be approved, or is the reversal on bundling etc just affecting the affil;iates who signed up tot he old terms?

Rick
Universal4

[Monica]

Hi there Rick,
The bundling reversal for the time being will affect only affiliates who signed up prior to the mentioned date. A new T&C is being implemented but we are still making the necessary adjustments. We have a consultant taking care of that part, since we do want to be in sync with the industry.
Our goal is to have cleaner and clearer terms and conditions that reflect not only the affiliate's obligations but the company's side also, including defining tighter payment dates for example.
So in short Old affiliates will benefit from our new commitments as a company, but the terms they signed up for will not be changed, being there will be no retroactive changes.
Hope this makes sence,
Thank you
monica

[universal4]

So for those of us that recommend and refer other affiliates to the programs, (may or may not) want to recommend your program over others.....

Sure we can say, "Hey join VA since they changed their minds and decided to take care of old affiliates although their terms may or may not be good for you due to bundling etc.."

I agree with the idea that it shows progress deciding not to change the terms retroactively and that you decided to HONOR the agreements we had with you, but my original question stands on what I should do as far as recommendations moving forward.

Rick
Universal4

[Monica]

Would It be bad to tell them, go with Vegas Affiliates their the best? :P Kidding

Well there are many, many programmes bundling earnings between their brands and in our case the affiliate may always choose to promote one brand over the others to avoid that situation. Our affiliate managers will be able to advise the affiliate on the top converting brands for his market so he may then select the one or two that will bring him the best revenue. The new affiliate may also choose to promote all brands at his own discretion.

Our intent is not to look after only the company's side and this is why we ourselves advise new affiliates to choose their brands carefully and promote those few ones strongly, rather tham randomely promoting all.

So having said that, I would say it is safe to recommend our programme. We will look after and aid new affiliates get started in Vegas Affiliates and we will explain and convey the best possible way for the affiliate to gain while promoting us.

Take care,
monica

[GamTrak]

I have to say that i'm very happy to see the latest events unfold! My account is now back to generating 4 figures and I really missed having VA on my site as their player retention ROCKS! Kudos to ADG & others for helping them to see the light!

Welcome aboard Monica! I'll be updating my sites this weekend.

[arkyt]

Is everyone really ready to forgive and forget here? I find that a bit curious to say the least.

What about any commissions which may have been confiscated because quotas weren't met? Is that no longer an outstanding issue?

How were affiliate accounts handled when quotas were not met? Were any accounts closed? Were players unmapped because quotas were not being met?

Further, has anyone been reimbursed for commissions withheld during the time frame the predatory terms were in place?

I guess I'm having a tough time understanding how a program which was potentially withholding affiliate payments because quotas werent met is now being welcomed back into the community with open arms because they simply reverted the bad terms which permitted them to steal in the first place. As Mr. Jerry McGuire often said - show me the money.

[Monica]

First of all Thank you so much Robin for your comments If you need any language specific material or anything please get in touch with Daniela, she will for sure provide.

Arkyt hi there, to answer your question I need to know, are you referring to the inactivity quotas, because we never enforced those, although some may have tried and they were present in the T&C's for a while, they were never "used" on any affiliate.
I must admit quotas were probably a flopped tactic to activate affiliates more, have no idea really since I was in charge of the Marketing department and not related to affiliates, I personally found them very unfair towards affiliates, everyone is allowed to take a break when needed for whatever reason, so we simply ignored it.

So to answer your first question we never withheld any payments because of quotas, simply because we never used them.

Regarding bundling, many of our affiliates chose to promote only one of our brands in the few months that this term was active. Others have been in contact so we can review their situation and help compensate that time frame, with better rev shares, better support, in a case by case scenario, since there are so many different ones.

As I said on another post I would be happy to try and help review your situation. I must apologize for I am not an expert on affiliation, always been on the marketing side of things, but one thing I can assure you, I try my best and always weigh in both sides.

And we have been reprimended for doing less than good things, so it is very good to be welcomed back for doing things right, gives us motivation to keep going I guess

I think I left my contact somewhere around here, if not try monica@vavips.com and I will give you my skype addy through there or phone.

Sorry for making this post such a long one, I tend go on and on and on

Monica

[offyourface]

First of all Thank you so much Robin for your comments If you need any language specific material or anything please get in touch with Daniela, she will for sure provide.

Arkyt hi there, to answer your question I need to know, are you referring to the inactivity quotas, because we never enforced those, although some may have tried and they were present in the T&C's for a while, they were never "used" on any affiliate.
I must admit quotas were probably a flopped tactic to activate affiliates more, have no idea really since I was in charge of the Marketing department and not related to affiliates, I personally found them very unfair towards affiliates, everyone is allowed to take a break when needed for whatever reason, so we simply ignored it.

So to answer your first question we never withheld any payments because of quotas, simply because we never used them.

Regarding bundling, many of our affiliates chose to promote only one of our brands in the few months that this term was active. Others have been in contact so we can review their situation and help compensate that time frame, with better rev shares, better support, in a case by case scenario, since there are so many different ones.

As I said on another post I would be happy to try and help review your situation. I must apologize for I am not an expert on affiliation, always been on the marketing side of things, but one thing I can assure you, I try my best and always weigh in both sides.

And we have been reprimended for doing less than good things, so it is very good to be welcomed back for doing things right, gives us motivation to keep going I guess

I think I left my contact somewhere around here, if not try monica@vavips.com and I will give you my skype addy through there or phone.

Sorry for making this post such a long one, I tend go on and on and on

Monica

Hi Monica, can you tell me the date the bundling term became active the date it stopped?

[Monica]

Hi there offyourface,
The bundling was stopped on April 1st 2010. I have to check the exact implementation date but it was around 8 months ago. I am not at the office and will only be back at the office on Tuesday so I can't give you an exact date until then.

If there is anything else I can do to help, please let me know
Take care,
monica

[casinobonusguy]

Is everyone really ready to forgive and forget here? I find that a bit curious to say the least.

What about any commissions which may have been confiscated because quotas weren't met? Is that no longer an outstanding issue?

How were affiliate accounts handled when quotas were not met? Were any accounts closed? Were players unmapped because quotas were not being met?

Further, has anyone been reimbursed for commissions withheld during the time frame the predatory terms were in place?

I guess I'm having a tough time understanding how a program which was potentially withholding affiliate payments because quotas werent met is now being welcomed back into the community with open arms because they simply reverted the bad terms which permitted them to steal in the first place. As Mr. Jerry McGuire often said - show me the money.

We won't be working with them again ,cost us about $2000 in employee wages to remove them from 16 sites last year .Once we have to remove a program they never go back ,good luck to the rest of you

[Monica]

Hey casinobonusguy,
I regret to hear of your decision, as I am sure you would soon recoup that value you invested in having us removed if you started promoting our program.
We wish you all the best and can only hope you will choose to work with us again in the future.
Take care,
Monica

[TheCPA]

Well, I think this fantastic news.

While it's never OK to inflict retroactive changes on affiliates, we always have taken the position that if a program will talk to us, listen, and rescind the negative changes then we should forgive the indiscretion.

If we don't do that, then there is no reason or incentive for the program to work it out with us.

That said, I'm sure it all boils down to money as they may have seen a trend of affiliates dropping them over the last 8 months.

No matter what the reason though, they are making it right and Monica seems to be ready to make amends on any lost earning as well.

Perhaps MGS is involved behind the scenes in some way to that we are not aware of. I think it's possible.

Grand Prive is out of MGS now, {thank goodness}, and then we get this good news from Vegas Affiliates. Who knows, but I like the current MGS trend. Most of us have always liked Microgaming Programs, and they have pretty much been the leading software provider in terms of quality, decent operators, and fairness to players.

When retroactive terms changes start damaging the BRAND itself, it just seems to me that MGS would do whatever it takes to protect the name.
Like I said, who knows, but the I'm liking the current trend.

[Dominique]

Thanks to Monica and Andy from AGD for hammering this out over the last few months.

Goes to show that keeping communication channels open and making frequent contact can do a lot of good. There is always something to be said for fixing things rather than breaking them.

[GamTrak]

I agree Nick & Dom! We have to welcome them back once they do as we ask them to. It's only a fair and the right thing to do.

We all make mistakes, but it's those that forgive that makes it all work out in the end!