Hi Gang:
If you're thinking about taking advantage of the Tropicana (Atlantic City)
promotion called "Double Your Offer," think twice before you do it.
This past weekend, some friends and us had heard about it and it sounded
pretty good. The offer was "show us a free play coupon that was mailed to you
by another casino and we'll double it." The offer was good for new players
and for those that had been inactive for 13 months or more. The offer also
stated that the Trop would give you back your coupons so you wouldn't lose
them.
Since Hedy and I had a pair of $75 Harrah's coupons good for this past
Saturday we figured this was a good way to get $300 worth of free play out of
the Trop.
We drove over with our two friends (who also had Harrah's coupons) and
went to the Diamond Club card center.
"Oh, I'm sorry," we were told. "The coupons had to be attached to the
mailer you received. If they are detached, we can't honor them."
We argued that this was ridiculous. That nowhere in the offer did it state
that this was necessary and that nine out of 10 people pull these coupons
out of the booklet when they receive them and throw away all the other
extraneous material.
After about 10 minutes of negotiation, the boothling spoke to a supervisor
and got the OK to honor our coupons.
Then, we were told that we had to play and accumulate two points on our
Trop cards before we could download the "first part of the offer." The second
part had to be downloaded at a later date, within 60 days.
We asked how much play it would take to accumulate two points and were
given some mumbo jumbo about "it depends on the machine you play, how long you
play and how much your average bet is."
So, we started playing some video poker at the quarter level. After about
10 minutes, we checked the kiosk and we had 0.23 points. So, we played some
more. Then, we played some slots. Then, some more VP. After about a half
hour (and a $35 loss) we had 1.42 points. This was really getting ridiculous.
We played some more slots and finally got the two points after a $47 loss.
We downloaded the $150 in free play and, luckily, were able to cash out
$149.50. But it was a major hassle and extremely time-consuming. I really
doubt we'll come back for the other $150 because we were told we have to put
two points on our card again before we could download the other $150.
So, buyer beware. This seems like a classic bait-and-switch offer.
Regards,
CoachVee & Hedy
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