Anonymous says

ugly beat. Look on the bright side. It was quick and painless.

10/01/07

Anonymous says

By the time I finished reading that hilarious shit, I had completey forgotten about your beat. I think you have discovered a cure for my" tiltinitis". Thanks man

10/02/07

Anonymous says

sounds like a blast. You've got to admit, this card world of ours can be quite funny and exciting. Not sure what I like to do more, laugh, or, play cards, maybe both?

10/17/07

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I imagine most people would expect this blog entry to be about the WCOOP main event, seeing as It was the largest online poker event of the year. Let me sum up the entirety of the trip report for you:

Belowabove is sitting on my immediate left. We both have about 18.5 of our starting 20k, he had a few hundred more. I’m dealt 99 in the SB. Blinds 50/100

Preflop: I raise to 350, BA calls in the BB.
Flop: 6 9 J rainbow
I bet 450, BA raises to 1200, I call.
Turn: J
I check, BA bets 1750, I raise to 5800, he shoves, I call. He shows AJ.
River: 6.

There you are, WCOOP ME trip report. Riveting stuff huh? Anyway, I decided to use this blog entry as a sort of public service announcement, because hey, the more you know.

It was brought to my attention that there was a $10 charge on my credit card that showed up monthly. I had assumed it was for a Xbox live subscription, as I seem to recall perhaps creating one, but I wasn’t quite sure. However, I was completely sure if I created a paying one that it was only for a few months, and this charge had now been showing up several months longer. I took the chare name “WLI RESERVATIONREW ARDS C800 73270 CT” and plugged it into Google.

When people used to have unanswerable questions that plagued them in life, they turned to God. God’s infinite knowledge allowed for the reaching of understanding and peace. Since the creation of Google I’ve become an atheist, since Google knows everything and God’s utility has become irrelevant. And in the extremely rare occurrence that you can’t find the information and answers you seek on Google, simply turn to its cousin, Wikipedia. Knowing the web address of these two sites allows me to fulfill my potential as one of the world’s smartest men. Eat your heart out Ken Jennings.

Google instantly responded to my quandary. Turns out, the charge is part of an elaborate ‘rewards program’ scam. If you see a charge like this showing up on your credit card and want further information here’s an excellent link:
http://adam.rosi-kessel.org/weblog/the_man/webloyalty_aka_wli_reservations_is_a_scam.html

I called up the companies number and began making demands. I could give you a play by play of the conversation, OR I could ghost write it again. Yes that sounds more fun.

Upon finding the aforementioned website I became outraged and took it up as my mission to get my money back. I took the phone number from the website, fired up Skype, and dialed.

“Hello this is XXXXX with Reservation Rewards, how my help you today?”

“Hello this is George Dunst. I noticed a charge on my bank account from your company that I did not authorize that has been going for several months now. So, what’s up with this shit?”

“Oh yes, that. Well that’s our little scam. You see when you make a purchase through various companies, in this case EB Games (true part of story) we feed you some various crap where we ask for your email and don’t tell you we’ll be charging you, then just start billing without any confirmation.”

“Wow, well I certainly didn’t expect that kind of honesty. Alright, so stop it and give me my money back you lying bastards.”

“Ha, yea right. What are you going to do about it?”

“What am I gonna do about it? WHAT AM I GONNA DO ABOUT IT!? You listen to me and you listen to me good you stupid mother fucker. I was gonna play nice and just ask for my money back and go quietly into that good night, but now you’ve crossed the fucking line. Here are my demands; I want all my money back, 2 Hawaiian islands, a summer home in the Hamptons, a red Ferrari F50, and a helicopter. Not one of those lame news helicopters, it better have missiles on it!”

”And if we don’t comply?”

”Then I’ll pay for Larry The Cable Guy to come to your office and do 90 minutes of stand up.”

I heard the woman make a sort of noise on the other line that sounded like a mix of a gasp and choking. It sounded something like the noise actors make when trying to pretend their having a heart attack.

“Excuse me sir, I didn’t realize the gravity of the situation. I’ll put my supervisor on the phone immediately.”
A moment passed as I sat on hold, listening to the receiver play ‘The Girl from Ipanema”. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d lost my temper and made such wild and violent threats, but the cat was out of the bag now.

“Hello Mr. Dunst, this is XXXXXX. I understand that our company has made a massive error in offending you. I’ve got your list of demands here and want to assure you that we handle a situation like this with the utmost priority and seriousness. Do you have any preference on Hawaiian islands?”

”Just as long as there’s no lepers.”

“I see sir, but of course. Well I want to thank you for calling today and informing us of our error. Is it alright if I hang up now sir? I soiled myself when I heard about your threat and could really use a change in underwear.”

“Yea, I guess I’ll let you go… this time.”

I hung up and went back to my bench press, where I did 20 reps of 1000 pounds. Yep, I’m that badass.

So in the end Reservation Rewards agreed to cancel their subscription and refund the entirety of what they took. In these kind of situations, apparently the one phrase you need to use is “If my money is not refunded I will call my bank and charge back this item.” This sets you aside from most customers who aren’t aware that they can demand their money back and that authorization is very difficult to prove over the phone or internet.