Addicting Games, But Could Use Better Customer Service
Written: Nov 17 '05 (Updated Jan 27 '08)
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I've been playing Pogo off and on for over two years now. The games are fun, I'll talk about that in a little bit. First I want to write about a recent experience that I had trying to renew my account.
For background information, I have been a paying member of their pay service, Club Pogo, for two years. They had credit card information on file for me, but I have long since changed accounts.
My quest to reinstate my account started off badly. Their computer system must be screwed up or something, because I would enter my credit card info into the computer and press okay, and it took me to the same screen again. Somehow, they seemed to be retaining my old credit card information and wouldn't let me update it. Grrr...
I then tried to contact them. Finding out the contact information (actual contact information where you talk to a live person, as opposed to talking to them via email) is difficult. They hide it among their knowledge database information. But in case you want it without trying to dig for it, it's 1-866-543-5435 if you're in the US, and they're open from 9-6 CST.
After I call them, my frustration increases. They won't let me pay by credit card unless I can tell them the last 8 digits of the credit card I used with them over a year ago. Ummm, for one thing I'm not sure what bank I used, for another thing, I don't have an account with that bank any more. Who keeps that information around anyway? Maybe other people do, but I don't. They say they'll contact a higher-up and will get back to me via email. Great.
The email response was quick, but they basically tell me to go to my old bank to get that number. So are you saying you don't want me to be your customer? For another thing, I had two bank accounts with two different banks, how am I supposed to know which bank it was with? I also don't know whether I used my debit card or my husband's debit card. I write them back and wait for about 3 hours with no response.
So at this time, I'm bored, frustrated, and am about to not only write a scathing review on Epinions about this company, but I'm going to post this info to all my bulletin board friends and also on my blog as well. If they don't want my business I'm going to be sure to try to make them lose even more business because of their incompetence.
But I really want to play these games. So I call back one more time. I talked to Ryan (thank you Ryan!). He tries to give me the same spiel, and I'm really frustrated at this point. I tell him that I just want to pay for another year on my account, and I'm about ready to tell all my friends about my experience with his company... so he goes and talks to his supervisor. He does talk to his supervisor too, because he comes back and allows me to buy a gift subscription for myself... for the same price as I was going to pay for with my credit card normally. It won't be renewing, but I suppose I can always have dh buy me a gift subscription next year if they can't fix this silly little billing issue on my account.
So after much frustration, they did offer me a solution to pay.
Now, I'll let you know a little bit about the site itself. I had a free account for a short while, but that didn't last long. There are a lot of really fun games that you can only play if you buy a subscription. It's only $30 a year, and I definitely get my money's worth. Not only do you get to play more games, but they have additional features that make it worth paying for.
Pogo is addicting. Right now they have 27 exclusive Club Pogo games. They have a lot of other games that you can play for free (with ad interruptions) but the games I like the best are the ones you pay for. They do have a free 14 day trial though. In many of the games (including almost ALL of the Club Pogo games) you can earn ranks and badges... that gets addicting. I'm always trying to earn badges and get to the next rank.
They offer something for everyone in the way of games. Familiar games, games that used to be popular but aren't played as much any more, and exclusive games that only Pogo Offers. Here are some familiar games that are exclusive to paying customers (although AOL members can play them for free):
Canasta
Mahjong Garden
Casino Island Blackjack
Pinochle
Some of the games you can play for free include:
Hearts
EZ Win Bingo
Chess
Checkers
Spades
There are a lot of Exclusive Pogo games that I'm not going to mention here, you'll just have to try them out.
They also have weekly badges, and a personal challenge, where you can earn previous badges that are no longer available. Trying for the weekly badges is fun. Sometimes they offer badges for games that I haven't really played, and it gives me an incentive to try it out. Sometimes it's for a game that I don't like, but I play it anyway and I get better at it... and I start to like it more some of the time.
If you meet someone that you like, you can add them to your friends list. If they're on your friends list, you can look to see if they're in a game room, and they even have a button that will take you straight to their game room.
They have a new feature, called Pogo Minis. You can take your tokens (which you earn while playing games) and use them to buy clothes, accessories, and backgrounds for your minis. They're basically like little avatars that you can personalize. You can also use prize tokens to enter drawings for prizes.
A new feature that they've recently added is Pogo Gems, Mix and Match Badge Albums, and Pogo Premium Badge albums. Pogo gems can be used to purchase premium mini items, mix and match badges, or even badge albums (badge albums can be purchased with cash though). Premium badge albums and mix-and-match badges are additional badges that you can earn in addition to the weekly badges. You can even earn two badges for the same game at the same time this way... by doing a premium badge for a game at the same time you are doing a weekly badge for it.
They're always adding features, and it is FUN. Addicting, but fun. Give it a try, and you'll be able to see why I was so interested in renewing so I could get back to playing.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
brookelorren
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Location: Phoenix, AZ
Reviews written: 214
Trusted by: 39 members
About Me:
Homeschooling mom of two cute kids.
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