If I Want This Kind Of Abuse I'll Just Stay Home....
 

Over the last 2 weeks while playing at Delaware Park I have had three teller mishaps which have cost me dearly with either poor or no response on the part of management.

1) While playing tri keys at SA with exacta boxes a series of numbers were correctly called out to the teller. The tickets were paid for and were being inspected when I noticed an omission and duplicate tri combination which were identified after the race went off. Teller hand eye misfortune came in which turned out to cost me close to $2000.

Management response: Because there is no ticket with a mistake on it we are not responsible for correcting any error. We think 15% or the cost of the tri tickets is fair compensation.

2) While boxing a 3 horse exacta 90 seconds to post the previous day at SA the teller misfires on the combinations leaving me with an $80 ticket I didn't ask for. No refund. The time prior to race going off was spent correcting the ticket sequence. When the corrected ticket with 3 horses boxed was punched the gate opened and though the 3 way box paid the $80 from the error came out of the winnings. No offer to make good on managements part when made aware of it when complaining about 1) above.

3) Today while asking for a simple 3 horse tri box at FG yet another teller at DP fumbles through "3" incorrect tickets until the race goes off. This time I refuse to pay for another typing snafoo....but the damn missed score of over $6K is absolutely ridiculous.......nary even an apology on this one from the teller absorbed in the air of a ticket to be paid for.

Racino logic......who cares if the horse player and his hundreds of thousands in gross wagering a year leaves the "tracino", if we get rid of enough of them we'll have space for more of those lovely slot machines!!!!!



Delaware Park down 4% last year in gross profits with customer service rivaling county prison.
"Our most satisfied customers are the ones who stay home"

Do Delaware Park a favor this racing season and just stay home.....

They don't have vouchers, so you can use the machines yourself?

Yea, vouchers or need to bet early enough to allow for their stupidity...sad, but burn me once shame on you burn me twice shame on me.

Doc, there are 2 obvious solutions for the future, nothing can change what has already occurred.

1. Punch your own tickets! I have been using the self-betting machines since they came out, mid-90's. I have not made a bet with a teller in years... OR

2. Bet earlier.. by waiting until the last minute, you are bringing in all sorts of possible problems, which there is no time to fix. I have made mistakes while punching my own tickets, but have had time to have the tickets cancelled by betting with 3 to 5 minutes to post.

By the way, I have heard (not sure if it was on this board or Thorograph) that the teller's machines stay open at least 10 seconds after a race starts for the very purpose of cancelling incorrect tickets.

(I see Spyder just wrote the same thing while I was typing this)

Mr B......Yes they do. There are certainly numerous soulutions to the problem and I will use them but that isn't the point......

My side of this is 1) dont wager 2 minutes to post 2) Don't depend on someone else to do work for me at the track 3) Use the machines or the touchboxes with an account that keeps a balance you can bet. 4) Bet from home with various other accounts 5) Use OTB 6) Don't play

All of which lay the onus on me some of which is reasonable.......

But when did the horse player stop being a customer that was valued and desired to be at the track.
I missed the memo that says.. Horseplayer = Peasant

Don't need'em don't want them here in my slothouse....get over yourself because we sure have in racino management.

There are a ton of ways a horseplayer can make an error at the window that will bankrupt them I don't need anyone else comming up with more ways to take money from my pocket.

Double taxing my wagers and winnings is larceny enough as it is. This thread is not about ways to avoid this from happening it is about the horrendous treatment of customers which the last time I looked in a dictionary said "patrons who pay to support a business voluntarily".....

Until I find another legal way to have a human being gratify my successes instantly for work well done by paying me handsomely in cash I perfer the ole fashion method of buying a ticket and if fortune smiles cashing it minutes later. Why should I have to deny myself this horseracing holy grail?

docicu3,
I have the same sentiments. I have been the victum of this treatment also. I have also been punished my mother nature when a thunder storm knocked out the Sam machines with 1 minute to post. I have concluded, I don't need a joyful person to meet and greet me, I don't need part time help to screw me, I don't need high beer prices to guage me.
You'll be fine driving around the mine field of poor customer services. I promise

I play at Del fairly often, don't have these kind of teller problems (I mostly go when the live meet is running, don't know if that makes a difference), but I surely believe it happens.

A habit I've gotten into that prevents these kinds of problems is to watch the ticket machine while I'm giving my picks to make sure they're going in correctly. Saves time standing to the side and going through your tickets afterwards.

Couldn't have said it better.

Wager online.....

Stop going to the track if it isn't a pleasant experience.

I could be dead wrong but I don't believe this, and I've never heard it or read it anywhere. Nor have I seen it done.

Do you realize how long 10 seconds or more is, in regard to a horserace? QUITE a long time.

Alright I guess I am guilty of overtalking my own thread.....

The point of the thread is to point out the lack of leadership in admin at the track to value the customers they have currently.

The example of the teller punching the wrong tri and overpunching a combination is an obvious opportunity for the Delaware mutuel czar to step in and look at the tape and say......"We blew this one....your a customer we value...I'll pay this one"

I would have settled for half the payout going to horse charities.....a chance for everyone to win for a house mistake. The other examples are very common human error...they just have happened too frequently recently.

I was hoping to stimulate discussion on how the horseplayer is treated. There are multitudes of real horsefolk here on DT who have lifetimes of experience on the subject beyond mine.

I will agree that tracks don't have very good customer service, but with regard to your particular gripes they are not at fault. There is a reason that every place you look around a track they display the odds and MINUTES TO POST. If you want to complain about the facilities themselves or the quality of the races fine, but to cry about rushing to the window at the last minute and having a ticket punched wrong, I don't think you'll get much sympathy here either.

Correctomundo
 

IMHO, you are quite correct in your assessment of treatment of customers at racetracks. We all know that it would be nice to bet 5 minutes to post, but we have barely taken a look at the horses in the post parade and warmups, looked at the odds board, and will pays to formulate a bet at that time. Sometimes you don't get that feeling of divine revelation in that time either as odds are inflated before late money points out "hot" horses. Tellers, should be competent at what they do and do it in a timely manner, period. Management should review their employees, reward the good ones and weed out the bad ones. There should also be plenty of self wagering machines to not get bettors shutout. Additionally, tracks should invest in portable self wagering terminals for customers use. The "old" methods of betting are archaic when new technologies are here and developed for wireless betting from your seat. Why the stampede tothe windows ? I used to use this at the Meadowlands and had much less stress in getting my bets in on time and correctly. I did of course make some of my own errors which cost me, but hey, it was my own fault. Thats not to say that wireless doesnot have their own issues, like dropped signals, and non cancelation of bets ( which btw, they can do with enough time) It greatly pissed me off when during a BC day at M, I incorrectly entered a bet for the BC into the Meadowlands nighttime program and they would not cancel my bet, while another guy toldme , "hey your a nice guy, me i'm a bastard, I get them to cancel bets all the time" Boy did that make me feel good, as I watched my p3 bet go down in flames that night on the harness card that i donot bet. The reason i incorrectly input the bet to the Meadowlands pool was that the wagering device was programmed to startup with the Meadowlands as the choice track everytime, instead of the customer choosing a track initially. Who said technology and racetracks are your friend anyways ? :D

it actually used to be the case (I did contract work for United Tote). But that was changed in the past few years.

I love being able to punch up my own tickets but I always get behind the moron that is doing it for the first time or cant freaking read English!!! A couple of years ago I was trying to get my NTRA Pick 4 ticket and the idiot in front of me had both of the above problems, I rushed over to the teller line, which was forever long, and made it just in time, thank god the teller knew what she was doing and got it right. I hit for alittle over $ 1200. And the great think was I posted my ticket on the other board I go to and all the men cappers told me I was crazy, and tried to set me straight. hehe I was the only one of our group that cashed on that Pick 4!! :D

And, there was very good reason for the change coming about, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

It had nothing to do with correcting tickets by mutuel clerks for bettors (and that probability is ludicrous.) Instead, it had everything to do with odds fluctuations appearing once the gates had sprung and the horses were running.

There was tremendous flap over this, bettors got fed up with the practice of odds dropping on their choice, they were smart to what was happening. Late money showing up in the pools. Whales--here, or offshore, were having large effect on this.

And again, please, someone correct me if need be.

Your right Grits

I think you are correct. Integrity was a part of the issue also, as tellers could cancel the tickets real quick if the horse has a bad break.

But your statement was the #1 reason.

From what I remember, which isn't much, they could only cancel tickets, not make bets. When I go to my local simulcast parlor Saturday, I will ask one of the tellers if this is still going on.

yeah, nice to have a teller in your pocket to cancel those , I wonder if Helen Pitts would have done so for Einstein in his race at the Fairgrounds though ?