To german police: Complaint against GameDuell
Hereby I will make a police-complaint against the gamesite GameDuell (gameduell.de). What it contents, you can read in the conclusions and the desscription of the case.
Conclusions:
1. GameDuell has wrongly kept about 600-700 euro of mine.
2. GameDuell has wrongly excluded me from their gaming platform and therefore prevented me from winning estimately 400 euro/month in future.
Not part of my complaint:
I would also suggest that you investigate following:
1. The high payment to GameDuell for the games. GameDuell takes 1/4 of the players common fees. It shouldn't by any chance be illegal?
2. Are all players by GameDuell real persons. Or does GameDuell cheat in games like mahjong-tournaments by creating a player that gets the highest score, so that GameDuells part of the payment suddenly raises to 100%? I call it, that they might have a "chinese-room", where skilled or cheating players win for GameDuell.
3. When the system suddely "breaks down", is it then really broken down, or is it to prevent that players, that are in the proces of winning tournaments, from getting their winnings. I believe I might have experienced that two times.
As you can see, I suspect that GameDuell with its fine surface may be somehow rotten at the inside.
The case in chronolognical order
Before 26. of april 2009:
I had a playeraccount by GameDuell, named "Jamesol".
26. of april:
At that date (+- en dag) I created my second playeraccount, named "Longsok".
4. of may:
GameDuell exterminated "Longsok".
"Jamesol" was temporarely closed.
11. of may:
"Jamesol" got reactivated around that date, after that GameDuell by fax had received requested informations and documentation from me.
From 11. of may to 15. of june:
I wun around 400 euro in that period.
10. of june:
Around that date I asked to get money transfered from my Jamesol-account to my.
At my playeraccount is about 600-700 euro.
GameDuell informs me, that a special investigations unit would look at my playeraccount before the moneytransfer could take place.
15. of june:
GameDuell excluded my jamesol-account.
The reasons were cheating (Which isn't true) and the location of my Longsok-account - once again.
GameDuell did not transfer any money to my bankaccount.
The Case, explanation:
For some months ago, june the 15., I was excluded from the gamesite GameDuell with the explanation that I had "achieved scores which suggest the use of unorthodox techniques" (look beneath, mail 2), as they wrote to me. I asked them, what they ment by that, but I never got any concrete answer.
Of course I didn't cheet in my games, I just happened to be relative good at a specific game, called Match 4. I wasn't among the best players, but by avoiding the best ones, which isn't forbidden, I wun in a pretty high percentage of my games. When I had wun about 600-700 euro, I asked GameDuell to transfer the money to my bankaccount. At first I was told that a special investigations unit should check my case, before the money could be transfered. After some days I received the exclusion but no money.
My problem is not only the 600-700 euro I never received. It is also the future winnings that the exclusion prevent me from winning. I estimate about 400 euro/month.
Now, unfortunately, I might not look like the total innocent victim - which I am, I must note. Without exactly knowing that it was against the rules, though I maybe should have dicussed the issue with myself before doing it, I got the idea to create one more player account. I was just thinking, that it would be a more efficient use of my time. And, after all, I did pay some real money to the player account to start it up. This second player account only existed one week, before it was exterminated by GameDuell, may 4 2009.
GameDuell reasoned their exclusion of me in a mail, 15. of june:
"Furthermore, after analysing the details of your player account, we have unfortunately established that other player accounts have been registered at GameDuell with the same details as your player account." (mail 2)
In the same mail it says:
"In accordance with the GD GameDuell GmbH General Terms and Conditions which became legally binding for you upon registration, GD GameDuell GmbH reserves the right to ban members who influence game events via manipulative means or who register multiple accounts on our gaming platform."
This means, that they excluded me for cheeting in games (which I didn't) and for multiple accounts (I had a second account for one week, until it was found out by GameDuell and accepted, read about that below).
However, this problem about my second player account, had already been dealt with between me and GameDuell in 4. of may, without it lead to my exclusion at that time. This was long before the special investigations unit, as mentioned, found it again in connection to my request of a moneytransfer to my bankaccount. In a mail of 4. of may about the second account (mailed to me a good month before the exclusion suddenly came up).
GameDuell wrote to me:
"Upon further investigation of your player account, we have located a second account with the username "Longsok". This account has been permanently deactivated and all funds on this account will be retained by GameDuell."
I have accepted the loss of this money, it is not part of the 600-700 euro, I asked GameDuell to transfer to my bank-account.
Further in the mail it says:
"Please note that it is explicitly stated in our Terms and Conditions that it is not permitted to have more than one player account at GameDuell. In order to verify the information you entered upon registration, we kindly ask that you complete and return the attached file along with a copy of a government-issued ID. *Your account, "Jamesol", has been temporarily deactivated until this has been completed." (mail 1)
Important point:
Notice please, in the same mail as GameDuell told me, that they had deactivated the second account (that later got me excluted), they also told me to send in some documentation that could get my first (and again then: only) account reopened. After I send the requested informations, GameDuell reopened the account.
Just to be sure:
Remember that GameDuells first discovery of my second player account, and this being accepted it in the same mail, 4. of may, happened a good month before the special investigation unit found it once again 15. of june - and then got me excluded!
After the reopening of my account I then - in good faith, I must say - played for about one more month, before I asked for the moneytransfer to my bankaccount. I wun about 400 euro in that period.
Yours,
xxxx
Dänemark
