BetIslands.ag Affiliate Program is a SCAM

potsie

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I try to see the best in all situations, but this is one instance where I should've listened to my gut right at the start. BetIslands ag, was .com, opened last year. The name has been around, but it was purchased by Jon Kreta, formerly of WagerChief. Their sportsbook has received great feedback from players, which led me to pursue an affiliate relationship with them. Their T&C's were a bit wacky, but I still began to promote them heading into the 2011 football season (American). All of their banners were MLB only, and my first red flag was that Jon was really terrible at answering emails. He always had an excuse when he would finally answer. He would smooth things over, and promise the world...but only when I removed their links from my sites.

I got a few players there, and got my balance up to to a modest $250. These commissions were removed from my account balance, and flagged as 'under review'. Hmmm. Another email...more silence...remove links...get a reply. Commissions restored, I was holding out for payment prior to replacing the links. Promises...no delivery.

Football season ended. Then BetIslands transitioned to the .ag tld. The affiliate program link was still at the bottom of the page, but it just directed to the home page. Then, magically, the link and the affiliate program was live again...one week before the 2012 NFL season was set to kickoff. Jon had always been cordial and continually expressed an interest in developing a business relationship. So I reached out, put the past behind me, but I wasn't going to promote without certain conditions being met. I was ignored. Then a couple of days ago, I received a sales email from BetIslands. The email opened with a catchy "Basketball playoffs are heating up...". I replied to this message with "Have Jon return my emails". No answer from Jon. So I sent Jon one last email asking for a response...and a response I received! I will copy/paste it below, followed by my response.

The bottom line is that BetIslands only opens their program to syphon new players for football season, apparently without any intention of paying commissions. Mr. Kreta may be loved by players, but eventually the way you treat your affiliates will trickle down and eventually catch up with the players, as well. Stay away!


Hi Nathan,


These are old stats from our old server your players are practically all inactive the traffic you sent vs the traffic that you promised was rather different.


For this reason I am shutting down the affiliate program , affiliates are no longer able to send quality traffic or at least in any amounts that would interest us as a company.


Jon

----------My Response---------

Jon,
This is quite a different tune than you were singing a year ago. (See your emails below...the few that you sent, anyway) I stopped sending you traffic when it was apparent that your communication to affiliates was extremely poor. You continually stated that you desired a business relationship with me, yet you never once delivered on a single promise made. Whether your stats are old or not, you owe me money. Tagging my commissions as "under review" is a nice smoke screen. I'm sure your intent was to never pay commissions.

I'm quite happy with the x new depositors that I sent to your competitors this week. I'm relieved that you finally revealed your true self, as the way a book does business with their affiliates eventually carries over to the way they treat their players. You can keep my $500, and I'll be happy to refer people away from your site. Shutting down the program was the right decision, as you will never be able to attract established affiliates with the way you run the program.

PS: I've referred x new players to x since January 1. I can see how you wouldn't be interested in that, but they are.
---

"Hi,

Thank you for the email and my apologies for the delayed response our mail
server has been some issues as of late and I am just not getting emails ,
please feel free to contact me at sportsprize gmail.com for any further
questions until our new mail server is in place.

Your balance has been re credited into the account that was just a
standard procedure to check all aff balances , I would like to work on our
relationship and hopefully grow our package and get some more traction
going my apologies if our affiliate program has not been given much " love
" in the past few months but we have grown beyond expectations and the work
load has def increased.

Please let me know , how we can move on forward.

Jon"
---
"Hi.


Thanks for your email and my apologies if this response comes in a delayed
fashion but my email seems to be having some issues. If you do send me an
email in the future and you do recieve a response from me within 24 hours
please email jonbetislands gmail.com

Please note that our affiliate payments go out on the 1st of each Month
therefore our cut offs are the last calenday day per month.

Bankwires and person to person payouts are a few of our most user friendly
options.

Cheers,

Jon"
---
"Hi,

Thank you for the reply and allowing our links to remain on your sites.

I would be more than happy to come up with a strategy to continue to grow
our relationship even after we have gone invite only , this would give you
alot of exclusivity with us.

By banners you mean the ones we talked about casino banners? we have also
have some NBA banners in the making.

Thanks and have a great day,

Jon"





I have posted this at GPWA, and Jon replied to the thread. He stated again that the program has been shut down, but the affiliate site remains. He also claims to be willing to pay if we just email him, which we've done a hundred times. Still no payment. Getting paid isn't my main goal, keeping others from promoting this scam is! Whatever sunshine this guy blows up your #$%, never promote BetIslands!
 

Guard Dog

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That's quite the story. Sounds like a great place to stay away from ,thanks for the tip!
 

potsie

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No problem! Can't wait to get enough posts to add an avatar. Haha I've added BetIslands.ag to my blacklists, as the way a company deals with affiliates will eventually be the way they deal with clients. I appreciate the 'thanks'! Keep up the good work.
 

potsie

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UPDATE: A miracle has occurred, as I have received payment from BetIslands! Over a year late, but nice to get before Christmas. ;)
 

michael26a

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LOL They must have been using your money to earn interest! I guess a year late is better than not getting paid, and very good fortune for you too before Christmas :) You should take the money and run my friend, no one can get this lucky twice in a row lol
 

potsie

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Well, my prediction has come true. BetIslands is no longer able to pay players and is now offline. They have closed up shop, along with player funds estimated at over 1.5 million dollars. When a program is jerking around affiliates, it is only a matter of time before that treatment is given to their players.

Remember this when you choose to promote a program. Player retention is more important than revenue percentage! If players are happy, they will be loyal to that service, and you will be rewarded. 25% of several years of business is much more valuable than a 50% rev share on a single deposit. Not only that, but if you steer players in the wrong direction they will never look to you for advice in the future. If you have your site's visitors' best interest at heart, you will do well.
 

Guard Dog

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Thank you very much for keeping affiliates update. We know we have to expect some of this... But what WE ALL NEED TO TAKE FROM THIS is:

If an affiliate program is not good for players... they WILL screw you as well. Do NOT promote shady outfits!!! I know it is common sense, but too many people do it.
 
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