NetWinner LLC NetWinner Scam Did Not Pay Prizes Per Their Terms of Sevice Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte, NC July 10, 2008 In the first half of 2008, consumers have filed 7,485 complaints against businesses in the Southern Piedmont area of North and South Carolina with The Better Business Bureau in Charlotte. Although 83% of these complaints were resolved satisfactorily, there are businesses in our area that do not respond to consumer complaints in a timely manner, if at all, said Tom Bartholomy, President & CEO of The Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont. The businesses that have made the BBBs Dirty Half Dozen list have the most unanswered complaints for the first half of 2008 which earns them the worst possible rating with the Better Business Bureau, Bartholomy added.

The BBB wants to alert consumers to know who they are doing business with. Aliases and frequent business name changes should be major red flags for consumers, said Bartholomy. As complaints and government actions mount against bad businesses, the business owner may close down the business, then re-open it under a new name, at a new address and start all over again, Bartholomy added.

The BBBs Dirty Half Dozen list includes businesses with six or more unanswered complaints from January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2008 and includes two repeat offenders:

1) Netwinner LLC (Charlotte, NC) Mr. Matt Coapman, Vice President Netwinner LLC operates an internet gaming site at www.netwinner.com where online gamers can play Banko and Moneywheel to accumulate points to be redeemed for prizes. In May, 2008, citing financial hardship, the company abruptly changed the prize structure to eliminate guaranteed awards which created an uproar with faithful players who had earned points that they expected to cash in for debit and gift cards. Netwinner has 58 unanswered complaints and 92 pending complaints in 2008 and a total of 229 complaints in the last 36 months. Status: Currently in business .

The following was posted on the North Carolina BBB website on 6/10/08 . As one can easily see , I am not alone in being rippedooff by NetWinner .

BBB Alert: Hundreds of Online Gamers Accuse Charlotte-Based Online Gaming Site of Foul Play

6/10/2008
Media Contact: Janet C. Hart, CFEE (704) 927-8617

173 Players from 40 States and Canada File Complaints with BBB

Charlotte, NC June 10, 2008 Charlotte-based Netwinner.coms marketing slogan is You Play. We Pay! Unfortunately, more than 170 gamers who played and won prizes on Netwinner.com have not been paid.

Hundreds of people from across the United States and Canada eagerly took Netwinner up on the
You play. We pay! offer and played Banko and Moneywheel on www.netwinner.com, racking up thousands of points that they expected to redeem for cash, debit cards and/or store gift cards ranging in value from $25 to a few hundred dollars. However, when they tried to redeem the points they had spent months accumulating, the players waited to receive debit cards and gift cards that never arrived.

As the total number of unhappy Netwinner gamers grew, the President of Netwinner, Mr. S. Allen Dean, issued a statement to Netwinners online gamers saying that the company was not in a financial position to fulfill the cash, debit card and gift card prizes for which players have redeemed points. He said that Netwinner had two options: close the gaming website down or restructure the prizes. Netwinner opted to restructure the prizes, stating that the Terms of Service that every player agreed to allowed the company to change the rules of the game at any time. Instead of giving guaranteed prizes to every player who reached certain levels of points, Mr. Dean said that prizes would be given away in daily drawings. Mr. Dean added that Netwinner would double the points that each player had to redeem and redeposit them back into the players accounts; thereby, increasing the chances that players had to win prizes through the drawings.

Netwinner gamers cried foul! The Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont has been inundated with 173 complaints filed against Netwinner by online gamers from 40 states and Canada who allege that Netwinner is not fulfilling the prizes as promised. Netwinner countered by accusing the gamers of fraud. The company claims that some players cheated and unfairly accumulated large amounts of points by playing multiple games at the same time or by using automated robot programs to accumulate points.

Maureen Duran, a Netwinner player from Kannapolis, NC who claims that Netwinner owes her $275, discounts Netwinners position. She said that she did not cheat to win and that it was not possible to play multiple games at the same time. Maureen said her husband also played games on Netwinner and that he is owed even more.

Netwinner has been responsive to some of the complaints received by the Better Business Bureau, but the central issue is that Netwinner changed the rules after the games had been played and the gamers feel they are entitled to receive the prizes they won under the previous rules, said Tom Bartholomy, President & CEO of The Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont. Before offering the games and prize structure, Netwinner should have determined how high their potential payout liability for the games might be, Bartholomy added. At the point that the financial payout became greater than the company could bear - or when Netwinner determined that players were accumulating more points than anticipated through whatever means they were using to win - the games should have been halted.

The Better Business Bureau has the following information on file about Netwinner, LLC. Corporate offices - 1427 South Blvd, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28203. Mailing address - 105 East Morehead Street. Charlotte, NC 28202. Principals President & COO, S. Allen Dean (704) 995-2345, Mark Cottman (980)253-3301; and Jennifer Hinson, (704) 400-1936. Website www.netwinner.com.

The issue of prize fulfillment may be the reason that traffic to www.netwinner.com has been decreasing dramatically over the past few months. According to www.siteanalytics.compete.com/netwinner.com, the number of visitors to www.Netwinner.com peaked in January, 2008 at slightly more than 200,000 visitors and declined to 99,358 in May, 2008. The total number of visits to www.netwinner.com peaked in January, 2008 at slightly more than 2.25 million visits and declined to 922,571 visits in May, 2008.

The Better Business Bureau has information you can trust. We urge consumers to call the BBB toll-free in NC and SC at 1-877-317-7236 or visit www.bbb.org to obtain a free Reliability Report on a company before doing business with them.