Sceptre outed

cool · Post by **cool** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 10:35 pm

At last I have an answer from the company itself and the answer may surprise you.........

At most of the sites Sceptre do keep a float of only £20 in a machine and the reasoning behind it is not to thwart the pro's as they agree that there are very few of us left making a living but it is purely a business decision, the fall off in play of SWP's means that there is little throughput and they cannot see point of keeping large floats that will often remain untouched for weeks or even months.The fact that I have never had a problem at a Sceptre site claiming a refund where the IOU screen is in existence does seem to suggest that it is true that the company has anything against bona fide good players.After all they could spread disinformation about pro's and get them barred if they wanted to as publicans have tended to believe nonsense told to them by collectors and engineers in the past from personal experience.

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:36 am

grecian wrote:On a sideline, has anyone noted that when a game autoremoves you can't collect the prize won straight away - it requires you to transfer at least £1 to the bank and play the credits. Very cheeky.

Not true. Never seen that happen, so I don't know how you got it to occur!

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:44 am

cool wrote:At last I have an answer from the company itself and the answer may surprise you.........

At most of the sites Sceptre do keep a float of only £20 in a machine and the reasoning behind it is not to thwart the pro's as they agree that there are very few of us left making a living but it is purely a business decision, the fall off in play of SWP's means that there is little throughput and they cannot see point of keeping large floats that will often remain untouched for weeks or even months.The fact that I have never had a problem at a Sceptre site claiming a refund where the IOU screen is in existence does seem to suggest that it is true that the company has anything against bona fide good players.After all they could spread disinformation about pro's and get them barred if they wanted to as publicans have tended to believe nonsense told to them by collectors and engineers in the past from personal experience.

I really don't think £50 (say) is a large float. I have an idea in mind..

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:39 am

cp999 wrote:
grecian wrote:On a sideline, has anyone noted that when a game autoremoves you can't collect the prize won straight away - it requires you to transfer at least £1 to the bank and play the credits. Very cheeky.
Not true. Never seen that happen, so I don't know how you got it to occur!

Most odd - I've done this a few times and not seen it before so presumably it was a one-off. Can assure you I'm not fibbing!

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:46 am

grecian wrote:
cp999 wrote:
grecian wrote:On a sideline, has anyone noted that when a game autoremoves you can't collect the prize won straight away - it requires you to transfer at least £1 to the bank and play the credits. Very cheeky.
Not true. Never seen that happen, so I don't know how you got it to occur!
Most odd - I've done this a few times and not seen it before so presumably it was a one-off. Can assure you I'm not fibbing!

I'm sure you're not. I can only think of one explanation, will pm you.

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:46 am

cool wrote:At last I have an answer from the company itself and the answer may surprise you.........

At most of the sites Sceptre do keep a float of only £20 in a machine and the reasoning behind it is not to thwart the pro's as they agree that there are very few of us left making a living but it is purely a business decision, the fall off in play of SWP's means that there is little throughput and they cannot see point of keeping large floats that will often remain untouched for weeks or even months.The fact that I have never had a problem at a Sceptre site claiming a refund where the IOU screen is in existence does seem to suggest that it is true that the company has anything against bona fide good players.After all they could spread disinformation about pro's and get them barred if they wanted to as publicans have tended to believe nonsense told to them by collectors and engineers in the past from personal experience.

Well done on persisting, Cool. I think Sceptre are missing the point here. What they keep in the float needs to correspond to the advertised sums which are available from the machine. If the terminal features lot of games with decent prizes, the machine needs to be able to pay those prizes from its float, even if the chance of a player winning the prizes in question is low. Players shouldn't need to have to get into discussions/disputes with the bar to get the missing funds, let alone have to return to the bar later etc.

If Sceptre really are concerned about unused floats, they need to be engaging with manufacturers to try to get the In:de receipt system used on other cabinets. As I've said elsewhere, I don't like that system (because of the degree of power it places in the hands of pub management, and also the way it prevents player anonymity), but it is surely preferable to excessively low cash floats.

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:54 am

grecian wrote:
cool wrote:At last I have an answer from the company itself and the answer may surprise you.........

At most of the sites Sceptre do keep a float of only £20 in a machine and the reasoning behind it is not to thwart the pro's as they agree that there are very few of us left making a living but it is purely a business decision, the fall off in play of SWP's means that there is little throughput and they cannot see point of keeping large floats that will often remain untouched for weeks or even months.The fact that I have never had a problem at a Sceptre site claiming a refund where the IOU screen is in existence does seem to suggest that it is true that the company has anything against bona fide good players.After all they could spread disinformation about pro's and get them barred if they wanted to as publicans have tended to believe nonsense told to them by collectors and engineers in the past from personal experience.
Well done on persisting, Cool. I think Sceptre are missing the point here. What they keep in the float needs to correspond to the advertised sums which are available from the machine. If the terminal features lot of games with decent prizes, the machine needs to be able to pay those prizes from its float, even if the chance of a player winning the prizes in question is low. Players shouldn't need to have to get into discussions/disputes with the bar to get the missing funds, let alone have to return to the bar later etc.

Well said. Last sentence is absolutely spot on. Inconveniencing players isn't likely to encourage them.

mr lugsy · Post by **mr lugsy** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:24 pm

regardless of sceptre's stance on niggardly floating , I'm sure it is a compliance requisite to float a unit properly.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 3:56 pm

cool wrote:At last I have an answer from the company itself and the answer may surprise you.........

At most of the sites Sceptre do keep a float of only £20 in a machine and the reasoning behind it is not to thwart the pro's as they agree that there are very few of us left making a living but it is purely a business decision, the fall off in play of SWP's means that there is little throughput and they cannot see point of keeping large floats that will often remain untouched for weeks or even months.The fact that I have never had a problem at a Sceptre site claiming a refund where the IOU screen is in existence does seem to suggest that it is true that the company has anything against bona fide good players.After all they could spread disinformation about pro's and get them barred if they wanted to as publicans have tended to believe nonsense told to them by collectors and engineers in the past from personal experience.

Well done indeed - like I said, it's always better to "go to the top" with things like this, and I must say the answer you've been given does at least have a ring of truth about it, even if (as others have noted) it doesn't really provide a satisfactory reason for them to do this. I must admit my mischievous mind was erring towards wondering whether a machine company would actually get paid extra for having to make additional site visits, and hence it would be in their interest to have a situation like this, but then surely no pub would sign up to an agreement like that.

In the end it comes down to the usual choices you have to make in circumstances like this - how likely are you to get paid out for some problem with a machine, how much hassle would it involve and might you actually lose out by chasing an IOU? - if a pub is some way out of your usual area and returning to pick up a cash refund would be the only reason to revisit that area for some time, would it be worth it for a relatively small amount given the cost of petrol or train fares?

donttellhimpike · Post by **donttellhimpike** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:46 am

It is irritating, undoubtedly unethical and potentially illegal; unquestionably an issue for the gaming board. Should we bother? Or simply continue leaving cabinets displaying an I.O.U. or giving them a flick on and off?

If it's only hurting a handful of people in the country would anyone give a s..t? What really baffles me is that this must've lead to a surge in engineer call outs and must be more costly for Sceptre.

Have they considered that a machine may actually start taking more if word gets around that someone came in and actually won a decent amount or is seen to have done so? I've lost track of the number of punters i've chatted to over the course of time and encouraged to play simply because they have seen me winning.

To find an element of positivity in the matter and for those of you who can remember Turnover, at least it's not down to £5 in 20p's :-))

Keep swimming

Pike

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:55 am

58 x £1
120 x 10p

And the machine was..............

donttellhimpike · Post by **donttellhimpike** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:56 am

And yes, the results of Cool's search for a response does ring true. However the pro is still discouraged, he misses out on a few quid and clearly will not return to the said site for a fair time outside of a reasonable radius for a small amount. In this way it could be viewed as a scam making them how much a week? Would anyone care to estimate or PM me with their ideas?

Pike will feed

donttellhimpike · Post by **donttellhimpike** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:59 am

Hi QM, the eponymous machine i think!!

Or how about £20 in 20p's on a Revelation! That made a hell of a din and rang a lot of bells!

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:43 am

I think the response from Sceptre was unmitigated bollocks. I wouldn't trust anything which emanates from them. I have my opinion about their business practices - and know a lot more than I'm willing to let on - but don't think it wise to state it on a public forum!

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:44 am

Many a beer towel thrown in a pay tray to disguise it. Didn't stop the solenoids banging away though.