NCC Puts Pressure on NETELLER

There's a corner of the Internet where a group of people affected by the NETELLER debacle have assembled to exchange information, tell their personal stories of woe, and put united pressure on the company that was so good to them for so many years but now is tangled in a legal issue so severe it's affected thousands of people.

The Neteller Customer Coalition (NCC) is a Yahoo! Group formed three weeks ago and is now more than 600 members strong. Eric Goldstein, who has about $1,400 stuck in the vacuum created by the U.S. Government's action against NETELLER, founded the group after his correspondence with the company gave him no satisfying answers.

NCC members represent more than $3 million of the approximately $55 million stuck in the bureaucratic limbo created by the Department of Justice when it arrested the two founders of NETELLER and charged them with racketeering, among other things related to online gambling.

The $3 million figure came from its members inputting how much NETELLER owes them, so its accuracy depends on the honesty of poker players, but Goldstein feels that it's in the ball park.

About $55 million was seized in evidence as part of the investigation, money that was being transferred to U.S. customers. For weeks, NETELLER officials would only say that they're in negotiations with the Government concerning the funds, but yesterday NETELLER released a statement declaring that a deal with the U.S. Attorney General's office had been made that will allow the money to be returned, and that a plan will be revealed within 75 days.

A few days ago, before the new announcement, Goldstein sent what he called "basically, a friendly letter" to NETELLER officials, letting them know that he represents a group with more than 600 members who are unable to get collectively more than $3 million out of NETELLER. He explained that he repeatedly tried to get in touch with someone at the company, but only received unsatisfying form letters.

Within three hours, Goldstein noticed that a representative of NETELLER joined the group and explored the site's information and message board for about 45 minutes. The next morning, Goldstein received an email from Andrew Gilchrist, NETELLER's V.P. of Corporate Development and Communications containing the latest announcement concerning its customer's funds, opening a line of communication to the NCC.

The NCC, through Goldstein, just took the next step. Through the group's message boards, a conversation took place about what should be contained in a follow-up letter and about how to keep the pressure on the company to work as hard as possible to return the funds.

After everything was considered, another letter was sent containing these key questions:

• Reason for inability to send funds: What is preventing you from distributing the funds back to US members? Even if ACH and wire transfers are no longer allowed, how can companies like Bodog and others issue checks and you can't? Can you not pay us back because the money is tied up or because you don't have a means to release it?
• In your FAQs, you state that it takes time to put together the process to release funds, but 75 days to "devise a plan" seems excessive. Can you provide a better timeline as to what is being done over the next 75 days as well as any key milestones? Assuming the 75 days goes as planned, when do you realistically expect us to get our money back?
• What information has been given out - or is expected to be given out - about your customers? Will all historical information on users/transaction amounts/addresses/ etc. be provided to the DOJ as part of the settlement to get the $50M released?

"I just don't want to take the pressure off of them," Goldstein says. "A lot of people are feeling that NETELLER is just calming us down. My feeling has been, now what?"

So they will continue with their inquiries until this issue is resolved. Goldstein hopes that in about 150 days, everyone who now has money trapped in NETELLER will no longer have to come to the NCC group to talk about this whole mess. He hopes that the NCC will become obsolete. Goldstein believes his group is helping push NETELLER to a solution to help it get resolved and it will continue to push until all the funds owed are returned.

"I'm going to a thorn in your side, buddy," Goldstein says. "I think that's what the group expanded into."

The Neteller Customer Coalition can be found by going to Yahoo! Groups and searching for "Neteller."

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