[iron7]

Today, BBO again increased a lot of proces. Zenith with 100%. No announcement at all. For me, this is the last drop. I quit playing if this is what they want. After the acquisition it is only about increasing profits. In General, communication about fraud, misbehaviour etc had also become non-existent. Difficult to complain and no answers.

[strags]

Was there an announcement over the weekend that perhaps I missed? I see nothing here in the forums.

I get the need for BBO to remain solvent and to raise revenue, but not announcing a major price increase in advance is a very bad look folks. My longtime concern has been with the Robot Reward games, which are my favorites and which are dying a slow death. They're now $2 a play. I haven't tried one yet today, but is the rake still 30% (which it has been for the past year or two)? If so, that's just brutal. It killed the $5 game, and it will eventually kill the $1/$2 game. Raise the entry fee if you must, but at least give us players a break and go back to a 20% rake.

[ASC87]

I am glad finally someone raised this matter. It's not okay.

[pescetom]

Hire of an "Advanced" robot hiked from 49 cents to 59 cents.
That is +20% in a year and +136% in 4 years (with not one of the tens of reported bugs fixed).

[nxw0016]

It's not long ago, within our memory, that BBO was a great bridge platform made and run by bridge players for the bridge players. It brought players all over the world together. Meanwhile they ran some low fee games that were creative and fun, to keep the platform self-sustainable.

But now things have decayed, by corporate greed. The evidence of corporate greed is everywhere nowadays, BBO is just a small part of it. It is eating our quality of live away slowly. In order to stop it, we need the awareness of the majority population. Yet, sadly, it seems impossible to achieve. As long as the greedy ones keep spending money brain washing us to believe that the problems stem from foreign entities -- illegal immigrants, bad trade deals, climate change hoax -- their misdirection tactic will remain triumphant.

(Hope I won't get banned by posting this.)

[benellis58]

To be fair, there are still many good things about BBO. It provides fun and instruction, it offers many free activities, it has many fine features, and it gives various cash awards.

Having said that, there have been far too many blatant price grabs in the past couple of years, and many of them have been ridiculously high - at least on a percentage basis. Raising the cost of the Zenith by "only" a dollar is not much in actual cash, but is HUGE percentagewise, as it DOUBLES the cost (from one dollar to two) in a SINGLE step. In what other business - anywhere - can the proprietors get away with this type of repulsive price gouging?

This is even worse, considering that the Zenith used to award 80% of the total entry fees BBO collected for each day's game to the players who finished in the top 30% of the field. Then, all of a sudden, in early January 2023 that pool of cash rewards was reduced - in one fell swoop (just like this latest HUGE increase) from 80% to 70%. That happened at the same time that BBO increased its prices on several other games it offers. Many price increases have continued since then, but it seems that this HUNDRED percent increase (!) is the most glaring cash grab of them all.

It would at least be more palatable if BBO improved some of its weaknesses, but with the NABC currently going on in Las Vegas, there have been many issues - and many complaints - about BBO's technological failures with its Vugraph presentations. Furthermore, anyone who plays frequently is certainly aware of other BBO technological issues that occur on a not infrequent basis.

Worst of all are their execrable GIB robots, which are absolutely atrocious. They play a very poor system, they are really bad at bidding, really bad at defending, really bad at leading, and not even particularly good at declaring (which is the "strongest" part of their game). It is in SPITE of the wretched GIB robots that the games are still usually enjoyable, not BECAUSE of the GIB robots, which are often sources of annoyance, irritation, and contempt.

Fortunately, consumers of any product have the option of voting with their feet. I play the Zenith every single day, and I quite enjoy it - but even I am thinking of putting on my shoes and walking!

[kane2]

Zenith is fun if you review top first bidding record. It is for gambler not for those regular players.
Open 2c with less than 10. Mini NT and short suit open frequently to fool the robot.
All are trying to get money back. Now the risk/reward is getting bigger.

[maurice_il]

BBO - Urgent complaint regarding unjustified prices increases

Dear BBO Executives,

I am writing to express my deep concern and dissatisfaction regarding the recurring price increases on your platform. As a retired individual, I have cherished the opportunity to use your application to improve my skills and enjoy the game of bridge, which has been a source of immense joy and connection.

However, the recent price hikes, in some cases reaching up to 50%, are becoming unmanageable. This sharp escalation seems to disregard the demographic of your primary user base—many of whom are senior citizens living on fixed incomes. It is disheartening to see a platform that has historically provided accessibility to a global community of bridge enthusiasts now potentially alienating a significant portion of its loyal users through these excessive price adjustments.

The reality is that many of us may soon be forced to leave, not by choice but by necessity, as these prices have simply become unaffordable. This not only erodes the goodwill you’ve built over the years but also diminishes the accessibility and inclusivity that your platform once stood for.

I urge you to reconsider these pricing policies and take into account the financial limitations of your dedicated user base. A prompt response to this matter would be greatly appreciated. I, along with countless others, hope that BBO remains a place where players of all backgrounds can come together to enjoy the game they love.

Sincerely,
Maurice (Maurice_IL)
A longtime, loyal customer who is on the verge of signing off

[maurice_il]

This is a letter I recently shared with BBO support. I still have some credit that I plan to use but plan to leave as soon as I use it up (after reaching Level 12 or 13 and purchasing thousands of BBO$ over the last decade) I had enough. These guys have totally no respect for their customers nor do they provide any attention whatsoever, nor any reply on the subject, not to mention the fact that they should have shared upfront at least a Pre-Alert duly, before they performed such a massive increase in prices.

[Aceotto]

I cannot make new posts help

[kcostell]

I was wondering why my BBO$ balance was lower than I thought it should be!

Whether the price increase is justified or not is a separate issue, but doing this without making a prominent announcement is never justifiable. You can't expect people who have been playing this game for years to notice that a 1 mysteriously turned into 2 in a menu they've clicked through a hundred times before.