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Neteller Chief Tells Youtube Users "we're Sorry"
US players get frozen funds and an apology - at last
The Isle of Man based e-wallet Neteller started trying to repair
the damage to trust that its 7 month run-in with US Department of
Justice authorities caused by using the popular free video streaming
site Youtube.com this week to apologise to US customers.
A casually dressed Ron Martin, CEO of the company appeared in a
videoed statement, recapping the events that caused his company
to freeze US accounts for six months and exit the US market.
Martin revealed that he had been following blogs and other public
opinion sites on the issue, and touched on the firm's weak communications
with customers. This was unavoidable due to the sensitive nature
of negotiations as his company battled its way through DoJ allegations
before finally agreeing to pay a major $136 million penalty (see
previous InfoPowa reports)
After reprising the key points in the plan for the return of US
monies, Martin reiterated that payouts totalling some $94 million
to hundreds of thousands of US players had started, and revealed
that in the first day alone, $40 million had been despatched to
US players. He apologised to those US customers who had been kept
waiting so long, and thanked them for their patience. The issue
of interest, which Neteller has announced it will not be paying,
was not addressed.
Martin stressed the importance of trust and acknowledged that the
company will now have to work hard to regain the trust of its customers
in the wake of the US debacle.
The question of how much private information on US players had
been divulged to the US authorities - if any at all - was not addressed.
The message can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sT3HlcDE4c
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