I went to the Taj Mahal a few days ago on a day trip by bus. The first thing I noticed when walking into to the casino was the lack of visible security guards and the lack of casino employees on the gambling floor. I should have trusted my instincts about feeling unsafe upon arriving and turn around and walk out the door and go to another casino, but I stayed because my friends wanted to gamble there.
As soon as I sat down and started playing a slot machine, an unsavory character approached me asking for money for bus fare.
I waited for him to leave the area, and I got up from the machine, looking for a casino employee on the gambling floor to complain about it, but no one was around. I went back to play the slot machines, and decided to leave after a while and meet up with my friends. I forgot how to get to our pre-planned meeting spot, and again, there were no casino employees on the floor to give directions. I walked around for twenty minutes unecessarily with my painful injured knee hurting from walking, until I located our meeting spot.
In the afternoon, I was on a slot machine that accepted the cash-out tickets. Upon putting my ticket it worth $62.60, I immediately got
a 10 cent ticket back from the machine. I didn%26#39;t realize what had happened, the machine was giving me the remainder of the money that did go into the machine evenly, but I thought the machine malfunctioned, or I left my $62.60 in another machine by mistake. Anyway, as I was looking at the 10 cent ticket, a man who was the only one in the slot machine row beside me told me to check the other machine I was playing on, after he saw me looking at the 10 cent ticket, I never said a word to him about being confused, I didn%26#39;t even know he was standing there until he spoke.
I thought he was being so nice trying to help me, so I went to look for the other machine and couldn%26#39;t find it. I was getting nervous, so a casino employee was passing by (the first one I saw all day)
and I told her about my ticket problem. She walked me over the machine and it turns out the ';nice man'; cashed-out my ticket, and stole my money, what a scam artist! She called her supervisor and he told me the money was my loss and it HAPPENS ALL THE TIME! I was thinking, sure it happens all the time, there aren%26#39;t enough casino employees around to be a deterrent to stop these criminals I told the supervisor if the thief has my ticket and he went to the cashier, maybe they could catch him. Only at my urging, did he call in the machine number that corresponds to the ticket, and he found out it was cashed at a machine, not by a casino cashier.
I asked if the thief would be caught on video surveliance and he said no!
I complained at the Taj Majal card member desk, and got the phone number of the slot manager who gave me a comp for dinner
after I complained.
I should have threatened to call the police as a crime victim in their casino, then I would have probably received my money back because they don%26#39;t want the public to know the casino is unsafe. I never received anything in writing from them that an incident even occurred.
I just wanted to warn everyone to stay out of ';Donald;s Dump.';
Taj Mahal Is Unsafe - Stay Out Of ThereYou%26#39;re joking me right?
YOU hurt yourself.
YOU forgot where you were supposed to meet your friends.
YOU didn%26#39;t know what the heck you were doing.
YOU listened to the advice of some person you did not know.
YOU left your money sitting unattended in a slot machine.
And now you want to ';warn us'; about how dangerous the Taj Mahal is?
Get a grip........it was awfully generous of them to give you a dinner comp. Leave $60 in a slot machine at the Bellagio in Vegas and go trapsing around for a while..........odds are it will be gone when you get back as well.
You bet it happens all the time. And there are not enough casino employees in the world to keep people from being idiots. If you had ';threatened'; or even call the police, I doubt they would have even come out to take a report.
Be responsible for your own mistakes. This was not the Taj Mahal%26#39;s fault, this was yours. If you expect casinos to protect you from these kinds of incidents, don%26#39;t go to anymore casinos. Because none of them are going to help you when you are stupid enough to leave your money sitting out like this.
Taj Mahal Is Unsafe - Stay Out Of ThereHmmmmm,just wondering how a casino is Unsafe if you just forgot to get your ticket when you switched machines.Get to the Taj quite often and i see plenty of guards,plenty of casino employees(they have red jackets) and plenty of drink servers.Hmmmmmm must have all been in a meeting!
Thanks so much for your response, I do accept some responsibility for what occurred at the Taj Mahal, the first irresponsible thing I did was observing no visible security personnel or casino personnel on the gambling floor, and not leaving immediately, but I stayed because my friends wanted to gamble there.
I guess I am spoiled because I usually go to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and there are casino personnel all around, at the entrances and on the casino floor, always available to assist the customers with directions, problems, etc. I was expecting the same level of customer service at the Taj, or better, because when I vacationed at the Taj years ago, I remembered how safe and secure I felt there.
I read a post about the Taj Mahal in the section for hotel reviews, the poster had her pocketbook stolen there, and stated that one of the Taj employees told her that since 2003, the casino went downhill due to management changes, and there are not enough casino personnel on the gambling floor to accomodate customers because they are trying to save money. I wish I read that post before I decided to enter the Taj.
Please don%26#39;t forget that many customers in the casino that arrive on the buses are elderly, and many forget things due to medication, or can%26#39;t see or hear well, have trouble walking etc. and might require some assistance while in the casino. They are easy targets for scam artists because of their disabilities. I have an invisible disability, but that was not a factor in my theft (I hope you are blessed with good health and don%26#39;t have to worry about health issues).
As for me, I was caught off guard by the scam artist as I was trying to figure out why I had a ten cent ticket, thinking the machine malfunctioned. I give him a lot of credit, he figured out that i was thinking I left my ticket for $62.60 in another machine, and told me to go get it, even though I never spoke to him. It%26#39;s scary to think how skillful the scam artists are in assessing the situation, and enticing the customer to leave the machine. In my defense, the slot machines I usually play on, don%26#39;t give you the remainder of the money on the cash-out ticket before you start to play. My friends, who were playing in another part of the casino, were confused by this also, but they were lucky, other customers explained to them why they received the cash-out ticket, before they put any money in the machine.
Even though I accept some responsibility for the incident, I fault the Taj for:
1. Not having enough casino personnel on the floor to assist customers, or to act as a detterent to scam artists.
2. Not giving me a written statement regarding the fact I was a crime victim in their casino, so I could write the loss off my taxes.
3. Not even offering to locate the ticket the thief took from my machine, until I mentioned it.
4. Not having surveillance cameras near the cash-out machines so they could track who cashed it in to protect other customers from being a crime victim. I was told by the slot supervisor that the scam artist would not be on any video surveillance cameras.
5. Not encouraging me to file a report with the Atlantic City police department as a larceny victim.
6. Not comping me right away on the casino floor, instead of refusing to do so. I had to walk all the way over to the Taj Card member service area, on two bandaged injured knees, and get the phone number of the slot manager who decided to comp me for a dinner (she%26#39;s the only one who did the right thing).
I wish anyone who wants to gamble at the Taj the best of luck, but I wll never step one foot inside that casino again and part with my dollars that are obvously not being spent in part to accomodate their patrons.
ambrva1~~Wow, you are a to-the-point teacher. While all the points you make are correct, there are surely some service problems lately at the taj.
I wanted to relax with a quick drink in the Taj a few days ago so I went into their ';high roller'; slot area. Other than at the tables, or a bar, I believe this is the only place to get something better than a plastic cup. This was during early evening. There were at least 15-20 other players scattered about. (It seemed I wasn%26#39;t the only one wanting something. A few appeared to leave the area because of no service.) I played a $1 video poker machine with a good pay table. After about 30 minutes, and no server around, I finally asked a security guard if there were any drink servers available. She called a ';manager'; on her radio, and about 15+ minutes later a server finally showed. Finally got a drink after another 15-20 minutes. What a thirst I had by then. After another half hour passed I gave up waiting for another drink there. (The poker wasn%26#39;t bad though.)
Earlier that day our Vegas friends checked out of their room at the Taj. Unfortunately they left a pair of expensive alligator sandals on the floor. The next day I tried to retrieve them. The lost and found ';was still on break'; around 1 p.m. When we called a little after 2, at first we were told they close a 2. I finally got someone who checked the log of everything ';found in the rooms'; from the day before. No sandals, nothing from that room! Finally got housekeeping to check their logs. Again, nothing found. Only recourse then was to ';file a report with Security.'; Gave up at that point as it was clear it would be another waste of time.
Yes, this happens all the time. Everybody makes mistakes, but calling people ';names'; is a bit rough. The Taj is not a dangerous place, but they sure could use some better service at times. As is said repeatedly, know what you are doing. Don%26#39;t play for real with what you don%26#39;t understand. But if everybody was rational and clearheaded in the casinos, the casinos would probably all be going bankrupt.
jacal~~Sorry about your loss. Whatever your physical or mental condition is, look at it this way. You had a lesson that could have been a lot more costly! BTW, what a spin. There are cameras all over the casino floor! Not enough in your case to bother. Happens all the time!
Peace
Jacal, I%26#39;m very sorry for what happened to you and it%26#39;s truly a shame that there are people like this, but they are at all of the casinos just waiting to pounce on someone who looks confused, the elderly, etc. The Taj is no better or worse than any other NJ casino in tis regard.
I had the ';opposite'; experience at Showboat. I cashed out of a machine but the ticket thingy wasn%26#39;t working properly and a blank ticket came out. I found a slot attendant. They took the machine apart and could find nothing worng with it! I was beginning to feel that they thought I was lying about having $400 in that machine. The display screen said I had been paid the $400.
It was only after the super-duper-duper-supervisor came over that he found the ';real'; ticket stuck way inside the machine and I was able to get my money. So you see, they are very careful about giving out that money and have probably seen and heard of all types of scams from people claiming they were cheated.
I%26#39;m sure this type of scam happens often and the best thing the casinos could do (and maybe they DO this, I don%26#39;t know) would be to pass out a brochure on the bus trips, etc., warning people of these scams to kind of make them more aware of their surroundings.
I hope your next trip is better and I%26#39;m sure you%26#39;ll never again make the mistake of leaving any machine with money or credits in it, no matter how ';nice'; the person is who%26#39;s offering to ';watch'; your machine for you. Many times people ask me to ';watch'; their machine while they hit the restroom because I seem to be nice middle aged lady *S*. But how do they know I won%26#39;t take their money and run?
ACMama
Sorry if I sounded harsh, but I hate it when someone slams a casino (or anywhere/thing/one else) for their own error.
BTW, they probably DO have video cameras monitoring that area. But to stop them and run back the tape, they would have to shut down all gaming in that area. They%26#39;re not going to do that over a $60 ticket.
They wouldn%26#39;t give you a written statement about your loss because they don%26#39;t know if you were telling the truth or not.
They didn%26#39;t comp you ';on the spot'; because it wasn%26#39;t their fault. I%26#39;m still surprised they comped at all and think that was awfully generous.
Ambrva , is pretty right on with her evaluations .
I %26#39;ve never seen a lack of employees at Taj . There are so many different kinds - dealers , waitresses , slot atendants , security personel , etc . Although I found a few slackers in the new EGO Lounge !
Some other thoughts , The man who told you to check your previous machine is not necessarily the same one who cashed out your ticket . There are people who walk around casinos all day just looking for machines where people have left credit in , or even a ticket hanging out .
The casino has no way of knowing whose credit is in the machine . You could have sat down at someone else%26#39;s credit . Or the guy who cashed that ticket may have actually played that machine after someone else played that machine and lost your $60 . Asking the a casino or the police to investigate this is like disputing the ownership of a $50 bill you dropped on the floor and walked away from . You simply have no hard proof .
Doesn%26#39;t Mohegan Sun have machines that pay back the uneven pennies or dimes when you put an uneven amount ticket into the machine ?
Weren%26#39;t there lots of other decent looking customers at the Taj you could have asked directions from ? Did you really need a security guard to find the elevator or such ? Most people are helpful and friendly .
AS far as I can see no real crime occured . You lost $60 and someone else found it . The law says you are supposed to turn it in to the police or security , but ... there was no ID ( wallet or such) with it . How could you prove owenership in order to retrieve it ? And the law is vague about ';game credits'; .
Never heard of having to shut down any gaming to review videos for quite a few years now. I think they just need to push some buttons. Exactly kind of video setup any given casino has are ';business'; secrets, but details do come out when there are public lawsuits. During the past year, lawsuits, at Ceasars, and I believe elsewhere, have revealed they have new digital cameras that can read the date on a coin. (The lawsuits, btw, are about the cameras being used to zoom in on exposed female parts in unseemly ways. And, it seems, from the details revealed, the personnel doing it had no problem viewing the recordings over and over.) It%26#39;s not known what kind of video surveillance is running at Taj, but with all the ';upgrades,'; etc. they%26#39;ve been doing lately I assume theirs should be rather up-to-date. I understand, once set up, the new digital systems actually save a lot of money.
If a ';whale'; wanted a review, it would have been done immediately. Small fish just have to be carefull!
The Taj is not ';unsafe'; but I think the issue of some hard-to-find service lately has validity. As mentioned above, I was surprised at some slack service I saw last week at the Taj, and not just at EGO. Maybe they all did have a meeting, vacation or something?
You want fast service at The Taj?
Slip on a rubber Halloween Donald mask and see how many people are at your machine within seconds LOL
CHEERS !!!!!!!
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