Yahoo! Customer Care rep Eric is a schmuck

I know you might be tired of hearing about the Yahoo! tiebreaker controversy, but I think you all will be left speechless after the latest update.

As you've read already, both myself and Joe have separately e-mailed Yahoo! for clarification on the tiebreaker. We told you their response to my first e-mail.

Check out their second response as well as a response to Joe.


COMMISH RESPONDS TO YAHOO'S ORIGINAL ANSWER:

I'm sorry but I can't accept this as an answer. First of all, this is NOT what your help screen says on playoff tiebreakers. In fact, it's very, very different. Second of all, I asked for a comment as to why you worded it so confusingly and poorly. You never gave me a comment, which I'd like to use for a league post I am doing on this crucial mistake.

This is what your Help page says: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/sports/fantasysports/baseball/scoring/baseball-83.html;_ylt=AlcH.cqOMn.MjNGTHHBoBexF1HhG

It is completely different from the answer your just gave me.

Please respond

YAHOO REP ERIC AGAIN RESPONDS TO COMMISH:

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

I understand that you'd like to see a different playoff tiebreaker format for your Head-to-Head One Win league. The link you are specifying is for Head-to-Head leagues and not Head-to-Head One Win leagues.

We're glad that you took the time to send us your feedback. I will make sure that your feedback is heard.

For future reference, as a way to provide feedback directly to the
Product Team, please feel free to submit your feedback at the URL below: http://feedback.help.yahoo.com/feedback.php?.src=YFSPORTS&.done=

I appreciate your interest in Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. If you have further suggestions, comments, or questions, please feel free to reply to this email, and we will gladly assist you.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

Regards,
Eric
Yahoo! Fantasy Sports Customer Care

OK, so let's review. They think I'm sending them feedback about requesting new tiebreaker. Eric doesn't answer my question or provide comment for me. Eric says the link I gave him was for regular head-to-head leagues, when in fact the link I gave him is to the exact thing that showed up on our League Overview, with absolutely zero clarification as to what type of league it is.

Now, the fun part.

Joe also e-mailed Yahoo asking what the actual tiebreaker is.

YAHOO REP ERIC RESPONDS TO JOE:

Hello Joe,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

I apologize for my prior response, which was for a Head-to-Head league.

In your Head-to-Head One Win league the playoff tiebreakers are:

I appreciate your inquiry in regard to playoff tiebreakers.

In the event that a playoff game ends in a tie, the deadlock is broken
using the following system:

1. Winning percentage against this opponent during the regular season. Note: In Head-to-Head Standard scoring leagues, the winning percentage is based on individual stat category wins and losses, and not matchup wins and losses.
2. Win in Week 3.
3. Win in Week 2.
4. Win in Week 1.
5. Random "coin flip."

We value your interest in Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. If you have further comments or questions, please feel free to reply to this email, and we will gladly assist you.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

Regards,
Eric
Yahoo! Fantasy Sports Customer Care

UM, WHAT???

OK, let's review this now. First of all, Eric changed the wording.

Originally: "Winning percentage against this opponent during the regular season. The winning percentage is based on individual stat category wins and losses, not match up wins and losses."

Now: "Winning percentage against this opponent during the regular season. Note: In Head-to-Head Standard scoring leagues, the winning percentage is based on individual stat category wins and losses, and not matchup wins and losses."

Second of all, Eric clearly copy and pasted his response from something else, hence the flub with a double introduction.

Third, he gave Joe a completely different tiebreaker than he did to me. This is the third different set of tiebreaker rules I have seen now for our league.

I'm literally speechless from this whole thing. It is quite bizarre, and to be quite honest, I still do not know what the tiebreaker is.

It matters because if it is head-to-head and then Week 25, 24, 23, 22... Bob has the tiebreaker over Shea because he played in Week 23 and Shea did not.

If it is head-to-head and then playoff seed, Shea has the tiebreaker.

Unreal.

Read more!

Yahoo! responds to my e-mail

Well, this is pretty incredible.

Yahoo! responded more than 24 hours after I contacted them. For full context, I'll just let you see what I asked and the response I get. Pretty unreal.


Commish to Yahoo!:

Hello -
Your tiebreaker explanation is incredibly confusing and may have even cost one of our league members his playoff matchup. Your rule states that "Winning percentage against this opponent during the regular season. The winning percentage is based on individual stat category wins and losses, not match up wins and losses."

Well, our league is a 1-win matchup league, leading us to believe that the tiebreaker would be combined stat category wins and losses. In our playoff matchup, which ended in a tie, the manager who thought he had the tiebreaker based on your explanation may have managed differently Sunday night. And then he woke up Monday morning to see the tiebreaker was not his.

The wording is extremely confusing for 1-win matchup leagues. Can you please clarify your rules and comment on why the wording does not better explain the rules?

Thank you.
Andrew

And here is Yahoo!'s reply:

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

Before I go into addressing your concern, I'd like to apologize for the delay in my responding to your inquiry. We are committed to answering your questions as quickly and accurately as possible. However, we are currently receiving unusually high volumes which caused the delayed response.

I apologize for the confusion with the playoff tiebreakers.

In the event that a playoff game ends in a tie, the deadlock is broken using the following system:

1. Winning percentage against this opponent during the regular season.
2. Highest winning percentage in Week 25
3. Highest winning percentage in Week 24
4. Highest winning percentage in Week 23
5. Highest winning percentage in Week 22
6. Highest winning percentage in Week 21
7. Highest winning percentage in Week 20
8. Highest winning percentage in Week 19
9. Highest winning percentage in Week 18
...(and so on.)
27. Random "coin flip"

We value your interest in Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. If you have further comments or questions, please feel free to reply to this email, and we will gladly assist you.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

Regards,
Eric

This is obviously incredibly different than what they have listed now and what we have seen. I have replied asking for more clarification and for comment.

We'll see how they reply this time.
Read more!

5 to watch: Weekend Predictions

1. Come Monday, both divisions will have a tie for first place, but not a tie for last place.
Pretty self-explanatory, but a lot of things have to happen to nail this exactly.

2. At least two teams will finish with an ERA under 2.
There's been some pretty damn good pitching this week. I say that keeps up over the weekend.


3. Yahoo!'s fishiness will wreak havoc Sunday night and Monday morning.
The company's failure to handle a suspended game could make for an interesting end to the week.

4. A Saturday stiff will be the difference in a Sunday result.
Been a while since we've seen a good stiff decision play a crucial role in a victory.

5. Shea vs. Chris will be the matchup to watch on Sunday night.
As the Rangers and Twins play on ESPN, these two will be fighting it out for a win.

Read more!

A cheater or a thriver? (UPDATE)

A manager brought this to my attention recently, and it is a big issue.

Joe somehow found a way to manipulate his roster.

Last Friday, he dropped Juan Pierre in order to activate Daisuke Matsuzaka from his disabled list. Matsuzaka started on Saturday (Joe kept him benched but not in a DL spot, however.)

But, then, inexplicably, Joe was allowed to put Matsuzaka back on the DL on Saturday, and he proceeded to pick up Wade Davis with his extra available move.


How does this happen? I honestly have no idea. Obviously, Matsuzaka would have had to still have the red DL next to his name, right? Somehow, Joe found a glitch in Yahoo! on that particular day.

I contacted Joe, who finally got back to me six hours after acknowledging me.

"I apologize for the delay. Recent market turmoil has caused a lot extra work. If the system allows me to exploit any arbitrage opportunity - in this case allowing me to place a player back on the DL - I will take that opportunity and use it to my advantage.

"Anyone else in the league has these same opportunities and it is up to them to find them and use them. If other managers have a problem then I will ask them exactly how this move benefited me? I did not start Dice K. I have yet to play Wade Davis.

"How is this move different then if I kept a player on the DL for a period of time even if he wasn't hurt any longer and waited till he came back to form ect... I don't support cheating but I don't find this act to be condemning. I rolled the dice and you just got K'd!"

The question is, what do we do about it, if anything? Should Joe be forced to send Davis back to the waiver wire because it's the ethical and right thing to do? Should Joe be able to keep his roster as is because of human/Yahoo! error? Please take a moment to consider and vote in the poll to the right.

I will make a ruling in the days to come.
Read more!

A massive mistake by Yahoo!

In case you haven't noticed, Yahoo! has made a change to its tiebreak system in the playoffs.

Previously, the playoff tiebreaker was ERA. This year, however, it's different.

In the event that a playoff game ends in a tie, the deadlock will be broken using the following system:
1. Winning percentage against this opponent during the regular season.
2. Playoff seed.

Ridiculous, right? They also note that custom leagues cannot set their own tiebreakers. Looking for answers, I took the liberty of e-mailing Yahoo!.

I wrote:

Hello - as a longtime Y! fantasy customer, I was curious as to
your decision to change the playoff-matchup tiebreakers. Can you explain
the reasoning for switching to a tiebreak system of regular season
head-to-head followed by overall seed?

Why was an option not provided for custom leagues to keep the classic
way that Y! had used in the past?

They replied:

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

I understand you would like the option of customizing the playoff
tiebreakers.

I apologize for any inconvenience, regretfully, the feature you're
requesting is not currently available. However, we'll be happy to
forward this feature to the product team as an enhancement request. We
appreciate your suggestion and we will give it consideration when we
prioritize new features for Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

No, Yahoo!, I didn't write to you because I wanted the option. I wrote to you because I wanted answers as to why you made this absurd change that makes no sense.

Thanks for nothing.
Read more!

Yahoo! responds, but doesn't say much

Here is the response I received today from Yahoo! regarding the delayed scoring. It seems they think I was just talking about yesterday although I made it clear I was referring to the season.

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Sports.

I apologize for any inconvenience caused due to MLB Real-Time scoring
being 10-30 minutes behind.

Our data provider was supplying us with a delayed Real-Time MLB feed.
The issue was fixed as soon as the last East Coast game ended.

We are working with our data partner to minimize Real-Time scoring
delays of this nature in the future.

Whenever you have further comments or questions, please feel free to
email us again.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Sports.

Regards,

Johnny

Yahoo! Customer Care

I don't think Johnny is done hearing from me...Thoughts on how I should respond? Read more!

An open letter to Yahoo!

As some of you may have noticed by now, Yahoo!'s live scoring sucks this year. Their in-game box scores on Stattracker and the MLB page is very delayed.

This pissed me off, and I figured I'd let Yahoo! know about it. We pay for Stattracker, and what's the point of it if it isn't live, right?

My letter after the jump. I'll be sure to keep you updated whether they respond or not. Usually, they do.


Dear Yahoo!

As a long-time customer, I currently feel the need to write to you to express my vehement displeasure with your baseball live scoring this season.

To be frank, it's a disgrace. Your in-game box scores are delayed, sometimes up to three innings. As a paying customer for Yahoo! Plus leagues, I expect up-to-the-minute scoring on Stattracker, like I would get on other fantasy Web sites. This helps me make crucial decisions as to whether to play or bench certain guys. But, this season, your scoring on Stattracker and on the MLB Yahoo! page is not live. It is delayed.

It is very frustrating, and I am not the only one who feels this way. This has been going on all season, and at first I figured it was a kink that would be fixed. But we are in mid-July. If I can't use Stattracker properly, why should I pay for it?

Please let me know whether this will be fixed any time soon. I have never had a problem with Yahoo! fantasy games, but this is extremely aggravating, as you might imagine.

Thank you very much in advance for a response,
Andrew

Read more!