[dont_use_blue_sq]

I have recently signed up to Blue Square using their £250 sign up offer, via Racing UK. The terms and conditions clearly states than it is for viewers of Racing UK, which can be seen in various bookies, pubs etc.

By definition, 'viewers' does not stress 'subscribed members' of Racing UK, just viewers. I could have just seen an advert at a friends house. I personally (on the run up the Cheltenham) went on to their website and clicked on a link to Blue Square advertising the £250 offer.

Since then they have requested a list of subscribers from Racing UK (obviously illegal under the Data Protection Act) and voided anyone’s bets who are not official members of Racing UK. This was not stated in the T&Cs, all it said was viewers.

Following the placement of the first bet and free bet they have voided all bets... my first bet lost and my free bet won, which due to the voiding of bets, leaves me ~£450 down.

I am hoping that somebody here can help me. Apart from being illegal and a breach of the data protection act, it is a blatant misdescription and shouldn't be allowed to stand.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[laconic]

You are not a subscriber to RacingUK so are not eligible as you well know. You are a chancer and unfortunately BlueSq will probably be refunding you tomorrow.

[dont_use_blue_sq]

thanks for the response.

however, chancer or not, the terms and conditions clearly didn't say that you had to be a subscriber...

i shouldn't have been allowed to sign up using the offer if that was the case and would have used the £100 current offer instead.

the bookie is a joke, and this apparently isn't the first time something like this has happened with blue square.

[doowahdiddy]

You werent entitled to the bonus so its hard luck, unless you are on a list of racing uk subscribers that is

[GlobalSquare]

*edit*bah sorry i dont know why it isnt appearing in paragraphs*. Hopefully all the others screwed by BlueSq will start posting soon to Ive not lost out like a lot of people but had to post because theres no way BlueSq should have such a high rating I also went through the racingUK site and signed up thinking that ultimatly i would get 1 x£100 and 3x£50 worth of free bets Are they just able to stop an offer half way through? I deposited and bet £100 of my own money and placed a £100 freebie ... both lost ... my account was closed and i had to phone up to get it opened up again ... the 3x£50 are no longer possible/an option for me now apprently. It seems that they are offering refunded stakes on lost and won bets but i dont seem to have been offered that either I know my complaint isnt as bad as the op's (not getting a refund or freebets) but as none of the others (even those that appear to be over 1000 down) arent posting here i thought i should in the hopes you atleast downgrade BlueSq even if you cant get anything else sorted. If anyone reading this and has a bit of time to kill can i suggest you read these two threads to see how this unfolded - they started changing the sign up/bonus terms days ago and only locked accounts today - people were already mentioning the cityAM fiasco that happened last time wondering if the same thing was about to happen yet again. ttp://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1534997 ttp://the*******************.com/cheltenham-bonus-offers-new-existing-customers/3801-bluesquare-introductory-bonus-up-250-a.html Once again please look into this as a lot of people are affected and theres no way anyone should think of BlueSq as a B rated book after pulling this trick twice

[GlobalSquare]

Originally Posted by doowahdiddy

You werent entitled to the bonus so its hard luck, unless you are on a list of racing uk subscribers that is

no where in the terms did it say you had to be ... thats something they are now saying over the phone

[doowahdiddy]

You'll get your deposit back and the account will be closed so don't worry about it

[GlobalSquare]

cheers thats what has been said to me.(well sort of - ive been allowed to keep the account and no deposit returned) .. either way.. i consider myself very lucky .. only really posting because it seems no one else is and SBR should be aware of the way BlueSq are operating

[st0ne5ish]

I to was screwed over by Blue Square, I clicked on the banner on the RacingUK site and placed a £100 qualifier for the first £100 bonus. The bet won and I should have been credited with over £400 winnings, I checked my account and the bet was voided. When I called CS to find out why they informed me the promotion was only available to RacingUK subscribers, they told me they had voided the bet and I would also not be entitled to any promotion bonus.
I took a copy of the T&C's when I signed up and there is nothing on the T&C's that state you are required to be a subscriber.

I signed up to the offer in good faith and had it stated you are required to subscribe then I would not have continued. Blue Square have taken my money allowed me to place a bet and then when it won voided it claiming non existent T&C's.

I will be complaining to Alderney.

[doowahdiddy]

Originally Posted by st0ne5ish

I will be complaining to Alderney.

Good luck with that

[laconic]

I wish the books would start to take a hard line with these whores that swarm on them from money saving thrift sites. They are not bettors and have no intention of ever being bettors.

To be fair, BlueSq do seem to have tried to tie this promo in to genuine fans but still they were swarmed on by these whores. When this topic is buzzin at moneysavingexpert (33pages,640posts) you know these whores have been all over BlueSq.

[doowahdiddy]

Originally Posted by laconic

I wish the books would start to take a hard line with these whores that swarm on them from money saving thrift sites. They are not bettors and have no intention of ever being bettors.

To be fair, BlueSq do seem to have tried to tie this promo in to genuine fans but still they were swarmed on by these whores. When this topic is buzzin at moneysavingexpert (33pages,640posts) you know these whores have been all over BlueSq.

[st0ne5ish]

Originally Posted by laconic

I wish the books would start to take a hard line with these whores that swarm on them from money saving thrift sites. They are not bettors and have no intention of ever being bettors.

To be fair, BlueSq do seem to have tried to tie this promo in to genuine fans but still they were swarmed on by these whores. When this topic is buzzin at moneysavingexpert (33pages,640posts) you know these whores have been all over BlueSq.

and what if a "genuine fan" had taken up this promotion and had their bet voided???

[doowahdiddy]

Originally Posted by st0ne5ish

and what if a "genuine fan" had taken up this promotion and had their bet voided???

If they got the invite they have nothing to worry about

[dont_use_blue_sq]

seriously. i think you are being a bit harsh here. blue square have acted completely ineptly. if it was only for subscribers why advertise it online. they wanted more customers, but when they got too many they decided to pull it and scam everyone out of their winnings. it was not in accordance with the T&Cs at all. they broke the law, by being supplied with a list of Racing UK subscribers and it shouldn't be allowed to stand. blue sq have pulled this twice now and i hope nobody uses them ever again. i certainly wont do. i too will be complaining to alderney

[st0ne5ish]

Originally Posted by doowahdiddy

If they got the invite they have nothing to worry about

You are completely missing the point, the promotion was advertised on the RacingUK website for anyone to click on.

[Santo]

I just scanned over to MSE where I was sure I'd find the start of this, and I did.. ;o)

It appears the offer was marketed to members who had agreed to receive communications from RUK (either the members club or direct subscribers). The placing of the advert appears to be a mistake, but does anyone have a copy of the full applicable terms and conditions for the offer?

The DPA I don't believe is appropriate, because the only list BlueSq have is a list of people who have agreed to receive communications, the rest of you aren't on it, so your information rights have not been breached.

I think if you went to a regulator their decision would be to void all bets, win or lose, and it appears what that is what they have already done.

I'll withhold judgement pending the full T&C, but if they stated "Only people who have received this offer are eligible" or similar, as I suspect they would have, I believe they are acting correctly.

[st0ne5ish]

T&C's

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...534997&page=24 post #473

[doowahdiddy]

Bluesq is giving everyone who wasnt entitled their money back, so wheres the problem?

[Santo]

What was the context of that "Racing UK viewers" box?

[Santo]

Originally Posted by doowahdiddy

Bluesq is giving everyone who wasnt entitled their money back, so wheres the problem?

The problem is that most of them bet the other side somewhere else. One guy I noted bet £1400 at Betfair on the other side of (I guess) a 14-1 shot which won, so he's down a large chunk at the moment. Of course, that's not BSQ's responsibility, and I don't think it warrants any particular course of action.

[doowahdiddy]

Originally Posted by Santo

What was the context of that "Racing UK viewers" box?

Racing UK is a horse racing channel which requires a subscription to view

[doowahdiddy]

Originally Posted by Santo

The problem is that most of them bet the other side somewhere else. One guy I noted bet £1400 at Betfair on the other side of (I guess) a 14-1 shot which won, so he's down a large chunk at the moment. Of course, that's not BSQ's responsibility, and I don't think it warrants any particular course of action.

I'm aware they were matched betting, but that isnt bluesqs problem. And anyway that would bring clause 10 of the t&cs into effect

[Santo]

I don't disagree with you. The only problem seems to be that they were displaying that advertisement to players other than the intended recipients of the mailshot.

[doowahdiddy]

I know, but they have admitted their mistake and are refunding all deposits. So in theory no one should be any worse off than when they signed up.

[Ortho]

Originally Posted by doowahdiddy

Racing UK is a horse racing channel which requires a subscription to view

I have it on my TV through Virgin but am not subscribed to RUK specifically. I don't know if I'd be eligible or not.

I wasn't a participant in this, but they should now be downgraded further. This is now at least the third time that they have publicly advertised a promotion, gotten a bigger response than anticipated, and repudiated the promotion. Afer the huge outcry the previous times there is simply no excuse here.

[doowahdiddy]

To be fair ro them the cityam offer was posted in a newspaper only available in London, yet within minutes they had sign ups all over the UK & IRE. I dont think anyone is denying their marketing dept sucks

[GlobalSquare]

Originally Posted by doowahdiddy

I know, but they have admitted their mistake and are refunding all deposits. So in theory no one should be any worse off than when they signed up.

no refund for me or lots of others (but ive not lost out so not moaning to much) and please dont get me wrong i understand your comments but it wasnt advertised as an invite only offer ... if it was this 'whore' as you lot put it wouldnt have touched it with a bargepole ... i play safe not dumb and if you subscribe to satanda you get the RUK channel free ... what about anyone that has satanda but not the subcription to RUK but looked on the RUK site and followed the link ... tough for them to? thanks to those that atleast tried to look at it objectivly and not just shot down the posts in what comes across as almost rude (or just plain rude *thats not @ you by the way doo*) in some of the replies

[TruckerJoe]

Blue Square are out of order by the look of things. I guess they'll realise this and will pay out winnings eventually.

[dont_use_blue_sq]

Originally Posted by TruckerJoe

Blue Square are out of order by the look of things. I guess they'll realise this and will pay out winnings eventually.

hopefully. i have had quite a lot of winnings deducted from my account. i didn't do anything that conflicts with the T&Cs so this is a blatant breach of contract...

[Santo]

Some of the legalese here (and especially at MSE) is quite amusing. I suggest reading the 2005 Gambling Act, because breach of contract isn't going to matter a jot.

[Jamie_UK]

I think its fair that B SQ simply refund the deposits for those who were not TARGETED RUK customers, the fact that the carpet baggers laid their bets on BF is neither here nor there.

Also It would be a shame for SBR to waste their time on this, MSE is simply a bunch of hit and run whores who have ZERO interest in ever being a normal customer for the bookmaker, they are killing many decent offers for normal customers and lets hope this becomes a lesson to them, they love the phrase

"matched betting is risk free"

Yeah well, live and learn eh.

[noyb]

to be honest, a number of responses here defending BSQ's actions seem to be purely motivated by a dislike for MSE kind of websites. There's nothing in the T&C limiting the offer to Racing View subscribers and now pulling back on the offer is D-book behaviour at best. Any legal action will fail, and BSQ won't give a damn what a site like SBR will think of this, nevertheless it's very bad behaviour from a book that has a past with these kinds of stunts, i very much disagree with posters here who seem to think this practice is somehow ok.

[Brummie]

I think this was a scam from the start. I'm actually a subscriber to Racing UK and got the invite flyer in the post from Racing UK, even though I've already got an account with Blue Sq, so it wasn't targetted specifically at non-Blue Sq account holders. I don't know the figures obviously, but I would think that 90-95% of subscribers to Racing UK would have a Blue Sq account in any case. The flyer makes no reference to having to be a subscriber to the channel.

The channel is available free on Virgin cable and a local pub shows it. They are often plugging Blue Sq on the channel and the advert for the offer was still being shown last night. They also refer you to their website on the channel where the offer was also advertised.

I think they waited for the results and as they didn't go their way, they decided to void bets even though customers had placed the bets with their own money.

[doowahdiddy]

Originally Posted by noyb

to be honest, a number of responses here defending BSQ's actions seem to be purely motivated by a dislike for MSE kind of websites. There's nothing in the T&C limiting the offer to Racing View subscribers and now pulling back on the offer is D-book behaviour at best. Any legal action will fail, and BSQ won't give a damn what a site like SBR will think of this, nevertheless it's very bad behaviour from a book that has a past with these kinds of stunts, i very much disagree with posters here who seem to think this practice is somehow ok.

I have nothing against mse or sites like it although i do find most "matched betters" to be vile people. It was pretty obvious the offer was designed for RUK customers regardless of the vague t&cs