[karenesharp]

I've filed a complaint after BetFred have continuously delayed on making a payout. They offer me no deadline and keep telling me it is awaiting authorisation. I filed this complaint two days ago and have now been awaiting payout for over a week. Has it been assigned to anybody yet?

[AimingHigh]

From my impressions, SBR works faster with some books than others - usually fast with sponsor books and 'soft target' crap off-shore books (where it's easier to get a result or make a statement against the book, when you're know they're not going to decide in the player's favour) and usually slower with other books. A lot seems to depend on who your complaint was assigned to. The nature of the complaint probably matters too, and not just the complexity: I know a week is a long time in the Euro-bookie world, but it's still good in the off-shore world, perhaps another reason for SBR not to jump on this when it will likely resolve itself in your favour, unlike a lot of the complaints SBR receives.

Two days isn't really long enough to expect a response from SBR on the average case. If I were you, I would continue to contact BetFred, check whether they need anything to be sent to them to speed up the authorisation process for the payout (ID? etc?), and try to clarify a timeline.

[karenesharp]

Thankyou, I never thought to offer to send ID. Obviously I'm happy to send it, but it didn't ocurr to me to offer to send it. That's probably good advise.

I only posted on here because the complaint form says to ring a number if I heard nothing back after 1 day.
I didn't want to make a costly phone call though as it's abroad and thought I might get further here.

Thanks for your advise.

[Ruifgalmeida]

that is not normal, I always had my betfred money in 24hours, I think you must be under investigation.

[winM]

Depends! Depends!

[AimingHigh]

I did a quick Google for you because I've never heard of BetFred slow-paying before. There are some posters here (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?t=2365485) that seem to have had / are having similar issues. From a quick read of that thread, it looks like it might be related to a free bet offer (people getting more free bets than they were entitled to? and then trying to withdraw the winnings from those extra free bets?). Was your payout in response to winnings from a free bet? If so, that might be much of the problem.

[Gigi69]

made an payout today over 300€, and received me after 10 hours via moneybookers (as always).
its a very fine british book (in my eyes), never wait longer as a few hours.

[austin]

last week took 5 days (incl. weekend) via moneybookers for 1000, but usually it is much faster

[chance]

A couple of weeks ago I asked for an international bank transfer withdrawal. I waited a week and it didn't come through so after a couple of days of sending emails which were not replied to I asked them to refund my **** which they did straight away.

In my opinion they probably can pay everyone they choose to but have extremely poor customer service. This combined with the very low limits means they are worthless to me.

[karenesharp]

I'm still waiting on this, it'll have been two weeks tomorrow since my withdrawal request.

I have had a reply from Justin @ SBR saying he will contact them and let me know once he knows more but no further information has come through.

I hate that they are just fobbing me off with out any mention of a timeframe and no requests for any documents. In my eyes they are doing nothing to bring their "investigations" to a conclusion.

I have sent them some ID and was told it will be forwarded to the correct department but still no mention of them having any intention of paying out.

Please help SBR.

[AimingHigh]

See my post 6, above: Was your payout in response to winnings from a free bet? If so, that might be much of the problem.

[karenesharp]

See my post 6, above: Was your payout in response to winnings from a free bet? If so, that might be much of the problem.

My answer to your question is yes and I understand that it's ok if they choose to investigate. But to ignore communication and withhold funds for nearly 3 weeks now is unacceptable.

Their phone staff simply say they will contact the people in Gibralta but there is nothing they can do until they get the nod from Gibralta.

They have made no requests for ID or made any attempts such as that to prove my identity. They are just doing nothing. I offered to send ID and was told it will be forwarded to Gibralta. This was over a week ago.

I'm getting really frustrated with this and would really appreciate a little more support from SBR.

I received one email from Justin saying he will look into it and let me know, but I have heard nothing back since that. This has been at least a week since I received this.

I have managed to speak with one helpful person, but I have just received the following email and it looks like he is powerless to make a difference despite his efforts

Hi Karen,

I have passed your details over to Gibraltar again and asked them
to either approve the withdrawal or contact you personally.

I was given information that the accounts awaiting authorisation would be approved by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.
This has not happened in your case, for this I must apologise.

It is out of my remit and I am as frustrated with the situation as yourself as
I have not received any update.

Obviously if I receive any information I will contact you immediately, also
if you receive any communication from the Gibraltar support Team I would
appreciate your letting me know.

I am sorry Karen, but I have done everything possible apart from
getting on a plane myself.

If you would like to contact an independant body who will
investigate on your behalf, may I suggest:-

IBAS (Independant Betting Adjudication Service),
P O Box 62639,
London.
EC3P 3AS. Telephone - 0207 347 5883.

This is a free service and they will contact Gibraltar on your behalf.

Once again, many apologies, if I receive any futher news I will contact you immediately.

Kind regards,

Mark Hilton,

Head Of Customer Services

How badly organised can one company be?
I intend to now contact IBAS but thought I would chase it up again on here as SBR are already aware of my complaint.

[AimingHigh]

I agree with you. Shame that the bonus wh*res and multi-accounters appear to have ruined it for you. Betfred actually has some quite good odds sometimes, though I understand you might not want to bet while you wait for the withdrawal.

Really, this is just a forum for other users, so if you want to follow up with SBR you should probably send a reply to the last e-mail you received from SBR.

Your case seems clear cut, you just want a pay out. Am I right in thinking it's been 3 weeks now since you requested the funds? If so, I guess a complaint to IBAS might be in order. If you want it all on record, you can e-mail them rather than call. Here's the online complaint form for them: http://www.ibas-uk.com/adjudicationForm.php

As I understand it, a different company (presumably a wholly-owned subsidiary or similar, structured that way for tax purposes?) runs the website compared to the phone betting and shops in the UK. So it may well be that the guy you spoke to really did do his best, and it is just *that* disorganised.... though, obviously, it shouldn't be.

Hopefully a quick prod from IBAS will get your payout finalised.

[G's pks]

gl with this...

[Justin7]

Karen,

My hands are tied if Betfred won't provide information... but I did get a token response with no real reply.

[chance]

Betfred are obviously a pretty mixed up company.

Karen I think the problem is that a lot of sportsbooks do not believe woman gamble so when a woman asks for a payout they think it is a man "stealing" from them.

[Ruifgalmeida]

they call them self the bonus kings!!!!! I have account with them for years never had any problems and had my money safe. but with this story i will stay way for a while.

[karenesharp]

Thanks for your kind words. I filed the complaint with IBAS yesterday and received a comp slip through the post this morning which is nice. Can anyone comment on the speed of IBAS? I'm lucky that I've never had to use them before but it'd be nice to hear about any others experiences with them?

[betted]

Thanks for your kind words. I filed the complaint with IBAS yesterday and received a comp slip through the post this morning which is nice. Can anyone comment on the speed of IBAS? I'm lucky that I've never had to use them before but it'd be nice to hear about any others experiences with them?

Hi Karen,

Sorry to hear about your problems.

I did once have to use IBAS around this time last year (Cheltenham) but with another bookie who refused both my winnings from my own bet and winnings from a bonus.

Sadly IBAS found in their favour and the situation wasn't resolved until it went as far as court proceedings. At this point the bookmaker found in my favour and gave me my winnings. Similar to your case I wasn't the only one who was denied winnings.

Hopefully though your case won't need to go so far.

[karenesharp]

Hi Karen,

Sorry to hear about your problems.

I did once have to use IBAS around this time last year (Cheltenham) but with another bookie who refused both my winnings from my own bet and winnings from a bonus.

Sadly IBAS found in their favour and the situation wasn't resolved until it went as far as court proceedings. At this point the bookmaker found in my favour and gave me my winnings. Similar to your case I wasn't the only one who was denied winnings.

Hopefully though your case won't need to go so far.

That is concerning, but thanks for the heads up. What bookmaker if you don't mind me asking?

[Chopsticks]

It was bluesquare. It is different than this case though because bluesquare argued that the promotion was only for RUK subscribers, whereas the terms said "racing uk viewers". I can't see that betfred had a similar term for their free bet.

Screwed by blue square... help!

[betted]

Thanks Chopsticks, that is indeed correct.

Back to BetFred.

From what I have been reading elsewhere I don't think you have too much to worry about. (even though I know it doesn't seem that way) It appears they are paying out, but just checking everyone's accounts for abuse.

As you haven't committed any I fully expect you to be paid out in full as soon as they get round to your account.

I know the waiting is tough and things might seem terrible at the moment, but I firmly believe you'll be alright.

[karenesharp]

Withdrawal received in full. Many thanks to Justin and those of you who posted in this thread.