General Betting
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8) Inactive Account Fees
From 31 December 2010, we will begin charging you* a fee†^ (as indicated in the table below) per calendar month (“Inactive Account Fee”) if:
# (a) there has been no log in or log out recorded on your Betfair account for thirteen consecutive months or more (i.e. no “Account Activity”); and
# (b) the main licence wallet of your Betfair account± is in credit.
The Inactive Account Fee will be withdrawn from the main licence wallet of your Betfair account (your “Main Wallet”) on a monthly basis to the extent that the Main Wallet remains in credit and only for the period during which there remains no Account Activity after the initial thirteen month period has passed. If the Inactive Account Fee is due to be withdrawn from your account and the balance of your Main Wallet is less than €5 (or equivalent currency), the Inactive Account Fee shall comprise the remaining funds in your Main Wallet.
If at any time you engage in Account Activity after you have been subject to one or more Inactive Account Fee, we will reimburse you on request the amount charged, up to a maximum of six months’ Inactive Account Fee†.
For example: if your account is transacted in EUR, the last time you engaged in Account Activity was 28 February 2010, and your Main Wallet held funds of €25 as at 31 March 2011, then Betfair would charge its first Inactive Account Fee on or around 31 March 2011, and would continue to charge the Inactive Account Fee on a monthly basis thereafter. If you then placed a bet on 15 May 2011 and notified Betfair that you would like to be reimbursed, Betfair would reimburse you the €10 Inactive Account Fee imposed (€5 on 31 March and €5 on 30 April).
*Customers registered in Australia or New Zealand shall not be subject to the Inactive Account Fee. If your country of registration is outside the UK and you hold more than one Betfair account, you will only incur an Inactive Account Fee in respect of one account at any one time (meaning that you will never pay more than one Inactive Account Fee per month).
†If you are VAT registered and require a VAT invoice, this will be available on request from the Betfair Helpdesk.
^All charges quoted are inclusive of VAT.
±Funds in the Australian licence wallet, the Casino wallet and the Exchange Games wallet of your Betfair account shall not be affected by the Inactive Account Fee.
Currency in which Betfair account is transacted
Inactive Account Fee
AUS
5
CAD
5
DKK
30
EUR
5
GBP(for customers whose country of registration is outside the UK)
4
GBP(for customers whose country of registration is the UK)
5
HKD
30
NOK
30
SEK
30
SGD
5
USD
5
Guess it must cost a few quid to maintain those inactive accounts
From 31 December 2010, we will begin charging you* a fee†^ (as indicated in the table below) per calendar month (“Inactive Account Fee”) if:
# (a) there has been no log in or log out recorded on your Betfair account for thirteen consecutive months or more (i.e. no “Account Activity”); and
# (b) the main licence wallet of your Betfair account± is in credit.
The Inactive Account Fee will be withdrawn from the main licence wallet of your Betfair account (your “Main Wallet”) on a monthly basis to the extent that the Main Wallet remains in credit and only for the period during which there remains no Account Activity after the initial thirteen month period has passed. If the Inactive Account Fee is due to be withdrawn from your account and the balance of your Main Wallet is less than €5 (or equivalent currency), the Inactive Account Fee shall comprise the remaining funds in your Main Wallet.
If at any time you engage in Account Activity after you have been subject to one or more Inactive Account Fee, we will reimburse you on request the amount charged, up to a maximum of six months’ Inactive Account Fee†.
For example: if your account is transacted in EUR, the last time you engaged in Account Activity was 28 February 2010, and your Main Wallet held funds of €25 as at 31 March 2011, then Betfair would charge its first Inactive Account Fee on or around 31 March 2011, and would continue to charge the Inactive Account Fee on a monthly basis thereafter. If you then placed a bet on 15 May 2011 and notified Betfair that you would like to be reimbursed, Betfair would reimburse you the €10 Inactive Account Fee imposed (€5 on 31 March and €5 on 30 April).
*Customers registered in Australia or New Zealand shall not be subject to the Inactive Account Fee. If your country of registration is outside the UK and you hold more than one Betfair account, you will only incur an Inactive Account Fee in respect of one account at any one time (meaning that you will never pay more than one Inactive Account Fee per month).
†If you are VAT registered and require a VAT invoice, this will be available on request from the Betfair Helpdesk.
^All charges quoted are inclusive of VAT.
±Funds in the Australian licence wallet, the Casino wallet and the Exchange Games wallet of your Betfair account shall not be affected by the Inactive Account Fee.
Currency in which Betfair account is transacted
Inactive Account Fee
AUS
5
CAD
5
DKK
30
EUR
5
GBP(for customers whose country of registration is outside the UK)
4
GBP(for customers whose country of registration is the UK)
5
HKD
30
NOK
30
SEK
30
SGD
5
USD
5
Guess it must cost a few quid to maintain those inactive accounts
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Replies: 73
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so if you die with money in your account, bf will start leeching the funds back to their own account after 13 months
how sweet, and what a lovely gesture |
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another desperate, greedy move by Betfair to swell their coffers! Cross matching (skimming), the Premium Charge and now this.
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How are people who haven't logged in for 13 months going to see this change to the T+C so they can act on it?
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By sheer luck my Dad was here and called betfair. After a tortuous conversation he eventaully managed to get his password changed as he had forgotten it.
Will he use his account in the next 12 months? I doubt it. His lady is in Africa and without access to the tinternet. She will be completely unaware. |
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How are people who haven't logged in for 13 months going to see this change to the T+C so they can act on it?
Exactly Lori. This is the very same point that my Dad made over the phone to betfair just a few minutes ago. Is it legal he asked. |
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btw the reason they gave for the phone delays was people ringing about this issue!
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Is it legal he asked.
Looks like they didn't fancy trying to justify the costs of £5 per month to the Aussie regulators as usual *Customers registered in Australia or New Zealand shall not be subject to the Inactive Account Fee. I guess they've so many dormant accounts they want to treat them like the bookies sleepers and grab it asap |
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Bwin have done this for years...it's nothing new.
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6 years is the norm for writing off overpaid money.
If this is what betfair have to do then it is time to go short on their shares. I commend IG index. |
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It's nothing more than theft, love to see them justifying that to the Gambling Commission or in court, I'd actually go 1000 on them winning a case there!
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They are just trying to bring money that is not theirs tho their P&L earlier than they otherwise would do.
IT IS THEFT!! |
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I find the contents of this thread completely shocking.
Alex has parents ?! |
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Behave el presidente. This is serious sh1t.
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Why are you worried about it? You are not going to have money inactive for that long
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well, it's a *bit* serious I suppose. I don't really care, to be honest - my account would have to be inactive for about five years for the amount involved to equal my worst week's PC.
but I guess the hint of desperation possibly bodes ill. my guess is they have a further ball-crushing "tweak" to the PC up their sleeves for 2011. |
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Why are you worried about it? You are not going to have money inactive for that long
I am not but others are. |
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Well, having logged in for the first time in ages on this account (bal: £0.01) - prompted by BF's greed-inspired email - I can see that my penny is given a stay of execution of 13 months by the simple act of logging in. Not that I am in any way placated by this further money-grabbing outrage from this firm of mercantilist cowboys. Far from it.
But I've got better things to do with my time, so I'll just say this: If you come anywhere close to attempting to recover 'fees' in this way you're going to find yourself on the wrong end of a PR disaster. Now please go away and think more clearly - and ethically - about how you want to manage dormant accounts. I suggest that you simply notify account holders of your intent to close such accounts and reimburse outstanding balances. Simple, no? |
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I suppose nowadays Betfair aren't making as much money on the interest earned from customer balances, and want to get their greedy hands on more of our money...
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If you have an inactive account they email you and tell you.
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I can only assume this is to reduce the amount of inactive cash they have sitting around. However, seeing as they don't pay interest on it but actually claim the interest, what harm does it do? Maybe it's to ensure that they won't be destinged to hold dead customers accounts for eterntity.
I worked for a company a number of years ago which designed a similarly shocking tactic. It desiced to charge customers (bulk, 100,000+ customers) a late payment fee if a credit card on account could not be billed (expiered/whateve reason). £20 a pop. Mazde the company a small fortuyne, just in time for the private sell. Needless to saym, customers were furious. That company today is very cash rich, and customers keep coming back for more. I guess the moral is: screw 'em - they love it. |
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I tried to close my account after getting this infuriating email but how?
You either have to phone, or email FROM your registered email address, but to what BF email address, IT DOESN'T say!, if you look at 'Contact Us' it's just a form, again no email address to be seen. |
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When I was very very young a friend went to work for a bank, a name you should know if you are more than 40. It seemed to be perfectly acceptable to transfer money from old dormant accounts to the accounts of an elite group of employees. True.
I know of somebody that has a suspended account. It did have a balance of x but magically the balance is now x - £150. It is perplexing how the balance has moved. |
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I can only assume this is to reduce the amount of inactive cash they have sitting around. However, seeing as they don't pay interest on it but actually claim the interest, what harm does it do? Maybe it's to ensure that they won't be destinged to hold dead customers accounts for eterntity.
My theory is that they are struggling to meet profit targets and this is a method of bringing cash to the P&L. Short termism, imo. |
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I laughed when i read the opening post, its a bit early for April fools though?
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I don`t agree with it however loads of online firms now do this. In fact if you go and look in the terms and conditions of nearly all the smaller ones they have a similar clause.
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I've had the email as well. The solution is simple - log in every month or two if you care. Close your account if you don't. How to close your account ? Just...err, wait a second...
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Just got an email saying the minimum phone bet is going up to £50 in the new year
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It's a clever (but greedy) move from Betfair. The only people they are going to piss off are the people that are no longer using the site.
Some of these people might close their accounts. Others might do nothing, and Betfair can siphon away their cash. There will also be some others who start using their accounts again after having forgotten about them. It's a win win win. |
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I received an e mail from Betfair about this too. What annoys me is their willingness to link accounts for the purpose of any premium charge calculation but not for classing a customer as 'active.' Ok, it's looks as if just logging into the old account renders it active but what a petty e mail to send in the 1st place.
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What a load of whingers you lot are. If you haven't used your account for that length of time (and left money in it more to the point) then you deserve to be punished. A big lol from me...
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Again difference in Australian and UK regulations is very interesting. its sharp practice. ie why do you need to notifify them to get money back when reactivating. They know you are active again the reimbursement should be automatic. Imagine would be laughed out down under
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city boy fraudsters
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Mr Magoo Joined: 28 Mar 05
Replies: 238 21 Dec 10 12:43 It's a clever (but greedy) move from Betfair. The only people they are going to piss off are the people that are no longer using the site. ----------- manifestly not true, if this thread is anything to go by. in itself this move means little. but as an indicator of thinking/priorities at the heart of the death star it's a bit more significant. |
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'mercantilist cowboys' great phrase that
it surely cant be long until another PC raise |
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Get the feeling they will be applying the pressure till the Pips Squeak.
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I want virtual soccer!
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I would recommend that they:
Increase PC from 20% to 100% Apply a flat rate of 5% commission Give customers as many Betfair holidays as they want, their commission is gonna stay at 5% anyway. Raise minimum stake from £2 to £100 Start charging for withdrawals (withdrawal fee is 50% of withdrawal amount) |
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Oh, and change the Betfair allowance to 50p per week.
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ewood Date Joined: 10 Mar 01
21 Dec 10 12:43 I received an e mail from Betfair about this too. What annoys me is their willingness to link accounts for the purpose of any premium charge calculation but not for classing a customer as 'active.' Ok, it's looks as if just logging into the old account renders it active but what a petty e mail to send in the 1st place. This whole account linking business is so annoying. The will go to the ends of the earth to link accounts to collect your dosh. When you might want accounts linked for good reason ie; this dormant slosh fund, commission rates they are not playing by the same account linked rules. |