Depending on your isp provider.

Some allow you to reset your ip address.

Change pcs , throw a few dummy bets.

How can they mark you as the same person ?

blazing walker......what you say is possible.....but there are lots of factors that make it difficult......and at the end of the day they can do what they like and they know it......what they did to me is nothing compared with what they have done to others im aware of.....

If you can't get bets on online with the books, there's a huge number of shops everywhere.

try smarkets exchange it has the same odds as betfair and it's only 2% comm.

How much do you need to be winning to get hit with the PC ?

My cousin asked me about betfair and when I told him they charge so much he went and opened a William Hill account instead.

Perhaps we should all 'go on strike' for a week. In other words, don't anyone bet with them for a whole week and hopefully they will drop this PC outrage which is just sheer profiteering from punters' successes. So what if a punter wins £250,000, they will make very good commission from that in any case, so why take any more away!

Well said mokegibbon and this would work if we backers/customers worked together.Not just with the PC but also in other areas which could be deemed unfair.

A less radical suggestion I would ask BF to consider is to cancel the PC for money placed in the evening before and morning racing markets.I suspect this move would increase liquidity at these times and prove advantageous for all.?

Betfair don't take commission from winners though.

Or.

Loser pays £19 to winner
Loser pay £1 commission to Betfair.

A winner doesn't pay any money to Betfair, hence the loser pays the commission.

DB

I think your scenario is seriously flawed

Paulie, is right about the quarter of a million nonsense, I won £17972

in total and paid £1080 in premium charges, not had a bet on this site

for over 5 years.

An interesting read.

I am not going to comment on the moral 'rights and wrongs' of this particular situation but would like to point out a few things as there is quite a lot of misguided advice on this thread.  Law is one of those topics that people think they know a lot more about than they do.

My background is that in my spare time, I volunteer and help out people with consumer law related problems (debt, county court claims, bankruptcy, fines etc).  So, not a qualified lawyer but I do have the benefits of understanding the court system and contract law from first hand experience.  *I don't claim I am right about everything though and so welcome being corrected or challenged!

Comments:

1. There is no provision for Betfair to update your credit file with negative information.  When opening your account, Betfair may well have used a credit reference agency (CRA) to validate your identity but as no credit agreement was applied for or agreed to, this account will not appear on your file.  You can check your file for free at www.noddle.com or pay £2 at Equifax (instant) or Experian (takes a few days).  You will see that no data exists with regards to Betfair. If Betfair did attempt to trash your file, it would be an abuse of the system and Betfair could be sued for damages potentially.

2. Under the terms of your Betfair account, there is a provision to deduct money from your betting account balance to pay the premium charge.  As unfair as the charge may seem, there is little you can do to claim it back as it is in the Ts&Cs and whilst the money is in your wallet, Betfair have access to it.  The problem for Betfair is what to do when there are not enough funds in a customer's account to pay the entire charge, as is the case here.  Effectively, a negative balance is created.

3. It is not lawful for Betfair to take money from any registered debit card to pay the remaining charge.  Each transaction must be specifically instructed by the account holder.  Any attempt like this and your bank would have to do a 'charge back' as you didn't authorise this.

4. If you don't pay up, Betfair may eventually issue a county court claim to you (as someone said earlier in the thread).  Most claim forms are issued to scare the defendant into paying and only a small percentage of claims ever reach a hearing. I do not believe this has been tested in the County Court and it would be a risky move by Betfair to issue a claim and let it go all the way to a hearing.   A ruling against them and the premium charge system would unravel.  And all for the sake of £1,000.

Just because something is within the Ts&Cs, does not make it enforceable once a Judge looks at it. 

If it did go all the way to hearing, it would almost certainly be on the Small Claims Track.  Usually, with SCT cases, each side pays their own costs as long as both parties have followed Civil Procedure Rules correctly and acted reasonably throughout (as opposed to ignoring any attempt of resolution, vexatious litigation etc).

Worst case scenario, you lose and are ordered to pay the £1,000 plus a small amount of costs/fees.  As long as you paid the judgement in full within 1 month, no CCJ would be registered, no further action would be taken, and you can move on with your life as if nothing happened apart from losing some money.

5. The claims process can be long and arduous.  I mention this to dispel the myth that companies can easily sue you, give you a CCJ, and enforce it.  This only happens when the defendant ignores the claim form (must be acknowledged within 14 days and responded to within 28 days) and the claimant gets a judgement in default.  A defended claim (responding to the form and submitting it) often results in a withdrawal by the claimant, generally speaking.

6. Points 4 and 5 can be classed as 'getting ahead of ourselves' here as we are nowhere near this yet.  However, it is important to see as many moves ahead as possible - a bit like chess!  4 & 5 also illustrate how commercially risky it can be for a company to get the court system involved.  If you were Betfair, would you want to risk the creation of case law that says 'Premium Charge is not enforceable as a debt'??? Also, it would cost many thousands to claim £1,000 in a case like this.

7. One thing is for sure: you can expect not to be welcome to use Betfair in future if you don't pay.  This is fair enough as it is Betfair's right to decide who they want as a customer and who the do not.

8. I am not suggesting you should try an avoid paying or advocating it. 

Cheers

Very educational Larry .

Why are you even giving BF this publicity?  There are plenty of alternatives on the market who absolutely do not impose dubious premium charges on their loyal customers account.  My dissertation many years ago was all about the downfall of IBM. For those who are not familiar with the story of IBM their downfall was they forgot who their customers were and treated them with little or no respect.Forget the customer forget the business, they go hand in hand. You know where I am going with this.  I have been a BF member for years but unfortunately no longer.  I will be switching my business elsewhere real soon where the odds are not quite as good and the market liquidity is not as good as BFs, but at least the company is transparent with its customers and their are absolutely no hidden charges.

Please update