Skybet "promotion" is a lie

record what they've said, if you haven't already, then query it again !

That is pretty low even for the filth that are high street bookmakers.

Is that in their terms and conditions?

If it is your fooked

If it is it must come under the Unfair Contract Terms Act. If your specifically lured in to contract with them on the basis of that term and they have another condition in that contract allowing them the discretion to remove that term at their discretion then there is no chance that would be allowed in any other industry.

They tried this with me on Tuesday. I queried it with them on Twitter and they paid up "as a gesture of goodwill".  If you use Twitter, I would suggest replying to their next "free bet offer" tweet asking why you did not get your money. The public arena might make them more likely to show "goodwill" - or paying what they should.

I'd go the Twitter route first as suggested above. Once you have posted up a message I will be happy to re-tweet and reply and if a few others do this same we'll soon make some inroads into this nonsense.

GOOD LUCK GUYS.

there was a big thread about this last nite...loads have not been honoured.

I've also fallen foul of this.  When I asked why I had been sent a promotional e-mail I was never eligible for, the help desk bod had no answer.  I've made a formal complaint to the ASA.

Surely they should refuse your bet when you place it, not after ?

Same happened to me a few months ago, I was waiting for a freebet and it didn't come through. They said I was banned from promotions, I said they never told me and they gave it to me anyway as a goodwill gesture. Probably just got lucky with a nice staff member.

I suspect that you've opened an account before with Sky using the same IP address.

If it's not a new account that's diabolical.

Not a duplicate account in my case; it's a year since I used the account too.  It's up to them who they restrict, but sending personal e-mails to people making offers they never intended to honour is rancid.

Sky show the offer still as "money back" on their site. No mention of money back as a free bet until you click on the terms and conditions. This should not be allowed as will be luring customers in with this false claim of money back.

careful, they'll throw you out of the sky bet club if you complain ...

Another joke firm. Sending out emails to people encouraging them to bet on the basis of a promotion they're not eligible for is disgraceful.

I'm amazed they took the original 25 pence stake to start with

number one flimpers in the uk

I just dont get these firms,the amounts theyre reneging on are peanuts especially when they convert to free bets,it cant be worth the hassle they create for themselves.

PP tried doing this to me with their Un De Sceaux offer. Claimed they had the right to withdraw promotional offers from people, and I was one of them. However as they had popped a message in my inbox when I log in promoting the offer, I went mental (sorry, Cheltmental) that not only had they stopped me accessing promotions without telling me (they said they are not obliged to tell me - classy customer care) but that they had sent me a message about the offer so had to bloody well pay up. They did finally, after making me jump through hoops, send screenshots of the message they had sent me, etc.

Tonight just before I was going to ring them up and swear at them again I logged in to find a free bet - marked 'goodwill gesture' in my account that they had not even told me they had made.

Goodwill my ringpiece. Win or lose I'm shutting down with them.

Oh, and I tried to put my £20 free bet on a 9/1 shot in the County Hurdle and it was rejected - max. stake £7.07. What a shambles of a firm.

Are there any punters left who are not restricted on these offers? In fact are there any punters left who are not restricted on anything full stop?? 
  Apart from r.post journalists, it seems that no one can bet online any more-unless you are a complete mug betting on casino/slots and correct scores in football matches.The bookmakers are becoming totally risk averse. Ironic really.
   Makes it even worse when you read Birch getting his big bets on. The situation is becoming desperate.

And more to the point it seems next to impossible to get the reality of these practices into the mainstream media and therefore public consciousness.

If you are restricted in any way (as RTB is with PP) assume that these promotions do not apply to you, and if you want to avail of them , check first if they apply.

It still warms the cockles of my heart that the day i got lucky it was with Skybet. Won on the Saturday, money put into my account on the Tuesday, restricted to peanuts on the Weds.

They are all at it. I've had emails this week from all of them with offers that i cant possibly use. Why do Lads send out an email advertising horses at double the odds to all new customers when they clearly know i'm not a new customer? Its a lazy industry full of greed. Corals restricted me to £2.50 in a 24 runner handicap on a 8/1 shot - until the heads of these companies are actually placed in the public eye and questioned by someone who isn't in some way connected to them ,they will continue to act like sewer rats.

I got an email from them a few months ago, I didn't really read it properly but the gist of it was that I was excluded from the best odds guarantee. I was going to place a bet earlier this week in a special offer market but before I did I contacted them to see if I was included. They informed me that I wasn't, and that I was excluded from all offers. You've probably got an email from them somewhere, very easy to ignore them though with the amount of spam they send

the biggest frustration is the fact that they still send the special offer emails, surely there's a way of excluding us from these?

If you are restricted in any way (as RTB is with PP) assume that these promotions do not apply to you, and if you want to avail of them , check first if they apply.

If one of these firms directly sends a consumer a message inviting them to take advantage of a specific promotion, there is no reason why the consumer should be expected to take any further steps to confirm that it applies to them.

Had similar from betfred yesterday, have an account 3 old not had a horse bet yet on it , so before the first race I asked them if it was best odds guaranteed on all races , they said yes all races GB and IRE plus 2nd to vatour was a free bet of some amount , so I had 100 eway apache at 11/2  returned 7s , so get paid at 11/2 and no free bet  . I get back on the chat to be told my account was restricted on Monday and I don't qualify for any promotions.
I am restricted , but could get 100 ew at 11/2 with them ??.
Got no joy out of them traders decision etc etc, sure they just make it up as they go.

account 3 weeks old

Just checked my account and I got no refund either and was told Im not legible.

Ridiculous that they cant tell you.  Their argument was that there were restrictions on my account (I never knew) but they werent able to stop accounts from placing the bets.

Hmm.... so you can restrict it that I cant put on more money than you want , but you somehow cant flag my account with something that says Im not allowed to benefit from a promotion.

thieves , liars , cntus...

I also got them to close my account (no point having it) and then asked them to remove all my personal details from their records (name , address , contact details) and was told they cant do that.  They apparently have to keep my details on record.

No disrespect to anybody on this thread, but these 'offers' are nothing more than gimmicks.


I have two online accounts, one with betfair and the other purple.


I also have six accounts with bookmakers. (phone only) On the odd occasion that I use them for ante-post bets or small each way trebles, (with all six) I can usually get on for about £150-£200 on the trebles.

One of the accounts I have never used is Starsports, (I'm keeping them in reserve) but apparrently like the rest they will restrict if you back a few winners.

I can only speak for myself but to their credit, 365 laid me a decent ante-post bet at the begining of Febuary in the Supreme.

As for Joke Oral, stay well clear...

* I should add that I don't use any of their online services as I have enough passwords and usenames without half filling another notebook.

Generally, if it's too good to be true...read the small print! that's the get out clause.

star sports will close you down if you have got a losing acc    if you back a horse that shortend

No shock there then.

This 'goodwill gesture' thing is just as scandalous as the refusal to honour their commitments in the first place.

another here who has had best price withdrawn without any email or message. getting very annoyed listening to there pr reps on ruk and atr, gonna cancel ruk monday morning.

I've complained to the Gambling Commission about the restriction issue.
 
I am drawing your attention to an unfair practice at your licensee Skybet.

They are running a promotion that offers a free bet to the value of your stake on certain races.

They state that "restricted" customers are excluded.

However, they don't routinely (and indeed may not proactively do so at all) inform  customers that they are in the "restricted" category.

This means that customers (like myself) only find out that they are "restricted" when Skybet refuse to honour the free bet offer.

I asked them how many people had complained about this issue and they refused to divulge the information but admitted they had received complaints.

It would be fairly simple for you as a regulator to ask them if they proactively inform customers that they are to be restricted and that they are not eligible for offers and also how many complaints they have received about the issue.

If a financial regulator uncovered such an unfair practice they would order that the firm to redress affected customers (i.e. customers who were not informed that they were restricted) eg either return the stakes on any losing bets or make the free bets described available.  I trust you will follow this example and not the usual rubber stamp nonsense of "regulators" in other countries.

Regards

feel free to use parts of the above for your complaint - the email is info@gamblingcommission.gov.uk it will only take a second.

On the other issue of not making it clear that money back was in the form of a free bet - Skybet gave an informal undertaking that they would state "money back as a free bet" in the body of the advert, they have obv reneged on that committment.

These firms really are scum, and lest Betfair think that a thread like this serves its own purposes, I might add that Betfair is no better with its thieving premium charge and pathetic "Sportsbook" offering which it uses to promote itself while refusing bets of over £3.