Telephone betfair

0844 871 7000

Swifty the number has not been recognised. 08448717000.

The number I have for them is 0844 871 0000. I haven't used it for many years.

When you get through it will be Abdul from the Punjab. He has never seen a horse and doesn't know what betting is!

GL

Don't think they've taken phone calls for a few years now?  Live chat or sign up to Twitter if you want to "speak" to someone. I use Twitter

the helpline have not got a clue about betting

All the people worrying that Artificial Intelligence is going to destroy the human race - none of them have ever contacted BF Customer Service via the chat-bot (Nap).

The management, Talking to machines is hopeless for an old boy like me. A phone call would soon solve the problem. But until then I'm in limbo.

It's not you mandown or your age - their customer service "offering" is cheap and utterly hopeless (as per the industry standard in general). They see us as "punters", not customers, so 3rd class citizens and treated accordingly.

Don't you get put on chat with a human, if the botchat doesn't solve the issue?

not that that will be any better.....

Dave,.No just get cut off.

I have taken 1.01 this was one of Rico's decade-old thread resurrections.

Twitter to @BetfairCS seems to get a prompt human response, the couple of times I have tried it.

It's a fair point longbridge - the customer service has been shocking for at least a decade. It started going downhill since about the time of the build up to the IPO (cost cutting and profit maximisation etc) - obviously after the IPO everybody that knew what they were doing left with their pockets stuffed full (who can blame them!) but it did mean that everybody that understood how an exchange works, left all at once.


I have a lobotomy booked for the Autumn - so I will probably join Twitter after that!

Ah the good old days of ringing up, speaking to a real person and getting matched over the blower.

Longbridge  you are wrong. I have been on forum for over 20 years.

Guuuud morning Madamme

the.mad.dog.man 08 Apr 23 10:28 
the helpline have not got a clue about betting


there isnt one

@mandown - worng about what please?  My guess that this was one of Rico's resurrections, or my experience that Twitter usually elicits a human response?

he just simply understood your "in joke".

*misunderstood

@The Management

I have never understood that attitude about Twitter - onlooker says he will never join "social media".

I get that is how a lot of people use it, but you can use it like email.  I have an account, I follow the service disruption account of the railway that is my commute, and I use it to message the likes of Betfair.  And that's it.

It is very concerning that live chat can't be accessed when the bot fails. That would seem to breach the complaints procedure. And how do you report a security issue?

Have you tried Tarot cards Mandown ?

longbridge - I get that some peoples circumstances mean that the businesses/services they are reliant upon, dictate that they have to join social media of some kind - and Elon does seem like a nice guy and very trustworthy - but I think he's gonna survive without me giving him all of my data free of charge!

Of course if you just accept that you have to join an overseas based social media company in order to communicate with a business that you are spending money with, then of course more businesses will go down that (cheapest possible) route.

If you and everybody else insists on a UK based call centre - customer service (generally) wouldn't have lapsed to third world standards (imo).

No doubt AI will be the solution (eventually) - but the technology isn't there yet (imo).

Here I confess I have divided viewpoints.

I am *very* happy that my bank (First Direct) has a UK-based telephone customer service that I have always found competent and helpful.

But for BF, I would - personally - rather use something electronic where I can assemble marked-up screenshots etc to show what my problem is and (hopefully) for CS to share with those fixing the problem than try to describe the issue on the telephone.

And I completely get that it must be very tempting to automate the flows for things like "I have forgotten my password, what do I do?" rather than have someone sitting on the telephone talking me through it.

But - we are where we are.  If you have a BF problem, in my experience, the best route to an answer is Twitter.

Each to their own. I play a lot of obscure/quiet markets and betfair feck them up on a pretty regular basis. Via the chat-bot I rarely get anybody that seems even semi-literate, let alone that understands how the exchange works!

They feel like they are just an obstructive barrier placed between me and the person at betfair that fecked up. I think if I had a direct route to the people that keep fecking up, they might feck up a bit less often!

Sending a screen shot etc is only of any use if the person on the receiving end is semi-literate and understands how an exchange works!

I am also not at all comfortable (that when they have clearly fecked up) they correct their error with a "goodwill gesture". It means they are not re-settling the market and others that have been impacted are not getting the error-fix (unless they also make contact). I think this also contributes to them making the same mistakes over and over again - if they had to resettle correctly perhaps it would show on a report somewhere and drive down the errors.

I found myself a while back in a situation where I wasn't going to be given a "goodwill gesture" because I had had a lot of "goodwill gestures" lately! I had to list all of the errors they had made that had led to all of those "goodwill gestures"!

This practice (described above) also gives me huge integrity concerns.

I haven't contacted them for ages, for relatively small mistakes I just take it on the chin as a price of being on Betfair.

First Direct are exceptional/brilliant by the way and always have been - back in the day, they were the industry standard that everybody else aspired to now. More recently, nobody aspires to that anymore and First Direct are even further clear of the rest because the rest have given up aspiring to catch up with them and resorted to the cheapest option.

Brian- that is very tempting especially for the small amounts - but I worry that it will only lead to more mistakes and/or the people responsible getting away with it and dropping their standards even lower.

Apr 8, 2023 -- 8:19AM, The Management wrote:

longbridge - I get that some peoples circumstances mean that the businesses/services they are reliant upon, dictate that they have to join social media of some kind - and Elon does seem like a nice guy and very trustworthy - but I think he's gonna survive without me giving him all of my data free of charge!

Just give them one or two false details.  I have.

on SM sites that is where it's not important

I guess when you've stooped to a level where settling bets correctly is a "gesture of goodwill", standards can't really drop a lot lower from there.

Bookies have got all the personal details in any case.  I've prolly had 50-100 bookie accounts (in my own name) so there's a lot of personal details of mine out there

just noticed they settled a match bet winner as a loser - how is that possible? It should be automatic.

@The Management

"Sending a screen shot etc is only of any use if the person on the receiving end is semi-literate and understands how an exchange works!"

That's why I do it, perversely.  If I describe a problem by 'phone to CS they cannot understand, there is no chance they can pass it on to anyone.

If I send them a marked-up screenshot and a typed explanation of the problem (by webchat or Twitter) I dare to hope that there is a chance it may make it to the eyes of someone who does understand.

"I think if I had a direct route to the people that keep fecking up, they might feck up a bit less often!"

How would that work?  A direct 'phone line to the traders or whoever it is runs the markets?  I cannot see that being practical, unless it is just a personal perk for you alone?

I tried to web chat once 4 years ago,totally pointless ,all they can tell you is exactly what you can see on your history,

The problem is cos I replied 3 times,I ve not got a badge on the app icon with a 3 in it,impossible to delete or hide,so just have to leave it there,reminding me everyday,never contact Betfair,

But ,there’s very little goes wrong,and usually a good reason why it has,and they recitfy it,
So it dosent really matter no one works for them and it’s all outsourced,has they don’t really need employees,

A CEO and a computer guy to reboot,and they’re good to go.

Betfair is run 75% by AI and algorithms. In fact, soon most companies will be run entirely by AI, there will be no humans to interact with.
The employed AI, won't get sick, will rarely make mistakes, don't need holiday pay, can work 24/7 with no breaks, rarely need repairs, won't complain.

I forgot, "apart from the setup costs (which are cheap now) don't need to be paid!

Can't argue with any of that Trident. Machines don't smoke or take tea breaks. What needs to be considered though, is that those rare mistakes, when they do happen, will probably be horrific and with all the (knowledgable) humans gone, they will take forever to rectify and cause an almighty outage/breakdown.

It's pretty much what BF have now. If your "issue" is in their top 10 or frequently encountered issues, it's brilliant, sorted in no time and very cheaply (for them). If it's outside of that - it's complex or it requires a knowledgable human - you're fecked!

In a nutshell, Bf, like many other businesses, took out their knowledgable humans long before the offering that they replaced them with was fit for purpose.

If you think Betfair is bad try getting through on the Government helpline to top up the eligible years on your state pension.  I've tried different numbers, every time of the day, every day of the week and get cut off every time.  They extended the deadline to the end of July, but I have severe doubts I'll be able to get through by then.  And that's not a joke.

CB - you've got Martin Lewis to thank for that!

But yes HMRC are a shocking outfit to deal with and massively under-staffed with the basic low-level (call centre) type work. At a higher level, all the people there that knew what they were doing have gone over to the dark side (tax "avoidance") because it is much more lucrative! In a nutshell, it's a mess.

Are you trying to find out if you should top up, CB or trying to make the payment?

I've found out that I should top up and I'm trying to make the payment

I only need to top up 1 or 2 years by the end of July.  Probably only 1 but I'll do 2 to be safe.  It's best to top up as late as you need to because if I was to get a terminal illness I'd have done my money.  But on average life expectancy every £1 I top up to the limit is worth about £3 I think.

CB - If you know that much (that it's likely to be beneficial for you to make the voluntary contributions to cover historic years), can't you just do that on-line?

Actually, maybe you would need your 18 digit number to do that? - and if you haven't got a demand from them, then you possibly don't have one?

yes, you have to have a payment number

You could write to them and complain that you can't get through - at least you would have something in writing if you pass july

NIC and EO Complaints
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AA
United Kingdom

Good idea dave.

The management, I don't think you can add extra years' contributions online!

I'm pretty sure you can CB - but as Dave says, you would need the 18 digit payment number - and if it's voluntary on your part (i.e. you don't have a demand from them with the 18 digit payment number on it), you would have to call them to get that anyway - vicious circle!

@clydebank29

You can pay Class 3 Voluntary NICs (to top up your state pension entitlement) online.

https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance

I researched this a few weeks ago but turned out I will have enough years without doing so.

That's the correct link to pay NI VC's on-line - but you will still need the (18 digit) payment number!

Infact (not 100% sure) but you may even need one payment number for each year - so for Gods sake CB, if you ever get through - make sure you get everything you need!

I *thought* (it has been a few weeks) one got the payment number from the web page that gives one a pension forecast and shows any shortfall?  I might well be wrong.

I don't think so longbridge - but for CB it's worth checking for sure.

It does nicely sum up the state of Customer Service in the UK though. I know that what CB is trying to do is hardly philanphropic - but he is trying to actually pay somebody and they are making it VERY hard work!

You've calculated (optimistically guessed) that you are going to live long enough for it to be beneficial, now you have to calculate if you are going to live long enough to get through to them!

You may well be right TM.

Though in some ways this is counter to the BetFair telephone discussion - CB's struggle would be much less were the whole thing accessible online rather than (perhaps) requiring HMRC to pick up the telephone?

It's just what happens when you replace humans with automation - great in theory but unless it's perfect and nothing ever changes, when something goes wrong, gets missed out or isn't accounted for - it's carnage/chaos!

I have no issues with automation - just pointing out that in the real world things go wrong and you need a back-up plan for that i.e. somebody that know what they are doing, rather than a chat-bot called Abdul!

No reference number as far as I can see.  I've read a couple of newspaper articles about people not being able to get through.  Nowhere did it mention doing it online and there is no link that I could find.  But thanks for the info

I've signed up to their research panel to highlight the issues on there

had a look when I was submitting my tax return. I haven't got any years to pay, but couldn't see any number on the NI/Pension pages.

Did notice that the barstewards have changed the procedure for rebates - you have to login again after a few days and do something, whereas you used to be able to put in your bank details and the money would be paid automatically.

but it says at the end


You don't need to wait 72 hours to pay your tax bill. You can pay straight away.

lol

Sums it up imo - millions of people unable to get through to the 3 poor old Geordies that are left still employed in the call centre!

Yet 4 blokes on a betting forum have identified that if only you could click on the year/amount you wish to pay (in order to generate the necessary 18 digit payment reference number), the whole thing could be done quickly and painlessly on-line!

tbf I think it is very complicated to work out if you should pay more.

So they prob don't want to give the option where ppl just see a blank year and then claim