After years of betting with Sportbook.com, they have recently screwed me out of my bonus money and referral money as well as two other friends of mine. After playing a $25,000 deposit over their required 2.2 times, they took out my bonus with alomost no explantion. Just alot of double talk. I thought this was one of the best sportbooks out there? I'm shocked! Has anyone else out there had this experience? Any recourse, they are on the London Stock exchange. You would think they would be interested in false advertising and fraud, but maybe being in Costa Rica is just a licence to steal? Anyone had such a horrible experience
Welcome to the Rx. Perhaps General can help you find out why this problem has occured. Feel free to EM him and explain your situation if you care to.
Generalpete@hotmail.com
Best of luck, wilheim
Generalpete@hotmail.com
Best of luck, wilheim
SORRY TO HEAR YOU WERE SCREWED. SPORTSBOOK.COM STARTED AS PART OF SPORTSLINE USA WHICH OPERATED VEGASINSIDER BACK IN THE LATE 90S ((YOU CAN SEE THE DESIGN OF THE SITES IS VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL)) AND EVEN BACK THEN ID HEARD IT WAS NOT A WELL RUN PLACE. I NEVER TRIED IT AFTER HEARING NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. STICK WITH THE GRANDES AND PINNACLES RATHER THAN CRAP OUTS LIKE SPORTSBOOK!
If you sent them 25k, I'm assuming you must have done it by bank wire. I'm also guessing , this isn't the first large bank wire deposit you made. You mnetion that you refered two friends. Did either of your friends ever refer you to another book run by efs.
It's quite possible that you broke no rules. But EFS has recently taken a very strong stance agianst players making large bank wire deposits and requesting the 10% reup bonus. As well as people who whose friends refer one another to their different sportsbooks. You are the first case I've heard of where they took back a bonus that was rolled over. But a number of us have had our accounts closed for "cross referals" at different books.
This has nothing to do with breaking rules. I think EFS is just expanding thier definiton of bonus abuse. Next time you call, you should ask to speak to Stanley. Good luck.
It's quite possible that you broke no rules. But EFS has recently taken a very strong stance agianst players making large bank wire deposits and requesting the 10% reup bonus. As well as people who whose friends refer one another to their different sportsbooks. You are the first case I've heard of where they took back a bonus that was rolled over. But a number of us have had our accounts closed for "cross referals" at different books.
This has nothing to do with breaking rules. I think EFS is just expanding thier definiton of bonus abuse. Next time you call, you should ask to speak to Stanley. Good luck.
SportsBook and all the sister books have brought these problems on themselves (there have been several similar problems with this group of books over the past 3 months).
Rather than cap the 10% sign-up bonus at, say, $1,000 max bonus, there is no limit on the sign-up bonus ... send $100K, get $10K bonus.
Rather than cap the 10/15% referral bonus at, say, $500, there is no cap on the dollar amount of the referral bonuses that they will pay.
So, combine an unlimited 10% sign-up bonus with an unlimited 10/15% referral bonus, and you can easily see why people were referring other people, and why those new people would purposely send large chunks of money for their first deposit in order to take maximum advantage of SportsBook's liberal sign-up / referral bonus policies.
Now, SportsBook is finally starting to realize that people are exploiting this loophole. But rather than fix the problem by setting a cap on these bonuses, they instead seem to be blaming the people who are taking advantage of what they are offering.
------------------------------
The biggest irony in all of this, that makes SportsBook look pretty bad, is that up until recently, they had no problem whatsoever with these types of customers.
In fact, if you look at this link:
2003 Referral Grand Prize Winner
you will see that Paul Scheffelin was the guy who won a trip to Pebble Beach, which was the Grand Prize for 2003 for referring the most customers to SportsBook.com.
If you look closely at the numbers, you will see that he referred 21 new customers who deposited a total amount of $387,800. That, my friends, equates to an AVERAGE deposit of $18,467 for each of 21 new customers !!
Tell me there wasn't some funny stuff going on there, with these guys sending in big chunks of cash to max out the sign-up and referral bonuses
.
Funny thing is, if this guy did the same thing at this juncture, SportsBook.com would probably confiscate his referral bonuses and the sign-up bonuses from the 21 new customers.
Last year, though, they sent him on an all-expenses-paid trip to Pebble Beach for doing the same thing.
Rather than cap the 10% sign-up bonus at, say, $1,000 max bonus, there is no limit on the sign-up bonus ... send $100K, get $10K bonus.
Rather than cap the 10/15% referral bonus at, say, $500, there is no cap on the dollar amount of the referral bonuses that they will pay.
So, combine an unlimited 10% sign-up bonus with an unlimited 10/15% referral bonus, and you can easily see why people were referring other people, and why those new people would purposely send large chunks of money for their first deposit in order to take maximum advantage of SportsBook's liberal sign-up / referral bonus policies.
Now, SportsBook is finally starting to realize that people are exploiting this loophole. But rather than fix the problem by setting a cap on these bonuses, they instead seem to be blaming the people who are taking advantage of what they are offering.
------------------------------
The biggest irony in all of this, that makes SportsBook look pretty bad, is that up until recently, they had no problem whatsoever with these types of customers.
In fact, if you look at this link:
2003 Referral Grand Prize Winner
you will see that Paul Scheffelin was the guy who won a trip to Pebble Beach, which was the Grand Prize for 2003 for referring the most customers to SportsBook.com.
If you look closely at the numbers, you will see that he referred 21 new customers who deposited a total amount of $387,800. That, my friends, equates to an AVERAGE deposit of $18,467 for each of 21 new customers !!
Tell me there wasn't some funny stuff going on there, with these guys sending in big chunks of cash to max out the sign-up and referral bonuses
Funny thing is, if this guy did the same thing at this juncture, SportsBook.com would probably confiscate his referral bonuses and the sign-up bonuses from the 21 new customers.
Last year, though, they sent him on an all-expenses-paid trip to Pebble Beach for doing the same thing.
I am sorry but there is nothing I can do, when no communication is allowed.
Dear Pete,
Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately we cannot give account information to third parties.
The customer you are referring to has been contacted by our platinum
department and the reasons for not recieving any bonuses has been provided to
him.
If the customer requiers any further information he will have to contact us
directly.
Kind Regards,
Charles
--
Sportsbook Cashier
http://www.Sportsbook.com
New Accounts Earn 10%, Referrals Earn 10%
Phone Number 1800-996-5152
Dear Pete,
Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately we cannot give account information to third parties.
The customer you are referring to has been contacted by our platinum
department and the reasons for not recieving any bonuses has been provided to
him.
If the customer requiers any further information he will have to contact us
directly.
Kind Regards,
Charles
--
Sportsbook Cashier
http://www.Sportsbook.com
New Accounts Earn 10%, Referrals Earn 10%
Phone Number 1800-996-5152
In defense of the sportsbook.com, they really have no idea who you are General, so that may be the reason to not accept the arbitration.
They do tend to keep customers info private. One reason to not give out the info is because they may not want to stop the same type of "action" from other players who lose constantly. You get the picture
They do tend to keep customers info private. One reason to not give out the info is because they may not want to stop the same type of "action" from other players who lose constantly. You get the picture
this book does lack integrity
I know of a number of people who have been screwed by this book in some way - either by EFS coming up with some sort of "audit reason" to withhold funds or this sort of bonus scam.
Do not make generous bonus offers you are not prepared to honour in full.
Personally I have never had a problem there, but keep my balance low & have never gone for a bonus. It does annoy me that they take 3 to 4 days to cough up a Neteller withdrawal, though.
It is true that this book is owned 100% by sportingbet PLC which is an AIM company worth $100m or so. But previous punters I have known who have been turned over by sportsbook.com who have complained to the PLC have got nowhere.
I have advised one of them, who was done out of $1,000 and lives in London, to buy £1 worth of shares and make his point at the next AGM of the company. Publicly quoted companies often respond to this sort of action, since their share price - and Directors' bonuses in share options - can be affected. But if you live overseas this may not be practical.
There is, in my view, a wide range of business ethics practised within the sportingbet empire, with the highest ethics being found only at the UK based operations.
I know of a number of people who have been screwed by this book in some way - either by EFS coming up with some sort of "audit reason" to withhold funds or this sort of bonus scam.
Do not make generous bonus offers you are not prepared to honour in full.
Personally I have never had a problem there, but keep my balance low & have never gone for a bonus. It does annoy me that they take 3 to 4 days to cough up a Neteller withdrawal, though.
It is true that this book is owned 100% by sportingbet PLC which is an AIM company worth $100m or so. But previous punters I have known who have been turned over by sportsbook.com who have complained to the PLC have got nowhere.
I have advised one of them, who was done out of $1,000 and lives in London, to buy £1 worth of shares and make his point at the next AGM of the company. Publicly quoted companies often respond to this sort of action, since their share price - and Directors' bonuses in share options - can be affected. But if you live overseas this may not be practical.
There is, in my view, a wide range of business ethics practised within the sportingbet empire, with the highest ethics being found only at the UK based operations.
