Humourous (and successful) Complaint to Bet fair

complaining_is_good

by chris

31st May 2013

Dear Betfair,

My username is: ......................

I am writing to you because I would like to query a matter ofmissing money on my Betfair account.

You wrote to me last year on 6th July 2012 to inform me that Ihave been inactive on my Betfair account (i.e. hadn’t logged in) for 12 monthsand would be charging my account for an inactivity fee.

I was informed in this email that I had £16.82 in my account. Iwas pleasantly surprised – a bit like an online version of finding a few poundcoins down the back of the sofa. I logged in and tried to withdraw the moneybut due to the fact that the card I used when I had originally set up theaccount (way back in January 2011) had expired, I was unable to withdraw themoney onto my current card as I hadn’t made a deposit onto Betfair using thisnewer card. So basically I had to pay money to withdraw my own money.

I felt that this was rather BetUNfair, to be honest.

I have been meaning to contact you about this for some time –but figured I had a 12 month window to get in touch before you threatened myaccount with "inactivity charges" again, so have been putting it offas I have been very busy with my hobby of gambling on the dogs: I like to walkdown to the park with streaks of bacon hanging out of my waistline (like ameaty toga) and run around the field for a few minutes - taking bets from theGriffiths brothers who live next door, who try to predict how many dogs willtry to jump up at me (I usually get around six).

I do it for love of the sport, not for money - which is a goodjob as the Griffiths twins are only nine years old so they only get about 50ppocket money at the moment and all my winnings go on bacon (and bandages).

The twins are grounded tonight so I finally found some free timeto contact you to help me get my money back, but when I logged into Betfair itsays that I only have £6.82 left in my account – so somehow I have lost £10. Itried to check my account history to find out why this is, however you only letpeople check their history 3 months back and there were no transactions in thistime (obviously – seeing as the only time I have logged in in the last 20months or so was last July…)

I feel that this is all rather Betfairlysuspicious, to behonest.

Once we have addressed the issue of this missing £10, I wouldlike to withdraw the full £16.82 that should be in my account and then retirefrom online gambling by deactivating the account – unless you are planning oncreating some sort of digital version of my doggy-bacon-belt-scramble game (inwhich case I’ll be seeking a finder’s fee).

I assure you I am not money laundering - I have only done thisonce in my life and I was absolutely devastated when my mum hung up my jeansfrom the wash and a sodden £5 note (and some soppy tissues) were revealed tohave been in the pocket. I was distraught to have washed away a fiver – soimagine my disappointment at this missing £10 from my account!

So, in summary:

1) Why has my account gone from having £16.82(July 2012) to £6.82 (May 2013) without any gambling activity from me?

2) And please help me withdraw this money ontomy new card without me having to make a deposit.

If you can help me with this, then Betfairplay.

Looking forward to your reply,
Chris


Betfair's reply...

6th June 2013

Dear Chris,

Thank you for your "entertaining" e-mail.

I have now refunded the £10 inactive account fees you werecharged last year. If you wish to withdraw these funds you will be able to doso by logging on to your account on a PC, clicking My Account >> Withdrawfunds from Betfair >> Withdraw funds via bank transfer. This way you willnot have to make a deposit and will be able to withdraw the full £16.82 in onetransaction.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any furtherenquiries.

Kind regards,

Phil C...............
Betfair Helpdesk


My reply toBetfair's reply...

7th June 2013

Dear Phil,

Thank you for your "quick" reply.

I have followed your suggested steps and have managed tosuccessfully withdraw the full £16.82.

Cheers for the help, you're my Betfairygodmother.

Have a nice weekend,

Chris

Takeaway_Addict

I got bored....

arcon5

Same result could have been achieved without being such an ar5e

MamaMoo_2

Not very funny. Can see why the guy put the word 'entertaining' in quotation marks...

Valli

In fairness to the OP he hasn't screamed 'scam' or moaned he's been ripped off.

And he hasn't used threats, foul language or hysteria to get a result.

arcon5

No but is far too long and at risk of loosing the reader half way in and fails to appeal to their good nature. Im betting this letter would fail more often than not.

pulliptears

Doesn't really matter if we feel it's too long, no funny or boring given that OP got his money back.
Surely that makes his letter an unequivocal success.

arcon5

pulliptears wrote: »

Doesn't really matter if we feel it's too long, no funny or boring given that OP got his money back.
Surely that makes his letter an unequivocal success.

Of course it doesn't. Based on that logic if I walk across the road without looking and don't get hit by anything, I can do it all the time because my previous test was an unequivocal success.

It could simply be the member of staff was having a good day, could be internal politics is to simply refund, could be many things. But not all companies will operate so loosely and it may actually take appealing to their good nature to get that person reading the letter to give you what you want. So the next time op has an issue (if that's what you want to call it) with a company and sends an ar5y sounding letter to them the person on the other end may decide to send him and his request packing rather than offering any kind of goodwill.

But what this simply doesn't prove is that ops letter is good practice! What are the odds of it happening again ? 1 in a 100 maybe ? (no pun intended )

Barneysmom

arcon5 wrote: »

No but is far too long and at risk of loosing the reader half way in and fails to appeal to their good nature. Im betting this letter would fail more often than not.

I'm wondering how loose the reader would've become, I never became even a tiny bit loose.

Well done op, made me smile (but not loose haha)!!!

pulliptears

arcon5 wrote: »

Of course it doesn't. Based on that logic if I walk across the road without looking and don't get hit by anything, I can do it all the time because my previous test was an unequivocal success.


It could simply be the member of staff was having a good day, could be internal politics is to simply refund, could be many things. But not all companies will operate so loosely and it may actually take appealing to their good nature to get that person reading the letter to give you what you want. So the next time op has an issue (if that's what you want to call it) with a company and sends an ar5y sounding letter to them the person on the other end may decide to send him and his request packing rather than offering any kind of goodwill.

But what this simply doesn't prove is that ops letter is good practice! What are the odds of it happening again ? 1 in a 100 maybe ? (no pun intended )

You've crossed the road ONCE you didn't get hit. Thats a success. Doing it more than once isn't guaranteed, but on that occasion it worked for you.

That letter, as a standalone to that company at that time was a complete success in that it got the OP his money back.

Nowhere did I say that this was the letter to end all letters and it should become the template to success did I? No, I said his letter was an unequivocal success, and in this instance it was.

A little bit of nitpicking there I think arcon

arcon5

Yes I agree with what you are saying, this time it was a success. But going back to my original point, the same result could be achieved without sounding an ar5e. And by doing this, the chances of success in future endeavors are much greater.

But moving on, time for a cool & refreshing Citrus Carlsberg :beer: