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desperate for help please!

13

Comments

  • matttye
    matttye Posts: 4,828 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    No that's cool I understand this is never going to be a situation where we all agree, I am inspired though to do something about this even more than ever :)

    As for my bank I haven't spoke to them yet, will do so now I have spoke to the betfair company though and will post an interesting chat log to see if they are at fault maybe for allowing the funds to be used as they told me something interesting.

    betfair aren't at fault and neither is the bank.

    You spent the money. It's your fault.

    I'm not belittling your gambling addiction, but it's definitely not anybody else's fault. You need to seek help and do whatever you can to stop yourself from doing this again. Nobody else will take the blame or clean up this mess for you.

    The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, but you're trying to pass the buck onto everyone else here.

    Man up and take responsibility.
    What will your verse be?

    R.I.P Robin Williams.
  • matttye
    matttye Posts: 4,828 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    In short Betfair have actually suspended my account before I have even spoke to them which is very suspicious.

    I spoke to them and the reason is:

    l: ok i can see we had an issue where your account is credited but we didnt recieve the money (it was a betfair problem not you), therefore your account was automatically suspended by the system for security reasons .. but do not worry i have been informe about this and has happened to other customers
    : so all i need to do is take down your details and send them to our manager
    : they will get back to your within the coming hours
    : so sorry baout this but its a system malfunction
    : not your fault

    Upon arguing (20 min chat log) it seems to me that betfair had an internal issue and so credited me the money without actually it clearing and so in theory I used their money, then 24 hours later when they got their issues sorted they then took the money from my bank either even though it wasn't there, surely this is not common practice or fair?

    Any experts out there can help me on this? oh also they didnt suspend my account until 24 hours after the deposit so it wasn't automated IMO

    *PS they are doing an internal investigation now at my request.

    It may be that you end up owing betfair instead of Halifax, or it may be that you don't owe anyone. You'll be very lucky if it's the latter, but you still need to take steps to make sure this doesn't happen again.
    What will your verse be?

    R.I.P Robin Williams.
  • matttye wrote: »
    betfair aren't at fault and neither is the bank.

    You spent the money. It's your fault.

    I'm not belittling your gambling addiction, but it's definitely not anybody else's fault. You need to seek help and do whatever you can to stop yourself from doing this again. Nobody else will take the blame or clean up this mess for you.

    The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, but you're trying to pass the buck onto everyone else here.

    Man up and take responsibility.

    OK but I actually disagree that others are not also at fault I got this email 24hours after the deposit.

    Dear *********,

    There has been an issue with your recent deposit and unfortunately we have had to suspend your account, please contact the Betfair helpdesk so we can explain the issue and next steps to be taken. Click here to find out how to get in touch.

    Yours Sincerely,

    Betfair Customer Service

    Now as I say if I didnt gamble this wouldn't be an issue but that doesn't mean somewhere down the line someone else should not have stopped this happening, it is clear betfair knew the funds did not clear as they say so, and so to allow me 24hours credit to use there money and to then take my money later actually is not how the agreement works when I signed up, my argument now is clearly that my deposit was not cleared at request time and they knew it and so they should not have told me it was to then allow me to gamble with borrowed money then take it at a later date (24 hours)

    Maybe I not putting my point across well but I think my point is valid
  • Hi sorry for the typo, yes the answer was I have now lost all the money and so the funds/payments cleared and have also left my bank.

    I am not looking to find a way to blame someone else, in fact quite the opposite I know this is my own fault and is a constant drain on my life however I am a little bit shocked, surprised and dissapointed that the banks let me go £5k overdrawn when it was only 9 mths ago that they refused mean upgrade from a basic to a normal bank account (I now have upgraded)

    I presume I am going to have to phone the bank direct and seek solice/find an agreement, will they stop any charges if I make an agreement as I can pay the money back over the next 12-16 weeks?

    Any more advice please post I am really worried right now and don't want to get in the same position as before.

    *For those who have no sympathy, it is OK I do not seek it, I do go to the relevant GA meetings, I do try block myself from Gambling and I do always tell myself that I won't do this again but I am human and have a set DNA which means I screw up, also the blocks that can be put in place are just as easy to get around if someone is determined enough

    Thanks for the replies so far!
    A few things I have picked up on:
    If you have been going to GA for 3 years, wouldn't you know that you need to install the blocker for these websites?
    Wouldn't you know not to carry cards on you?

    I spent £40 pound on my card last night in a bar. I got carried away and kept drinking and spending. It may have took me over drawn, so I'm going to complain to my bank and that swanky city centre bar for letting me complete the transactions at 2am, as I had a history of doing this 3 years ago one Friday night.


    It's simple now, go back to meetings and forget about the money, as that generally takes care of itself. It sounds like by your admission you should never have been on the website in the first place. If you had won hundreds of thousands of pounds, would you be writing this post then?
  • A few things I have picked up on:
    If you have been going to GA for 3 years, wouldn't you know that you need to install the blocker for these websites?
    Wouldn't you know not to carry cards on you?

    I spent £40 pound on my card last night in a bar. I got carried away and kept drinking and spending. It may have took me over drawn, so I'm going to complain to my bank and that swanky city centre bar for letting me complete the transactions at 2am, as I had a history of doing this 3 years ago one Friday night.


    It's simple now, go back to meetings and forget about the money, as that generally takes care of itself. It sounds like by your admission you should never have been on the website in the first place. If you had won hundreds of thousands of pounds, would you be writing this post then?

    We are talking over £5000 on a gambling website when the gambling website in question knew the payment hadn't cleared and so I think whilst I understand your point I think there are clear differences.

    As for the morals lets make it clear I am wrong and I am at fault and I shall seek further help for this that is and has never been at doubt and so telling me this actually won't answer what I am now asking.

    What I guess the question is now should betfair (not halifax) have allowed me to deposit and subsequently gamble over £5000 when they knew that there was a system error at their end and that the funds had not cleared at their end, thus in theory giving me a £5k tab which when lost they then took without consent at a later time (24hours later)

    Should they of first of all not given me credit but after they did should they then not have set my betting account at the -£5k balance and requested to me in person to charge my card again?

    I feel my point is being missed a little so sorry if my wording is a little off.
  • Archi_Bald
    Archi_Bald Posts: 9,681 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    What I guess the question is now should betfair (not halifax) have allowed me to deposit and subsequently gamble over £5000 when they knew that there was a system error at their end and that the funds had not cleared at their end, thus in theory giving me a £5k tab which when lost they then took without consent at a later time (24hours later)

    Betfair have not taken £5,000 without consent from you. You authorised them to take the money. The fact that they took it 24 hours after authorisation is neither here nor there. It is completely normal that retailers don't take the money real time.

    You are clinging at straws.
  • innovate
    innovate Posts: 16,217 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I keep being amazed about the amount of time you are spending to try and find someone else to blame, and to say you aren't trying to blame anybody else.

    It would have taken you 30 seconds to self-exclude yourself from Betfair, and you could have avoided the entire trouble.

    You do not come over as somebody who is taking their gambling addiction serious. If you did, you would not have come to MSE for help but would have gone straight to Gamcare and the Gamcare forum.
  • I am not sure how many times I can say this but I am not looking for someone else to blame, however it is my right to question the system if I think it is faulty, to be simply told to go the gamcare forums is quite offensive tbh and completely disregards what this forum is for as I have made it clear I already seek such help however I think in this instance the system is faulty.

    Sorry if I thought I could seek money advice on a money forum, I guess I should just go to gamcare and tell the World how sad I am and seek comfort instead of actually questioning the systems.

    /me trundles of to GamCare without question, do not pass go do not collect £5,000
  • matttye
    matttye Posts: 4,828 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Debt-free and Proud!
    I am not sure how many times I can say this but I am not looking for someone else to blame, however it is my right to question the system if I think it is faulty, to be simply told to go the gamcare forums is quite offensive tbh and completely disregards what this forum is for as I have made it clear I already seek such help however I think in this instance the system is faulty.

    Sorry if I thought I could seek money advice on a money forum, I guess I should just go to gamcare and tell the World how sad I am and seek comfort instead of actually questioning the systems.

    /me trundles of to GamCare without question, do not pass go do not collect £5,000

    You could've quite easily got yourself into the same situation using a credit card or loan.

    Even if the system was at fault, you tried to deposit and gamble away the money. You got what you wanted. Now pay the price.
    What will your verse be?

    R.I.P Robin Williams.
  • I am not sure how many times I can say this but I am not looking for someone else to blame, however it is my right to question the system if I think it is faulty, to be simply told to go the gamcare forums is quite offensive tbh and completely disregards what this forum is for as I have made it clear I already seek such help however I think in this instance the system is faulty.

    Sorry if I thought I could seek money advice on a money forum, I guess I should just go to gamcare and tell the World how sad I am and seek comfort instead of actually questioning the systems.

    /me trundles of to GamCare without question, do not pass go do not collect £5,000
    You need to put more effort into getting yourself into the right frame of mind that you wont gamble 5k in 24 hours, or should I say into the right frame of mind to put all the barriers in the place to not even have a 1 pence bet.

    It is of course a money forum, but for a compulsive gambler, I am presuming money is something you don't really want to keep being so close to. For example, I have a friend whose wife has had his card for over 10 years, and doesn't have access to money.

    Put all your energy into helping yourself, instead of fighting bookies and banks first. I will ask again, would you be writing this if you had won hundreds of thousands?
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