William Hill Refusing To Pay Out £285,000

MarvGaran

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

had a look at a football betting site, and looks like the real odds should've been 1/3 - 1/4ish, so the £19 about right.

Bit of a gunk though, WH could've made a goodwill (:o) payment of a few thou, would've been good publicity for them.

Yeah I understand the odds they put were wrong but my Dad was really at no fault and if they want to avoid situations like this they should do a better job of training their staff. Just a crappy situation.

agrinnall

Yes, but presumably your dad had some idea of the correct odds when he laid the bet, so at that point his expectation of a win would only have been something in the order of the £19, any hope of getting £285K would have been completely unrealistic.

ConsumerGuy0016

This is defined in the betting industry as 'palpable error'

You were never going to get more than £19.34 - bookies are covered when it comes to this, and even in situations where there is independence in accumulators (and it isn't realised until the accumulator comes through).

Moral of the story - if you make a mistake, you pay. They make a mistake, they don't pay. Solution; don't gamble.

daytona0

On the contrary, it would NOT be good publicity for them even to pay it out as a goodwill gesture!

Such an action would encourage every chancer in the country to come out of the woodwork and start running any scam they can to gain a big "goodwill" payment themselves. In the eyes of William Hill you have to lose this one (to the sum of 19 quid anyway), there is no goodwill. Trust me, what you have done is a textbook scam (although maybe you didn't intend to do this! Especially considering it was super greedy to go for 285k!) and you would encourage 100s of them to come out and try to rinse the bookies.

If you go to newspapers and the likes then they aren't going to do much, aside from post your story on page 20 or something. Their main concern is to sell newspapers, and so you're only really going to help them profit. You need to take this down the legal, independent, channels (which you have done already) because William Hill are either going to quote their rules or any correspondence from an independent body in respect to any possible media backlash.

Take the 19 quid and lump it all on 3-2 Newcastle, Colback first goal in the Tyne-Wear derby next week Then you'll be closer to that 285k mark!

bris

Your dad would have known the odds at the time of the bet so you get no sympathy here. To even think the bookies are going to turn £19 into 285k is just a joke really.


Troll alert.

MarvGaran

daytona0 wrote: »

On the contrary, it would NOT be good publicity for them even to pay it out as a goodwill gesture!

Such an action would encourage every chancer in the country to come out of the woodwork and start running any scam they can to gain a big "goodwill" payment themselves. In the eyes of William Hill you have to lose this one (to the sum of 19 quid anyway), there is no goodwill. Trust me, what you have done is a textbook scam (although maybe you didn't intend to do this! Especially considering it was super greedy to go for 285k!) and you would encourage 100s of them to come out and try to rinse the bookies.

If you go to newspapers and the likes then they aren't going to do much, aside from post your story on page 20 or something. Their main concern is to sell newspapers, and so you're only really going to help them profit. You need to take this down the legal, independent, channels (which you have done already) because William Hill are either going to quote their rules or any correspondence from an independent body in respect to any possible media backlash.

Take the 19 quid and lump it all on 3-2 Newcastle, Colback first goal in the Tyne-Wear derby next week Then you'll be closer to that 285k mark!

Not quite sure how it's a scam but OK

daytona0

MarvGaran wrote: »

Not quite sure how it's a scam but OK

Basically a couple of reasons which suggest it:

1. You used a plain slip, instead of a coupon. Manually putting on prices vs automatically.

2. You would have been able to see the team prices in numerous places (albos screen, main tv screen, coupons, customer price terminal, internet + not to mention that Nancy in practicular are probably WAY overpriced here even if they were playing Real Madrid etc) and as such you should have been aware that the prices were wrong. Nothing was said in the shop or before KO = chancing it on higher odds being accepted.

3. You went in with the intention of winning either 19 quid or 285k. For a fiver it is more likely to be 19 quid, because 5 quid on so many outsiders is just wasting money! That random 1/6 does not help your cause. It just looks like a weird bet, and the bulk of the profit would come from the outsiders so it may be more sensible to drop the 1/6 shot (if the 1/6 shot lost in this bet then I can assure you that it would be a good contributor for any possible suicide!). Conversely, given the 1/6 is in there and due to it being 5 quid stake it is more likely that short odds were expected from you.

4. No consideration of the rules in respect to the above.

5. Talking about "goodwill gestures" when you have allegedly been screwed over for the tune of 285k. If, in your heart of hearts, you thought that you were entitled to the 285k (legitimately) then that would be your focus. Sod the goodwill gesture! That is just being a chancer, trying to get something when you are in the wrong!


So yes, I'd certainly argue that you may have chanced it here. I don't think you have tried to "scam" them per se, but it is certainly a line a scammer would happily take in order to try and get some money from them.

MarvGaran

daytona0 wrote: »

Basically a couple of reasons which suggest it:

1. You used a plain slip, instead of a coupon. Manually putting on prices vs automatically.

2. You would have been able to see the team prices in numerous places (albos screen, main tv screen, coupons, customer price terminal, internet + not to mention that Nancy in practicular are probably WAY overpriced here even if they were playing Real Madrid etc) and as such you should have been aware that the prices were wrong. Nothing was said in the shop or before KO = chancing it on higher odds being accepted.

3. You went in with the intention of winning either 19 quid or 285k. For a fiver it is more likely to be 19 quid, because 5 quid on so many outsiders is just wasting money! That random 1/6 does not help your cause. It just looks like a weird bet, and the bulk of the profit would come from the outsiders so it may be more sensible to drop the 1/6 shot. Conversely, given the 1/6 is in there and due to it being 5 quid stake it is more likely that short odds were expected from you.

4. No consideration of the rules in respect to the above.

5. Talking about "goodwill gestures" when you have allegedly been screwed over for the tune of 285k. If, in your heart of hearts, you thought that you were entitled to the 285k (legitimately) then that would be your focus. Sod the goodwill gesture! That is just being a chancer, trying to get something when you are in the wrong!


So yes, I'd certainly argue that you may have chanced it here. I don't think you have tried to "scam" them per se, but it is certainly a line a scammer would happily take in order to try and get some money from them.

First of all the automated machine was not working so the staff member wrote the teams and odds on a slip (which I guarantee could be clearly seen on CCTV). The staff member as I said made a big mistake. Why they put the correct odds for Juventus and not the other teams is beyond me. I haven't mentioned goodwill gestures at all. I replied to frugalmacdugal who mentioned goodwill gestures and didn't acknowledge that statement. I'm pretty sure it would be against us to attempt to scam William Hill and then go through The Independent Betting Adjudication Services. William Hill was in the wrong here but I guess they're protected against that and I'm not gonna get any further using MSE. Thanks to anyone that provided any advice.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

[Deleted User] wrote:

WH could've made a goodwill (:o) payment of a few thou, would've been good publicity for them.

yup, it was I.

pinkshoes

I have never been into a betting shop, but from the odds you have written down for the named teams, it is CLEARLY a mistake, and an obvious one.

Expecting a huge payout would be daft.

By all means take it to the papers and push for a payout, but it will be your dad that ends up either looking thick for not spotting such an obvious error, or a scammer.