I loaded up with Sportbet on the basis of it having received rave reviews here, and because of the fact that one of their managers is a regular poster...
They have a nice, quick, simple, no-frills book, lines are OK, and all was good for a while...
Until, of course, you decide to request a payout. Now, Sportbet is making me more than a little nervous.
I've made some $, so it's time to cash out. I click on Sportbet's withdrawal option, try to pull my money back into Neteller (where I made my deposits to begin with) and I get no error message or confirmation message saying that my request is being processed...
OK...so I wait a couple days...
And there's nothing in my Neteller account. The money is still at SB.
I call up Customer Service, asking what the hold-up is with my payout. "Oh, we need to confirm your information sir..." Fine. I've been with plenty of books that required driver's license, copies of credit card, etc...but if you request a payout before they've determined who you are to their satisfaction, they'll always right you an email or give you a call asking you to provide the necessary info. From Sportbet? Nothing. No messages, no email, no nothing, until I called THEM up and asked what the delay was.
OK, fine. I confirm all my information. The clerk tells me I have to request the payout from Neteller directly, NOT from the "withdrawal" option on Sportbet itself. Funny. Why have a withdrawal option on your site if one cannot withdraw that way? Why not at least pop up an error message when someone tries to do it that way to let em know they have to go straight through Neteller? Why not give them a call?
The guy tells me the "secret code" you need to make withdrawals directly from Neteller's site, which of course, is nowhere to be found anywhere on Neteller or Sportbet's site.
Off I go to Neteller, processing the withdrawal with my new found code. And wouldn't ya know it?! Neteller tells me that I have to contact Sportbet directly.
So I do. Now they tell me they're "having problems with Neteller", and you have to do it directly through SB. OK, I put the request for the withdrawal directly with SB. "The money will be in your Neteller account within 12 hours sir". But yesterday, when i called, you said that if I put in the request by 11 AM, it'll be in my account by 3 PM! "Sorry sir, that is not correct. It takes up to 12 hours." Fine! I put the request in.
Twelve hours later, is there any money in my Neteller account? Nope. Money's all still in my SB account though.
And today a message comes up on SB's site. Seems their accounting department "closes" for the MLB All-Star Break (?!). Any requests made during the AS Break will not be processed till Thursday, after the break.
Of course, I've been trying to pull my money out for almost a week BEFORE the break, so this shouldn't be relevant to me. But here we are, on Monday of the All-Star Break, and my money is sitting somewhere in Costa Rica or Curacao or Antilles or something instead of my bank account.
It's clear and obvious why Sportbet does this, of course. The longer they procrastinate, the longer they send you on a wild goose chase, the longer they give you misinformation and bemoan the "problems" they're having with Neteller, the longer your money is in your account, the longer you're tempted to use - and lose - it. Sportbet, like other books, is not stupid...they know the nature of gambling is that it's impossible to stop. So if once in a blue moon you muster up the energy to call it quits and withdraw your winnings, they know it's only a matter of time until you fall prey to the temptation again, bet your money and watch it disappear.
I don't doubt that they will pay...there's too much good word about the site here to think that they're stiffs. But they're definitely on the cusp of dishonesty with their delayed payouts. If they were legitimately trying to release the money, they'd put a hold on my account and prevent me from using it so they can send me the right amount. They don't do that of course...they WANT me to keep playing until I lose.
And they were right: I couldn't resist the temptation while I was waiting, and I did bet more. Much more in fact. So much so that I doubled the balance that I considered robust enough a week ago to pull out.
Ha. Serves em right for trying to play dirty. Now Jake, I know you read this board. Do the right thing and pay me my money.
They have a nice, quick, simple, no-frills book, lines are OK, and all was good for a while...
Until, of course, you decide to request a payout. Now, Sportbet is making me more than a little nervous.
I've made some $, so it's time to cash out. I click on Sportbet's withdrawal option, try to pull my money back into Neteller (where I made my deposits to begin with) and I get no error message or confirmation message saying that my request is being processed...
OK...so I wait a couple days...
And there's nothing in my Neteller account. The money is still at SB.
I call up Customer Service, asking what the hold-up is with my payout. "Oh, we need to confirm your information sir..." Fine. I've been with plenty of books that required driver's license, copies of credit card, etc...but if you request a payout before they've determined who you are to their satisfaction, they'll always right you an email or give you a call asking you to provide the necessary info. From Sportbet? Nothing. No messages, no email, no nothing, until I called THEM up and asked what the delay was.
OK, fine. I confirm all my information. The clerk tells me I have to request the payout from Neteller directly, NOT from the "withdrawal" option on Sportbet itself. Funny. Why have a withdrawal option on your site if one cannot withdraw that way? Why not at least pop up an error message when someone tries to do it that way to let em know they have to go straight through Neteller? Why not give them a call?
The guy tells me the "secret code" you need to make withdrawals directly from Neteller's site, which of course, is nowhere to be found anywhere on Neteller or Sportbet's site.
Off I go to Neteller, processing the withdrawal with my new found code. And wouldn't ya know it?! Neteller tells me that I have to contact Sportbet directly.
So I do. Now they tell me they're "having problems with Neteller", and you have to do it directly through SB. OK, I put the request for the withdrawal directly with SB. "The money will be in your Neteller account within 12 hours sir". But yesterday, when i called, you said that if I put in the request by 11 AM, it'll be in my account by 3 PM! "Sorry sir, that is not correct. It takes up to 12 hours." Fine! I put the request in.
Twelve hours later, is there any money in my Neteller account? Nope. Money's all still in my SB account though.
And today a message comes up on SB's site. Seems their accounting department "closes" for the MLB All-Star Break (?!). Any requests made during the AS Break will not be processed till Thursday, after the break.
Of course, I've been trying to pull my money out for almost a week BEFORE the break, so this shouldn't be relevant to me. But here we are, on Monday of the All-Star Break, and my money is sitting somewhere in Costa Rica or Curacao or Antilles or something instead of my bank account.
It's clear and obvious why Sportbet does this, of course. The longer they procrastinate, the longer they send you on a wild goose chase, the longer they give you misinformation and bemoan the "problems" they're having with Neteller, the longer your money is in your account, the longer you're tempted to use - and lose - it. Sportbet, like other books, is not stupid...they know the nature of gambling is that it's impossible to stop. So if once in a blue moon you muster up the energy to call it quits and withdraw your winnings, they know it's only a matter of time until you fall prey to the temptation again, bet your money and watch it disappear.
I don't doubt that they will pay...there's too much good word about the site here to think that they're stiffs. But they're definitely on the cusp of dishonesty with their delayed payouts. If they were legitimately trying to release the money, they'd put a hold on my account and prevent me from using it so they can send me the right amount. They don't do that of course...they WANT me to keep playing until I lose.
And they were right: I couldn't resist the temptation while I was waiting, and I did bet more. Much more in fact. So much so that I doubled the balance that I considered robust enough a week ago to pull out.
Ha. Serves em right for trying to play dirty. Now Jake, I know you read this board. Do the right thing and pay me my money.
