Paddy Power

irish life

I got an e-mail from PP saying if I open a new account and put a 30 euro single bet on I'd receive a free 50 euro bet. So, I opened the account and used my mothers credit card to deposit 30 euro into it. I placed my bet and got my free 50 euro bet transferred to the account. I got the following e-mail today:

Dear ****,

Unfortunately, the details that you have supplied us have been declined by our Authorisation Centre.

We have therefore had to temporarily suspend your account until we can verify these details with the bank.

Could you please mail us with the exact name and billing address registered to your credit card, and once we have verified these details with the bank we can reactivate your account.

They thought I was the credit card owner so were giving the bank my name instead of my mothers. Anyway I e-mailed them my mothers name and got the following reply:

Hi ****,

Thank you for your mail.

The bank have verified the details and I have reactivated your account again.

I have sent the balance back to you in the form of a cheque and closed your account now.

This is because it does state on the site that it has to be the person whose name is on the account that the card is registered to.

You can reopen another account either in your name with a card registered to yourself or in the name of your mother with her details attached.

I asked them about my free 50 euro bet and got this reply:

Hi ****,

Thank you for your mail.

Unfortunately because you did not adhere to our terms and conditions you do not qualify for it in this case.

I read the terms and conditions again in full and it doesn't mention anything about the person who's name is on the account having to own the credit card. The only thing I could find about a credit card in the T&C was:

26. All winnings will be credited to the client?s account. All payments made to a client will be made to the same Debit or Credit card used to deposit monies with Paddy Power . In the event of this not being possible payments will be made by cheque in accordance with the personal details stored in the customers account.

Anyway, I've mailed them about it and they haven't replied back yet so I assume they're waiting until tomorrow to ask one of the bigger heads at PP what to do (as its a 24 hour customer service and my last mail was before 5 o'clock).

I've uploaded the T&A incase you can't find them on the site. Do I have a right to my 50 euro bet?

Lump

It's twenty euro that you didn't have this morning, and you still don't have it, what's the problem?


John

irish life

Lump wrote:

It's twenty euro that you didn't have this morning, and you still don't have it, what's the problem?


John

Its actually 50 euro that I had in my PP account this morning that has been taken away from me because I registered with my name instead of my mothers and I can't find anything in the T&A which says thats wrong. The check I am getting is for the bet won from the 30 euro placed, the 50 euro is a free bet I got and the main reason I registered.

Nuttzz

as far as I can see the account was never formally setup so you have no entitlement IMO.

irish life

Nuttzz wrote:

as far as I can see the account was never formally setup so you have no entitlement IMO.

Thanks for the reply but I don't quite understand what you mean. You don't need a credit card to set up the account so as soon as you register you have set up the account. You only enter the credit card number when you are depositing or withdrawing funds into and from the account.

It deposited fine but the problem came when i was withdrawing the money from the PP account a couple of days later. I had to fill out the form of who the cheque would be addressed to and that is when they sent me the e-mail. I have an account with Gamebookers too and they have no problem with me using someone elses credit card. As long as its not in the T&C I think I am in the right.

Hobbes

As soon as you registered with someone elses credit card in your own name your account was invalidated. Never set up.

It is the same in most if not all places. TBH your lucky they didn't report you to credit card fraud.

PP are either wondering (a) are you a child or (b) why don't you have your own credit card. Probably the second one as it implies that your not good for the cash.

Nuttzz

from your first post " put a 30 euro single bet on I'd receive a free 50 euro bet" you never put a 30 euro single bet on so why should you get the 50 euro? You had an account but never deposited funds to it, so it has never been used therefore you have no entitlement to the €50 IMO.

irish life

Hobbes wrote:

As soon as you registered with someone elses credit card in your own name your account was invalidated. Never set up.

It is the same in most if not all places. TBH your lucky they didn't report you to credit card fraud.

PP are either wondering (a) are you a child or (b) why don't you have your own credit card. Probably the second one as it implies that your not good for the cash.

Would the first point not have to be in the T&C or is it a legal thing? I have 5-10 accounts on various over the internet with my mothers credit card. My name is on the account but they usually have an option for "Name on card" and I put my mothers name there. There's never a problem.

I don't and can't see myself ever having a credit card so I use my mother's and pay her in cash.

irish life

Nuttzz wrote:

from your first post " put a 30 euro single bet on I'd receive a free 50 euro bet" you never put a 30 euro single bet on so why should you get the 50 euro? You had an account but never deposited funds to it, so it has never been used therefore you have no entitlement to the €50 IMO.

I did put a 30 euro bet on and won:

So, I opened the account and used my mothers credit card to deposit 30 euro into it. I placed my bet and got my free 50 euro bet transferred to the account.

Nuttzz

my bad, too sleepy! didnt read it properly, its an odd one alright

Victor

You can't recover gambling debts in court. It's a lost cause.

irish life wrote:

T&A

Soooo Freudian.

irish life

Victor wrote:

You can't recover gambling debts in court. It's a lost cause.

So what you are saying is that PP could close whatever accounts they want whether there's something in the a/c or not and they will win every case? I know you are well up on the legal stuff Victor but I doubt it.

Tommy Vercetti

They're doing you (and your mother) a favour, tis a mugs game as they say.

okidoki987

PP are correct in what they have said and done!
This is one of the reasons that stops Credit Card fraud.
How can you expect to open an account in YOUR name using your Mothers Credit Card? What's stopping you opening an account using a stolen Credit Card and then getting a cheque sent to your address?
There are also Money Laundering Laws in this country which nowadays have to be adhered to. When you open account (bookie, bank, building society) you are supposed to show Photo ID along with a utility bill. As PP wouldn't be able to get photo ID from everybody, they make sure all the other details match. In your case you wouldn't be able to do this as the CC is in your mothers name and not yours.
Why don't you open the account in her name and you use it?
That way she is entitled to the "FREE" 50 Euro bet.
If you are going to try and use the site, then get a Credit Card (Ulster Bank will pay the 40 Euro tax if you spend over 5,000 a year). Buy everything on the Credit card and you will spend this amount easy.

okidoki987

is also correct in what he says.
Gambling debts are NOT legally enforceable!
Which is probably why PP do not do Credit bets.

Imposter

PP do have a lot of security precedures in place to try and prevent CC fraud and other security related issues. A lot of the measures they have implemented are questionable as to their security value.

For example I have an account with them for a while now and betting is allowed fine. My CC is an Irish one. I'm not 100% but I think as far as they are aware I am in Ireland (I don't think i've ever entered my austrian address). However when I wanted to have a gander around the casino for some reason they knew I was in Austria and they wouldn't let me in to the casino as apparently Austrian law does not allow it! Strange then that in Austria there are quite a few legal casinos and that no such restrictions exist on any other site. Also what if I was an Irish person on holidays (as opposed to living) there!

Sleepy

okidoki987 wrote:

is also correct in what he says.
Gambling debts are NOT legally enforceable!
Which is probably why PP do not do Credit bets.

So Paddy Power et al aren't held legally accountable to pay out on bets? That's incredible. The industry is subsidised by the taxpayer, yet the ordinary punter can't expect a court to enforce a debt against that same industry? That's mental.

bookiebasher

betting chains are not subsidised by the taxpayer....please explain this to me.

you might be getting confused with racetracks getting handouts

Sleepy

The industry is subsidised by the taxpayer in that the racing industry qualifies for loads of tax-writeoffs and exemptions. The bets are no longer taxed (when almost any other service or product in the country is). So, sure they may not be directly subsidised by the government, but they benefit from generous tax cuts which imho they shouldn't have.

I don't see why I, or any other PAYE worker should have to pay for Fianna Fail's corporate tent at the Galway Races.

bookiebasher

bets are still taxed at 3%

some firms dont charge this to the customer but betting chains all return this tax

bookiebasher

sorry that should read 2%

Sleepy

i.e. 10% of the standard rate of VAT in this country...

Hobbes

irish life wrote:

Would the first point not have to be in the T&C or is it a legal thing? I have 5-10 accounts on various over the internet with my mothers credit card. My name is on the account but they usually have an option for "Name on card" and I put my mothers name there. There's never a problem.

Never a problem for you prehaps. However if one of those accounts was to be hacked and a huge bill run up on your mothers credit card she wouldn't be covered for the loss by the CC company.

The best she could hope for is say the card number was stolen by yourself, but I recall something similar happening to a friend. She allowed her boyfriend to use her card a couple of times and then he ran up a huge bill. Because she had given permission at one time she had to pay it and he wasn't legally held to pay it as he had signed nothing.

irish life

Tommy Vercetti wrote:

They're doing you (and your mother) a favour, tis a mugs game as they say.

I've been betting years mate.

okidoki987 wrote:

PP are correct in what they have said and done!
This is one of the reasons that stops Credit Card fraud.
How can you expect to open an account in YOUR name using your Mothers Credit Card? What's stopping you opening an account using a stolen Credit Card and then getting a cheque sent to your address?

When I was filling out the form to withdraw the money from my PP a/c in form of a cheque I put the details of my mother (ie. the card owner) so its not much of a fraud if she's getting all the cheque.

IMO, they know its my mother and I'm not a fraud, they just think I'm not worth anything since I don't have my own CC.

Why don't you open the account in her name and you use it?
That way she is entitled to the "FREE" 50 Euro bet.

The deal was only a couple of days long and ended on Tuesday.

Basically, I has money in my account as well as the 50 euro free bet. They are sending me the money but have taking the free bet back off me even though I stayed within the terms and conditions.

BTW, what do you make of them not replying to my e-mail considering the replied to the others within a couple of hours?

irish life

Also, what do you think would have happened if I had used my free bet before they e-mailed me? I was actually going to use in on the international fixtures on Wedensday but decided to wait until Saturday's fixtures.

pontovic

stinger, you get fuked, you will learn the next time. just forget about it.

irish life

Just to let you know, I stuck with it and they have agreed to transfer my 50 euro bet to an account set up under my mothers name.