Betfinal - not obeying responsible gaming.

Hi zippizod - welcome to ThePOGG.com!

Unfortunately there's not going to be anything we can do to help you in this instance.

In the first instance BetFinal are licensed by Curacao eGaming. This group do not take the same strict approach to the Responsible Gambling policies that their licensees are required to adhere to as other stronger regulatory bodies. BetFinal are not obligated to offer the types of tools you mention.

Secondly, even in the stronger regulatory jurisdictions operators are not required to provide 24/7 Live Chat support and are allowed a time frame - usually 24h - to respond to/action self-exclusion requests.

While I appreciate your frustration I'm sorry to say that you do not have a case here.

What I can do is direct you to our free Responsible Gambling tool BetBlocker. This tool should allow you to restrict yourself from accessing over 5k gambling operators on any device that can access the internet.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Thank you for your reply. So in an essence you're saying they are allowed timeframe when it comes to requesting deposit limits? Which in total makes me feel as if they dont care whatsoever. For me it was 100 euros, what happens to people who deposit even more because the given website allows it for 24+ hours? I'm slightly out of my way here and I'm not even that frustrated, I control myself by requesting limits which is what they are for in the first place. I guess I'll have to avoid any companies licences by Curacao.

Hi zippizod,

Effectively yes. Gambling operators are not an emergency service and reasonable time frames for reading and actioning emails are considered standard across the industry. If the request is made over Live Chat then the operator would be expected to action it immediately. Where the request is made over email time is allowed to ensure that an operative has actually read the email.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Thank you for your reply once again. I understand you, I've contacted them through live chat for deposit limit to which they replied I have to Email them and that they will instantly set the limit. See where I'm going with this? I feel cheated for one reason only, I was instructed to Email even though I have sent them a message on live-chat and they have replied to it yet didnt take action but rather instructed to Email the details. It's sneaky tactic imho, I have cooled-off a bit but this is first time in 3 years I'm facing such issue hence why I got so frustrated in the first place.

Hi zippizod,

Can you confirm, you contacted Live Chat, asked for a limit and were then directed to email support?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Hey, thank you for your reply once again. Yes I can confirm that, I even told them that via Email but they simply ignored that line. [EDIT] Cheers!

Hi zippizod,

I've had a look at the Bet Final site and the relevant section of the site is as follows:

The above explicitly states that to set a Deposit Limit you have to contact them via an email address. There's nothing there that suggests that this will happen instantly nor that it can be actioned via Live Support. Further to this, I've gone back on the internet archives to look at old versions of their Responsible Gambling page and as of October 2017 the information was the same.

I'll contact the operator simply because I do not like operators being informed of an issue like this, having demonstratable received the communication and not actioned it when communicated. But with absolute honesty this is not likely to result in a change of position from the operator.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

I appreciate your assistance thus far. Please let me know their reply and once again thank you for your time!

Hi zippizod,

I've spoken with BetFinal regarding this issue.

Unfortunately there seems to have been a misunderstanding here. My understanding was that you had requested a deposit limit be set via Live Chat, who had told you to email in to action this request. BetFinal have informed me that no request was ever made over Live Chat and that if a request had been made over Live Chat they would have actioned it immediately.

While I appreciate that their Responsible Gambling page directs players to email to request limits, this in itself would not be problematic. Many operators do not run Live Chat services 24/7 and this ensures that these requests can still be received outside of Live Chat working hours.

Without a support agent having directed you to email in rather than actioning the request as/when you made it I'm afraid you don't have a case here.

Can you confirm whether this happened?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Thanks for reaching out once again, I have received the same reply from them a month ago as well denying the fact that I have contacted them but I have zero proofs of it. If you can tell me where to find the history of chat I'm more than willing to provide it. I've already understood they tend to lie since they have lied to me personally through Emails denying that I ever contacted them while in reality I'm the one on the loss here, why would I try to reach out to you personally unless I think I'm right and that they have abused their powers to try and hide the actual problem here.

For clarification, yes I have contacted live chat and they instructed me to send DoB, address, phone number and username/email to betfinal help desk through Email which I did at 4 pm on friday I think (they work up until 9pm), and received zero response on either.

Thank you.

Hi zippizod,

If you give me the specific dates of the points in contact I'll request records of your chat history.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Hey, I've sent Email at 5:25pm GMT + 2 on July 27th and that was just a few minutes after I've contacted live chat so anywhere from 4:55pm to 5:20pm is when I had chat with the agent whom I had to wait few minutes to even connect then he replied.

Thank you.

Hi zippizod,

In order to review your case further BetFinal have requested that you provide direct permission to them for them to share information about your account to ensure they are compliant with the GDPR.

As such I've just emailed you a template permission letter. You need to complete the letter, print it, sign it, take a photo and email this to BetFinal support. When you do this you should CC in [email protected] and I'll follow up with the operator once we've received this.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

Am I safe when doing this? Only you and the Operator will be able to see my details. Correct?

Frankly I dont even know your name but you seem more professional than 99% of people on the internet and I have no issues providing you with any documents but I'm worried if only the two of you will get to see it or if there's someone else involved as well. Please reassure me I'm providing my permission only to you two. Thank you for your patience on this matter thus far!

Hi zippizod,

I do understand your concerns and you're wise to ask. To address them:

i) when you submitted this complaint you will have given permission for us to discuss/share your details with the following entities:

BetFinal

Their Curacao regulator

This isn't asking for anything more than you've already provided, it's simply given the operator written assurance that you actually have agreed to this.

ii) We are an Alternative Dispute Resolution service that has been recognised by multiple regulatory agencies. We previously fulfilled this role for the UKGC but stepped down a couple of years ago. We currently fulfil this role for the Jersey Gambling Commission and we're in discussion with other regulators about assisting them with complaint management. In short, our entire business is centred on our reputation and we couldn't afford to take any risks on this.

iii) If it makes you more comfortable feel free to edit the text of the letter to specifically state that it's your communication records with the operator that you're looking to share. We do not need to see ID anything of that nature as the point of contention is whether or not a request for a deposit limit was made over Live Chat.

iv) Feel free to review our Privacy Policy for more information on this interaction. We cannot and would not share any information about you with anyone other than the operator, their regulator or a relevant legal authority where we were forced to do so.

Thanks,

ThePOGG

P.S. My name is Duncan Garvie - I'm the Manager here at ThePOGG.com and the only one with access to your personal information. Complaints are signed as 'ThePOGG' as a branding exercise rather than to try and hide anything. You can see my name on our company documentation registered with the UK government here - https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC507011/persons-with-significant-control.

Hi zippizod,

Is it fair to say you no longer want us to proceed?

Thanks,

ThePOGG