Denied of winnings. Please help!

[UK2000]

Hi,
I was robbed of my winnings.
I placed a bet of US$1100 on Cambuur to win @3.6 with www.sportfanatik.com on Thursday @ 1400 GMT.
Before I placed the bet, I emailed to them confirming whether the odds was correct or wrongly posted.
I received a prompt reply from okan@sportfanatik.com saying that all bets was final. I informed my friends regarding this match and was asked to confirm with Sportfanatik again to play safe. I called them up at 1700GMT and spoke to a customer service officer,Patricia and she confirmed that the odds was correct. The same reply was given to me when I requested her to ask the duty line manager.
So my friends also placed US$465 on Cambuur to win @3.6. Later in the evening, I discovered that Sportfanatik had posted the wrong date on their system. I emailed them numerous times but did not get a reply. So I called again and talked to a gentleman,Carlos and he assured me that my bets will stand. He told me that if my pending wagers was deleted tomorrow due to wrong posting of the date, he would put up the bets for me and my friends at the odds that was previously offered to us.
The next morning, I emailed them to asked Carlos to sent me a confirmation on the bets further to the telephone coversation I had with him last night. I did not received any reply and soon after, the match was taken off from their site. I called again but could not get hold of Carlos. Instead, I talk to Keith but nothing much.
A reply was sent to me from okan@sportfanatik.com stating that their management will make a decision on this match tommorrow, which was on the matchday.
Just before the kick-off, I received a reply from okan@sportfanatik.com saying that all bets are final. Our winnings were credited soon after the match was ended. The next day, our winnings were deducted and 'NO ACTION' was posted. I emailed them more than 10 times and got 1 reply from Okan stating 'Due to wrong date post of this game...our system called this game "NO ACTION"'.

The rule in their sportsbook :
'All sporting events must be played on date and site scheduled unless otherwise specified. Sporting events postponed by more than 12 hours and or rescheduled, will constitute "No Action," and all money will be credited accordingly. '

This match was not postponed nor rescheduled!

Tons of emails were sent for the past few days but still no signs of reply.
Instead, someone which i had not been in contact with emailed my friend saying that
due to error in grading the game, the winnings was deducted and the funds returned. Finally, I got someone, called Otis R from Sportfanatik who actually follows up to my case. He told me on Tuesday that he is still waiting for their high-level management to come up to a decision. 4 days hed passed and no signs of reply. Now Otis is missing as well.

A few questions I need their high-level management to give me a good reply:

1) Do Sportfanatik need to know that the grading of a match only when the result is out?
I had received 3 confirmations (1 from Okan, Patricia and Line/Bet manager) from Sportfanatik that the odds were correct!

2) It was Sportfanatik's own mistakes on the date of the match and I was the one who called up and was given an assurance by Carlos that my bets will stand!

3) Before the kick-off, I received another email from Okan stating the bets were final. If it is due to a wrong posting of the date and the bets will not stand, then I should be informed of the 'No Action' after 12 hours of the scheduled time, but i received a confirmation of the bets just before the kickoff instead, which is 24 hours later!

4) I will accept that I will lose my stakes if the result had gone against my bets. I placed a £1500 on a draw on this match with Intertops and Betzone as well. Do u think I can get my stakes back from them?

Sportsfanatik is licensed Margarita Island. Is there any governing authority that can resolve this dispute?

I had spent almost £30 calling them from Uk but still can't get our winnings back.

PLEASE HELP. I still had all the emails that Sportfanatik had sent me, is there anything that I can do to assist my claim? If u can’t help, please circulate this email to all bettors who are betting online.

Regards,

Lim
Out of 30++ mails, 3 to 4 responded.


From: okan@sportfanatik.com (Okan at SportFanatik)
>To: "Desmond Lim Chang Yaw"
>Subject: Re:
>Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 18:01:22 -0400
>
>Due to wrong date post of this game...our system called this game "NO
>ACTION"

From: howardj@starnetsystems.net
>To: jeslynk@hotmail.com
>Subject: RE:
>Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 23:39:28 -0500
>
>Dear member,
>The withdrawal was made from your account due to an error in grading the
>game on ID #6023571.
>
>regards,
>
>member services
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: koh jeslyn [SMTP:jeslynk@hotmail.com]
> > Sent: Monday, May 15, 2000 2:44 PM
> > To: support@sportfanatik.com
> > Subject:
> >
> > Hi there,
> >
> > My winnings of $520 was deducted from my account for no apparent reason.
> > My account ID is 658386728 and my name is Koh Poh Khee.
> >
> > Please clarify what had happened.
> >
> > A prompt reply will be very much appreciated.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Jeslyn Koh
From: robertl@starnetsystems.net
>To: jasonvisa@hotmail.com
>Subject: RE: Winnings being deducted
>Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 18:39:48 -0500
>
>Hello Lim:
>
>The bet was "No Actioned" because Cambuur vs Waalwijk Holland Soccer game
>was posted to play was 5/13/2000
>however the game played 5/14/2000, therefore, we had to return all bet
>amounts.
>
>Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
>
>Robert
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lim Chang Liang [mailto:jasonvisa@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 4:39 AM
> To: support@sportfanatik.com
> Cc: webmaster@sportfanatik.com
> Subject: Winnings being deducted
>
> Hi,
>
> My account number is :
>
> I had placed a bet of $234 + $31 = £265 on Cambuur to win @
>3.6.
> The winnings was credited on Sunday but was being deducted
>today.
> Please advise.
> regards,
> Jason


From: Fanatik
>To: desmondlim72@hotmail.com
>Subject: pending wager
>Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2000 16:15:03 -0700
>
>Lim Chang Yaw
>Dear Sir regarding your pending wager ID=6022694 CAMBUUR AND WAALWIJK I
>am stilling waiting for the ruling to come from
>upper management, sorry for the inconvience regarding this wager, we will
>keep you well informed.
>

Jeff told me over the phone that the match was rigged!

[irish]

Was the game played at the site on the date scheduled ?If not, the rule you provided is fairly self explanatory. Word of note,if you see any line thats way out of wack dont expect to get paid,all these books have every angle covered in the case of a typo or whatever,,....Best of Luck.....Sincerely Irish.

[UK2000]

I believe that the match was played on the site mentioned, though not on the date posted.
However, I had called up and was told my bets will stand and was assured that it will stand!
And i even received an email just before the kick-off stating that all bets are final!

[Dot Mix]

It gets scary some of the stuff that comes up. The book can take isolated games and post wrong odds and a wrong date. If the bettor loses they deduct and of course say nothing. If the bet wins they find a clause or reason to declare "no bet".

Good luck and post it on "Rants and Raves" section and you may get some more feedback

Dot

[Cons]

Thanks for the warning. These guys have been advertising on a few soccer sites, so I appreciate you telling us that this book is run by crooks.

If you called up to make sure, and you even got a special confirmation letter just before kick-off, then there's no excuse for them to rob you like this.

[UK2000]

Tough luck!
It seems that there is nothing I could do!

[Hartley]

I recommend you talk to Patrick Callahan at Playersonly. His e-mail if I recall correctly is Patrick@PlayersOnly.com. PlayersOnly is the managing company for Sportfanatik and Patrick has mentioned that bets are final and if the bookmakers err then it is they that suffer not the player. Hopefully he will resolve this satisfactorily. Let us know the outcome.

Here was one of the posts I was referring to.

>>playersonly
Member
posted 03-21-1999 04:17 PM

No one ever beats us to the number. You beat us to the number and our bookmakers
get fired, not the customers.

IP: 206.49.192.228<<

[UK2000]

This was the reply that I got from him.


Lim,
The event was incorrectly graded and we corrected this by grading
the wager as no action. The event did not occur on the date that was posted.

Our decision is final and no matter who you email or what steps you take,
our decision is final and bidding and will not be changed.

Sincerely
Patrick

[Hartley]

Just another reason to stick to the books listed below. At least Jeff and Brian could have done something on your behalf. Sorry for your outcome.

As for sportfanatik, playersonly etc. I guess all that can be said is 'player beware'.

[Shawn]

Can somebody swing this thread over to Rants and Raves?

I'd be interested to get more feedback on this as well as Patrick's take on the situation first-hand. When/where the match was played should be easily verifiable, and, for that matter, if all the e-mails were reposted anything else could be sorted out as well...

Shawn

[Boomer]

The only question was did you call in after you placed the bet and got confirmation (recorded verbal or email is acceptable) from people in their office that you had a wager.

You asked and you were told you did. If the facts are as you stated, they cheated you.

YOU DID YOUR PART. YOU CALLED IN AND ASKED IF YOU HAD A WAGER. THEY SAID YES.

End of story.

[Segundo]

If this is all true then this is ludicrous. Someone tell me what I have to do to help this guy get his money back or what to do to ruin this ******* of a sportsbook. We can't let this happen.

[The Guesser]

With all the documentation and all the names you have, Sportfanatik should do the proper thing and credit your win, unless they are calling you a liar. I saw about a week ago, Patrick credited a bettor with 1/2 a refund for betting a prop of a player under 1.5 points in an NHL game. The bettor erroneously thought it was goals. That player's case seems far weaker than yours. If "Carlos" told you what you say, that should be the end of the story, and unless Sportfanatik is denying that "Carlos" told you that, or even that a Carlos exists, it seems you have as strong a case as one can have. I also reccommend going to the other forum and stating your case to Patrick on the playersonly.com forum there. I use sportfanatik and have reccommended them to many people, and what I see here does distress me, as I've had no problems with them, nor have I heard of any legit problems until yours. I wish you luck.

[UK2000]

I had given up in pursueing this lost cause because I felt that there is nothing I could do. Here is another reply from Patrick.

'There were numerous other circumstance surrounding this game, too many to
go into at this point in time. The match was not played on the date that
the bet was placed for and thus all bets are no actioned. I am sorry if
you were misinformed, we have over 200 employees and not all of them are
110% informed at all times. We try to keep everyone as up to date as
possible but we run over 600 wagers a week and that is not always possible.

As I stated our decision is final and binding.'

Patrick

At 12:39 AM 5/23/00 +0100, you wrote:
>hi,
>
>But why was the customers informed only after the match result is out!
>Since you said that the match was incorrectly graded, why was that I had 3
>replies from SPortfanatik stating that the odds were correct?
>What do u mean by correcting the wager by grading the wager as No Action
>only when u know the result!
>
>I wonder who had posted this?
>
>playersonly
>Member
>posted 03-21-1999 04:17 PM
>
>No one ever beats us to the number. You beat us to the number and our
>bookmakers
>get fired, not the customers.
>
>IP: 206.49.192.228<<

[UK2000]

Stay well clear of this sportsbook!!!!!!!!