Nightmare with Betfair

Just in case some of you haven't experienced betfair stay well away.

To cut a long story short my bankroll is in betfair I transferred it into paypal then out of paypal. I created a new paypal account for this and all seemed fine.

This morning I go to log into betfair and my account is 'closed'. I call and discover that paypal have marked my account as 'suspicious' because I deposited and withdrew money in a short period of time... well... what are you meant to do?

Anyway because of this Betfair have put my account on hold until everything is verified, Paypal are asking for all sorts of id (this is 120$ by the way not the crown jewls).

The result is I can't get at my bank roll i've been steadily building over the past week and I can't play any poker - apart from poker stars free rolls (which is where I should have left my money in the first place)

Just thought I'd warn anyone planning to use paypal and or betfair - they are both sub standard in the way they treat their customers, I'm fast learning that this is common knowledge as far as pay pal goes, but thought an insight into betfair might help someone else from getting into this nasty situation.

I had similar trouble with Betfair - I only joined for a free £25 quid bet on the Grand National (horse was leading most of the way...then failed).

I then tried to withdraw my £25 (which you had to put on to get the free bet)....account got frozen because I was, like you, "suspicious".

I rang the helpline, gave some poor girl a right bollocking - 5 mins later they rang me back and my account was now working and ok to withdraw. Get dialling....

Oh ok thanks Wilburforce - I'm at work at the moment can't really start screeching down the line at them. I get in at 6:15 spose they'll be at home by then but i'll try on the off chance.

The free deposits and using Paypal are both very bad options for poker players that would like to move money around and play poker.

I have used Betfair in the past and have had no problems with deposits and withdrawals, but I have used both Neteller and Moneybookers.

It gets worse. Despite letting me deposit and withdraw without a bank account attached. Paypal now say I have to link a bank account, into the paypal account for them to release the funds that have already entered my betfair account. I dont have a bank account at the moment, so can't. They said the funds will just sit dormant for 180 days then. Nothing I can do about it. So now I've lost my entire bankroll, just when I was starting to get sensible with the BR managament side of things too.

Betfair also won't unsuspend my account until they get the all clear from paypal so I'm kind of screwed. I'll try to call them at home and be a bit more vocal, but I get the impression they frankly couldn't give a damn.

PayPal is a fucking joke. I almost got screwed out of $600 by them.

Get a bank account, obv.

You will get nothing from them, no matter how loud or vocal you get. Saying you have no bank account just screams that you are up to something in just about everyones eyes.

i only play at fulltilt and expekt.. no problems there

Just get a bank account?

Well I don't have a bank account at the moment because I fell out with my last bank Alliance and Leicster.

Even if I did have one paypal wouldn't get near it with a barge pole. Last time I had a paypal account they decided to withdraw £3,000 from it (when at the time there was only £2,000 in it) because they were 'investigating some anomalies' with my account. Eight months later I got the money back.

mate,

I assume you're English as you had an Allaince and Leicester bank account previously.

Getting money to and from poker sites is unbelielably easy...but you do need a bank account. I just used my debit card for my intial deposit. Took approx 5mins on Poker Stars. Any big withdrawel you can get a cheque. Takes a while, but you can track its progress etc.

Also, if you really don't wanna get a bank account, but the life of me I can't see how anyone can function without one, WillHill use voucher type things. Go into a WillHill shop, buy a "Online voucher", then log on and enter the voucher code. When you wanna withdraw, you print off another voucher and take to WillHill Shop to cash (upto about £5k I think).

You may need a bank card etc to get an account though. Are you over 18?

paypal is like the worst idea for a poker site... can't believe the rooms can actually list it as a funding option since they're publicly anti online gambling

And being Euro means you still get Neteller. Jebus, remember Neteller, life used to be so good.

Get a fucking Bank account and stop trying to dick around. Life requires a bank account, not just poker.

lol good good yeah you're right - im 27 should have a bank account. cheers guys.

just for those interested paypal are still ******* me about. I've sent them emails from the two people that made me payments confirming all is good and there still investigating. Betfair are helpful but there hands are tied until paypal give them the go ahead.

Oh well it's free rolls for the weekend then... Probabally not a bad thing it'll give me a chance to focus up ready for my $120 - $478 br push!

If you ever need inspiration on grinding a BR from little money:

http://www.chrisferguson.com/article-4