lasvegasles
March 7th, 2006, 03:49 PM
Here's a story that hopefully can help newbies or even old dogs like me stay out of a similar situation.
I was in Vegas for a week in the middle of February and had a nice little run in college hoops and the NHL. When I got home I thought I'd put some extra cash into another book basically just to have another out. I already have my main account at Pinnacle and an unfunded one at Olympic. I looked around and found betroyal.com which looked ok. I e-mailed Sonny asking if he knew anything about them. When I hadn't heard back from him right away I went ahead and deposited $800 in the account via Western Union. Dumb! Now when I did this several times at Pinnacle the money was picked up right away and in the account ready for wagering within an hour or so. A couple of hours go by and the money still is not in the Royal account. I check my e-mails again and there is one from Sonny stating that according to the watchdog sites betroyal is a "stay away from" book. I get hold of Western Union and was able to cancel the transaction as the money had not been picked up by the courier. Ok, so far so good. A small lesson in making sure you check out books before you send them money.
So I still had $126 left in that account from long ago. Thinking I might as well play with it I run it up to $1,300 within a week or so. Remembering what was said about Royal being a "stay away from" book I figured I better withdraw before I get too much in there and they give me a hassle. When I applied for a withdrawal online I was told to call back on Monday. Ok still no big deal. I called on Monday and the fun began. First they said I had not fulfilled the rollover requirement. Most books that offer bonuses have a 3x or 5x rollover. I told them that I had more than completed any rollover. However they demanded that I wager 3x my initial deposit from long ago...not just the bonus. I had never heard of this. Bonuses are generally a pain in the ass anyhow but how can they say that I can't withdraw my initial deposit? Keep the bloody bonus. Finally after about 30 minutes of arguing on the phone they said that I could withdraw if I pay a $50 fee and 3% of the balance. Total would have been about $80 as the withdrawal request was for $1000. I figure crooked but ok...just get me out of there. Ok so far, right?
They tell me that the request will be processed and will show up in my Neteller account on Tuesday. Funny, with Pinnacle it's almost instantaneous but ok no big deal. Tuesday comes and goes with the money still showing in the betroyal account. I e-mail customer service and get no reply. Wednesday morning and again at noon I e-mail them with no reply and no movement on the $1000. I go on livechat with "Xavier" who promises that the money will be in my account by 7pm EST that night. I said fine. Guess what? Yup, you got it! 7pm comes and goes and nothing. I e-mail customer service once again and finally get a response that apologizes for the delay and promising it'll be in my Neteller account by noon Thursday.
Well, noon Thursday comes and goes. I fire off another e-mail and get no reply. Back to livechat I go and this time I talk to "Natasha". Exotic sounding huh. Ya, probably some 400 lb. guy in a stained t-shirt smoking a stogie. Anyhow Natasha says just a sec and she supposedly goes to check with the accounting dept. Back she comes with another apology and a promise that the funds will be in the Neteller account by 4pm Friday afternoon.. Uh huh!
Now 4pm Friday comes and goes and I figure it out that they are trying to get me to wager the money and lose it in order to not have to pay out the $1000. No response to another e-mail and back to livechat I go. This time it's "Karina". Nice! Karina tells me it'll be in by 7pm. I told her I'm not so confident after what has been going on for the last week but she promises. Fast forward to 7:01 and I declare war. I send an e-mail to customer service and tell them that I belong to several important internet sports forums and that there are people there and in Vegas just waiting to see how this plays out. The money is sent 15 minutes later with no fees deducted.
Now this wasn't really a big deal. It was only $1000. But it could just as easily been $10K. A couple of real lessons learned here. Make sure you check out the book before hand. Don't send money to someone you know nothing about. Secondly beware of those bonuses. There is NO free money out there. They wanted me to rollover the bonuses plus deposit 3x before allowing any kind of withdrawal. That would be over $4,000 in wagers and they don't count ML plays of -250 or over as part of the rollover requirement. It's there in the fine print but I did not read that. Plus they've been calling ever since offering me #### bonuses if I deposit with them for the rest of the hoops season. Not likely!
So this old dog learned a new trick. Be careful. Be diligent. Check out any book before sending them money.
There are no better books than the ones that advertise on our own EE sports forum. Pinnacle, Olympic and 5dimes for me from now on.
I was in Vegas for a week in the middle of February and had a nice little run in college hoops and the NHL. When I got home I thought I'd put some extra cash into another book basically just to have another out. I already have my main account at Pinnacle and an unfunded one at Olympic. I looked around and found betroyal.com which looked ok. I e-mailed Sonny asking if he knew anything about them. When I hadn't heard back from him right away I went ahead and deposited $800 in the account via Western Union. Dumb! Now when I did this several times at Pinnacle the money was picked up right away and in the account ready for wagering within an hour or so. A couple of hours go by and the money still is not in the Royal account. I check my e-mails again and there is one from Sonny stating that according to the watchdog sites betroyal is a "stay away from" book. I get hold of Western Union and was able to cancel the transaction as the money had not been picked up by the courier. Ok, so far so good. A small lesson in making sure you check out books before you send them money.
So I still had $126 left in that account from long ago. Thinking I might as well play with it I run it up to $1,300 within a week or so. Remembering what was said about Royal being a "stay away from" book I figured I better withdraw before I get too much in there and they give me a hassle. When I applied for a withdrawal online I was told to call back on Monday. Ok still no big deal. I called on Monday and the fun began. First they said I had not fulfilled the rollover requirement. Most books that offer bonuses have a 3x or 5x rollover. I told them that I had more than completed any rollover. However they demanded that I wager 3x my initial deposit from long ago...not just the bonus. I had never heard of this. Bonuses are generally a pain in the ass anyhow but how can they say that I can't withdraw my initial deposit? Keep the bloody bonus. Finally after about 30 minutes of arguing on the phone they said that I could withdraw if I pay a $50 fee and 3% of the balance. Total would have been about $80 as the withdrawal request was for $1000. I figure crooked but ok...just get me out of there. Ok so far, right?
They tell me that the request will be processed and will show up in my Neteller account on Tuesday. Funny, with Pinnacle it's almost instantaneous but ok no big deal. Tuesday comes and goes with the money still showing in the betroyal account. I e-mail customer service and get no reply. Wednesday morning and again at noon I e-mail them with no reply and no movement on the $1000. I go on livechat with "Xavier" who promises that the money will be in my account by 7pm EST that night. I said fine. Guess what? Yup, you got it! 7pm comes and goes and nothing. I e-mail customer service once again and finally get a response that apologizes for the delay and promising it'll be in my Neteller account by noon Thursday.
Well, noon Thursday comes and goes. I fire off another e-mail and get no reply. Back to livechat I go and this time I talk to "Natasha". Exotic sounding huh. Ya, probably some 400 lb. guy in a stained t-shirt smoking a stogie. Anyhow Natasha says just a sec and she supposedly goes to check with the accounting dept. Back she comes with another apology and a promise that the funds will be in the Neteller account by 4pm Friday afternoon.. Uh huh!
Now 4pm Friday comes and goes and I figure it out that they are trying to get me to wager the money and lose it in order to not have to pay out the $1000. No response to another e-mail and back to livechat I go. This time it's "Karina". Nice! Karina tells me it'll be in by 7pm. I told her I'm not so confident after what has been going on for the last week but she promises. Fast forward to 7:01 and I declare war. I send an e-mail to customer service and tell them that I belong to several important internet sports forums and that there are people there and in Vegas just waiting to see how this plays out. The money is sent 15 minutes later with no fees deducted.
Now this wasn't really a big deal. It was only $1000. But it could just as easily been $10K. A couple of real lessons learned here. Make sure you check out the book before hand. Don't send money to someone you know nothing about. Secondly beware of those bonuses. There is NO free money out there. They wanted me to rollover the bonuses plus deposit 3x before allowing any kind of withdrawal. That would be over $4,000 in wagers and they don't count ML plays of -250 or over as part of the rollover requirement. It's there in the fine print but I did not read that. Plus they've been calling ever since offering me #### bonuses if I deposit with them for the rest of the hoops season. Not likely!
So this old dog learned a new trick. Be careful. Be diligent. Check out any book before sending them money.
There are no better books than the ones that advertise on our own EE sports forum. Pinnacle, Olympic and 5dimes for me from now on.