There are no "costs" when buying into tables or tournaments on Littlewoods Poker, the currency conversion rate when doing so is actually comparable to commercial rates so there's no issue regarding that.

However when doing deposit and withdrawal transactions on 888poker the story is quite different, due to this part of their Cashout Policy:

"Generally, credit card or debit card cashouts by members in the UK, Canada, Denmark, Sweden or other EU countries that use the Euro, will be converted into and refunded to the member's card in the same currency used for deposit. Cashouts via bank draft/wire transfer by members in Canada, the UK, Sweden, Denmark and other EU countries that use Euro (except Cyprus and Malta), will be converted into local currency. The conversion rate applied will be comparable with daily commerical rates offered by banks and credit card companies on the day the cashout is processed."

On 888poker the bankroll currency is always USD and can't be changed, on Littlewoods Poker it's always GBP. As far as I know there's no way to completely escape the unacceptable rates 888poker uses when depositing or withdrawing unless you are doing so from a USD based payment instrument so that every part of the financial transaction is handled in USD. For example wire transfer withdrawals are out of the question for me because they insist on sending the funds in EUR even though I have a USD based bank account also.

I specifically took this issue up with the GRA in march 09 this was there response:

Dear Mr *******



Further to your email below, a registered participant has to confirm (s)he has read the User Agreements / Terms and Conditions of the operator when (s)he registers, and also to agree to these. This then forms the core of the relationship between operator and participant.



Gambling accounts should only be used for the purposes of gambling; funds should not remain unused in a dormant gambling account. Fees are generally applied to account for the administration and monitoring that these accounts continue to require. Furthermore, alongside the terms/information available on a licence holder’s website, operators will invariably give customer’s notice before a gambling account becomes dormant.



Yours sincerely



Bradley Tosso

Gambling ICT Inspector

I did follow up and directed him to this thread and he claimed that they would discuss the issue at their regular meeting. Nothing else. Pretty sure Gib is another sham regulator now anyway.

Yuck! I was looking into the possibility of other sites and 888 is now not one of them!

Thats really sucks. I have a question. In February they blocked my account. In July will be half a year of inactivity and they will begin to deduct by 10% from my acc. Will they return this money if they unblock my account?

If they do, they won't have to return it, according to their unchanged T&C.

Hey Gnu, read your thread bout your closed acc, I just wonder - sorry - that you still believe you got a chance to get sth back from 888.
GL to you and unquestionable you should get paid, but I can't see that ever happening. Prolly easier to accept the fact that you lost 5k and thats it...

But this inactivity their fault in this case. It doesn't matter? I just heard that they can give back buy-ins to tournaments in case of incorrect locks.

I think that the probability 10% nevertheless is)
hope springs eternal in the human breast.

I´ve recently encountered the same problem, I lost two months of dormant fees, does anyone know who to contact or what to say specifically?

Try manager@888poker.com.

If they didn't send you an e-mail to warn you that this unfair charge was about to kick in, they should give you a refund.

You might also include a link to this thread.

Please let us know how you get on.

If you didn't receive a notice prior to the money being taken, then they are in non-compliance with their eCOGRA Safe and Fair certification:

http://www.ecogra.org/Documents/eGAP...April_2012.pdf

I sent a short e-mail to that address, mentioning that I had received no prior notice and linking to this thread and within 24 hours i got 70% back, the rest as bonus (yeah right).

So I guess this is it? Be happy that I got some money back and chalk that $400 up to some idiot tax? Or is it anything else I can do?

Thanks for the help everybody.

So you had (in rough figures) $6,700 in your account, and, first, they thought it was OK to charge you a $670 per month fee for two months for not having played on their site for six months; and, second, when you asked for your bankroll back, they returned $940 but kept $400 for "administration"?

And they sent you no warning e-mail?

That is absolutely scandalous!

Seriously, what costs did they have for the six, or eight, months they held your $6,700 and you didn't even contact them, let alone use the software?

Please don't treat it as any sort of tax. First tell them that unless you receive a full refund you will be reporting them to regulatory bodies for this unfair and unreasonable, not to say ridiculous, charge imposed, and then, if they don't refund, do report them to as many relevant bodies as it takes.

(Btw, note that from http://www.ecogra.org/Disputes/Polic...rocedures.aspx, "We ask that you do not place posts regarding the complaint on any forums nor should you seek assistance from another third party service while we work your case. Either of these will result in the immediate termination of our assistance." If you have to progress to that stage, make sure you don't post again here while they work your case.)

I recall reading through this thread before. If memory serves, didn't Pacific management promise to stop doing that?

EDIT: I thought they made some changes (dramatic changes, even)... no idea if he still works there but maybe pm this guy? At least according to his post itt, this should have happened vastly differently. There should have been attempts to contact the player at the very least. Also he claims that the target of this policy is inactive accounts with very small balances.

Bolded some parts that dont seem to be the way this situation went down.

Also notice bolded part implies that merely logging in is enough to reset the 6 month clock.

In all, Yuv, i think you got some 'splainin' to do

Yes, I casehed out and kind of stopped playing there several years ago when I found out about this admin charge.

Thanks for finding the post, AEPPoker.

It was posted on October 22, 2009, nearly three years ago, by an 888 rep.

It's hard to believe that virtually everything in the post was simply flim-flam for the purpose of attempted damage control because of this thread ... but it certainly looks like it.

Not everything was flim-flam, Mike. Yuv wrote This part they've achieved now that they've devised a scheme whereby players have to work off a bonus to get all of their money back Who'd have thunk that's what he meant when he wrote that?

I drew 888 Management's attention to Yuv's post.

They have replied that on May 19 2010 Yuv posted:

and it appears to me that they consider Yuv's earlier post to be rescinded by this.

I guess they consider charging this latest victim of the palpably unfair rule $400 for him keeping his $6,700 on their site without playing poker or using their software is reasonable.

As mentioned in an earlier post, one of the requirements for eCOGRA Safe and Fair certification is that notice be given prior to such a term and condition being executed. So I asked directly:
and I got the response:
Now I am curious what will happen if I complain to eCOGRA:
1. Nothing. eCOGRA turns a blind eye.
2. 888/Cassava changes their procedure in order to achieve compliance, or
3. 888 abandons its eCOGRA Safe and Fair seal.

All of this, the egregiously unfair condition and their refusal to give notice, does speak volumes about 888's corporate philosophy.

stunned*. mailed them that i will actively disencourage everyone i know from paying their site. and so i will do. hope this helps.

Just noticed the bump here and wanted to make clear that I do not work for 888 anymore and have not worked at the company since Feb 2011.

That doesn't excuse the fraudulent statements you made.

I stated what was communicated to me. I have no way to confirm what is the policy these days or to even go back and see if the information I received at the time was correct.

No problem. I'm sure if anyone has ever received a notice, they'll chime in here real soon...

Yuv

Now that you don't work for them, what is your opinion on the rule of charging resting players 10% per month of their bankroll on 888Poker, however large it is, for not using their software for six months? Do you think it is fair and reasonable?

Thanks.

Seriously, stop hating on Yuv. All he did was work for 888 and follow their policies. That was his job! He didn't write the T&C's ffs.