Dear all,

Please help me. This is my last resort before contacting a lawyer after weeks and weeks of attempts made to resolve this issue alone.

I will provide every single detail of every single thing anyone needs to know and will put below what has happened so far the best I can. I am absolutely beyond raging at this situation now and will never be playing on Unibet again once I get my money from them. This has cost me endless hours even days of my time in addition to money for petrol, parking and in general has caused me lots of distress and anxiety.

In summary, I have a £16,009.99 cashout from Unibet pending since 28.06.2016. They have put the withdrawal on hold pending account verification.

Please see below and please note also the amount of significant withdrawals, one literally 10 days prior, that I have made previously with no issues. The withdrawal page goes on much longer but this is all I can fit within 1 page screenshot.



They are requesting I get a proof of ownership from the bank (Barclays) of my OLD debit card that I had approximately 6 months ago and occasionally used to make deposits onto Unibet. My new debit card, which is what I use for everything now including playing on Unibet, is from the exact same bank/bank account and account number/sort code. I literally just lost the old card and got a new one as replacement. The form in which they want this proof of ownership of my old card is in the form of a letter from the bank that has the bank address at the top, and a letter saying "Bob used to own the card ending in xxxx". This letter must be stamped, dated and signed from the bank. This is the issue and I will get back to this later on.

Here is a list of the documents that I have sent to Unibet already:

Drivers license front and back
Passport
Utility bills dated within 3 months with my address
Image of my current bank card front and back
Current bank statement
Proof of ownership of old bank card
Old bank statement for old card

All of these documents, except the bolded, have been confirmed and accepted.

Here is a quick summary with dates and events since I made the withdrawal.

28.6.16 - Make cashout and assume it has gone through as normal.

A few days later (can't remember exact date) I check to see why it isn't in my bank yet. I log in to Unibet and see the withdraw is on hold pending account verification. Pretty annoying but not the end of the world and standard for a larger than normal cashout. I think this is fine and check to see what they need.

Which documents have to be provided?

"1. A copy of your ID (your government–issued ID card, passport, full driver’s license).

2. A copy of your credit card ending in xxxx and xxxx. Remember that we only need the six (6) first and the four (6) last digits on your credit card. Please take care to cover the six (6) intermediary digits as well as the CCV-code at the back of your credit card. If you are no longer in possession of the credit card in question, we kindly ask that you contact your bank for proof of prior ownership." Obviously I am no longer in possession of a card I lost 6 months ago. Please note how vague this description of "proof of ownership" actually is.

3.7.16 - Due to this not being particularly clear (above in red) and as I am taking a 2 week holiday starting tomorrow (4.7.16) I contact Unibet live support chat to ask EXACTLY what this means and what they need. The lady on live chat support told me that for proof of ownership of this old card which, let me just say is completely insane and ridiculous in the first place... (has anyone EVER been asked for this before? I have accounts on every single major gambling site ever made online for over 10 years and have NEVER been asked for this from any website in my life.)

The lady tells me it has to be a document from the bank that has my name on it, my bank account numbers/ sort code and my old bank card numbers. It also has to be stamped and dated by the bank. She also said I should get a bank statement from the date in which this card was used that shows I made a deposit onto Unibet with it.

4.7.16 - I drive to the bank and request this information. The man tells me they don't normally do this but he prints me off the below document and stamps and dates it with the bank address on it. He also provides me with the bank statement showing I used this card to make a deposit to Unibet with. I have now got exactly what they have asked me for. Both documents below. I have blanked out sensitive information for my own safety.





I sent Unibet on this date an email with a copy of my drivers license front and back, images of my current bank card front and back and the above documents.

I fly to Amsterdam from UK on 4.7.16 evening.

All documents take 1 - 3 days approval on Unibet. Of course it takes the full 3 days to hear anything and it takes me contacting them to ask what is going on.

8.7.16

Still in Amsterdam. I go to Unibet live support chat to find out what the problem is and why everything has been approved except proof of ownership of my old debit card.

I explain to about 4 different people over multiple hours that I have provided them with exactly the documents the lady asked for me. The document 100% proves that clearly that old card number is from my current account in my name as it matches the same bank details my current card I use for Unibet has. It is stamped by the bank with the date, bank address and the bank statement also proves I used that card months and months ago to make deposits and withdraws on Unibet.

Every person tells me that unfortunately this document isn't good enough despite it being exactly what was requested and I will need to go back the bank and get another letter from them which states I was the owner of this card. The whole time they just provide me with extremely vague descriptions of what they need for proof of ownership. After literally spending about 5 hours talking to these people I conclude that I need what I stated earlier on in this post. I will paste it again here:

They are requesting I get a proof of ownership from the bank (Barclays) of my OLD debit card that I had approximately 6 months ago and occasionally used to make deposits onto Unibet. I lost that bank card and got a new one which I have also used to deposit and withdraw from Unibet many times. The form in which they want this proof of ownership of my old card is precisely in the form of a letter from the bank that has the bank address at the top, and a letter saying "Bob used to own the card ending in xxxx". This letter must be stamped, dated and signed from the bank.

As I am in Amsterdam on holiday obviously I cannot go to the bank for this document. I am pretty annoyed by this as I am on holiday for 2 weeks without £16,000 of my money which I should now have.

13.7.16 - I fly to Barcelona

20.7.16 - I fly home to England

21.7.16 (Today)

OK, finally I will get this resolved I think. I drive 45 minutes again to the bank and pay for parking and waste my morning.

I ask the lady at the bank please can you provide me with a letter hand written or typed from Barclays, stamped and dated that states that I was the owner of this card that I used to have.

We do not do that I am afraid, she tells me. Really? She asks everyone else at Barclays and they say they have never ever heard of anyone ask for this and she is sorry but they never write anyone a hand letter for anything and are unable to make this letter for me to prove I owned this card. She calls the bank manager and he agrees this is not something they can do. Great I think...

She thinks for a while and says she can only give me this document (below) which is similar to the last one I sent to Unibet but also contains some extra information. I have to try of course.



The above document, is certain proof from the bank that I owned this bank card. It has every single piece of information on it that you could possibly need as proof of ownership.

The bank lady has one final suggestion to me and that is to phone Barclays head office.

I leave the bank, drive to the library to scan this above document and sent it in to Unibet to see if it's accepted. I go home and contact Unibet live support again as I try calling Unibet telephone number helpline multiple times with no success. The lady on Unibet live support tells me this isn't good enough and still they will require the other document.

I phone Barclays head office and spend 28 minutes on the phone with them this afternoon. The lady tells me "I have never heard of anyone ask for this before and neither has anyone else in the entire office, or any of our team leaders or higher level support who know absolutely everything, sorry we cannot provide this for you".

She tells me she is very sorry and she was really nice but she could not help me. She told me that if I wanted to try further I could make an official complaint against Barclays that will take roughly 48 hours to process.

So now I have had to make an official complaint against my own bank for something which is not their fault at all because they DO NOT PROVIDE this document to anyone, ever, and never have heard of anyone asking for such a thing. The result of this will probably be that I still will not get this letter.

I am happy to provide, if needed, video and sound recording evidence of me literally going in to the bank and asking for this document and them saying "no we do not ever do this and have not heard of it", and me phoning head office and them saying the exact same thing.

I have now sent in all of my document to Unibet a ridiculous amount of times, with exactly what they need and have asked for, but cannot provide them with a letter from the bank saying "Bob owned the card ending in 7027" because the bank DOES NOT DO THIS.

I have been waiting for nearly one month for my £16,000 and I feel like Unibet are trying to steal this from me and I have no idea what to do.

I am sorry for the length of this post but I wanted to make sure everything is here.

Unibet used to be one of my favourite sites but I will never, ever play here again after this complete and utter joke of a situation for the sake of me proving I owned a bank card 6 months ago which I obviously did and have proved so already.

Happy to answer any questions.

Please help me, I am losing my mind.

Didn't read the whole thing but while frustrating it's probably due to money laundering regulations so their hands are tied. Unibet are trustworthy, they're a listed company and one of the biggest operators in Europe - they're not going to go rogue for £16k.

Fwiw I think any transactions over £10k get extra scrutiny, that'll be why your previous ones didn't get flagged.

Yeah, you need to read the whole thing. I trust Unibet, but the document they have requested from me does not exist and is 100% impossible to get. Therefore, they are going to keep my money and steal it. Please read the whole thread before commenting but thank you I need all the help I can get.

- Don't try to resolve with with Unibet via Live Chat. Use email only.

- In your next email, summarize what you have provided and ask for it to be escalated to a Manager. Leave out all referenced to "stealing", and also avoid unnecessary narratives. Just list the things that you have sent, and ask for them to be re-reviewed.

I am a bit confused that you say you had that card "approximately 6 months ago"; the bank documents seem to suggest that you had it until mid-April?!

The Unibet guy spams any thread that has a mention of his room, so he will hit this one eventually. I did read your thing, and my general advice is always calm down, because this sounds a lot more like needing to follow some types of regulations (likely money laundering) than attempted theft, so your vried of thievery detract from your otherwise reasonable frustration.

No idea why people in these situations are always about to go on vacation for weeks, but that is not really important, just a strange pattern.

While waiting for the dude here you can try to call them back, ask for a supervisor at customer service and ask what additional specific information they need from your bank. Literally have them tell you the exact wording they need your banker to write in a note. Then go to your bank and ask them to cut and paste.

Good idea. Thank you. I have previously asked to speak to a manager or someone higher up and have been denied every time. Currently on live support chat again now talking and have linked them to this thread.

My apologies, you are correct and this is my mistake. I just used 6 months as a broad time frame because it feels like ages ago in my head and I just typed all of this extremely tilted. I did indeed have this card untill more recently but it doesn't really make a difference I don't think. It's just the card I had before the new one.

Thank you for your post.

Yes this is why I finally resort to making a post here because otherwise they will never help me. I suffer from severe depression and anxiety and currently have £4 in the bank and this is sending me insane. I really hope Andrew sees this and helps me.

I just won £16,000 from a £100 deposit. I wanted to take a holiday with my winnings because I've been broke for a year and haven't had a day off work for this time. I know what you mean though.

Currently on live support chat trying to resolve after linking this thread to them. I wish I had the transcripts from my live chat talks because I must of asked over 25 times for them to tell me the exact wording of what I need from them and every time they give a vague response or say just one sentence of "Bob owned bank card ending in 7027". And this is then precisely what I have asked the bank for and been denied multiple times.

Thank you for your post I appreciate the help and advice.

have you tried sending them a copy of the bank statements where you deposited the £100 with the old card is shown.That proves that you owned the account and the old card.

I made the £100 deposit with my new card but not sure if this is what you mean sorry. Good news coming in next post...

After making this thread I linked live support chat to it and spoke to 'Steve'.

Steve has helped me tremendously and the withdrawal is now confirmed and processed. I cannot thank him enough for his help with this. If you are reading this Steve - thank you so much!

Sadly this whole situation, in my opinion, has been handled very poorly by Unibet overall untill now. Just because it is now processed does not mean I have been treated anything other than terribly by them before making this thread.

I have wasted days of my life, lots of money and gone through high levels of unwarranted stress and anxiety as a result.

Unibet is a very good and trustworthy website for poker and gambling, but this was complete madness.

Thank you 2+2 for your contributions and advice. GL.

hey , log in here https://www.unibetcommunity.com/ post what upset you , a manager will contact you and will be much easier for you
gl

L.E. i see is now resolved

[1] Stop using live support!
[2] As SanchoHH has pointed out use email for record keeping purposes - it may be very important later
[3] Escalate to higher echelons within Unibet until you hit a brick wall or get what you want - do this by EMAIL
[4] Read section 16 below & follow the instructions step-by-step:
https://www.unibet.co.uk/general-info/terms#section-16
[5] If it's a brick wall, then send an email to all the top contacts you've found at Unibet informing them that you're filing a complaint with the eCOGRA ADR service [which is the UKGC approved service] in 48 hrs. Don't spam - make sure it's the people in the correct line manager positions & CC so that all recipients are aware of who else has had the email
[6] Wait 48 hrs
[7] If not resolved then file the complaint & cease communications with Unibet until this is resolved [this is important]
[8] Thank the stars you're in the UK with an effective procedure for these disputes
[9] Have a whiskey & forget about it until you're contacted

eCOGRA is free BTW
Read this page completely to get the gist of what they do & how you should behave: http://ecogra.org/ata/policies_procedures.php

EDIT: Seems you've had good news. Congrats

Why not send Andrew a PM rather than relying on hope?

Edit to add: Never mind, I see it's been resolved. Awesome. Still might be an idea to PM Andrew to make him aware of the situation and express your dissatisfaction with the process.

Mainly because I believe the way I have been treated up untill now is unacceptable. I wanted 2+2 to know about this situation as I have kept it private long enough and given Unibet plenty of time and chances to help me without having to do this.

Thanks.

Edit - thank you Loki for your post and advice. Much appreciated.

Bobo - please could you maybe edit the title so people know it's been resolved so that people aren't wasting their time to help me.

Sorry, to be clear, I meant PM him to make him aware of this thread.

That was already done.

Thank you Bobo

I have the same situation now, they think I need to provide them this proof of ownership of a card I returned to the bank 1.5 years ago and closed that account.
And I didn't even request withdrawal, only asked about it.
@ YourMumsOnFire
can you please tell me how exactly did you resolve this issue with this Steve guy ?
I am already in a 3rd week trying to solve this with Unibet. Their support is absolutely horrendous and getting a right person who actually knows something is a lottery.

UPDATE: finally resolved.
My advice to anyone who finds themselves in similar situation, is to speak to several CS agents until you find one who seems competent and knowledgeable.
Then, when you have to contact them again, if possible try asking for the same person.
The one agent who helped me, had to call me 3 times in total before they were finally able to resolve it, and in the end I didn't have to bring them this proof of ownership, but they weren't sure if I was going to need it until the very end.
All in all, pretty bad experience, they are very sloppy and slow, so be prepared for that if you have business with Unibet.

It's good the you got this resolved and probably would have always been the case as if they didn't they would be breaching there license.

Where did you win the money (I'm guessing poker?) because generally they use a delaying technique to make you cancel your withdrawal and gambling under the guise of 'Money Laundering Laws' which compliance doesn't necessarily need ID + Address but the longer you keep the money on the site the better for them.

yeah, poker, but the problem started because of some mutual misunderstanding between me and CS agent. And then, things escalated too quickly and my account got locked.
There were holidays in the meantime so I suppose that's also why it took so long to clear everything up.
From what i heard, they are ok for withdrawals, but it is widely known that their CS could be much better.
Sometimes, they can't even speak proper English...