Club Lounge Casino - Player lost all the funds after unwanted bonus has been activated in his account.

I deposited 40 euros not wanting the bonus as I did not want wagering requirements. The bonus was applied anyway unasked for. I had 2 spins without realising and checked my spam e mail folder and saw the bonus had been applied. I immediately asked for the bonus to be removed on chat but they said they couldn't as I had commenced. Played it through and lost and asked through their support e mail to close my account twice. They didn't and put 10 euros in the account asking how they could make my experience better. I foolishly deposited £750 over the next 3 hours and lost all. I have asked for re imbursement but gone silent despite my sending 3 e mails to them. My fault and hopeless request for cash back or their fault or both liable? 

Dear Gary,

Thank you for submitting your complaint. I’m very sorry to hear about your negative experience. We will contact the casino and ask for their help resolving this unpleasant situation, but before we do so, please could you forward me the email in which you have requested the bonus not to be activated? Hopefully, we will be able to help you with this issue as soon as possible. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Petronela

Hi Petronela

The sequence of events was this. 

I opened the account and deposited 40 euros. 

There was no facility to either accept or reject the bonus applied. 

I didn't want any bonus applied as I know they come with excessive wagering requirements. 

I spun maybe 1 or 2 low value spins and glanef at the balance and could see it was inflated so stopped and checked my spam e mails. 

There was an e mail advising of introductory bonus. 

I opened the 'chat' feature on the casino site and asked for the bonus to be removed. The chat operator said they couldn't as I had already spun a few reels. 

I then asked the chat operator to close my account and they said they couldn't anf I had to e mail their support e mail. 

I quickly just spun through the 40 euros to get rid of it as I knew I wouldn't be able to withdraw anything anf came offline. 

I then e mailed the support asking that my account be closed. 

The account remained open so the following day I e mailed again asking that t the account be closed. 

Later this was responded to by an e mail from them saying they will do (future tense) but wanted to know why and alerting me to a 10 euro free bonus they had placed on my account. 

I played that through and immediately thereafter in a couple of hours after rdeposited a further set of deposits totalling £700 plus GBP simply chasing my losses. 

I only chose club lounge as they are not on gamstop and I have excluded on gamstop around 2 years ago for 5 years as knew I had a problem. 

Next e mails from them were advising me I was now a Vip member and placing 30 euros in the account which I simply used in 30 seconds to get rid of it in anger and began again to ask for my deposits back which I would not have been able to deposit if my 2 earlier e mail instructions had been acted on when asked. 

They have since agreed to close my account and suggest that I make a complaint to get the deposits after closure requests back. 

I did that today and informed to wait 5 days for their response. 

I didn't take a screenshot of my chat with them and no longer have access to the account. 

I have kept my e mail s to them. 

I don't hold any hope of getting the deposit s back as there is an argument that when the account wasn't closed upon request nobody twisted my arm to make me deposit. 

The fact is I knew I would just keep depositing until the account was closed as I am compulsive which is why after 40 euros I asked twice to close it. 

I therefore am not sure you can assist as seems to be sharp practice rather than dishonesty and I doubt they will have any moral difficulties in retaining deposits in this manner from a recovering addict. 

Thanks

Gary

Thank you very much Gary for providing all the necessary information. I will transfer now your complaint to my colleague Matej who will be at your assistance. I wish you best of luck and hope to see your problem being resolved to your satisfaction in the near future.

Hello

This was the response from club lounge casino. 

Dear Gary,

Before we get into the particulars, we must point out that there is a world of difference between account closure due to client dissatisfaction and account closure due to gambling addiction.

Any client is entitled to close their account. If the motivating factor is dissatisfaction with the casino then the support staff and account managers are expected to do what they can to make an unhappy client into a happy one. If they do not succeed, then the account will be closed --as stipulated in the T&Cs-- "within a reasonable time." In such cases, however, there is no reason to assume that a client has a diminished capacity for free choice. If so, the failure of the casino staff to close an account cannot be the reason for a client continuing to deposit or play. Yesterday he was dissatisfied, but he has the right to change his mind for whatever reason he might have.

In your case, you send an email on the 19th of February 2020  requesting your account to be closed with no reason provided. We see that you received a pre-closing email on the 20th of February 2020 seeking feedback and confirmation to the closure request as part of the Casino protocol.

The T&Cs acknowledge that a client has the authority to request account closure at any time via e-mail or the contact us form on the support page. The casino staff must deal with that request in a timely manner. Part of dealing with the request is to request clarification. The casino expects its staff to do their utmost to please clients and to make unhappy clients into happy ones. Chat operators are not authorized to close accounts. This is because of the fluidity of the chat situation and the possibility that a chat operator might inadvertently not process a request properly.

As long as a client has not indicated that there is a gambling addiction involved the presumption is that the client’s free will is unimpaired. Part of the follow-up process, once a client submits the account closure request in writing, is to give the client the opportunity to state they have an addiction.

We must note that you have not mentioned anything about gambling addiction until the account was already closed.

We understand your frustrations, however, we see the casino has followed the correct procedure under the responsible gambling section of the t&c’s.

As for the bonus you have received, it is also written in our Terms&Condition: 

" 1. All Deposit Bonuses will automatically be credited to the player upon a successful Deposit.

1. Canceling a Bonus by players can be made by contacting support 24/7. The Bonus can be canceled as long as the player did not make a single bet.
2. If a player wishes not to receive an automatic Bonus by the system, the player may do so by contacting support 24/7."

In this matter, your request for a refund is denied.

Kind regards

Complaints Department 

I think the money is gone and aside from any moral obligation I can't see any reasons for club lounge to reverse their decision. 

I think unless you have any views that this complaint is to be marked resolved albeit not in my favour. 

Gary

Dear Sir

 

I am disappointed but unsurprised by your response. 

 

I think it is perfectly clear what an unconditional and unexplained request for closure means and your protocol on not actioning the request until one of your staff has an opportunity to identify why the request was made is not stated in your t and c. 

 

As for within a reasonable time, I can accept that requests can not always be dealt with instantly but in this instance a reasonable time will mean when a member of staff has the opportunity to read and deal with the request. 

 

That opportunity arose when the casino response was given on the 20th and my instructions were not followed. 

 

I would be grateful if you could highlight the t and c section on 'pre closure' being the response to an unequivocal and permitted unexplained request to close the account. 

 

My instructions were not followed and there is nothing in the t and c that requires me to offer any explanation for my decision and the account should have been deactivated at that point. 

 

There is a corresponding obligation on casinos where the pattern of play and rapid succession of high value deposits may indicate compulsive behaviour and the response was to keep the account active and maintained with additional low value bonus funds to prolong the facility for further deposits. 

 

Had I had known that my 2 requests to close the account would be met with remarks that I failed to announce I had a problem with gambling hence the facility to lose even more money was left open do you not think I would have mentioned it.

 

The fact is that to examine the whole incident and exchange of cash and communication  should now make it perfectly clear to you that I speak the truth but you don't seem to have a protocol for fair dealing now the true position is glaringly obvious. 

 

In the event that you are not prepared to reconsider your position I would be grateful if you indicate the next level where I can pursue this further. 

 

Regards 

 

Gary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ticket Details
Ticket ID: AWB-925-59494
Department: ClubLounge Support

Hello Gary.

Unfortunately, your situation is a bit grey area. Casinos should indeed close the account immediately after player mention gambling problem. However, for a closing account, the time frame isn't specified. From casino answer: It makes sense that they want to know why the customer is unhappy and offer the customer some bonuses to change his mind.

Because you never mentioned gambling problems and casino reaction didn't take extremely long, we believe that your refund request is not justified. I have checked the Gambling Act trying to find something that we can use, but I didn't find any article where is described the closing account process time frame in detail.

Some casinos offered their players tools for self-exclusion, freezing the account, cool off feature or deposit limitations. In case that you know that you have problems, I highly recommend you to play only in casinos which offer players such tools (but I think all of them are on GamStop)

One more time, I am very sorry to hear about your troubles, but I believe that the casino has right in this case.

Hello Matej

Thank you for taking the time to consider my submission. 

Gary

You are welcome Gary.

Because we already explained the situation, we decided that in this case the casino has right and to reject this complaint as "unjustified".