Paddy Power Casino - Player’s account has been blocked.

Hello,

I have a problem with Paddy Power casino. I registered in their online casino about a month ago, made a deposit, played a little and my account has been suspended. It happened first on the first day when I registered, I was asked for a proof of ID and address, which I submitted promptly and my account was re-activated. In about 1 week my account has been suspended again. I was asked for a photo of my bank card. I sent the photo via their chat service straigh away and I was told my account would be re-activated soon. Next day, account was still suspended. I can login, but I can't play any games or withdraw my cash from the account. I asked on live chat and was told I need to wait until a "specialist department" re-activates my account and that it should be soon, but they didn't provide any more concrete information. A week passed and my account was still deactivated. I contacted live chat and was basically told the same, they have a high number of applications and that I need to wait for the "specialist department".

Yesterday it has been 2 weeks since the 2nd account de-activation. So I visited a local Paddy Power betting shop and hoped the staff in the shop would help me as it's always nicer to talk to a live person than to a chat bot or wait days for an email reply. The staff in the shop seemed that they didn't want to help me at all and just told me that they couldn't help with online account problems. I was told, again, to wait for the "specialist department" to re-activate my account and they told me that this is done in order to prevent problem gamblers and money laundering. I don't really believe that. If I was a problem gambler, why did they allow me to lose £100 on slot machines in the shop yet when I won about £10 online they block my account so I cannot get my winnings? And I'm not a problem gambler, I have a strict rule where I send the same amount for gambling every month aside and if I loose it I don't play until my next pay day. I never had a problem getting my winnings in Paddy Powers shops (or other betting shops), but this was the first time I played online and I think when you speak to them face to face they pay you but if you speak to them via chat or email it's much easier to make "excuses not to pay". And I don't believe the money laundering excuse as well, if someone wins money how can that be money laundering? And if someone steals money and looses it than it's the job of the police and not of the casino to keep genuine winnings.

Therefore I believe the casino just wants to keep my winnings. They advertise on TV and I get pop ups when browsing that they would give me slot spins for free, but that's a trap. They did give me free spins, but when I won a little, they said if I make a deposit of £10 I would get more free spins. So I deposited £10 and did receive the free spins, but then they blocked the account and kept both my £10 and the winnings from the free spins! I talked to other people about this and they said that they played with Paddy Power online and didn't have any problems. But I don't know if I can believe that. Maybe Paddy Power pays some people to pretend to be customers in their shop and just tell the people who fall victims of their fraud that everything will be OK?

Anyway, I would like to ask you if you could please help me with this. The reason I trust you is that I have a friend who also had a problem with a casino (I don't think Paddy Power, but another casino) and he said that you helped him. First of all, I must say I can't pay for any lawyers or anything. I was told you solve casino issues for free and if that's the case I would be interested. If you charge for your service, then please disregard my message as I don't think it's worth paying for a dispute service when it's "only £20". While every £20 counts for me, even if I can't get it back I would more likely be interested to take action so that this type of fraud doesn't happen either to me or to other people in the future. I think this shouldn't happen in a country like a UK where a big company with shops in almost all towns that sponsors football games, has adverts everywhere on TV and the internet and then they just take the money that people deposit? Many people probably just ignore it and take it, but if they take £20 from 1.000.000 people that adds up to a "great and easy steal"! So if you could help me please let me know what I need to do. I am happy to provide all the details that you may need as long as their is nothing I need to pay for. Thank you.

Best regards,

Sophie

Dear sophie_294,

Thank you very much for submitting your complaint. I’m sorry to hear about your problem. Please allow me to ask you a few questions, so I can understand the whole situation completely. Could you please advise if you’ve completed the account verification successfully? Have you received any successful withdrawals from this casino in the past? Which games you’ve been playing (live games, slots, or multiplayer)?

I hope we will be able to help you to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Thank you in advance for your reply.

Best regards,

Petronela

PS: I can assure you that our services are complimentary, and we don't charge any fees nor accept any donations, we are here to help the players if they experience any injustice from online casinos. 

Dear Petronela,

thank you very much for your quick reply to my complaint. Regarding your question, after sending my ID and proof of address I was told that verification was successful and that was very fast, within a few minutes of me sending the documents. When my account was blocked for the 2nd time I was asked for a copy of my bank card and this is where it remained blocked and it wasn't re-activated after that.

I have never received any withdrawals online. I did win in the Paddy Power shop where they just paid me in cash straight away, but I never withdrew from their online casino.

Regarding the games played, I only played slots (the fruit machines). I didn't play any multiplayer games or live casino games like Roulette or Poker.

And regarding "we are here to help the players if they experience any injustice from online casinos.", thank you very much for that! It's very nice of you and nice to see someone trying to help people for free. I'm sure many players will greatly appreciate what you do for them!

Thank you very much for that again and best regards,

Sophie

Thank you very much, sophie_294, for providing all the necessary information. I will now transfer your complaint to my colleague Adam (adam.m@casino.guru) 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 sophie_294,

I have reviewed your case and will try to contact the casino to see if I can help.

We would like to invite Paddy Power Casino to join the conversation and to aid in the resolution of this complaint.

Dear Sophie,

I am so far struggling to find a direct way (such as an e-mail address) to contact the casino. It seems that they only respond to complaints via their live chat service or Twitter page. Can I ask in which way you have raised your complaint with them? Have you contacted them via live chat only, and have you been in touch with a Manager there?

Dear Adam,

thank you very much for trying to help me with my problem with Paddy Power casino. I have contacted Paddy Power via email, which is customersecurity@paddypower.com and via their live chat service three times as I don't have a Twitter account. I don't think I spoke to a manager, but the last time I spoke to them the first person on the chat transferred me to another person who should have known more, but unfortunately they only told me to wait.

Thank you and best regards,

Sophie

Hello Sophie,

Thank you for the update, I have attempted to contact the casino so we will await a response.

Hello Sophie,

After trying multiple e-mail addresses, I have received a response stating that contact can no longer be made via e-mail but only via Messenger/Live Chat.

I have tried to contact the Live Chat but they could give me no further information.

I have had a look at the casino's complaints procedure (https://helpcenter.paddypower.com/app/answers/detail/p/6/a_id/88/) and if you haven't done so already I suggest that you submit your complaint using the "complaints portal'.

Please let me know if you have already done this, and if so how they have responded.

Hello Sophie,

If you follow the link I have sent previously, the complaints portal button is the one you should press. You will then see a complaints messenger box pop up in the bottom right-hand corner, but please be aware this can take a minute or two to appear (Please see screenshots attached). Let me know if I can help any further with this.

If you still have no luck with this, I would recommend contacting the IBAS and submitting a complaint to them. Their services are free and they may have better options and tools to help players. You will need to register with them and then fill out a form, the link is here: https://www.ibas-uk.com/consumers/register-with-ibas/.

Again, if you need help filling out the form please do let me know.

Please keep me updated on how you intend to proceed, I will keep this complaint open until I know you have made some progress.

Kind regards,

Adam

Dear sophie_294,

Could I ask if there have been any further developments?

Please be aware that if we do not hear from you within the set timeframe the complaint will be rejected.

Kind regards,

Adam

Dear Adam,

thank you for your advice and sorry for the delay in my reply. I am out of the UK until Sunday and when I wanted to click on your link and follow the instructions it eventually told me that I am in a country where Paddy Power doesn't accept bets from. I didn't want to place any bets, but I couldn't get to the website in the instructions and I think it's only because I'm in France right now. I will do this when I get back to the UK and I will let you know as soon as I've made any progress.

Thank you again for all your help and waiting for my reply.

Best regards,

Sophie

Hello Sophie,

Thank you for keeping me updated, I will extend the timer and wait for your response.

Kind regards,

Adam

Hello Adam,

thank you for waiting for my response. I have some good news I received from Paddy Power that I read in my email this morning. It says:

"

Thank you for your patience while we verified your documents. Just as we expected your details checked out and your account is now fully active.

If you have any issues logging in or any other questions, feel free to contact our Customer Support Team who are available 24/7.

Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, go and enjoy what Paddy Power has to offer!

"

I also checked my PaddyPower account and I could log in and the website loaded without any resctrictions. I didn't play anything yet, but several of the slot games loaded so I assume it should all work fine from now.

So based on this, I believe you can close this case as "successfull", but if you ever do any reviews on Paddy Power I would add that it's an extremely poor and understaffed customer service where it's very difficult to contact anyone (except a chat bot) and where it takes a month to verify documents before people can play for real money.

Also, thank you very much for your all your help and advice you gave me!

Take care and best regards,

Sophie

Hello Sophie,

That is good news! I'm glad to hear that your issue was resolved, I will now mark the complaint as 'resolved' in our system.

Thank you for using the Casino Guru complaint resolution center. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you run into any issues with this or any other casino in the future. We are here to help.

I wish you all the best,

Adam