A Cautionary Tale

Desert Orchid

Desert Orchid

Senior Jockey
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
25,671
The other evening I got an email from Hills telling me that I was betting unusually heavily and that they had procedures in place to help.

... Blah, blah, blah, I thought ...

True, lately I have been betting more often with Hills, mainly when decent prices are boosted and extra places available, but my stakes have remained as before.

I backed Maydanny with them yesterday but never thought to check my balance, not having any reason to, to be honest. My account was very healthy indeed. I've had plenty of other bookies limit me or impose other restrictions with balances a fraction of the Hills one.

However, this morning I DID notice my balance was a fraction of what I would have expected and my immediate fear was that somebody had hacked it (even though I don't see what is to be gained from hacking an account that you can't make withdrawals from) but on inspection I realised that a bet I made on Saturday had been settled by a factor of 100 (against me).

As most of you know, I've had eyesight problems for some time and this might be the root of what happened, or maybe too light a tap on the decimal point but either way it has cost me dear.

I have written to Hills to explain the situation and thrown myself on their mercy but I hope others can learn from this situation.

Make sure you double-check your bets!
 
I did something similar with Bet365 some years ago when placing (I thought) a £2.50ew bet for Mrs Viking. Horrified to see my account had been debited £500 so rang to see if they would correct the bet. Got nowhere with their support line but eventually got hold of a manager who couldn’t have been more helpful and sorted it for me.
He did say I’d need to put the intended stake on before the race though.

The horse fell two out when looking booked for at least a place (big sigh of relief from me but the missus didn’t get why I was glad her horse fell)

Good luck DO


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I went on bet365 once and saw a bulging account and didnt know why.turns out I staked £22 instead of £2.
 
Outsider said:
I went on bet365 once and saw a bulging account and didnt know why.turns out I staked £22 instead of £2.
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I know if I made a mistake like that I would contact the bookies to let them know it was a mistake. I've lost count of the number of times I've told shopkeepers/assistants they've given me too much change or under-charged me. It's usually met with a look of disbelief but it's just the way I was brought up.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I know if I made a mistake like that I would contact the bookies to let them know it was a mistake. I've lost count of the number of times I've told shopkeepers/assistants they've given me too much change or under-charged me. It's usually met with a look of disbelief but it's just the way I was brought up.
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I've had that happen in a shop a number of times and like you have always gone back to correct it. Dont want to get the teller in trouble and all that.

It's never happened online but I'm not convinced I'd do the same if it did. Same situation I know, but I do think not seeing the person taking my bet would make a difference.

Rightly or wrongly I'd view an online error as a massive corporate entity ******* up with their systems.
 
I think the honesty is admirable Des and I'm the same in a lot of ways if it was in a bookies and I thought it might get one of the staff into trouble then I'd certainly play fair and have done in the past. The way I've been treated by some firms though I'd love to kick the crap out of them and rob them blind at any opportunity as long as said that nobody loses their job. So I'm with Tincan on that one.
 
Many times in shops and even the bookies I've told them they have given too much change or overpaid me,but if I had lost that bet do you think they would have given me my overstake back.
You make me out to be dishonest which I'm not.and I dont like that at all.
 
Outsider said:
You make me out to be dishonest which I'm not.and I dont like that at all.
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That certainly wasn't my intention, Outsider, and I apologise if it came across that way.

There have been a number of times over the years that I've gone into accounts and noticed I'd backed something twice because I had forgotten to log the first bet. Sometimes they win, which boosts the balance, sometimes they don't, which gets me annoyed with myself. But I haven't phoned them up and said (win or lose) the second bet was a mistake and should be disregarded.

I think maybe twice I've backed the wrong horse by mistake - mis-following a line on my laptop screen (if that's the expression) - and phoned up immediately (this was in the morning) to ask them to void the bet. One firm accepted the call in good faith and cancelled immediately (might have been the tote) but the other (PP?) made a bit of song and dance about it before ultimately doing so 'as a gesture of goodwill but we won't be doing it again".
 
Not too long ago on a similar note I filled my car with 30 euro diesel in a petrol station , went in to pay and there was a girl in her twenties behind the counter scrolling her iPhone , barely looked up at me and I said whatever pump it was and handed her 50 euro , got my change without a thank you or good day . Went out to my car and looked at my change and saw I had 30 euro instead of 20 euro I should have got back .
Went back in and said to the girl are you sure you charged me for the right pump .... she let out a big sigh and said of course I did and then lifted her tone further saying have you a problem? ... I said no and sorry for bothering you and left knowing she had done herself out of a tenner .... I’d play honest in life but didn’t feel bad in this instance and put the tenner in a charity box the following day .
On a seperate note I’m a modest punter who lives in Ireland but enjoys the views of more knowledgeable punters than I and I must say their has been great vibrancy to the forum this past few weeks with the arrival back of Danny and top tipping of forumites like Dersert Orchid and gigilo , well done to all and thanks for your thoughts !
 
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