The point of this thread is not to slam 18bet - my issue with them is still open and I hope it will be resolved soon. I would like to warn all potential players that their system is not clear enough and that they should be cautious when decide to apply for a bonus.
I registered and decided to take a bonus with my first deposit. I was about to put in EUR 1000 and I would get 50 (100% match up to 50) bonus. The transaction failed - my bank refused as the company was suspicious to them. After few hours resolving the issue with my bank regarding credit card security, finally second time I managed to deposit. This time I decided not to enter the bonus code as it seemed to me a lot of hassle (rules) for only 50 EUR. So I had EUR 980 (20 fee for credit card) and was ready to play. What I wasn't aware is that I GOT the bonus - it wasn't shown in my account balance at the right top corner. You could only see it if you hover over the "balance" word - then the info window would appear showing extra EUR 50 bonus. I realized it only when the customer service told me about this as it's not intuitive at all. When you go to account balance section, you cannot see this info.
So, I placed the first bet on handicap without knowing it's not allowed in bonus play. I played with what I thought was my whole balance (980) and won. Everything seemed fine - I had EUR 1,577 on my balance, and good fun
Then few hours later I had the next bet, I put EUR 577 to a normal 1x2 (allowed under bonus) and lost it. Ok, I thought, I'm left with 1000, initial investment.
But no! While the second bet was still ongoing, I got the message that I have manipulated the bonus and that my first winning is canceled. They revoked EUR 597 so I was left with 403. Then I realized that I was playing under bonus.
I'm wondering why such a non-transparent system? How is it possible to get the bonus when the deposit fails and why does it apply to the second deposit? Why 18bet doesn't better inform a player that he's in bonus and warn him if he's about to place an illegal bet? Why they needed so much time to react - I wouldn't play the second bet if I knew the first was cancelled.
All in all, it seems that if somebody/something is manipulative, it's the website and not me as a player. I don't have fun anymore and definitely curse that I have put that code in the first place and choose to do another deposit attempt with 18bet.
I oppose this non-transparency and think I should get the revoked money back. I didn't even play that 50 bonus and don't see whom am I manipulating and for what. I fairly played two bets, one I won and one I lost.
Another strange thing that I see in this situation are the bonus rules. They apply to the whole deposit - all 1000, not just part that corresponds to the amount of bonus (50). I cannot grasp why would all my deposit of 1000 be locked in the certain style of play - e.g. no handicap playing - because of 50? I cannot play handicap anymore until I rollover this bonus? That's completely ridiculous and unproductive from their side. If they lock 50 for 50, I would understand.
I sent them an email and chatted with their customer service. He didn't believe I wasn't aware of the bonus and said this info can be seen on 2 places - one by hovering in the top-right corner and in the main section (account balance). The later is not true. In their help section they mention customer service can be reached even by phone, but when I asked the guy couple of time for the phone number, he told me finally it's an outbound line only. I mean, ok, talking about being transparent. Now I can hope they will call me and return me my money.
in conclusion, if 18bet wants to be a good bookie, they should definitely become more transparent and not go the way bad bookies go.
Luckily, I can play this money for fun and it's not gonna ruin me. But I'm not gonna take it easily at all. I will continue warning the community and question their way of doing business if they don't react fast and do the right thing. I work in a public service in charge for consumer protection and will definitely raise this issues with my colleagues. Recently a couple of low-budget companies were fined due to misleading customers on their websites - maybe the attention should turn on bad bookies as well.
I hope other players will find this useful. I'm not the most experienced player out there, but not greenhorn as well.
I registered and decided to take a bonus with my first deposit. I was about to put in EUR 1000 and I would get 50 (100% match up to 50) bonus. The transaction failed - my bank refused as the company was suspicious to them. After few hours resolving the issue with my bank regarding credit card security, finally second time I managed to deposit. This time I decided not to enter the bonus code as it seemed to me a lot of hassle (rules) for only 50 EUR. So I had EUR 980 (20 fee for credit card) and was ready to play. What I wasn't aware is that I GOT the bonus - it wasn't shown in my account balance at the right top corner. You could only see it if you hover over the "balance" word - then the info window would appear showing extra EUR 50 bonus. I realized it only when the customer service told me about this as it's not intuitive at all. When you go to account balance section, you cannot see this info.
So, I placed the first bet on handicap without knowing it's not allowed in bonus play. I played with what I thought was my whole balance (980) and won. Everything seemed fine - I had EUR 1,577 on my balance, and good fun
Then few hours later I had the next bet, I put EUR 577 to a normal 1x2 (allowed under bonus) and lost it. Ok, I thought, I'm left with 1000, initial investment.But no! While the second bet was still ongoing, I got the message that I have manipulated the bonus and that my first winning is canceled. They revoked EUR 597 so I was left with 403. Then I realized that I was playing under bonus.
I'm wondering why such a non-transparent system? How is it possible to get the bonus when the deposit fails and why does it apply to the second deposit? Why 18bet doesn't better inform a player that he's in bonus and warn him if he's about to place an illegal bet? Why they needed so much time to react - I wouldn't play the second bet if I knew the first was cancelled.
All in all, it seems that if somebody/something is manipulative, it's the website and not me as a player. I don't have fun anymore
and definitely curse that I have put that code in the first place and choose to do another deposit attempt with 18bet.I oppose this non-transparency and think I should get the revoked money back. I didn't even play that 50 bonus and don't see whom am I manipulating and for what. I fairly played two bets, one I won and one I lost.
Another strange thing that I see in this situation are the bonus rules. They apply to the whole deposit - all 1000, not just part that corresponds to the amount of bonus (50). I cannot grasp why would all my deposit of 1000 be locked in the certain style of play - e.g. no handicap playing - because of 50? I cannot play handicap anymore until I rollover this bonus? That's completely ridiculous and unproductive from their side. If they lock 50 for 50, I would understand.
I sent them an email and chatted with their customer service. He didn't believe I wasn't aware of the bonus and said this info can be seen on 2 places - one by hovering in the top-right corner and in the main section (account balance). The later is not true. In their help section they mention customer service can be reached even by phone, but when I asked the guy couple of time for the phone number, he told me finally it's an outbound line only. I mean, ok, talking about being transparent. Now I can hope they will call me and return me my money.
in conclusion, if 18bet wants to be a good bookie, they should definitely become more transparent and not go the way bad bookies go.
Luckily, I can play this money for fun and it's not gonna ruin me. But I'm not gonna take it easily at all. I will continue warning the community and question their way of doing business if they don't react fast and do the right thing. I work in a public service in charge for consumer protection and will definitely raise this issues with my colleagues. Recently a couple of low-budget companies were fined due to misleading customers on their websites - maybe the attention should turn on bad bookies as well.
I hope other players will find this useful. I'm not the most experienced player out there, but not greenhorn as well.
