Sports Spread payment issues

[tg5321]

Sports spread in Ireland owe me in excess of £7000. First withdrawal was "accepted" at the end of August and nothing has been paid. Numerous phone calls are batted off by unhelpful staff with all kinds of bizarre excuses. Brian O'Neill who apparently is the only person who can authorise payments occasionally replies to emails with assurances of funds coming through, payment will be made, bare with me etc but then disappears for 3 weeks.

One email did say they had a backlog of 12-15 people they owed money too which would correlate with a few other threads online. Has anyone actually got paid by them in the last few months or taken any further action?

 

[quincunx]

I'd never heard of Sports spread in Ireland.In the UK,spreadbetting firms are answerable to a financial authority and have to post a bond.It might be worth checking whether that is true in Ireland,too.If it is,you could threaten to complain to them,and actually do it if there is no response.

 

[ThePrisoner]

The Financial Services Ombudsman in Ireland do not regard Sportsspread to be a "regulated financial provider" therefore they have no jurisdiction.

I am currently looking at how to take Sportsspread to court.

 

[fosterk87]

Hi guys,

Unfortunatly i have just opened an deposited with these guys and have won,

Has anybody had a withdrawal paid?

they said i need to wait a month for money laundering rules

Thanks

 

[ThePrisoner]

Just get your wihdrawl request in when you can. I did receive small payments a couple of times but when I requested a big withdrawl I didn't get it. Others in the same position all seem to be waiting for £1k+.

 

[fosterk87]

I have placed the request all ready but dont seem to be currently getting anywhere fast, it seems very strange that thier phones have been down 3 days.

Have you had any joy down the legal route?

When you say small what amounts are we talking less than 500?

 

[fosterk87]

I have just been told my withdrawal has been passed over for processing, will let you know when I recieve

 

[ffm]

Hi Fosterk87

May I ask when you requested the withdrawal and when they wanted to process it?

I too made an withdrawal request some days ago but haven't heard back.

 

[tg5321]

Appears they paid me £1000 towards the end of last month, still over £6000 outstanding. Rang up the other day and spoke to a particularly unhelpful,rude individual in accounts who hid behind the line Brian O Neill is dealing with this and he couldnt do anything.O neill is never available and appears to have now stopped responding to emails. I'm currently looking at other options.

I find it absolutely incredible that this company continues to trade.

 

[fosterk87]

I requested on 6th Jan was supposed to be in my account this Friday just gone as suprise suprise it is not there.

I am waiting for a call from them at the moment and I will let you know about my progress.

Keep me posted on your progress with this guys

 

[fosterk87]

This is the first one I am chasing of 2 withdrawals the other was placed more recently, I must say I am not impressed

 

[ThePrisoner]

tg5321 - what options are you looking at? I have sent emails to a couple of Dublin solicitors this week - waiting for responses at the moment.

 

[tg5321]

Was looking at getting some professional debt collectors involved to start with.

A couple of things I'm not sure about are if it's better to use a Dublin based one, and secondly are they not paying because they simply have cashflow/money problems or just because they have no intention of doing so?

Let me know if you hear anything useful back.

 

[fosterk87]

To let you know my first withdrawal is in my account this morning I will keep you up to date with the outstanding withdrawal

 

[ffm]

Nice to hear.

I still haven't heard back.

 

[tg5321]

not very encouraging.....

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/financial-services/betting-executives-adjudicated-bankrupt-1.1664686

 

[johnsmith]

Oh my god l wish i was aware... l have requested a withdrawal and am having the same problems ....what can one do if they do not pay out and are not part of the FSA

 

[abyajdm]

This "company" owe me about £2.5k and I have met with the same nonsense that other seem to have experienced.

I have looked into the matter and it does not appear that SportsSpread are regulated by anyone in Ireland. I have contacted the Irish Revenue Commission, who apparently might be able to help. I am waiting to hear back from them.

Unfortunately it does appear to be the case that gambling debts are unenforceable in Ireland (there is new legislation coming in to rectify this). I was told this by Brian O Neil, and have confirmed this, who essentially said we don't legally owe you any money so tough luck.

I will let people know if I discover more, but I would not hold out any high hopes, they are clearly insolvent and it seems likely the whole company is a fraud.

 

[fosterk87]

Hi Guys,

Hope you are getting somewhere with this,

I have been told my second withdrawal should be sent next Tuesday, again I will keep you guys informed.

 

[tg5321]

Anyone got any further with this?
I'm not getting any joy with any debt collectors/solicitors etc in Dublin probably for the reasons outlined above.
If we cant get our money the least we should do is try and get O'Neil completely out of business so no one else can get screwed over.