Lad brokes refuse to pay me out & loss of inheritance on
Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 2:04 am
Let me first say I inherited the sum of £13,613 on the sale of my grandfathers house following his passing. What followed was a mixture of temptations & my own stupidity from local bookmakers. They should take some responsibility too as I never intended it to go this far. To cut a long story short I lost the entire amount in the space of 2 weeks but that story is for another day. What I want to focus on is what I believe to be crookedness from one bookmaker in particular.
Early in the morning on the 19th April 2010 I went into Ladbrokes bookmakers on Market Place in Leicester city centre. Even though I had only began to use the shop for around 2 weeks, I think I became known to the staff due to the fact that I was withdrawing & staking large £100 sums on blackjack on the fixed odds betting terminals. Anyway I ended up walking away with a loss of exactly £800 after spending no longer than 5 minutes on the machines. To say the word "fixed" is an understatement but I had no proof of this so I will not focus on that any further. After work, I visited Ladbrokes again & made a withdrawal of £200. Slowly but surely I turned it into £1,300 & quickly hit the collect button. At this time my overall losses were at about £3,000 so I was happy to collect the £1,300 & write off the rest of the money & put it down to experience & work a bit more overtime to offset the loss. Anyway trying to collect the money didn't go to plan. I handed over the slip to a cashier who first of all was bad mannered & said "we couldn't pay that amount". I said "sorry" & he said rudely "I have another customer" & made a hand movement as to push me to the side. After he was done with 2 customers he claimed that the shop didn't have that cash & I informed him that I'd already put £1,000 into the machines. He said, "don't lie." At this point I was shocked that I was being spoken to in that manner so I asked him to call the manager. The cashier said "he's outside & will be back soon" so I waited for several minutes. The (what I know to be now) manager walked through with a stubbed out cigarette in his hand & went into the booth where they both had words. I asked the manager that I be given an apology for being treated in such an unprofessional way (I work in retail too & would never call a customer a liar). The manager made perfectly clear he couldn't care less & protected his member of staff. I asked them both for their names & told them that I would make a complaint to Ladbrokes head office only to be told by the manager that they wouldn't care & that it was my word over theres. I decided then just to forget the whole thing & just take my winnings by whatever means they offered. This is not what happened.
The manager said "we're not paying you today", so I said, "ok, give me a cheque". He shook his head and said that he would need to investigate my claim with head office, I them informed him how much I had already spent in the shop & that this was just a partial return. He made no comment & there was no expression on his face. At this point time was getting on so I asked for a receipt & he said they couldn't give one & that he would remember me & (can't remember the technical name). Anyway he wrote something on a betting slip & scanned it. That was it. I asked him to telephone me as soon as it was sorted & he told me that I would have to come down. On return the next day I was told by the same manager that the regional manager had told him that they could not pay out due to insufficient evidence that I had placed the bet & that I would need to contact their security department. After 2 months of liaising with them & Ladbrokes customer service, they told me that they wouldn't be paying out & wouldn't offer me a valid reason. They also said I could not get in contact with IBAS as this was out of their remit as they only dealt with settlement of bets & they didn't dispute the fact, that the slip was made up from legitimate returns.
I was that angry & thought that even if I could attempt to sue Ladbrokes it could take over a year & it could cost me an arm & a leg in the process, so I went into a different bookmaker "on tilt" the same day trying to recoup the £1,300 they owed me & lost over double that amount on a mixture of blackjack & roulette.
Total loss around £6,000, I joined up with the nearest casino where as you can probably guess I blew the remaining inheritance & about £2,000 of my savings on lower than expected table limit blackjack & roulette. I was hoping to just put £5,000 on one hand or one spin but they simply would not allow that & my whole bankroll sank over the evening.
I put this all down to a knock on effect of Ladbrokes crookedness & my stupidity falling for the marketing & social acceptance of roulette which is being shoved down our faces in various mediums.
I have now got myself a second job to try to recoup my grandfathers money which I will continue with for 2 years until every penny has been paid back, then I can use it wisely as intended.
Early in the morning on the 19th April 2010 I went into Ladbrokes bookmakers on Market Place in Leicester city centre. Even though I had only began to use the shop for around 2 weeks, I think I became known to the staff due to the fact that I was withdrawing & staking large £100 sums on blackjack on the fixed odds betting terminals. Anyway I ended up walking away with a loss of exactly £800 after spending no longer than 5 minutes on the machines. To say the word "fixed" is an understatement but I had no proof of this so I will not focus on that any further. After work, I visited Ladbrokes again & made a withdrawal of £200. Slowly but surely I turned it into £1,300 & quickly hit the collect button. At this time my overall losses were at about £3,000 so I was happy to collect the £1,300 & write off the rest of the money & put it down to experience & work a bit more overtime to offset the loss. Anyway trying to collect the money didn't go to plan. I handed over the slip to a cashier who first of all was bad mannered & said "we couldn't pay that amount". I said "sorry" & he said rudely "I have another customer" & made a hand movement as to push me to the side. After he was done with 2 customers he claimed that the shop didn't have that cash & I informed him that I'd already put £1,000 into the machines. He said, "don't lie." At this point I was shocked that I was being spoken to in that manner so I asked him to call the manager. The cashier said "he's outside & will be back soon" so I waited for several minutes. The (what I know to be now) manager walked through with a stubbed out cigarette in his hand & went into the booth where they both had words. I asked the manager that I be given an apology for being treated in such an unprofessional way (I work in retail too & would never call a customer a liar). The manager made perfectly clear he couldn't care less & protected his member of staff. I asked them both for their names & told them that I would make a complaint to Ladbrokes head office only to be told by the manager that they wouldn't care & that it was my word over theres. I decided then just to forget the whole thing & just take my winnings by whatever means they offered. This is not what happened.
The manager said "we're not paying you today", so I said, "ok, give me a cheque". He shook his head and said that he would need to investigate my claim with head office, I them informed him how much I had already spent in the shop & that this was just a partial return. He made no comment & there was no expression on his face. At this point time was getting on so I asked for a receipt & he said they couldn't give one & that he would remember me & (can't remember the technical name). Anyway he wrote something on a betting slip & scanned it. That was it. I asked him to telephone me as soon as it was sorted & he told me that I would have to come down. On return the next day I was told by the same manager that the regional manager had told him that they could not pay out due to insufficient evidence that I had placed the bet & that I would need to contact their security department. After 2 months of liaising with them & Ladbrokes customer service, they told me that they wouldn't be paying out & wouldn't offer me a valid reason. They also said I could not get in contact with IBAS as this was out of their remit as they only dealt with settlement of bets & they didn't dispute the fact, that the slip was made up from legitimate returns.
I was that angry & thought that even if I could attempt to sue Ladbrokes it could take over a year & it could cost me an arm & a leg in the process, so I went into a different bookmaker "on tilt" the same day trying to recoup the £1,300 they owed me & lost over double that amount on a mixture of blackjack & roulette.
Total loss around £6,000, I joined up with the nearest casino where as you can probably guess I blew the remaining inheritance & about £2,000 of my savings on lower than expected table limit blackjack & roulette. I was hoping to just put £5,000 on one hand or one spin but they simply would not allow that & my whole bankroll sank over the evening.
I put this all down to a knock on effect of Ladbrokes crookedness & my stupidity falling for the marketing & social acceptance of roulette which is being shoved down our faces in various mediums.
I have now got myself a second job to try to recoup my grandfathers money which I will continue with for 2 years until every penny has been paid back, then I can use it wisely as intended.
