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I know some of you will say “It’s your own fault for not checking” but I have to tell you this for fear it could happen to someone else.
Last Saturday I did my usual thing of “studying” and decided that I would actually visit a betting shop for the first time in donkeys. The said betting shop is a Coral’s shop.
I fancied Highland Acclaim in the Portland and after looking on the Coral site saw they were paying 5 places so I went and had an each way bet on Highland Acclaim as well as three each way doubles and an each way treble on Highland Acclaim Breton Rock and Bondi Beach .
Today (Friday) I went to collect my returns and was informed that Highland Acclaim wasn’t placed ! I assured them that it had finished fifth and they were paying first five on that race. The cashier looked at her results page for last Saturday and told me no they only paid four places on that race.
I asked to speak to the manager who also informed me that some of the enhanced place terms only apply to online betting. I have looked at the Coral site and in no place can I see any reference that this is the case. Also on the racing post site when you look at the compare odds for a race it shows the place terms and doesn’t say anything about these terms only being available online!
Surely this is a misrepresentation of some sort and how many people don’t know this is the case.
The manager also informed me this has happened before ( in particular on the Grand National) but I cannot see any reference at all on the Coral site regarding enhanced place terms only being available online. He (the manager) rang customer services who just told him “online only”
I have looked again at the Coral site at the results and even on their site they give the result for the first five in that race without any reference to it being the result for online customers only!!
The rules as displayed on their website quotes exactly the same place terms for shop and online bets with no reference made to there being differences.I know this only cost me about £30 but surely that isn’t the point and I can honestly say I will never place a bet with Corals again!!
And having worked both in betting shops and for a major credit bookmaker I thought I was bet savvy but it appears that I am a dinosaur who is just fodder to be abused the same as everyone else.READ AND LEARN FOLKS
I have noticed this when bookies advertise in the Racing Post etc. 5 PLACES in Size 33 letters. Then in the smallest print possible somewhere near the bottom of the ad – Online customers only. Probably is legal raymo and will probably say somewhere on said website that it is Online Customers only. But don’t blame you for missing this or boycotting Corals. But at the end of the day, they are all the same and I’m sure most of us have had a bad experience with either Corals or some other bookie during our betting careers.
Always read the t&cs, that’s all I can say.
The fact that Coral extra place offers are only available online and on mobile is stated repeatedly in website banners, t&cs pages and in the Racing Post.
I think it is a little churlish to boycott a bookie because of your oversight. Look at any other bookmaker’s online & mobile offers and you’ll see the same sizing and t&cs. All bookmakers have to be compliant to government advertising standards and Coral are no different.
Unfortunately, as Tom Waits memorably said, the large print giveth and the small print taketh away
Always read the t&cs, that’s all I can say.
The fact that Coral extra place offers are only available online and on mobile is stated repeatedly in website banners, t&cs pages and in the Racing Post.
I think it is a little churlish to boycott a bookie because of your oversight. Look at any other bookmaker’s online & mobile offers and you’ll see the same sizing and t&cs. All bookmakers have to be compliant to government advertising standards and Coral are no different.
The Young Fella they don’t state repeatedly online that enhanced place terms are only available online!! They do state it regarding other online offers but if you look at the Corals site for the Ayr Gold Cup tomorrow they state five places but have no mention whatsoever of it being only available online!!
And as far as calling me churlish I think what I am doing is exercising my freedom of choice which in this case is influenced by my treatment. I am actually in the process of complaining to trading standards regarding their not adhering to guidelines and am confident that they have misled with their advertising on this matter. I do not expect to have to go in a betting shop and read their rules every time to see if they differ from their online rules when their is no warning of this event beforehand.
I thought this forum wass a way of expressing opinions without being insulted and most people feel the same and can disagree without resorting to insults.
Unfortunately, as Tom Waits memorably said, the large print giveth and the small print taketh away
Very true indeed!!
I do to a degree blame myself and you are so right regarding Tom WaitsDon’t blame you one iota feeling aggrieved Raymo, it’s totally misleading. Just looking on the Coral site at today’s AGC, states ‘Each-way 1/4 the odds a place 1,2,3,4,5’ I can’t see any mention restricting it to ‘online only’. Wish you well in the complaint to trading standards.
http://sports.coral.co.uk/horse-racing/today/ayr/3:45-ayr-3203233.html?market_set=ALL#market-61128314I think you’ll find The Young Fella either works or has worked for Corals, this may influence his opinion.
I backed a horse some time ago in either a Hills or Ladbrokes shop and there was a horse withdrawn leading to a 5p deduction, I knew some companies waived this deduction and checked the rules online where it stated that they did indeed waive any 5p deduction if just the one horse but when I went to collect in the shop they had made the 5p deduction and pointed me in the direction of the rules on the wall.
I never thought there would be different rules regarding things like this but true enough the 5p waiver section was omitted from the betting shop rules board.
My question would be why Corals and others have this differentiation between office and online customers. They constantly tell us office money is dying, online is the future. If this is designed to encourage online betting why hide it? It can only be to disadvantage the office punter, who they will lose as in this case rather than move them online.
I am just a primitive creature of the heath and may be wrong, but I think a lot of it is related to the offshore tax/levy loopholes. Most of the big bookies (Coral included) actually divide there operations so their mobile/online business is legally a separate entity to the shop and casino businesses. The different businesses have separate marketing budgets, margins and overheads and have to run different offers at times.
Same thing happened to me in a Cheltenham race and I did actually ask at the time if it was first 5 and they said it was. Then, when I went to pick up my ‘winnings’ they said it had been first 4 in the shop. Given that it was one of my usual miniscule bets it wasn’t worth having an argument about but I did make a mental note to be more careful in future.Think it might have been the Foxhunters. I don’t think the staff know half of the time.
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