Joined: Aug '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 23
Hi all, just figured I'd post my experience with big bet poker.
I initially received a small no deposit bonus there and was placed on their bankroll builder promotion. I went broke due to being under bankrolled and decided to make a small deposit to fully take advantage of this promotion. (Basically over-glorified rakeback which you can receive in advance before you've technically earned it)
I made the deposit with no problems whatsoever via moneybookers, and began checking out the site features. I came across a 'feature' called available cash, where big bet poker claimed they were different from every other site because they allowed you to store some money away from the tables. According to the site this helps with bankroll management issues. In reality it would make no difference; the only thing being you couldn't accidentally sit down at a table with these funds. Well, I'll give it a shot I figured....I transferred $10 to available cash to see if it worked. Great. Then, to my annoyance, my bankroll builder bonus disappeared from my cash account as soon as I'd done this.
Concerned, I contacted support where they told me they would put me back on the bonus. 24 hours passed. Nothing. I recontacted support and they once again told me they'd put me back on the bankroll builder. This time it worked, only I was put back at a slightly lower level of the bankroll builder than I had been previously. Support claimed there was nothing that could be done about this because 'the site didn't give them the option', to re-enter me at the same level.
A little time passed, I managed to grind up a little cash playing 25nl, and today decided I would like to make a cashout due to being short on funds irl, and also because I was genuinely unhappy about attempting to use a site 'feature' and having my bonus cancelled with no warning. I went to cashout, chose neteller as my preferred withdrawal method, and my account funds went to 'pending withdrawal' without the site ever prompting me for my neteller details.
Concerned once again, I went to support where they told me I'd need to send in a utility bill and a passport before they allowed the cashout. Supposedly this is in 'terms and conditions', but it is definitely more T&C of the small print type. They don't exactly make this clear when you deposit. It is not even possible to withdraw the funds you deposited in the first place. Basically this site will happily accept a deposit, but then refuse to return ANY of your cash until you have sent in the required documents.
So the problem I have now is, it will take me a while to track down a utility bill to send in, despite needing some of the funds immediately. And a fair proportion of my roll is stuck on a site I don't even want to play at. In some ways I have no choice to play there now, due to much of my roll being there. But I also don't want to make rake for a site I feel has screwed me over in more ways than one.
For some of you, perhaps this is standard. But I've never had these withdrawal problems at any other site where I have made a deposit. So, if you are one of these players that actually likes to /access/ your bankroll from time to time, be warned of this site. They /will/ make life difficult for you if want to withdraw.
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Sweden
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 94
Utility Bill ? Wow.... That does not sound good at all.... IM 19 years old and I dont pay any bills at all under my name. My mother and father pay for me.. Atm I got 68 swedish kronor on my bankaccount ( something like 10 USD ) And I wanted money for christmas ( Cashout from BBP ) but I dont have enough money to buy something under my name and get a bill send home. Wow... This wasnt good NO money to buy christmaspresents to family/friends...
This is sad My own fault that I didnt read all Terms and conditions..
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Posted by MathiasOne: are u new in poker online ? all sites required our ID authentication.
We also need make a deposit before that we can make cashout.
+1 this is standard accross the board. All sites will accept deposits no worries, no ID. No sites will let you cash out those same deposited funds without ID. At the very least, Drivers L, but Utility bill NOT uncommon.
Joined: Aug '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 23
Posted by jessthehuman:
Posted by MathiasOne: are u new in poker online ? all sites required our ID authentication.
We also need make a deposit before that we can make cashout.
+1 this is standard accross the board. All sites will accept deposits no worries, no ID. No sites will let you cash out those same deposited funds without ID. At the very least, Drivers L, but Utility bill NOT uncommon.
This is not true. I have made cashouts from Everest poker, Pokerstars, and Pokertime (to mention just a few) all without the need for an ID check. I personally think it sucks that a site does not make you properly aware of the need for an ID check. Sure it's buried deep in the terms an conditions that the site MAY in certain instances ask for an ID check, but they don't seem overly keen to point this out when you are making your deposit. I supplement my income with these funds, and do not want to have to deal with cashout hassle......this has put me in a difficult spot financially as I am not sure how long it is going to take to work this all out. I am in a similar situation to nastyfrog in that I do not receive utility bills; I am in a house-share situation and any bills received do not have my name on them. The only thing I can do is recontact support and ask what I am supposed to do about this.
One thing is for certain. The site has left a foul taste in my mouth, and I won't be going back there. I am much happier to make rake for a site that doesn't try and prevent me from cashing out my winnings
Joined: May '09
Location: Spain
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 1331
Hi!!
It´s the first site i know that do it. FTP, Pokerstrars and many others only do it when you want to withadraw the winnings. Try to contact to support and ask for another kind of document (like bank factures, or administration cells).
Joined: Aug '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 23
I have managed to submit alternate documents and am awaiting verification. I will report back here with the results. Time will tell if I have judged the site too hastily.
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
Posted by MathiasOne: are u new in poker online ? all sites required our ID authentication. We also need make a deposit before that we can make cashout.
Not all, but most sites work that way. It is allways handy to have a copy of an id-card on the PC.
Joined: Aug '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 23
I guess the thing that really sucked for me in the case of BBP is....I can't find it ANYWHERE on the site telling you about the documents you need to send in, nor the email address you need to send it to. The only hint of a possible ID check is a 1 liner slap bang in the middle of the terms and conditions, which does not specifically even mention a utility bill but 'other documents' the site might ask for. I also had to contact support before I was aware of the need for these documents to be sent and to receive the email address to send it to. Not good customer care imo.
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
Posted by w34z3l: I guess the thing that really sucked for me in the case of BBP is....I can't find it ANYWHERE on the site telling you about the documents you need to send in, nor the email address you need to send it to.
Joined: Jan '08
Location: Germany
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 482
Shouldnt you be happy that they request papers that proove its you who want to cashout?
EVERY site will do this. Go for example to pokerstars, deposit via moneybookers and then try to withdrawl via neteller. you wont even have the chance to. You would be the first who flames "How does the client allow to withdrawl so easily without checking my ID at least" if someone hacked your acc
This is pretty much a standard issue with most poker rooms. Usually most require a photo ID along with bank/utility bill. But if you don't have a utility bill you can ask them what else to send to them. Just like going to the bank, be glad they require that info in order to make that withdraw. Go to BBP support and ask for "John," he seems to be the one from BBP that helps out BRM members quite often and maybe he can assist you. Let us know what happens.
------------
Posted by nastyfrog: Utility Bill ? Wow.... That does not sound good at all.... IM 19 years old and I dont pay any bills at all under my name. My mother and father pay for me.. Atm I got 68 swedish kronor on my bankaccount ( something like 10 USD ) And I wanted money for christmas ( Cashout from BBP ) but I dont have enough money to buy something under my name and get a bill send home. Wow... This wasnt good NO money to buy christmaspresents to family/friends...
This is sad My own fault that I didnt read all Terms and conditions..
nasty frog, aren't you the one that turned the bankrollbuilder into about 10K usd?
Edited by ih8usukouts (11 December 2009 @ 15:04 GMT)
Joined: Aug '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 23
Posted by ADACTA: Shouldnt you be happy that they request papers that proove its you who want to cashout?
EVERY site will do this.
It gets kinda annoying when people don't bother to read the thread before they reply.
w34z3l
------------ Here is an update on the situation.
I supplied my photo ID and something with my address on. 3 hours later I receive a mail from BBP saying that my ID was not acceptable. The reason they gave was - "it is not acceptable". No s**t. If this was a game of chess that would have been a TRAGIC waste of tempi. Now I've had to email them back asking exactly what was 'unacceptable' about it. As if they couldn't have told me in the response email. I have been waiting nearly 24 hours now for a further reply. There is nothing wrong with the photo AFAIK. It has been accepted by multiple sites including this site, bankrollmob. They also addressed the email as 'Dear Valdas'. Valdas? My name is Adam. Dear Aaron I can perhaps understand. Hell, even Dear Christopher. But Valdas? I can't even find Valdas in a name dictionary. I really get the distinct impression these guys are slowrolling me.
Thanks for the advice ih8usukouts. It may come to that. I have also been doing a little research on the kahnawake gaming commission. If this problem gets any more far-fetched I might resort to bringing it before them to see what advice they can offer. Their general ethos is after all supposedly "in accordance with the highest principles of honesty and integrity"
I've reviewed the account for you. It is policy that we request documents on all cashouts (like most sites). It's also part of the terms of our license so it's not just us being awkward. The documents we request need to contain verifiable information so apart from the condition of the document having all the relevant information blanked out allows us to do little with this document in terms of verifying identity.
Do you have a UK drivers license (Picture version) or some other form of Photo ID?
Please feel free to come on live chat and ask for me and I will try and assist.
------------
Posted by nastyfrog: Utility Bill ? Wow.... That does not sound good at all.... IM 19 years old and I dont pay any bills at all under my name. My mother and father pay for me.. Atm I got 68 swedish kronor on my bankaccount ( something like 10 USD ) And I wanted money for christmas ( Cashout from BBP ) but I dont have enough money to buy something under my name and get a bill send home. Wow... This wasnt good NO money to buy christmaspresents to family/friends...
This is sad My own fault that I didnt read all Terms and conditions..
I sense a little irony here You have a little (!) more than 68 kronor on your account Frog!
Anyway, Utility Bill is a generic term but we will accept things like a bank statement, mobile phone bill etc. There are very few people in this day and age that don't have anything 'official' that would serve as verification of their address.
To date we haven't had a single player we have been unable to pay do to documentation so don't worry!
Cheers, John
Edited by __BigBetPoker (14 December 2009 @ 16:24 GMT)
Joined: Aug '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 23
Thank you for your response, John.
As far as I'm aware the 'relevant' information of which you speak are things like my name, date of birth, place of birth. The sections I have blanked out are to protect MYSELF from identity theft. Why is it that the scan I provided to bankrollmob is acceptable to them, but not acceptable to you? I suppose you leave me with no choice but to resubmit my documents with the sensitive information included. I am not happy about this however; one should not have to risk ones identity to prove ones identity. It is also very inconvenient for me to obtain a rescan, as I had to go to great lengths to find a scanner for the first time round I scanned the documents. How does it work? Only those who have access to a scanner can make withdrawals? As I say, BBP appear to have left me no choice in the matter. I will re-submit my passport after I have done some further research and gained access to a scanner again.
A response to this thread would be appreciated. You will have to forgive me if I sound rude or argumentative. I am merely very frustrated. And as to your questions, no, passport photo ID is currently all I have.
Posted by w34z3l: Thank you for your response, John.
As far as I'm aware the 'relevant' information of which you speak are things like my name, date of birth, place of birth. The sections I have blanked out are to protect MYSELF from identity theft. Why is it that the scan I provided to bankrollmob is acceptable to them, but not acceptable to you? I suppose you leave me with no choice but to resubmit my documents with the sensitive information included. I am not happy about this however; one should not have to risk ones identity to prove ones identity. It is also very inconvenient for me to obtain a rescan, as I had to go to great lengths to find a scanner for the first time round I scanned the documents. How does it work? Only those who have access to a scanner can make withdrawals? As I say, BBP appear to have left me no choice in the matter. I will re-submit my passport after I have done some further research and gained access to a scanner again.
A response to this thread would be appreciated. You will have to forgive me if I sound rude or argumentative. I am merely very frustrated. And as to your questions, no, passport photo ID is currently all I have.
w34z3l
I totally understand Adam.
BRM's docs process I'm afraid I can't comment on but we don't need to see the full code line at the bottom of the passport. DOB is needed, simply to cross reference with the info you have supplied to us. Place of birth is not needed either.
I don't really want to detail any more than this in terms of issues with your docs on here so please pop onto live chat and ask for me. I'm not an agent for BigBet I'm actually the Head of Poker so you can be assured that my decisions will stand in terms of doc acceptance etc.
Joined: Aug '09
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 23
Here is another update.
I spoke with John via live chat; he seemed very reasonable and friendly. We managed to reach a solution regarding an alternate document for me to submit. As soon as I can get my hands on a scanner again I will be submitting it.
Although this hasn't been the greatest experience for me all in all, with a little assistance from John I am relieved to say this problem may be reaching its resolution. As said earlier in the thread, I've never been ID checked by a site that I have made a deposit at, which is perhaps the reason I have been a little panicky over the whole thing. The only places I have been ID checked are bankroll providers, like here, for example.
It does beg the question though.....since a lot of you guys seem adamant that ALL sites will ID check, how have I managed to get away with it at so many sites? Am I just super lucky or something?
I will post back here with further updates on my BBP account.
NO money to buy christmaspresents to family/friends... 
You have a little (!) more than 68 kronor on your account Frog!
