GameBookers - change of bonus terms

[Elyss2]

The sign up offer at GameBookers is now very different from the one described on the main FEM site.

The £25 bonus is not even playable, let alone withdrawable, until the deposit amount has been turned over TEN times!

[SharpeShooter]

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1430

Gamebookers and Partybets are sister sites, see this thread for more info

[Elyss2]

Thanks, but that doesn't explain why the deal touted on FEM is completely different from the one actually offered. As the PartyBets reply in that thread says, affiliates can have a different offer from that found by going directly to the bookie's site (or googling it!) so how on earth is anyone supposed to know what they're getting into if the affiliate's information can't be trusted?

Call me naive, but I'd have thought that someone making money from referrals has at least a moral obligation to be accurate with the details of what they're selling. In this particular instance, the offer looks like a good one for a beginner with a limited budget but could, in fact, tie up more money than they might be able to commit while they work through the £250 WR.

Not happy! (Can you tell? )

[Admin]

You have every right to feel annoyed. Having relied on certain bookies in the past to update us directly of changes of offers or terms and conditions we fully accept that on some occasions this hasn't always been the case. Unfortunately certain bookies affiliate managers are difficult to track down. There are other 3rd party companies involved in the chain sometimes to further complicate matters. That said, we have in the past week put in place additional measures to ensure things are more accurate.
However due to things sometimes being out of our control, we always advise that every potential customer of a bookie checks the terms and conditions themselves. You'll see from the recently updated review that gamebookers falls within this latter category but rest assured we are working hard to get things absolutely clear.
Additionally we have these open forums in place so our members can tell each other what you really think of a particular offer or bookie, or where things have markedly changed. Some of our reviews are taken directly from the members bookie review section to offer further independence.
Every single offer is currently being scrutinised and additional checks will be based on an ongoing basis to try and prevent future inaccuracies.
FEM welcomes your feedback. Please continue to tell us when things aren't to your complete satisfaction.

[Elyss2]

However due to things sometimes being out of our control, we always advise that every potential customer of a bookie checks the terms and conditions themselves.

Thanks for taking the time to reply so fully. The above comment is fair enough but the problem still remains that affiliate offers are not necessarily the same as direct-to-the-bookie offers. Unless we know where this is the case checking the bookie's Ts&Cs is not useful. Perhaps you should have an indicator on your pages to flag up where your offer is not the same as the bookie's standard offer.

[Admin]

The banners and landing pages are relevant to the offers that we show. The terms and conditions are linked directly in the same way from those same pages so we would expect them to be accurate 100% of the time. If they're not then the customer has a strong case that the offer and terms were not as advertised by them. Our banner links to a page where you eventually (> home page> promotions) see the terms to be x6 WR - not sure where you're getting x10 from?

Of course we have no control over certain bookies who can be loose with their rules. We dont promote anyone we know to be downright dodgy, but bookies can be ruthless when their bottom line is threatened and unfortunately their terms may as well state "we only want losing mug punters here thank you very much - savvy match bettors need not apply"

We review our offers personally, but unfortunately we cant keep doing them (we wish we could ) so we rely on others like yourself who will be doing them more recently to offer up to date opinions eg your betboo comment has been included in the review on the main page.

The vast majority of books will be just fine - others will change or go bad - just look at the News of The World - no one can predict this stuff

[Elyss2]

Our banner links to a page where you eventually (> home page> promotions) see the terms to be x6 WR - not sure where you're getting x10 from?

Yes, that's what I was expecting (leaving aside the non-playable bonus issue). The 10 times came from the email GameBookers sent me when I queried the bonus terms:

"I can see you have created your Gamebookers Account through an affiliate site with bonus offer for 100% up to 25.00GBP bonus on the basis of your first deposit. The bonus we see in our records is release restricted one, meaning you will not be able to play with the bonus amount, before meeting certain release conditions.

They are to wager 250.00GBP on Gamebookers.com Sportbets until 06-OCT-2011 23:59:59 ET. Qualifying bets should be on odds 2.0 and above to count for the bonus release and each wager will be counted upon settlement of the bet.
You can check the bonus details on the site, under 'My Account' tab at the site and then on 'Bonuses' > 'Active Bonuses > 'More details' under the active bonus."

I have queried this again with them and will let you know their response.

[Elyss2]

The reply says:

"Further to your query regarding the bonus conditions of your bonus and the bonus we advertise on our website, via the link you provided below, we would like to point out that these are 2 different sign-up promotions valid for Gamebookers sign-ups.

The affiliate bonus that you signed up with is 100% - € 30.00 EUR, and you must wager 10 times the bonus amount on GAMEBOOKER Sportbets. Our bonus is 100% - € 20.00 EUR and you must wager 6 times the bonus amount on GAMEBOOKER Sportbets. "

So, clicking through from the FEM link gets £25(30 Euros) with 10xWR; direct from the site it's 20 Euros with 6xWR, both before the bonus is playable. I think the FEM sales pitch needs to be revised to cover both the WR and the removal of the ambiguity about the bonus - I read it as the bonus being non-withdrawable until the WR was completed, not unplayable too.

[Admin]

Hmm. Agree this is unsatisfactory if those terms aren't available to view direct from the banner landing page. Will check this out with gamebookers management. Thanks for your efforts