Pokerstars "Glitch" - money missing from bank account

[matt674]

I was going to post this on my Monkey Staking thread but then probably not as many people would read it as if i posted it here.

Everybody please check your bank account if you have ever made a deposit to pokerstars - you may find that they have taken money out of your account without your consent just like they have done with me!

It has been the first month of the Monkey Staking thread and things have gone ok, i was going to finish the first month well in profit so as this is the first full month in my new place and as i've just shelled out for a new car (well new used car! ) i decided that i would take a couple of hundred dollars out of my share of the first months profit to see me thru the rest of the month. I had enough in my account to cover all the bills and direct debits due out at the first of the month so this would give me a bit of spending money.

So on Friday afternoon i checked my bank account, i'd made the withdrawal on the Wednesday and usually the money hits my account within 2-3 working days, would be handy if it was in before the weekend as it means more bananas in the weekend shopping. Since being a victim of identity theft a few years back i've always been careful in keeping track of my accounts online so i began to panic when i logged into my online bank account and noticed that my balance was actually less than when i checked in the morning!

I clicked on recent transactions and there were two debits taken for £100.00 to "www.pstars.com" - I immediately rang my bank as i knew that i hadn't deposited to stars in nearly 2 months and when i had deposited never for an amount of £100. Also all the transactions from the last 6 months or so i remember checking against my statement so i knew they were all accounted for. My bank told me that they had received request for payment from the beneficairy and acted accordingly so any problems i would need to take it up with them.

So Friday night as soon as i got home from work about 6pm i emailed stars support, usually stars support is quite good and responds within a few hours - 3&1/2 hours later i receive a response but it was just a "we've passed it to our cashier department" email. Another 2 hours after that i got an email saying "withdrawals can take between 3-10 business days to appear but please provide us with more information about the money we have taken from your account". Thankfully the withdrawal had appeared in my account later that evening but stuff that, they've taken money out of my account without my consent and now my account is worse off than it was this morning!!

Saturday morning i received another email from their payment. "please can you send us a statement showing name of account holder, account holders address, account holders account number (last 4 digits) and recent transactions showing the debits leaving the account". Now having being a victim of identity fraud i'm not best pleased about sending having to send this but then seeing as how they are the ones taking money out of my account without my consent then i guess they already have the details in question!! I send copies of my recent statement showing everything they require and within an hour i receive a standard "thanks for the details, we will look into it and get back to you as soon as we have an answer" response.

I hear nothing then from Saturday morning or all day sunday - fair enough, its weekend - probably not the best time to ask questions about accounts. I check my email at work even though i'm not supposed to but still nothing until i'm about to leave for the day - and this was their response.....

"Hello Matt,

I am emailing to inform you that we are now aware that a technical issue has
occurred which has resulted in some of our players being charged in error.

We are still investigating this at present and hope to have a resolution
shortly.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.

If you would like any further assistance with this or any other matter,
please feel free to contact us again.

Best Regards,

William
PokerStars Payment Services"

What?!?!? Is that it? When am i going to get my money back? What assurances can you give that i'm not going to wake up tomorrow and find another amount missing from my account? Who will pay any charges if any of my payments are returned "unpaid" while i wait for you to pay me back? These were various questions i asked quickly before i left work.

I got home and my response had been intercepted by the pokerstars support team as i had received this response.............

"Hello Matt,

Thank you for your email.

I will forward your inquiry to our Payment Services Department and they
should get back to you within the next few business days with more
information.

We regret any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

Regards,

Emely
PokerStars Support Team"

i was beginning to get a little annoyed now so i sent them the following reply

"Evening Emely

My email was sent direct to the Payment Services Department and i'm sorry but "a few business days" before i get a response is not good enough - you have taken money out of my account without my consent and i need that money back in my account now, i have bills to pay!

If i incur any charges with my bank because something is returned unpaid while i wait for you to pay back the money you have taken out of my account without my consent then i will forward those charges to you

Regards
matt674
Matt Doyle"

I thought this had done the trick as within 25 minutes i received a respose - well until i read it!

"Hello Matt,

Thank you for writing.

We are truly sorry for the inconvenience caused by this technical error.

Unfortunately, we cannot assure you when we will fix this situation. I
understand your frustration but for now there is nothing we can do.

On the other hand, if your bank account has been over drafted, please send us a
scanned copy or screen capture of your statement in order to refund those fees.

Your patience and understanding are always appreciated as this can take a few
business days for being resolved.

Again, I can only apologize for the inconvenience and do not hesitate to
contact us for more assistance.

Regards,

Haydee
PokerStars Payment Services"

which to me sounded like they are still trying to fob me off - so i replied

"Evening Haydee,

What do you mean you cannot assure me when you will fix this situation? Its quite simple - you have taken £200 out of my account without my consent so now you pay £200 back into my account immediately otherwise i will take the matter to the police

Regards
matt674
Matt Doyle"

I've yet to receive a reply to this email so we'll see tomorrow if i have to take the matter further. Stars was the only poker site i used to play but if this isn't resolved quickly then i'll never play there again!

[matt674]

forgot to add that while i was talking to my bank on saturday morning they informed me that the two payments in question were actually dated 29th Oct 2008 - i asked my bank why they would pay a request more than a year old and they said the date is irrelavent. i checked my bank statement from October 2008 and sure enough on 29th Oct two payments for £100 were debited from my account to pokerstars - so it looks like they have requested the same payments twice

i pointed this out to them on saturday but they have failed to acknowledge this

[byronkincaid]

same thing has been happening on FT

[amcgrath1uk]

Matt

Just checked mine and its exactly the same.

Deposited £40 on 29/10/08 and just been charged the same on 29/10/09, and I know I haven't deposited!

Nice email from me coming up!

many thanks sir!

[Jon MW]

forgot to add that while i was talking to my bank on saturday morning they informed me that the two payments in question were actually dated 29th Oct 2008 - i asked my bank why they would pay a request more than a year old and they said the date is irrelavent...

Given how tight banking procedures are generally I think this seems unlikely - it might be worth trying to find out if they are meant to take note of the date.

i.e. it may still be worthwhile pursuing the bank for their error

[amcgrath1uk]

forgot to add that while i was talking to my bank on saturday morning they informed me that the two payments in question were actually dated 29th Oct 2008 - i asked my bank why they would pay a request more than a year old and they said the date is irrelavent...

Given how tight banking procedures are generally I think this seems unlikely - it might be worth trying to find out if they are meant to take note of the date.

i.e. it may still be worthwhile pursuing the bank for their error

Its exactly the same with mine, Internet banking FTW. Also, there is no relevance with dates iirc.

[EvilPie]

Just checked my account to see if I've been done as well.

Interestingly I've depositted £900 over the last week or so and they haven't taken a penny

[marcro]

If you want Pokerstars to be a little more responsive, post this on 2+2.

[matt674]

Matt

Just checked mine and its exactly the same.

Deposited £40 on 29/10/08 and just been charged the same on 29/10/09, and I know I haven't deposited!

Nice email from me coming up!

many thanks sir!

so it looks like it is date specific rather than any deposit ever - all we have to do now is get our money back

i remember when i went on a sick run in dec 2007 making a few large withdrawals on the same day - i wonder if i can get my bank to request them again while i wait for my payments to be re-imbursed?

[matt674]

If you want Pokerstars to be a little more responsive, post this on 2+2.

even if i have to create an account to post it?

normally if someone creates an account on here to post its usually removed within 30 mins and stored in the mods "personal" folders

[duncthehat]

1.  Go back to your bank and file a unauthorised payment dispute in writing.   There is a set form, they cannot stop you doing this and have to investigate fully.  dont let them fob you off

2.  Post all this on 2x2 and as many other forums as you can

3.  contact poker stars with links to all the forum threads

[matt674]

If you want Pokerstars to be a little more responsive, post this on 2+2.

even if i have to create an account to post it?

normally if someone creates an account on here to post its usually removed within 30 mins and stored in the mods "personal" folders

blimey - how many boards!!

which would normally be best to post on?

[gatso]

this one first up http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/

[Jon MW]

1.  Go back to your bank and file a unauthorised payment dispute in writing.   There is a set form, they cannot stop you doing this and have to investigate fully.  dont let them fob you off
...

First thing to do is phone your bank, say this transaction was taken in error without your authorisation and demand that they recall it.

They will almost certainly say that they can't do it - but they can, it might be a matter of luck whether you get through to someone who knows that they can and is willing to do it. But it would definitely be the quickest way of sorting it out.

[matt674]

this one first up http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28/internet-poker/

I must be in the wrong section already then because the first boards on my screen are 2+2 magazine forum and 2+2 Bonus program

and scrolling up and down page there is no internet board

cheers