my Heritage Sports experience (negative)
I have been banned from Heritage Sports. I had been a long-time customer and, a few weeks after having my wagering options and limits drastically reduced***, I was abruptly locked out of my account. I learned that my account was closed from a customer service agent (I was still able to use the "Live Chat" feature on the home page) after getting repeated "invalid username or password" errors while trying to sign in.
I was told by the customer service agent that my account was permanently closed due to a "management decision", and that I would be cashed out in installments via Bitcoin as "per the e-mail that was sent". (I never did receive that e-mail and still haven't). Those Bitcoin withdrawals were managed via Live Chat because of the account lockout, and they are complete after about two weeks.
When my wagering options and limits were drastically restricted (a few weeks prior to my account lockout), I began the process of cashing out once every few days. (In theory, Heritage allows one Bitcoin withdrawal every 24 hours. In practice, my experience was that I was lucky to get one withdrawal per week because of how excruciatingly (and seemingly purposefully) slow they were to process those withdrawals. They were much quicker to process withdrawals (usually within 24 hours) after my account lockout). It had been my intention to try to find wagering options that suited me in spite of the new restrictions, but my priority was to cash out as much as possible because, frankly, I didn't trust that Heritage would honor my winnings without making a fuss. My experience in the past had been that they could get cagey with me when I made regular withdrawals (I would get phone calls asking me if I was closing my account).
I believe my distrust was well-placed. I speculate that, in this final instance, Heritage figured that, if I was intent on cashing out a significant portion of my winnings, they wanted nothing further to do with me as a client.
On a side note, Heritage's online chat representatives are by far the rudest, most vague, and most evasive customer service agents I have encountered -- from any business -- ever. I have communicated with their agents hundreds of times over the years and, by and large, they were adversarial off the bat and they made no effort to provide clear answers. Rather, they went out of their way to use as few words as possible while conveying as little information as possible.
On top of combative customer service agents and the stalling of payouts*, the website "upgrades" over the past several years have, in fact, been clear downgrades. In my opinion, Heritage Sports is dysfunctional, thoroughly unprofessional, and untrustworthy. I am relieved to be a former customer.
*** The restrictions on my account were numerous – including, but not limited to:
-- reducing my ability to make wagers on alternate lines – for every single sport – to a maximum of +/- 2 points of the original line;
-- eliminating my ability to bet on props for every sport (for example, winning margins, player props, etc.), such that my maximum odds on any given selection did not exceed +150;
-- eliminating my ability to bet on any moneyline underdog in *any* sport (NFL, NBA,tennis, etc.) where the odds exceeded +190;
-- eliminating my ability to place an open parlay;
-- reducing my maximum RISK amount to $25 across the board;
-- reducing my maximum WIN amount to $25 across the board;
-- in reducing my maximum wager to $25, they locked me out of closing several open parlays in which the first leg of the parlay had already won.
-- I called the wagering department to place closing wagers for the open parlays. The day after those parlays won, I was permanently locked out of my account.
I have been banned from Heritage Sports. I had been a long-time customer and, a few weeks after having my wagering options and limits drastically reduced***, I was abruptly locked out of my account. I learned that my account was closed from a customer service agent (I was still able to use the "Live Chat" feature on the home page) after getting repeated "invalid username or password" errors while trying to sign in.
I was told by the customer service agent that my account was permanently closed due to a "management decision", and that I would be cashed out in installments via Bitcoin as "per the e-mail that was sent". (I never did receive that e-mail and still haven't). Those Bitcoin withdrawals were managed via Live Chat because of the account lockout, and they are complete after about two weeks.
When my wagering options and limits were drastically restricted (a few weeks prior to my account lockout), I began the process of cashing out once every few days. (In theory, Heritage allows one Bitcoin withdrawal every 24 hours. In practice, my experience was that I was lucky to get one withdrawal per week because of how excruciatingly (and seemingly purposefully) slow they were to process those withdrawals. They were much quicker to process withdrawals (usually within 24 hours) after my account lockout). It had been my intention to try to find wagering options that suited me in spite of the new restrictions, but my priority was to cash out as much as possible because, frankly, I didn't trust that Heritage would honor my winnings without making a fuss. My experience in the past had been that they could get cagey with me when I made regular withdrawals (I would get phone calls asking me if I was closing my account).
I believe my distrust was well-placed. I speculate that, in this final instance, Heritage figured that, if I was intent on cashing out a significant portion of my winnings, they wanted nothing further to do with me as a client.
On a side note, Heritage's online chat representatives are by far the rudest, most vague, and most evasive customer service agents I have encountered -- from any business -- ever. I have communicated with their agents hundreds of times over the years and, by and large, they were adversarial off the bat and they made no effort to provide clear answers. Rather, they went out of their way to use as few words as possible while conveying as little information as possible.
On top of combative customer service agents and the stalling of payouts*, the website "upgrades" over the past several years have, in fact, been clear downgrades. In my opinion, Heritage Sports is dysfunctional, thoroughly unprofessional, and untrustworthy. I am relieved to be a former customer.
*** The restrictions on my account were numerous – including, but not limited to:
-- reducing my ability to make wagers on alternate lines – for every single sport – to a maximum of +/- 2 points of the original line;
-- eliminating my ability to bet on props for every sport (for example, winning margins, player props, etc.), such that my maximum odds on any given selection did not exceed +150;
-- eliminating my ability to bet on any moneyline underdog in *any* sport (NFL, NBA,tennis, etc.) where the odds exceeded +190;
-- eliminating my ability to place an open parlay;
-- reducing my maximum RISK amount to $25 across the board;
-- reducing my maximum WIN amount to $25 across the board;
-- in reducing my maximum wager to $25, they locked me out of closing several open parlays in which the first leg of the parlay had already won.
-- I called the wagering department to place closing wagers for the open parlays. The day after those parlays won, I was permanently locked out of my account.
