Hi first post here due to the fact that I have had an issue with bwin - a friend told me to get in touch with Justin at SBR - have to say a big thanks to Justin for sorting it out for me.... I didn't actually expect anything and was pleasantly suprised when they paid my winnings out!
Anyway.....
I am based in the UK and Bwin do sponsorship and advertising here, their brand is particularly visible at soccer matches. Because of this, I just assumed they were a solid book and decided to sign up. I took the sports bonus, and at the same time I decided to have a crack at the casino since they had a bonus there (yeah I took the blackjack bonus.....doesn't everybody?).
Anyway, I deposited a fair sum to play with, and I was doing quite well, I had won about 180 EUR when all of a sudden my account was locked - I couldn't play, and I couldn't access my funds.
I called them to see what the problem was, I spoke to some guy who told me my account was blocked for some reason and he said he would email the responsible department and that, they would in turn email me.
I have to say, BWin aren't particularly fast at getting emails to people! I was somewhat annoyed at this point, as my funds were locked away and I was not receiving any communication. I also googled them and started to read stories on SBR about people who had had problems with them........ not what I wanted to hear really.
After a few days BWin emailed me and told me that my account was under "security investigation" but offered no more explantion than that as to why my account was locked. I was asked to send in a copy of my drivers licence photo ID and a bank statement. I sent in both documents as they had asked for, and then after a few more days chasing they finally sent me an email saying that they had paid out my deposit to my bank account. The funds hit my bank a few days later.
Having read all the stories about bwin I was somewhat relieved to receive my deposits, but I was still clueless as to why my account had been closed but further to this, I had risked my money in their casino yet they had confisticated my winnings.
I found this annoying to say the least, after all, if you lose in a Casino they don't give you money back do they! To me it seemed like real Rogue behaviour on the part of BWin.
At this point I signed up here and contacted Justin and explained my situation. Justin said he would contact Bwin to see what he could find out.
At the same time I also email BWin myself, and pointed out that I had won in their casino and that they had not paid me my winnings. They emailed me back and pointed me to a part of their terms and conditions which state that they have the right to close accounts if they "suspect" fraudulent activity etc etc.. . It seemed to me that the clause enabled them to close down winning accounts.
A couple of days later BWin paid out my winnings after Justin @ SBR got in touch, don't know what he did but again, thank you for that!
Extremely pleased with SBR, what a great place for a player, but as to my experience with BWin...... what a dissapointment. I think they have really let themselves down and I would not reccommend anybody play there.