Victor Chandler - over the top
On Saturday I had a little flutter on a few casino games via Victor Chandler.
Then on Monday I got a phone call from their security team saying that they were doing a routine check to ensure that it actually was me who deposited money into my account and not a fraudulent transaction. Fine, I thought, good to see they have my interests at heart. I answered a total of 4 security questions such as password, mothers maiden name, age, place of birth etc etc. Then I was asked for my credit card number, now I didn’t have it on me so I couldn’t give it out. Anyway the guy thanked me and then rang off.
So imagine my surprise yesterday when I received an email from Victor Chandler saying:
“During our standard security checks, we were unable to verify the details against the card registered on your account, therefore requiring us to temporarily suspend your account.
As it is company policy to protect our customers against Internet fraud, we request that you assist us in the verification of your details by forwarding at the following documentation:
1) A clear copy of your Passport/ I.D. card (both sides).
2) A clear copy of the credit card (both sides).
3) A clear copy of a recent bank statement showing your address. Please make sure to block out any non relevant information (i.e. financial details).”
Now I’m sorry but isn’t this going over the top just a little?! There is no way on earth I’m going to all this trouble just so they can take money off me. After all I’m signed up to Ladbrokes, Will Hill and Bet365 to name but a few and they don’t go to these extremes.
So I’ve wrote back to Victor Chandler and have told them to close my account as I will take my business elsewhere. It makes you think though that if you are promoting Victor Chandler as an affiliate (as I do) and you are on a lifetime rev share of the customer then maybe you aren’t going to get a decent return on your players. That may be one of the reason (in my experience at least) why I don’t earn as much from Victor Chandler as I do with other online gaming merchants.
What I’m listening to right now: Alicia Keys - “Unplugged”
Wednesday, October 19th, 2005 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I run UK Offer Media Ltd. I thought it would be fun to post a daily (well hopefully daily) blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing and more specifically Affiliate Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
October 19th, 2005 at 12:33 pm
I would be a very weary of giving such info out. This being Identity Fraud Week and all. I know that they are who they said they are as they froze your account but it reminds me of the fake emails I get every week asking for my password.
October 19th, 2005 at 9:26 pm
This just highlights the major problem with “e-fraud” at the moment.
I’ve always been ULTRA careful with my credit card information. A few months back I was surprised to see that someone had used my Egg card to place £500 worth of bets at William Hill, as well as a couple of hundred elsewhere.
Luckily, Egg sorted the problem out with no hassle and I got all the money back including the interest the transactions had accrued on the card.
They told me that betting sites attract huge amounts of credit card fraud. The fact that you couldn’t supply your card details when phoned obviously triggered the extra security checks. Fair enough I think.
BTW, I presume they only asked for the last few digits of the card? I wouldn’t have given them the full number over the phone anyway