Problem with Neteller

[Skeeve]

Hello,

I write here because of an unpleasant problem with Neteller. In the summer 2007 my Neteller account was suddenly enclosed and I was ask to send them some documents to verify the account. It was the usual procedure I had already done few times since my account was established.

It was very difficult to comunicate with Neteller, because I had to write them twice or more to make them to write me an answer. Seven dayes ago, I was chatting with some person from Neteller at the LiveChat and it seems to be the last conversation I had with them.

I was told that I can't use my account anymore. I wanted to know some reason of this, but they refused to tell me anything. I asked them for a money refund, because I still had my money at the closed account, but the operator only told me that I will get no money and terminated the chat session.

May I ask you what to do know? Regardless of the fact I will not be able to use my Neteller account anymore, I would like to get my money back and also to know any reason of this queer act.

Thank you very much
Sk.

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by Skeeve

Hello,

I write here because of an unpleasant problem with Neteller. In the summer 2007 my Neteller account was suddenly enclosed and I was ask to send them some documents to verify the account. It was the usual procedure I had already done few times since my account was established.

It was very difficult to comunicate with Neteller, because I had to write them twice or more to make them to write me an answer. Seven dayes ago, I was chatting with some person from Neteller at the LiveChat and it seems to be the last conversation I had with them.

I was told that I can't use my account anymore. I wanted to know some reason of this, but they refused to tell me anything. I asked them for a money refund, because I still had my money at the closed account, but the operator only told me that I will get no money and terminated the chat session.

May I ask you what to do know? Regardless of the fact I will not be able to use my Neteller account anymore, I would like to get my money back and also to know any reason of this queer act.

Thank you very much
Sk.

Complain to the Isle of Man regulators - they are not a casino (they told me), and cannot confiscate funds. As to closing an account, this too can be dealt with by going through the IOM, and it would help if you are resident in an EU country, even a recent addition, as you cannot be unfairly excluded from financial services.

The most likely problem is that Neteller are unable to verify you, however their CS is so crap it is more likely to be a screw-up at their end, not helped by their lack of communication with customers.

I recently had a similar problem, with an "account review".

Apparently, they could not understand what I was using my account for, but it should have been BLOODY OBVIOUS that I was using it to deposit to, and withdraw from, ONLINE CASINOS, as this is the ONLY kind of merchant that Neteller allow to sign up for their merchant services.

If you have been using the account for non-casino related transactions through peer to peer fund transfers, they then cannot verify what the funds are from, and if another customer has made a complaint against you, including one of their merchants, this might explain why your account was originally locked last Summer.

One final possibility is that they have pulled out of serving your particular country, but again this does not entitle them to seize the funds.

There is no interim arbritation facility that sits between Neteller and the IOM regulators, so it would be a case of going straight there after you receive a "final response" on the matter from Neteller, or no response to a request for a final response for a number of weeks.

[tristan727]

I never knew how really bad Neteller was, until I referred a friend there.

Two weeks ago his account was suddenly suspended & a demand for docs given again, even though he went through it all before 6 months ago.

Since then they have refused to answer any emails or calls to him, and livechat he says advises of over 30 mins wait time.

Eventually he got through by me calling my 'VIP' number & begging them to speak to him.

Knowing what I know about their customer services, is probably complete nonsense, but apparently it's because he registered as xxxx@gmail.com, when in fact his email is xxxx@googlemail.com. Apparently google had to change it in 2005, due to copyright reasons - but neither my friend nor Neteller noticed until now, as all emails go through regardless of how you spell the email.

You'd think they say 'fair enough, is a well known google thing' and let him change it, yep? Nope, the lady refused to budge, claiming none of his emails ever got through (despite him having previous emails from staff acknowledging his emails). I listened to him asking several times what they could do to resolve this, since he was unable to change his email address - in the end she said to him 'I'm going to hangup' and that was that...his account is still showing as closed, his funds confiscated, and they still won't reply to anything, apart from when I called VIP for him. In fact, he showed me the last ever email from them, where they said they couldn't help him as he hadn't provided his 12 digit acct. no., yet he had clearly stated at the end of the email, 'regards Mr.XXXX Neteller acct no.1234 etc.' - so basically they are playing it so dumb he can't even begin to communicate & resolve the problem with them.

My friend ain't rich & is only a part-time worker/student - he's basically lost a lot of money here & thinks I've put him onto a company which has stolen his money, that I had said to him was almost as safe as a bank - he's extremely distraught.

[GaryWatson]

Ive had my account closed for withdrawing from another PC. Live chat gave me the tel no. of their security team and they reopened the account within 10 min. I think the process was just to double check my personal details, they then gave me a call back to confirm my telephone number

[DemonUK]

I had just opened my neteller account, and went into it from work rather than home where I opoened it from. The problem which I was unaware of was that my works internet was routed through an IP address registered in Denmark.

Basically as soon as I logged on from 'Denmark' my account was locked by there system. It is designed to assume, because the logon is from a different country, it may be a hacker. It was explained to me and reopened within 20 minutes.

[tristan727]

Quite see what you guys are saying, and is very frustrating no doubt. But closing down, confiscating & refusing to answer - all because of googlemail/gmail is a whole new level - what next? Maybe one failed deposit will be enough in the future to close you down? Typing in the password wrong once? I've had to offer/re-assure my friend, that I'd be willing to pay for flights/hotel etc. to go to the IOM with him, to sort all this - park ourselves in the local police station there even, if needs be...that's how guilty I feel about recommending him a place that currently either has, or is only place he can withdraw to from casinos/poker rooms, about a year of his savings...£2.5k.

[tristan727]

Originally Posted by tristan727

so basically they are playing it so dumb he can't even begin to communicate & resolve the problem with them.

My friend finally got an email today, straight from the investigations dept. at Neteller, a week late from when they promised to get back to him after checking out his docs.

The email was the exact same one as at the start, suspending his acct. & asking for docs. Basically whatever docs they received from him, whatever replies and reviews they gave - all never happened in the world of Neteller.

[winbig]

Originally Posted by tristan727

My friend finally got an email today, straight from the investigations dept. at Neteller, a week late from when they promised to get back to him after checking out his docs.

The email was the exact same one as at the start, suspending his acct. & asking for docs. Basically whatever docs they received from him, whatever replies and reviews they gave - all never happened in the world of Neteller.

It's cases like this that actually make me happy that Neteller barred customers from the USA.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not happy about your friend's situation, and really hope he gets his money back!

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by tristan727

My friend finally got an email today, straight from the investigations dept. at Neteller, a week late from when they promised to get back to him after checking out his docs.

The email was the exact same one as at the start, suspending his acct. & asking for docs. Basically whatever docs they received from him, whatever replies and reviews they gave - all never happened in the world of Neteller.

If your friend is British, complain to the FSA, they CANNOT "confiscate" money, they can only refuse to offer the service and must return any unused funds once legal title is established. Failure to deal properly with this issue is itself something that can be complained about, whether to the FSA or direct to the IOM.
If they claim not to be receiving Emails, how can they send him a request for documents, which is presumably on the CHANGED domain of "googlemail.com".

Neteller CS has always been bad, and answering Emails is their weakest point. Answering the phone is their second weakest point, although the VIP number SOMETIMES gets answered more quickly, mainly when it doesn't simply go to "standard" support, who tell their VIPs after a 30 minute wait that, since they are VIP's, they have to be put through to "VIP Services", which means joining another queue

I did get my various problems resolved, but it wasn't easy, and I went through the VIP phoneline, as I knew that Email would "take forever".
My worst ever issue took 9 MONTHS to get to the bottom of, and they even ignored a promise made to ANDREW BEVERIDGE of eCogra to have someone get back to me about the issues as I had raised it as a casino related complaint, and Andrew had been scheduled to meet with Neteller just after he started to look into it, and said he would bring it up.
This is the level of incompetence your friend is up against, I wish him the best of luck

PS - It'll be cheaper to go before Easter, when the schools break up, and it becomes the start of "Spring & Summer Holidays" and inflated prices.

If it's a toll free number, just get a speakerphone and leave it on hold for as long as it takes, and as often as it takes, to get through and get things moving.

[chuchu59]

So maybe it's about time Bryan had a section on 'rogue e-wallets'.