WARNING Smartlive's dodgy practices = no pay.

maxd

Head of Complaints (PABs), Senior Forum Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Location
Saltirelandia
We've had two PABs against Smartlive the last few months and neither of them has gone anywhere. What has emerged though is some seriously dubious activity on the part of their Support and management people, enough so that this Warning is now necessary.

In the first case the casino claimed "unusual betting patterns" and confiscated 9000€ in winnings. The player contested the ruling and the casino support manager told him "either you take half or you get nothing". The player declined. The casino accused him of fraud, Terms violations, and locked him out.

In the second case the player had 11,000£ confiscated after not having used their account for an extended period (apparently due to serious illness in the family). When the player came back on line -- admittedly a LONG time later, two years -- the casino said "bonus abuse and connection to other accounts with similar activity" and that as far as they were concerned the case was closed. The player pressed the case and was told "we are willing to offer you £1000". The player pressed on for the full amount. The casino claimed the case was now in the hands of IBAS (Independent Betting Adjudication Service) but when the player contacted IBAS he was told there was no case because Smartlive had not been a registered IBAS member while the player was active at Smartlive. The player went back to the casino and was told "we need to check with managment" and that was the end of it. No response to further attempts to discuss the case.

In neither case did the casino respond to our multiple attempts to bring up the cases on the players behalf.

Warning: Smartlive is using some exceedingly dubious methods to handle player complaints, the end result being non-payment of 1000s of Euros/UKP of player winnings. When players press their cases with the casino they are offered fractional pay-offs, BS stories, and lockouts. Players are advised to avoid Smartlive.
 
After extended discussions with the SmartLive people, the resolution, or pending resolution, of the aforementioned player issues and the assignment of a contact person for any future player issues I am upgrading this Warning to "Under Review".

If there are no unresolvable problems over the next 30 days then the Warning will be withdrawn and archived.

My thanks to the SmartLive folks for taking the initiative on this. :thumbsup:
 
Well, it's obviously been a lot more than 30 days since I kicked off the Review and things have been pretty quiet regarding Smartlive. I'll take that as confirmation that things have improved, as hoped, and am moving this one to Withdrawn status effective immediately.
 
Unfortunately SmartLive seems to be back to their same old tricks: we've had a PAB on the table since mid-January wherein a player was trying to withdraw €5000+ and all we've heard from SmartLive is "we're investigating" and "information is being gathered" and "the player must be patient", over and over again.

Four months waiting for an answer -- any answer! -- is more than enough "patience". Since they seem uninterested in doing anything at all about the issues presented to them I am hereby renewing this Warning:

Warning: Smartlive is continuing to stall endlessly on player payments and seem incapable of addressing player complaints. Players are STRONGLY advised to avoid this casino.
 
Well it seems the (new?) people at SmartLive are once again interested in cleaning things up and getting a fresh start. I'll attempt to contact the players who had unresolved issues to see what can be done there. However ...

I STRONGLY SUGGEST that anyone with an unresolved issue at SmartLive come forward now to ensure that their issue is on the table during these discussions. This may be you last, best chance to get old business taken care of.

Once the old business is taken care of as best we can then we'll probably kick-off a probationary period to ensure that the new management people have things under control and that they have changed their ways regarding player issues.
 
SmartLive has worked with us to re-examine the old PAB issues. As it happens one case was resolved favourably for the player and the other two players ended up on the ban list for these and other unrelated cases. The table is cleared IMO.

So: a [strike]60-day[/strike] probation on SmartLive starts today. If there are no further unresolvable issues in that time then the Warning will be withdrawn and archived.

Later: given that there haven't been any issues reported to me in over two years I think 30 days probation should suffice.
 
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Ok, the 30 days has passed and afaik there have been no problems: Warning withdrawn.

I'll let this sit for a few days so folks see the update then I'll archive it off.
 
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No sooner had I withdrawn this Warning -- based on promises from the new rep to resolve issues -- than the casino people are suddenly non-responsive on player issues again. :rolleyes:

30 day clock starts again: if this situation isn't cleared up promptly the Warning will be fully reinstated and updated accordingly. Since the casino will have shown themselves to be repeat offenders the chances of this being Withdrawn again any time soon are very slim indeed.

Update: the case in question has been deferred to the MGA for further inside investigation. This effectively stops the countdown until that investigation finishes.
 
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Seems that Smartlive is now in trouble with the UKGC: UK Gambling Commission suspends SmartLive licence.

Haven't heard a peep from them regarding the outstanding and unresolved player complaints either.

Given this situation I think it's only appropriate to cancel the Warning's "Under Review" status and restore the full Warning.
 
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FTR Smartlive hasn't responded to a single outstanding issue since I last posted here. At this point I think it's fair to say that they're not going to either. I'll have to set those cases aside and move on to other things.

Later: like the man said, "Zed's dead baby." So endeth the story of a dodgy casino gone down the bog. Too bad they spent four years wasting the time, effort and money of a lot of good people doing so.
 
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