Thanks, that seems to be a good idea. Do you know anyone else I can complain to about this issue? I know there are casinos that have a F U Clause, but what about Betfair? I fulfilled the requirements playing only blackjack, which wasnt restricted from the bonus, I sent them the documents they requested, they processed my withdrawal and when I went to gamble more and make another withdrawal they suspended my account. All I can say is WTF?
As you are British, and Betfair is based in the EU, you can try complaining to Trading Standards as well as Malta.
Under the new gambling act, you can now also take Betfair to the small claims court, where they will have to demonstrate to the judge that on the balance of probabilities you are a fraudster. Provided you can show the judge that you did NOT breach any terms and conditions, and that you did not misrepresent your details when registering (fraud), you will most likely win. Betfair would then have a CCJ registered against them, a HUGE embarrassment, and it could cost you as little as £100 because the claim falls under the "small claims court" limit, currently £5500 I believe.
Betfair are correct about being unable to disclose details to a third party, BUT are merely required to receive permission from you, and once they have done this, they can no longer hide behind this law.
It looks like the casino said that they would discuss details with Max upon receiving your permission, but fully expected that this would NOT be forthcoming, because they had you down as a fraudster who would "do a runner" when asked to justify their case. The fact that you DID give permission caught them on the hop, and they had to think on their feet and "blow off" Max with a different excuse. Clearly FROM THE START they had NO intention of cooperating with Max, but strung him along at first by saying they would, but only if they received your permission as required under the data protection act.
Max should be annoyed that Betfair were not honest with him straight away, but wasted his time by saying they merely needed permission from the player.
I would, myself, consider this "bad business practice", since it is dishonesty, even if minor.
I am personally shocked that this would happen with Betfair, MOST other big and reputable industry players are more than happy to recognise Max and the PAB service as a legitimate, though informal, dispute resolution service.
Surely, having Max rule against them is less of a risk than having a CCJ registered against them in a UK small claims court, or a complaint to Malta determined against them.
This kind of attitude from operators is what does the most damage of all in the industry, as it shows players that operators are a law unto themselves, and can confiscate players' money on a whim, and make it almost impossible for the player to challenge the decision. In many cases, things like this turn out to be nothing more than administrative errors, like the pensioner who received a gas bill for over £20,000, despite not having any gas at all. Even WITH the backing of all sorts of third party dispute resolution services, the poor pensioner was hounded for MONTHS by a big company that just didn't listen, nor see the "bleedin' obvious". This kind of thing happens time and time again, and ANY company that is so arrogant as to say "we cannot POSSIBLY be wrong", again is exhibiting "bad business practice", since good practice is to recognise that perfection DOES NOT EXIST, and that mistakes ARE made, and companies should listen, and be prepared to accept this, apologise if necessary, and change procedures to make such mistakes harder in the future.
Companies who are not prepared to do this deserve all the bad PR they get, it is the ONLY way to persuade their execs to extract their heads from their arses and get with the real world.