888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff

[tgc100969]

Anybody else noticed the 888 poker exchange rate ripoff I have been fortunate to win more than I lose playing poker on 888. However in recent weeks I have realised they take a big cut based on the exchange rate I deposited $12 on Monday and was charged £8.30 which is apprroximately 69p per dollar. I withdrew 100$ the same night and got £63.44 which is approximately 63p per dollar. I have contacted support as I know pokerstars dont do this Basically they are charging us around 9% on the deal

[Samba_SamPa]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff Have you only ever deposited there in one way? ie. just from bank / just from neteller I complained a couple of years ago over what seemed like a hefty exchange rate rip off by them, and it was because part of my payment had been sent back to my Neteller account, whilst a smaller part had been sent back to my bank account. Might be that? Might not!! lol... that's my firm conclusion ;)

Anybody else noticed the 888 poker exchange rate ripoff I have been fortunate to win more than I lose playing poker on 888. However in recent weeks I have realised they take a big cut based on the exchange rate I deposited $12 on Monday and was charged £8.30 which is apprroximately 69p per dollar. I withdrew 100$ the same night and got £63.44 which is approximately 63p per dollar. I have contacted support as I know pokerstars dont do this Basically they are charging us around 9% on the deal

[tgc100969]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff

Have you only ever deposited there in one way? ie. just from bank / just from neteller I complained a couple of years ago over what seemed like a hefty exchange rate rip off by them, and it was because part of my payment had been sent back to my Neteller account, whilst a smaller part had been sent back to my bank account. Might be that? Might not!! lol... that's my firm conclusion ;)

No I only deposit and withdraw using the same bank card. They are investigating this and will get back to me in 72 hours

[glceud]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff You will probably find its not 888 but your bank that are taking the cut. Sites that change the currency for you seem to use the actual exchange rate .

[bignedkelly]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff i know that pkr are bad for this as i noticed the big differs in the rates between putting money in and withdrawing i spoke to their customer service about it and they blamed it on the difference in what the bank exchange rates were for buying and selling dollars but PKR is UK based so they are not actually exchanging the deposit into actual dollars - the fact that they chose to play their games in a $ buy in format is irrellevant - they take pound sterling from my account - it gets put into their brittish bank in pounds sterling and when i withdraw this is given out in pounds sterling - your balance is shown in dollars but at no time is this actually converted through a bank so any differs in exchange rates for buying and selling should but irrelevant

[luckboxnemo]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff

i know that pkr are bad for this as i noticed the big differs in the rates between putting money in and withdrawing i spoke to their customer service about it and they blamed it on the difference in what the bank exchange rates were for buying and selling dollars but PKR is UK based so they are not actually exchanging the deposit into actual dollars - the fact that they chose to play their games in a $ buy in format is irrellevant - they take pound sterling from my account - it gets put into their brittish bank in pounds sterling and when i withdraw this is given out in pounds sterling - your balance is shown in dollars but at no time is this actually converted through a bank so any differs in exchange rates for buying and selling should but irrelevant

one of my main reasons I don't play over there the withdrawals are shocking just like their site quite easy to put money in but cashing out they take a cut I mean cmon imagine u played in a live cash game and were paying your rake and maybe tipping the dealer etc etc u go to the cashier to cash out your chips and they all of a sudden wanted like say 1.75% of your cashout you be like fk this I aint going back there again money grabbing *******s imo

[tgc100969]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff My problem is the difference is clearly 6p in the dollar is this legal?

[glceud]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff Well it's 888 so I guess you haven't heard from them. Neteller appear to charge a flat rate of 3% each way on foreign exchanges . Pretty sure this is the bank and not the poker sites that are pocketing the difference.

[glceud]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff Love being ignored.

[tgc100969]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff Finally a response from 888 which does confirm that they are ripping us off. Here is their reply and my response to this 888 response is "Thank you for contacting us. We hope you are keeping well. Thomas, the question you have asked with regard to exchange rates at the time of Deposit, I can confirm deposit rates given will differ from exchange rates applied for withdrawals as there is always a difference for buying and selling which is evident in the exchange rates offered in any bank or exchange bureau, however the rate applied for deposits will be visible in the Cashier. We will take deposits and pay any withdrawals as per the exchange rate used in our systems for any given day, between USD and GBP. However, we will not provide the same rate for both Deposits and withdrawals, due to the buying and selling rate mentioned and fluctuations in the market. Thomas, with our currency exchange rates, to estimate how much you will receive, with deposits of withdrawals, we work with rates +/-2% - +/-4% off the Interbank rate. This would be in-line with rates offered by Exchange bureau's, ATMS and Credit cards etc. Your last deposit for $15 was processed on the 9th March for the amount of 10.39 GBP. On this date the Interbank rate was 1 GBP = 1.49 USD, if you apply the +/-2% means 1 GBP = 1.46 USD and if you apply the +/-4% means that 1 GBP = 1.43 USD. As you can see, the rates applied to your deposit and are in-line with market standards. Your most recent withdrawal for 190.00 was paid on the 7th March for the amount of 120.81 GBP. On this date the Interbank rate was $1 = 0.66 GBP, if you apply the +/-2% means $1 = 0.64 GBP and if you apply the +/-4% means that $1 = 0.63 GBP. As you can see, the rates applied to your withdrawal and are in-line with market standards. Please note, although our games are all in USD, our system automatically assigns you a transaction currency based on your country when you register your 888 account with us. As you registered from the UK, GBP was automatically chosen for your transaction currency. You can request to have your currency settle changed to USD and then if you chose this currency in the cashier, your card issuer or bank will perform the conversion. Should you wish this done, please either let us know or contact our support team. The deposit and withdrawal rates will differ as is the case with buy and selling rates which banks and currency exchange kiosks offer. The rate you receive in regards to payment of winnings is determined on the day your withdrawal is processed not the day you request it. Thomas, should you also check out the following link, http://www.888poker.com/security-and-privacy/user-agreement.htm and clause 21 you will see that there is a paragraph regarding our Exchange rates." My response is "You have now confirmed what I already thought and this practice is certainly immoral and maybe also illegal. Your business model is to make money by taking a rake from each hand in a cash game or from a poker tournament. You are not a bank and are not dealing money on international markets. There is no reason for you to apply a bid and sell price when exchanging currency as that is not how you should be making money from customers and if I wanted to deal on currency markets I would go to the bank and expect to pay a premium for this. You are not really changing money from different currencies as this is a transaction within your own site so you could and are charge anything you like. The next issue is why run the site in US dollars, US players can't even play on your site, surely the British pound would be the sensible currency to use. Please note Pokerstars and Paddy Power Poker which also deal in dollars charge no additional premium and the buy and sell prices are equivalent on any particular day."

[DasBoot]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff Great riposte. I shall look forward to reading their response.

[gavster1980]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff Exactly it fluctuates hour by hour ? never had problem with 888 ,try pkr if you want ripped off?

[0Magic14]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff haha, great post, will be following, I've always known 888 poker where rip off. That's why I decided to play at either sky or William Hill as it's in £ and not $ although, I do sometimes play at Pokerstars if I can be bothered

[Rhino_Power]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff 888 site is a complete rip-off as ive learned recently. I was quick to take on some of their bonus emails and transferred a few hundred dollars from other sites into 888 to claim $29 in 3 separate bonuses. Problem number 1 - It takes a massive amount of playing time/dollars to clear the bonus. Far higher than other sites. Problem number 2 - My playing time was contributing towards a bonus expiring in May BEFORE the one to expire in April. There was no way of me knowing this with the information one gets. Problem number 3 - As a result of not clearing one bonus i have funds i cannot withdraw labelled as "restricted". Problem number 4 - If i play further and win, a proportion of the winnings adds to the "restricted" amount also. Problem number 5 - The online support is never open. Problem number 6 - I am cringing at the amount i am going to lose when making the withdrawl on this dodgy exchange rate system. Sounds like i am going to lose more than i gained in bonuses. Only thing i can do from here is send them a mail/ keep trying online support and see what explanations i get. However, my advice would be to avoid the site - i intend to withdraw eventually and then close my account for good. I have a real problem with companies that do not value their customers and bleed them for every extra cent.

[Rhino_Power]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff Problem number 6 update - i was robbed of £12 - i am not having that!! :@ Email of complaint gone to 888............... I am writing to express my disappointment at the poker gaming experience offered by 888. My main concern is the exchange rates used by 888 on withdrawls. I found out about this on a forum when other players were complaining off 888 taking a large chunk of their withdrawls by using a higher exchange rate than the one in current use. To ensure i lost no more money this way i made the decision to withdraw all my money from 888 - $465.33. At the time i requested this it was worth £305.50p. The first problem with 888 is the lack of transparency given on what rate will be used. This is not accessible. The second problem is the length of time it takes to withdraw money (888 are quite happy to take money in 5secs but then take 5 days to give it back). This means that the player cannot time his withdrawl at the best exhcange rate. He has to simply hope and pray it dosnt swing badly the wrong way. Now today i finally got my money - not £305.50p but £293.67p. 888 have therefore stripped me of almost £12. The main reason for having the funds in 888 was down to you enticing but misleading bonus offers. I signed up to 3 emails totalling to a bonus of $29. $4 expiring on 16/04/2013 $15 expiring on 19/04/2013 $10 expiring on 15/05/2013 Now i never made the bonus wagering for the $4 and lost this. Why? Simply because any money i invested was working towards the $15 and then $10 bonuses first, leaving it nigh on impossible for me to get the $4 before it expired. Then because i had not made the cut-off time i found i had restricted money that i could not withdraw without playing more games. I am sure that somewhere within your terms and conditions small print this is all detailed but its certainly not in the favour of the player. Nowhere could i find which bonus i was working towards and again i feel there is a lack of transparency around your bonus awards. My last point is that to get these bonuses the amount of money invested appeared to be huge. I played endless hours to earn them. So in summary so far i risked hundreds of dollars and played endless hours to earn a $25 bonus, approximately £16, only for you to take back £12 in withdrawl fees. Now sat with an account at $0 i decided to look at how i could use my hard earned reward points - 109.64.........Number of tournaments i could find to play = 0. So on i went to the online shop.......there are no items available for this amount of reward points. Maybe i could cash them in like on other sites........they are worth $1.09 (a low amount i felt comparing to other sites). However, i found your minimum reward points cashing in of $10! They are therefore worthlesss. I play on 15 other poker sites and have never had a problem with any other. 888 appears to care about finding ways of how much they can squeeze out of its customers whilst hiding behind a cloak. I find the lack of transparency very very poor and wont be returning back to 888 unless i receive a reply worthy of justiying my concerns highlighted or the time and i money i invested.

[glceud]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff Stopped playing at 888 for this reason and also that their customer support is the second worst online. Forget talking to 888, you will get nowhere any time soon. If you want to be a martyr try getting in touch with their licensee in Gibraltar. The online community will give you a knighthood if you sort these charlatans out.

[Dreamkiller]

Re: 888 Poker Exchange rates ripoff "$465.33. At the time i requested this it was worth £305.50p" That equates to an exchange rate of £1 to $0.6565 which would seem reasonable I agree Rhino_Power. However when I got hold of 888 they said that it relates obviously to the bank rate on the day seemingly with Barclays if I remember right from their point of view. If you put that $465.33 back in today @ 0.6816 then it would cost you £317.17 to do that !!! The best is if you deposit $50 say , to get a freeroll ticket for a $2000 tournament .... so @ 0.6816 = £34.08 and then withdraw @ 0.625 (The real w/d figure) = £31.25 so that "freeroll" actually costs £2.83 ...... If you fall for the deposit $200 and "bonuses" that they offer (lol) the freeroll costs £11.32 in effect !!! When I withdrew it was a 0.625 rate and it cost me £22. I withdrew from 32red the other day and their w/d rate was 0.67 but at least I knew what I was getting .... 888 show deposit $ rate but not on w/d ...even what it was at close the day before ...I wonder why .... a huge difference. We all know about the huge difference in rates , like glceud and Rhino_Power we either take the hit and w/d or play on knowing what will happen if we have a big win. Nothing will change :( Ultimately it feels like when you go abroad and then on return they buy back considerably less .... except 888 seem different to every other poker site as RP said .... doesn't make sense.