We ask you to complete a form setting out the details of your dispute because it is important for us to know – in your own words – the way in which you believe that you and your bet(s) or game(s) have been handled unfairly.
Many people telephone IBAS asking whether they can explain their dispute and we can write it down and progress it. We prefer not to do this, because we communicate with our panel of adjudicators by email so if we misunderstand the precise details of what your complaint is or inaccurately record it in the process of typing up notes, we may only find out that the complaint has been misunderstood at the point that a final decision is sent to you. That means that a lot of time can be wasted and you will wait a significant length of time for your complaint to be properly considered.
A number of people have contacted IBAS to ask why we ask consumers to verify their email addresses before they can submit a form setting out the details of their dispute.
The simple answer is that typically 5-10% of people submit a form with an incorrect email address. Just a single mistake in typing one character can make it harder for us to contact you. By logging into your email account and clicking on the link in the verification email we send you, we can be confident that any subsequent emails that we send will end up at the right place.
If you or a friend or family member you know who has a dispute does not have access to the internet, they can still complete an adjudication form in order to make a claim against their bookmaker, casino, bingo club or lottery operator.
Ask them to telephone 020 7347 5883 and request a form be sent to them in the post. They will then need to write down the details of the dispute and post it back to us, signing the form to confirm that we have permission to make enquiries about the disputed bet(s) or game(s) on their behalf. If we are busy or closed and no-one answers the phone, please ask them to leave details of their name and address, slowly and clearly, on our voicemail system. The recorded message will remind them of this when they call.
If you or a friend or family member is unable to complete a form in writing or by e-mail, please telephone 020 7347 5883 to explain the circumstances and a member of our staff will call back and take the relevant dispute details.
Because a dispute logged in this manner does not allow you to sign to authorise IBAS to ask the gambling operator for details of your disputed transactions, in some circumstances, gambling operators may ask you to contact them as well to confirm that we have your permission to take this action on your behalf.
We will always use our best endeavours to ensure that we are speaking to someone who is authorised to talk about a confidential betting accounts or transactions and so we appreciate the patience of individuals when dealing with questions from our staff in order to verify your identity.
During the course of 2018 we will also be introducing a system that allows consumers to log in using their email address and nominated password to see how far through the system their dispute has progressed, receive an estimate for how long it will take to complete the process and then view our Adjudication Panel’s final decision when it is made.
It is important that we protect the confidentiality of this by asking you to choose a password that you can use, along with your correct email address, to log in and view these details privately.