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Betfair copping a hiding in the news this week

First there was Betfair taking money from punters' accounts, thinking they had successfully placed their bets on the huge Tote jackpot day last week, only to find out when they went to check their winnings, that the bets never went through. There is nothing more frustrating for a punter than not knowing whether your bets are on or not. Betfair's policy on tech glitches like this is all about covering their arse, and not compensating customers. Betfair punters rarely place just one bet - often it is a series of bets and trading positions which change frequently, so knowing exactly what your position is at all times is critical. Otherwise, punters might as well just use a regular bookmaker....

Today news broke that Betfair had a customer data breach just before the float and conveniently kept it quiet. However minor it was, if police all over the world were involved, then customers deserve to know. Another bad PR story further eroding Betfair's once pristine, now terminally stained, image.

And yet more high-ranking execs leaving, including the Head of Security who took over just before the data breach occurred.


Working in PR for Betfair at the moment would be like working for the power & gas companies who post massive profits then immediately increase their customer bills. And they will keep copping it until they start focusing on the punter again, like they did when it all began....


(Sorry for infrequent postings, hectic time with work at the moment. Doing a lot of driving commuting rather than by train which would allow me to post by email....)

Comments

  1. AL1 October 2011 at 21:30

    One wonders what the Auditors opinion of the Internal Controls were on this matter and how they were not concerned enough to think this would not effect the financial statements to warrant a disclosure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Betslayer10 November 2011 at 20:12

    Great article, Betfair seem to have lost all sight of where they should be and what they should be doing....used to be looking after punters, now its MONEY.

    Can you add my blog to your links...hope you enjoy

    http://betslayer.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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