Marathon Bet - another tale of woe - STAY AWAY

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monkeyriches

monkeyriches

Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
3
I know it's been mentioned on here before, but I feel like it's worthy of a front page thread just to alert anyone else curious about opening an account with Marathon to just stay away.

I have accounts with every bookie in the business to get the best odds, and I can say decisively that Marathon is the absolute worst in the business right now.

My story is the same as everybody else's - placed just two bets before I made a withdrawal. My account was 'randomly selected for security checks'. I sent them my ID using the same office scanner we use to send out contracts every single day at work. For Marathon the quality was not good enough and some three days later they decided I needed to send them again.

So I did, this time with a Pro camera at a resolution so high that you could zoom in down to the original digit. They again rejected it and said 'please send in again in better quality.' At this point it was frankly ludicrous.

I sent it again. This time they rejected it because it was all on one file. They said I need to do it as three separate attachments. Why didn't they say that the previous two times I submitted ID?

Finally I managed to track down a pro scanner that scans at 3500x2500 and sent them all the documents as individual attachments. How do they stall and keep your money after you've sent them PERFECT copies? Well, they just start ignoring you of course!

Despite rejecting my ID in 24-72 hours, it takes them DAYS to process it when they know they cannot reject it. I've spoken to somebody on chat who said he would flag my request and that somebody would get back to me within an hour. Shocker, nobody ever did.

Truly the absolute worst customer service I think I've ever experienced. To make matters worse if they don't pay out soon I'll get charged a heap of interest on my credit card because I didn't think in a million years it'd take more than two weeks to get a withdrawal from a bookie in this day and age.

They've said on here before that they were suffering 'technical issues' but I refuse to believe this is still an issue seven months later. It cant be a coincidence at this point; Marathon specifically and deliberately go out of their way to keep your money for as long as they possibly can.

I'm currently in a group where 11 people have come forward as having waited more than FIFTY days to get their withdrawal. If they don't resolve my withdrawal soon we've already got the ball rolling on a class-action complaint about them to their regulators.

Long story short; STAY AWAY.
 

Trevrizent

Trevrizent

Joined
May 21, 2013
Messages
552
It may be small consolation, but if you keep chasing Marathonbet, then I would expect them to pay up eventually (they usually do, but only after it has cost you an awful lot of unnecessary time, effort and aggravation).

Your point about Marathonbet deliberately going out of their way to hold on to players' funds for as long as they possibly can is well made. In my time as a member of the BMR community I think more words have been expended on Marathonbet than on any other bookmaker. As I've said before, Marathonbet offer exceptionally competitive odds on a huge range of markets - hence their appeal to a wide variety of players. Their appeal is greatly diminished, however, when players keep having to go through the ridiculous rigmarole you describe in order to withdraw any winnings.

The sad thing is that Marathonbet could be one of the very best online bookmakers out there. All they need to do is to improve their customer service and stop this 'slow pay' nonsense, but they just don't seem inclined to do so.
 

manduro

manduro

Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
8
Trevrizent said:
<p>The sad thing is that Marathonbet could be one of the very best online bookmakers out there. All they need to do is to improve their customer service and stop this 'slow pay' nonsense, but they just don't seem inclined to do so.</p>

The good part is that they eventually pay, but the slow pay nonsense could well be a sign that they are struggling financially.

Their reduced juice makes them very vulnerable to big hitters. They don't have enough liquidity to balance their lines and I don't think they even want to do that. The best odds model is just to attract mug punters.

I like betting with them small stakes but I wouldn't deposit 4 digits there to risk having the funds blocked for 1 month or more.
 

monkeyriches

monkeyriches

Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
3
Just had an email today after FIFTEEN DAYS since I last sent ID for fourth or fifth time. To my absolute amazement, the email says they want more ID. It doesn't even bother to say what was wrong with the credit card, drivers license, passport and loan agreement from the bank of zurich I have sent them. They just want more.

How are they still a 3? Should be -1.
 

monkeyriches

monkeyriches

Joined
Jul 16, 2014
Messages
3
Just a slight follow up to this:

Decided to call them up as Live Chat is always useless. They just outright lie to you and say you'll get your money in 24 hours and you never do.

The phone experience was absolutely incredible. Before even taking my name or looking into my account the guy just said that they have the right to request ID and that he cannot do anything to override the decision of the payments team if they have decided they want more. I asked him if he thinks it is reasonable that they already have my Drivers License, Passport, copy of my credit card and proof of address from the bank of Zurich and still they decide that it's not enough. He refused to answer the question.

Then to my amazement he says 'look, sorry, but we can ask for however much ID we want.' I again asked where does it stop? You have a ridiculous number of documents now. More than I needed to get a mortgage. He again just said tough luck, we can do what we want and we want more ID so just send it.

I asked him to look into my account and he said he wasn't able to open any of the docs but the payments team have decided that my proof of address was 'low quality'. I asked him how this is possible as it was scanned at 3500 resolution with a professional scanner, the same scanner used to scan all of the other docs which are apparently fine. You can literally zoom in down to the individual letter at full-screen size. He didn't have any answer.

Finally I concluded that if they don't approve this withdrawal I'm going to consider court action and he basically said he didn't care and ended the call.

Marathon bet = scum.
 

Trevrizent

Trevrizent

Joined
May 21, 2013
Messages
552
Perhaps the time has come for BMR to reassess Marathonbet's rating. I accept that many players like to use them for their competitive odds, but there is longstanding and mounting evidence on this forum of slow pays, shoddy customer service and other disreputable practices on their part. Moreover, they appear to have absolutely no inclination to clean up their act and I think it's time they were placed on the Orange or Red List until they do so.
 

Alborz

Alborz

Joined
Aug 13, 2014
Messages
7
I'm not sure about the complaints of slow payouts which others have mentioned...

But one thing that I have experienced first hand from them is the account limiting. Late last year, they limited my account to only being able to make bets smaller than £1.

Basically made my account completely useless.
 

manduro

manduro

Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
8
Trevrizent said:
<p>Perhaps the time has come for BMR to reassess Marathonbet's rating. I accept that many players like to use them for their competitive odds, but there is longstanding and mounting evidence on this forum of slow pays, shoddy customer service and other disreputable practices on their part. Moreover, they appear to have absolutely no inclination to clean up their act and I think it's time they were placed on the Orange or Red List until they do so.</p>

problems with marathonbet are well documented on many sites.

the ratings can very well be "bought"
 
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