Sky Bet?!

[TheBoyMitchell]

Cheers Racing Jim. Just told the Mrs by text as really dont feel like talking verbally to anyone right now

[Mattbar]

Breach of contract. When I signed up (2009 I think) they advertised lifetime revenue share. I'm not dead and neither are my players.

I have copies of their website at the time.

With small claims (such as I am using with LadbrokesCoral) it is easy and cheap to do. When the sums involved go over 10k, the case won't get allocated to the small claims track, it'l probably go to the fast track. The main difference being that you have to pay the other side's legal costs if you lose. Hence, need to have someone check the case for me before going ahead.

Although you must have agreed to the updated terms in the meantime, including the termination clause?

I'd been keen on some kind of mass action if a solid case can be made.

[TheBoyMitchell]

Breach of contract. When I signed up (2009 I think) they advertised lifetime revenue share. I'm not dead and neither are my players.

I have copies of their website at the time.

With small claims (such as I am using with LadbrokesCoral) it is easy and cheap to do. When the sums involved go over 10k, the case won't get allocated to the small claims track, it'l probably go to the fast track. The main difference being that you have to pay the other side's legal costs if you lose. Hence, need to have someone check the case for me before going ahead.

I dont have copies from when I signed up, but it you are going this route, then so shall I.

[crowngate]

Sad times and the way this industry is going.

They will sell, then a new affiliate program will start, then people will start to promote them again.

Choose who you promote wisely (until they screw you over).

[freebetsfreetips]

Don't they all essentially have a "we can do whatever we like clause"? Even if they do, however, there is still (in UK law) a sort of "you can't just have grossly unfair terms and then say, these are the Ts and Cs, you agreed to it" law/rule (at the law school I went to they were very big on simplistic paraphrasing). This was the grounds that bank charges, OD fees etc were contested on I believe?

[TinShed]

Just saw the email, I'm gutted to be honest because even with them robbing 80% from me they were my top affiliate revenue. I've just planned the whole football season based on what I make from them, sorted out a good freelance writer to do regular content for the first time and all sorts. The lesson here is not to put all my eggs in one basket but their super6 was very good at getting sign ups on Twitter and I've been pushing that for a few years now including the 100+ registrations I got in August, although only about 3/5% would go on to use skybet that's still better than I'd do with most other affiliates.

Need some time to think about my next move but right now I think its time to pull the plug.

[RacingJim]

I definitely think legal action is the way for anyone earning decent money.

As people have said, it's lifetime revenue we've been promised - lifetime of the customer. The customer is still there, Skybet is still there, but we've been cut out of the loop.

Definitely highlights we should be getting all the T&Cs together for all the affiliate programs in one repository somewhere (if someone hasn't already done this?).

[loquax]

December 2009 Wayback Machine

https://web.archive.org/web/20091215...e=affhub_terms

11. TERM AND TERMINATION
11.1 Either Party may terminate this Agreement with immediate effect by notice in writing in the following circumstances:
11.1.1 the other Party commits an irremediable or material breach of any of its obligations pursuant to this Agreement; or
11.1.2 the other Party commits a remediable non-material breach of any of its obligations under this Agreement which is not remedied within 30 days of service of written notice specifying the breach and the steps required to remedy it; or
11.1.3 either Party enters into liquidation whether compulsory or voluntary (save for the purpose of solvent reconstruction or amalgamation) or passes a resolution for winding-up (save as aforesaid) or is unable to pay or has no reasonable prospect of being able to pay its debts or has a receiver or administrative receiver appointed over any of its assets.
11.2 Any provisions of this Agreement which by their nature require performance after termination shall survive any termination of this Agreement.
11.3 Termination of this Agreement for any reason will be without prejudice to the rights of the Parties accrued at the date of termination.
11.4 Revenue Share payments will cease on termination of the affiliate contract.

I suspect that the amendments to the agreements over time that have been "agreed" when you login/tick the box in affiliate hub will supersede the original contract. However, it would be interesting to know the legal position because I suspect this won't be the last we see of these kind of decisions.

Jason

[MannyBetting]

Although you must have agreed to the updated terms in the meantime, including the termination clause?

I'd been keen on some kind of mass action if a solid case can be made.

*****

Thanks everyone who showed an interest. My original intention was just a solo claim and was happy to update here on how it was going. But if there is genuine interest in a joint action, and if I am told that this is feasible, then I am more than happy to join forces.

I'll keep everyone who has contacted me updated once I have spoken to a solicitor.

In the meantime, a more pressing job. I have a lot of links to remove and articles to modify...

[RacingJim]

Just under 1,000 signups in 3-4 years for them here, leading to 470 new accounts. Last month I had 81 active accounts. The whole quota thing stunk but it was always, at best, a few hundred quid here and there for me, though my most recent payment for July was actually my best ever month with them at £600+ so it's still a loss.

[baldidiot]

This is definitely a massive headache for a monday morning.

However for anyone looking into legal action I would suggest this conversation be taken out of the public forums.

[Mattbar]

This is definitely a massive headache for a monday morning.

However for anyone looking into legal action I would suggest this conversation be taken out of the public forums.

Good point, no reason to show our hand to them

[JackTenSuited]

This is definitely a massive headache for a monday morning.

However for anyone looking into legal action I would suggest this conversation be taken out of the public forums.

my biggest earner if anyone wants to discuss further please pm me
I advise everyone to screenshot everything in your account if you can access it (and download reports)

[justbookies]

If anyone gets them to court, win or lose, I will contribute significantly. A massive hit. However we have had talk of court action before on the previous SkyBet thread with all the usual complete bullshit from the same old affiliates who pretend to be big but some of whom I know never promoted them anyway. Can the same old bullshitters who talk crap on almost every thread please stay away from this one. I am very pleased to see new names in this thread talking court action, like Manny and BoyMitchell. Hopefully they aren't full of knee-jerk crap too. Sorry, but I am not happy with this news, and this forum does have its share of fantasists.

thebookiesoffers, who has a brain and so understandably doesn't waste time on this forum anymore, once started a thread called "is this business going to ****" or something similar. I answered yes then and it is far far more so now. There is no honour, integrity or honesty from any these firms and you need to trash them for all time on your affiliate sites when they turn into criminal thieves (not just quietly remove them).

[Sidney]

I'm not affected by this in any significant way, but I will contribute a reasonable amount to a properly organised legal action.

I agree with pretty much everything said by justbookies above.

[HodgeyBoy]

Staggering news to wake up to on a Monday morning...

If the SKY has fallen in on your affiliate revenues then consider switching to join the RANKs of other comparable operators for the UK market.

Last plug I'll be making here, best of luck with this

[justbookies]

Staggering news to wake up to on a Monday morning...

If the SKY has fallen in on your affiliate revenues then consider switching to join the RANKs of other comparable operators for the UK market.

Last plug I'll be making here, best of luck with this

Disgraceful bit of spamming

[MannyBetting]

If anyone gets them to court, win or lose, I will contribute significantly. A massive hit. However we have had talk of court action before on the previous SkyBet thread with all the usual complete bullshit from the same old affiliates who pretend to be big but some of whom I know never promoted them anyway. Can the same old bullshitters who talk crap on almost every thread please stay away from this one. I am very pleased to see new names in this thread talking court action, like Manny and BoyMitchell. Hopefully they aren't full of knee-jerk crap too. Sorry, but I am not happy with this news, and this forum does have its share of fantasists.

thebookiesoffers, who has a brain and so understandably doesn't waste time on this forum anymore, once started a thread called "is this business going to ****" or something similar. I answered yes then and it is far far more so now. There is no honour, integrity or honesty from any these firms and you need to trash them for all time on your affiliate sites when they turn into criminal thieves (not just quietly remove them).

I remember reading that thread (before I joined) and totally understand the skepticism. It's easy to make idle threats online but most people will back down when it comes to actually taking action.

We don't know each other but I can assure you I am not full of crap. When I say I'll do something, that something gets done.

I have already placed a call to a local solicitor who specialises in contract law and am waiting to hear back from them this afternoon.

BTW I am not asking for any contribution, I'm doing this anyway. However, based on the responses both above and privately, and IF the solicitor believes a group action is feasible, then I am happy to include anyone else who wants to join.

[RacingJim]

Disgraceful bit of spamming

Yep not the time or place for that Hodgey.

[RacingJim]

If anyone gets them to court, win or lose, I will contribute significantly. A massive hit. However we have had talk of court action before on the previous SkyBet thread with all the usual complete bullshit from the same old affiliates who pretend to be big but some of whom I know never promoted them anyway. Can the same old bullshitters who talk crap on almost every thread please stay away from this one. I am very pleased to see new names in this thread talking court action, like Manny and BoyMitchell. Hopefully they aren't full of knee-jerk crap too. Sorry, but I am not happy with this news, and this forum does have its share of fantasists.

thebookiesoffers, who has a brain and so understandably doesn't waste time on this forum anymore, once started a thread called "is this business going to ****" or something similar. I answered yes then and it is far far more so now. There is no honour, integrity or honesty from any these firms and you need to trash them for all time on your affiliate sites when they turn into criminal thieves (not just quietly remove them).

The thing was previously it was just a quota, the big affiliates just jogged on and thought they'd still get 5 per month, the small affiliates hoped they might but also didn't make enough money for it to be worth legal action.

Closing the program is different and hopefully will garner a response from bigger affiliates for a proper legal case. I'll chip in happily, just not got the time/energy to organise anything, same as last time. If it was one of my top 4 payers I'd be on this, but yeh, still happy to chip in and help try and stop this happening again with other programs.