Beware

A question about : Beware

Since subscribing to this in summer of last year, I have won the princely sum of Ј4 (twice winning Ј2). However, I have yet to ever receive either payment which I was told by e-mail would be paid into my bank within 28 days(the sub is paid by direct debit).

I finally phoned today to ask what was going on and was told that this happens often and that they need bank account details to pay the cash in. I take it from this, the only way you're likely to receive any winnings is if they are presented in the form of a gigantic novelty cheque. I know it only amounts to Ј4, but what if it was two wins of Ј100?

I urge anyone who subscribes to PPL, to please ensure that they are actually receiving the payments for any money they win as I feel this is a somewhat fraudulent practice. I'm awaiting an e-mail from them as I asked them to contact me to provide a full explanation before I cancel my subscription.

Best answers:

• Why do they need your bank account details to write you a cheque?
  Or have I completely missed the point?
  Edited to add...
  They do say on their website:
  Quote:
• Hi there
  Postcodelottery has asked us to post a reply. MSE doesn't endorse anything a company says on the Forum.
  Hi flashy01, sorry to hear you've had a problem with receiving your winning payments. We pay our players' winnings directly into their bank accounts. As stated on our website here https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/How...FAQ.htm#prizes, "If you haven't registered your bank details with us yet, please ring us on freephone number 0808-1098765 and we can arrange to pay out your winnings."
  If you have already registered your bank details with us and have still not received your winnings, please contact us on the above number so that we can investigate the issue. This kind of problem is extremely rare and typically occurs only if there is an error in the details we have for a player. Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you.
  
• The complaints about the Postcode Lottery, Health Lottery and Players Lottery are stacking up on the Internet, everywhere I go I see more and more complaints about them.
  People I know in the media who have done a lot of background work on the above lottery system companies have made it clear that they are operating borderline practices and it seems as though some or all may well end up being closed down.
  Within the last few months hundreds of complaints have appeared on the Internet about them regarding telesales marketers constantly calling, unwanted postal mail, warnings from the ASA and so on.
  Google for "postcode lottery complaints" or "asa postcode lottery", "asa health lottery" and so on. If you take your time you will find so many complaints it will make your head spin. I've got a list of complaints about the above lotteries a mile long!
  Everyone needs to wake up and stick to lotteries that are legit, and moreover WORK like the National Lottery, if indeed that is the type of game you like to play.
  All I can recommend is that people should spend their hard earned money with companies who have a proven track record and offer a genuine chance of winning a prize while protecting your interests.
  Best regards,
  Thomas.
• Hi,
  Thanks for the heads up. I think our Warnings board would be the best place for this one.
  Quote:
• People should have had their alarm bells ringing when they heard the name "postcode lottery". It's obvious that some group from a country that don't understand that the term "postcode lottery" is associated with bad things in this country such as not being able to get adequate cancer treatment etc. i always laughh when I hear the name and wonder who would fall for a company like this when we have the good old National Lottery, but it seems a fool and their money are soon parted.
• I always get wary around commercial concerns applying a layer of legitimacy whitewash - 'peoples' (as in Peoples Republic of China maybe), 'health' (we have an incredible national health service), etc.
• I have great suspicion of these "national" lotteries that have sprung up recently and certain would never use them.
  They are all exploiting an anomaly in the Law concerning setting up a lottery. As they cannot set up a single company (such as Camelot) they set up a large number of individual companies to cover the whole country. Read the small print: "People's Postcode Lottery manages multiple society lotteries"
  If a company sets up a lottery that is "sailing close to the wind" as far as UK Law is concerned, I have to wonder just how they might respond when they have to pay out to lots of individuals?
  I don't believe that there is any legal control on what percentage of their take they actually give to charity.
• I have been subscribing to this lottery for the past 6+ months, won Ј5 only.
  Why is it that the vast majority of winners have Scottish postcodes??.
• They called me and I told them I wasn't old enough to play lol
  Steph xx
• Both the National Lottery and The Peoples Postcode Lottery pay out around 45% in prizes on the main game so there is little difference there although PPL prizes are capped at a much lower level.
  Good causes are the main loser if people buy PPL tickets instead of national lottery ones, as from Ј500 worth of sales the PPL give only Ј100 to good causes compared to Ј140 for the National Lottery.
• I scubscribed to them as I was looking for an alternative to the national lottery, but cancelled after two months. When you call them, all they do is bang on about the good causes and charity and you know I don't care about that. I donate to charity from my pocket and I choose which ones, I dont want orgzanizations doing it for me and I never setup direct debits for it.
  Be very wary of their instant wins section, it is a third party site based in Malta and not subject to UK regulation by the gambling commision, I wonder why?
  Their match bonus is a rip off, really not worth it, the number times you have to play through and they are greedy. I was going to make a deposit and changed my mind, they actually called me on my landline trying to get me to make the deposit and offering their match bonus. No thank you! I think that is disgusting and un-ethical and that is why I will never subscribe to the Peoples Post Code lottery again.
  Big thumbs down from me, and I do tell all of my friends and family to avoid like the plague. I am not a fan of Camelot and with their recent price increase, I suspect I am just going to settle for the odd scratcher now and again. No more lottery tickets for me!
• It screams scam - you register your postcode and win amazing amounts of money -lmao - I don't think so!
• I joined the postcode lottery but decided to cancel when realised that the odds of any win was considerably low unless you lived in ayreshire,as this is the area in which it first originated from.I spoke to customer services and they said themselves that there would be more winners in that area as it was started there,although they didn't give special attention to them,and it was a lottery.Whilst the odds may be low,I checked to see if my area in the midlands had won anything in the last 6 months,and could not find any despite being informed that there were 179 wins,so I believe its an unfair lottery,and wont be entertaining it anymore.Would be interesting to know if others have checked their own area(postcodes) and found similar as me.
• Going back to the original post, surely if the lottery had no means of paying your winnings, then an honest organisation would try to contact you to arrange payment.
• Is this the one where the Z CELEB says I`m in...are you?
• Hey guys.... Have been interested in this for a while and yes, it seems strange that the OP hasn't received the winnings but they haven't confirmed if their bank details are registered.
  Anyway, what people have to remember is this (and all lottery) is gambling and the odds of winning the national lottery is 14million to 1 and it's just as probable for the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 to come out as 6 randomly select birthday related numbers
  I think the point that there are more winners in Scotland is based on the fact that if the postcode is "selected" then EVERY ticket within that postcode wins (if you have 2 tickets you get double the prize unlike the national lottery where if you buy 2 tickets the same and win the jackpot you share it between the 2 tickets)
  Higher density of ticket holders shouldn't affect what postcode is selected unless they only select postcodes where tickets reside but even then there should be no weighting.
  Anyway - I don't think I will subscribe but the scaremongering here is a bit wild.
  JJ