I've been in that boat before with them. I had a flexi trifecta put on through their website and I mistakenly had the amount of combinations multiplied by eight rather than the $8 I intended to spend. I rang their customer srevice hotline to try and rectify the mistake, but I was told it was too bad even though the race was still five minutes from jumping.

To say I was not a happy camper would be a big understatement.

That's very poor customer relations, but then again, can we expect anything better from the TAB? They are so inflexible which can very easily lead to justified anger by their customers, as proved in your situation. Maybe if each case was judged on its merits...?

There is a good reason why they have imposed a time limit to cancel bets, and that is to avoid market manipulation which in your case would seem extremely unlikely. And we can cancel a bet within a paltry five minutes of it being placed at any of their outlets, so why then do they deny the online punter this "generous boon"? I suppose there's a good reason but I can't think of one.

I have now received an e-mail from the TAB informing me that "my claim has been approved and the amount of $225 was deposited into my account on the 05/05/2006 after 17:00".

I have again had to explain that my winning bet of $50 was on a $6.50 selection which means that I should have been paid a total of $325 and not $275 being the original refund of $50 plus the $225 deposited on 05/05. There is still a $50 shortfall.

I'm beginning to find this very amusing and am smiling even as I type this.

Halleleujah!!! I've finally been given the shortfall of $50. It's only taken 9 days and quite a few e-mails having to explain the situation. If I hadn't contacted them they would have illegally kept my winnings of $275. Not once did they apologise for their error or explain how it happened. I used to work for a very large Life Insurance company, and if anyone there had've treated any customer like the way the TAB did to me, then heads would've rolled, and rightfully so.

What the TAB did is tantamount to fraud, and they don't seem to care. One could easily conclude that over the years they could have done similar unconscionable tricks/rorts and will continue to do so because there seems to be an absolute absence of integrity and concern. And they have the gall to demonise Betfair!!!