How to Make the FanDuel Corporate Office Listen

FanDuel is one of the most popular gambling apps and platforms in the world. But with this popularity comes a bloated corporate board that’s unwilling or unable to listen to customer complaints properly. If you’ve ever had an issue with your account funding, a wager that went wrong, or a glitchy app, chances are that you weren’t able to get the attention you deserve, let alone a satisfactory conclusion.

What is there to do? In fact, there are more options than you might think if you want to make the FanDuel corporate office listen.

Use Arbitration to Settle Your Complaint with FanDuel

FanDuel allows sports bettors, daily fantasy sports enthusiasts, and other gambling fans to place wagers within hundreds of different betting markets. But even though real money is on the line with all of FanDuel’s activities, the company is often ignorant of customer complaints, and getting a hold of their corporate offices to reach a resolution for a serious grievance is all but impossible.

Furthermore, FanDuel is totally protected by the courts. You won’t be able to file a regular lawsuit against them since you have to sign a contract preventing this measure in order to use the gambling platform or app at all. However, this doesn’t mean you don’t have any options.

Independent arbitration will allow you to pursue justice against FanDuel through hiring a neutral and qualified arbitrator. This arbitrator will look at both sides of your disagreement and come up with a legally binding resolution, just like you’d have if you did take FanDuel to court.

Arbitration is Fair, Just, Reasonable, and Transparent

Your case will likely be handled by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) or JAMS, which means that it would comply with the Statement of Principles of Consumer Due Process Protocol. This means that:

• The arbitration hearing will be fair for both parties, not just FanDue or you. Furthermore, a neutral arbitrator, whose competence is demonstrated beforehand, will be hired to oversee the hearing
• Throughout the hearing, reasonable standards will be upheld, meaning that both parties will be able to access the same information, reach the location for the hearing, and won’t have to pay insane costs
• Standards of transparency will be prioritized. Any resulting arbitration agreements or negotiation contracts will be clear and easy to understand and both parties can hire additional representation
• Alternatives to arbitration, including mediation or small claims court, will be offered depending on the case
• Overall, the arbitration hearing will result in a just and fair ruling, and the results will be legally binding regardless of whether they are awards or penalties

Arbitration Gives You, the Customer, Leverage

Big gambling platforms like FanDuel may not be used to being on the same footing as their users, but arbitration causes just that. Furthermore, arbitration can show FanDuel that you’re serious about getting a resolution for your complaint and you aren’t willing to take negative treatment anymore. This signaling might force FanDuel to actually appear at the negotiation table.

That’s partially because FanDuel doesn’t have an inherent advantage as they would if you took them to regular court. On top of that, FanDuel knows that it’ll likely be expensive to proceed to arbitration regardless of whether or not they win because they’ll have to spend money preparing for the case no matter what.

However, if FanDuel still isn’t open to negotiation, you can get a fair and just hearing without having to pay a penny.

Be aware, of course, that you should still only use arbitration for serious complaints and grievances. There’s a chance that the impartial arbitrator could rule that any mild complaint is frivolous, which may put you on the hook for any costs that FanDuel might have incurred to prepare for arbitration.

Leverage Can Lead to Faster Settlements and Real Resolutions

Thanks to the extra leverage you will enjoy from arbitration, FanDuel will likely send you a negotiation offer or their corporate offices will finally start listening to you about your complaint. This may lead to a much faster settlement than you anticipated.

But you have to formally raise your intention to file for arbitration before you can begin the real proceedings.

In brief, when you use arbitration, you send FanDuel a demand letter that begins a 30-day countdown. After this, they will need to either begin negotiations or offer a great resolution for your complaint. Your contract with FanDuel (which you sign when you use the app or website) likely stipulates that you have to give them a certain amount of time to respond before proceeding with arbitration.

This is actually good news, though, since it means that FanDuel will likely offer you a resolution before the countdown has completed. This is the case in about half of all arbitration cases. But if they don’t try to fix things with you, you can start the formal arbitration process by filing with the arbitration group listed in FanDuel’s contract.

Do I Need an Attorney?

When you start the arbitration process in full, you’ll normally be given the option to hire an attorney or other legal counsel.

Why would you consider this? Basically, attorneys can make winning an arbitration case easier since they may know specific laws or statutes that could apply to your case. This may also result in a bigger or better settlement for your side of things. However, you can always decide to represent yourself, in which case you should check out information from the American Arbitration Association’s Pro Se Case Administration Team.

When representing yourself, remember that it’s often easier to win a case with an attorney’s assistance if it deals with certain elements, like improper debt collection or robocalls.

What Can I Do Next?

If you haven’t already tried to resolve your complaint by contacting FanDuel directly, start there. If customer service isn’t helping, arbitration may be a good next step for you. While FairShake is not accepting claims against FanDuel yet, we may in the future. Tell us what happened below, and when we are ready to help, we’ll contact you.