Bitcoin Forum

I have submitted a complaint against Coinbase, Inc to the State Attorney's office of California.  The state has referred me to a list of lawyers who could handle my case against Coinbase, Inc.  They also contacted Coinbase, but coinbase has yet to reply, and that has been almost 2 months ago. Coinbase has yet to reply to my emails, and the emails of many others who have been defrauded by their schemes.

If you have been lied to by coinbase, the first thing you can do is submit a report here:

http://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company

It is very simple, and just be honest and state the facts.

My question is, since I don't care about the money that coinbase defrauded me, wouldn't it be better to just file a class action lawsuit so everyone gets closure?  I hate to see others being put in bad situations by coinbase.  This isn't small amount of money being dealt with here since bitcoin prices have ballooned to potentially life changing amounts.

So for those of you who are looking for closure with coinbase and left in the dark, please 1) submit a report 2) be patient and I will keep you guys updated on what will be done.

PS- Coinbase is not an exchange, but more of an arbitrator amongst the exchanges.  They charge several pts higher than an exchange that they use (most likely bitstamp) and have a paypal like system so you can use your bank to deposit/withdraw.  Beyond that, coinbase uses a system where it is almost limitless to how much they can profit.  They have the option to cancel your transaction at will if the price somehow goes against them at settlement time (usually a week after initiation).  Those that they do not defraud are content (because of the ease of deposit/withdraw), which should be a high percentage of people.  And those that they do defraud, are left devastated.

For more information:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=341188.msg3655164#msg3655164

How to file complaint against coinbase:

Do you want to close one of last options left for US people to buy/sell bitcoins?

I'm not up for a class action myself, I think it's unwarranted and bad for bitcoin itself. I would however like them to answer my support emails for my own problem: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=354851.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=354851.0) but it's not lawsuit worthy by a long shot. I'm pretty forgiving, the rest of their services seem to work and I know they are legit, and I've met Brian before, but- yeah. Support really needs to be worked out.

It's not a matter what I want to do, but a matter of what needs to be done to weed out all the fraudulent/dishonest/incompetent companies associated with bitcoin, which is almost all of them.  And it is a matter of justice being served.  Are you okay with a dishonest company handling something you believe in?

There is a difference between dishonest and understaffed or poorly run.

an unethical company at the top places barriers for entry for an ethical competitor to take over from them, defrauds their customers, and reduces trust in the currency. If they are frauds they should be closed.

The question is, ARE they frauds or is the OP blowing hot air. I am not personally familiar with the company or their alleged misconduct.

Yes they are frauds.  Read the threads in the link i provided.  And all the links within there.

For example, here is their spokesperson telling a blatant lie:


This is like the lie of all lies.  They almost NEVER push through transactions at original purchase price upon request.  I requested it 1000000 times.  Others have requested it 1000000 times.  No response.

But you are totally right, an unethical company in a monopolizing situation... cannot be good in the long term.

I have had no issues with them and I would say that a class action law suit would be pretty extreme measures. Sorry but I dont support this.

Do you have any sympathy for the people in these threads:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=339882.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=145797.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=339849.msg3655636#msg3655636

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328076.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=322631.msg3454765#msg3454765

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=322229.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=321684.msg3450929#msg3450929

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328013.msg3531406#msg3531406

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=328013.msg3526610#msg3526610

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=338172.msg3627572#msg3627572

http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/14195/did-i-just-get-defrauded-by-coinbase

This is just a small handful of threads I found on this forum.  There are a lot more on other forums and people that don't have a voice.

Do you have any sympathy for what people were put through and is going through?  Do you know how much coinbase is taken in from 1) arbitration 2) 1% fee 3)hedging or stealing with customer funds.

If people's money has been stolen, that needs to be rectified: no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

@OP
I'm sorry to hear this, my experience with coinbase thus far has been good.  This seems to be a note to me that I should be using instantaneous service.  We'll see if that actually happens later this month.

I hope you'll be able to get your BTC without breaking the company so that others can still use it. 

Best of luck!

I admit coinbase has its issues and im sure they will give you your money back. You can even call them! Just dont ruin it for people who are having no issues with it. Thanks.

What is their phone number?

The key to getting it at the price you locked in is to contact olaf here. He has pushed the few cancellations I had through successfully. Other than that no other problems. Support does answer just takes some time but they are new so that is expected. Overall I am satisfied with coinbase so do not ruin it

+1-415-580-2710 https://coinbase.com/merchants (https://coinbase.com/merchants). I would suggest you to be calm and not yell at them or anything otherwise they wont help you. You have around 3 hours before they close.

I tried opening an account with them about a year ago, but was unsuccessful.  I guess I should consider myself fortunate.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=193186.msg2013389#msg2013389

What bank are they using?

no idea....

I need some advice from lawyers on this forum on how to proceed.

They're in San Francisco. If it's for under $10,000, sue them in California Small Claims Court. It's cheap, and usually effective.

It would be a learning experience for Coinbase's owners to stand in front of a judge and explain their problems.

Spoke to soon. I just bought 0.1 btc. The $80 (It was $800 at that time) was taken out of my bank account which is fine so far. I had 0.08 in there to start with but a few days after the buy, coinbase took out the 0.08 from my account. I have no clue why this happened and no reply from Olaf. I will be emailing the CEO about this now.

630,000 accounts and a handful of clients with serious problems? This should hardly be surprising.

So stop giving them money. Stop giving them BTC. When "companies" can't follow the established standards, don't use their services. Don't order their products. When they make it clear they're scamming, either willfully or out of sheer lack of ability, don't use them. Even if there's no convenient alternative yet.

No matter how many lawsuits are discussed, no matter how many fantasies of vengeance are born, this shit will continue (and likely multiply further) until people stop enabling the clueless to wander in and wildly mishandle things.

Personally, I have had no trouble with them except with their customer support. It's good but REALLY slow. Not worthy of a class-action lawsuit, though, the company is just receiving more traffic than it can handle.

Silicon Valley Bank
555 Mission Street
Suite 900
San Francisco, CA 94105
415.764.3100 (phone)
415.615.0076 (fax)


http://www.svb.com/

Agreed.  Vocal minority is at play here, no need for a fucking class action lawsuit!  I'll really be pissed if OP fucks up my one really reliable way to acquire BTC.  I'm sorry that your experience has been less than satisfactory, but have you heard that they now have about 600,000 accounts up from 30,000 a year ago?   That means that they are POPULAR and effective, but are struggling to keep up with demand.  Just because you had a bad experience doesn't mean they're fraudulent!   

How did you get this info?

I am 110% okay with class action lawsuit. Sign me up!

Before to file a complain against coinbase, reread your valid contract.

The information posted on this thread is inaccurate:

Coinbase Inc. is not a California based company. They are in fact based in Oregon.

After filing a complaint to the attorney general of DoJ of California, I have subsequently received a letter in the mail recommending that complaints against Coinbase should be redirected to DoJ in Oregon. Here is the company details:

Coinbase Inc.
14525 SW Millikan Way #26680
Beaverton, OR 97005-2343
(415) 843-1515

The complaint can be filed online here:
https://justice.oregon.gov/forms/consumer_complaint.asp

Hope this helps!

This is true, but their office is located in SF.

Just a note, I sent them an email in december and got a reply roughly 30 days later.  It seems that just like mt gox and bitstamp they are overwhelmed with service tickets.

This is true. Its been about 2 weeks now and still no reply.

coinbase finally replied to state of california.  i will upload copy some time...

This way it has also begun with Gox.

You can't trust anyone.

my question is, can a customer cancel an order if the price falls dramatically?

If yes, then it is all fair game. If not, and they only cancel when the price goes up, while forcing you to buy even if the price bottoms, then this is fraudulent behavior.

of course you can't, i don't see that option available anywhere...

During the rush I was trying to buy as much as I can. I faced the limits of Coinbase accounts when they are created. Since nothing was mentioned in the terms of service about having multiple accounts, I thought I open a few more accounts to execute more purchases. I provided all honest and valid information and all my accounts were level 2 verified. They cancelled all my purchases worth $76K. I contacted their support but they never reinstrated any of my transaction and told me I am fraud. I offered them to go to their office since I work in SF and give them copies of my identification, etc to proof I am a legit person. They ended up whitelisting my main account only but did not re-instate any transactions. Their Chief Compliance Office replied to me and said that I have a point that the TOS does not forbid owning multiple accounts. She called my actions fraudulent although did sympathize with my loss and said they are anti-money-laundering policies they have to follow. I work in the financial industry so I knew about AML. I forwarded her an AML checklist which is produced by largest auditor of financial companies Price Waterhouse Coopers. Basically, all the AML bullshit they have to follow boils down to properly reporting large transaction > $1000/day to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen). This is something that can be easily automated and I know banks do it as well. They never argues back although all my points were logical. Olaf replied to me and said they cannot share their algorithm with public because fraudsters will take advantage of it. This was the last reply to my question as to why they call my actions fraud.

I eventually took it easy on them and did not file for arbitration as they are a Silicon Valley company and are trying to help bring bitcoin to mainstream. When they got $25M in funding, I was happy for them too. However today....

Today, I am fucking mad. I tried to login on one of those accounts that I had created and I noticed, it no longer exists. It included information about all those cancelled transaction they fucked up. I tried another account and the same. My accounts, except the primary one which I use now were deleted without any notice. This is an awful practice. It shows that they tried to delete information which could be used against them. Luckily I had a backup of all the transaction and I kept all the emails and old TOS.

If you are going to participate in a lawsuit, I am in.

Hello, Olaf from Coinbase here.

I just saw this thread. I'm extremely sorry for the trouble people here experienced using our site! I believe some of these problems stemmed from our slow customer support during the November/December time frame. We were swamped with the 10-fold price increase. We now have a much larger team - I want to address any outstanding problems. Please let us know!

PM me or email support@coinbase.com - I want to work out any issues anyone is encountering.

Again, I'm sorry for any problems that occurred during the price run up. Let us know what we can do.

I just pm'd you.... it has been 8 months since I was ripped off by you guys, and nothing has been done about it or even a reply!

Their support team is much bigger now. Just email support@coinbase.com

(To me) the most valuable thing which could come out of such an adventure would be to compel evidence about the factors which go into Coinbase's risk management procedures.  Specifically, if and what influence the U.S. Justice Department has on these decisions and through what arms of their operations.  Equally it would be interesting to know if an appeal to state secrecy of some sort is attempted in order to avoid transparency as it relates to issue.

If none of these issues play a roll in Conibase's operational tactics and the issues are demonstrated to be nothing more than a crude implementation of pilfering dimes from their low-end customer base I'd be somewhat surprised.  I would not rule out out of course, but it does not seem likely to me.

Wow, just wow coinbase, I'm busy right now, but I'll explain later.  Seriously coinbase STOP LYING!  OLAF JUST STOP LYING.  ENOUGH OF THE LIES.  ENOUGH.  ENOUGH OF THE BROKEN PROMISES.  ENOUGH!  YOU ARE GOING TO RUIN SOMEONES LIFE WITH YOUR PRACTICES!

Until it happens to you.  do you know that just a handful of accounts that they steal from they can make TONS off of it?  We're not talking about $200, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars can be stolen with just 1 high risk transaction during a bubble!!!!!!!!

This isn't going to end right now.  If there will be another bubble, watch, just watch.

This is bad... REAL BAD.  Coinbase has changed their stealing mechanism from calling it "high risk transaction" to "anti-fraud" now.

They used to say it is the "algorithm" that detects it.  Now they say it is just to make sure the bank account isn't stolen, THAT IS WHY THERE IS A VERIFICATION PROCESS!!!  Good thing for screenshots before they cover up everything.  Time to go to the FBI and whatever agency / journalist that will take a look at all this.  And talk to good lawyers... thank God for free consultations.

If you email support, they might give you the transaction at the original price!

No they won't.  It will cost them too much. I had bought it at $150 a piece....  I already emailed them many times.  I already told my bank everything.  My bank could only help me recoup $1200 that i lost.

The only thing i would like to sue them for is for the vulnerability in their system that led to my email address and legal name being discovered with hundreds of others and posted on pastebin, occuring on April the first of this year.

Unfortunately, they resorted to making your account inaccessible shortly there after unless you clicked "I agree" on a legal document saying you agreed to never participate in a class action lawsuit against them.

Anyone with half a brain realizes that this is extortion, and you can still sue the pants off of these ahem people, but be prepared. They have much more money to spend on legal council than any of us do.

Other than this singular instance where i feel they are ultimately responsible, i treat most of these posts in this thread as the fud that they are. Coinbase has never scammed me and i highly doubt they ever scammed anyone in this thread either.

Its true that their fee's are high, however this is merely the free market since they are the last remaining US based exchange.

 Their fee's are still cheaper than Campbx's which were simply outrageous.

All in All, if they offered to compensate me for their negligence in patching the vulnerability that ultimately lead to the revealing of my name and email address, i would gladly withhold participation in any suit against them. This is america and money talks.

Email support one more time, and quote their reply.

P.S. Dont yell at them.

I never had to press a button saying "I agree".

Were you on the list of leaked email/usernames? it was only a handful of users about 1300 in total. I realize this could possibly make me look like a liar since according to you, a user not on the list you never were prompted to agree to the amended terms of service, but i am not lying. check the terms of service, you will see they added the new section about not participating in a class action lawsuit. They removed the vulnerability finally, but not until refusing to pay the hacker who found it and refusing to fix it, leading to them having their asses handed to them by said hacker occuring on or near "April Fools Day".

Look ok, I had no other choice.... I was supposed to get 15 bitcoins at around $150 a piece.... for weeks they didnt reply as bitcoin value rose to 500+ ....  and I had thought they would re initiate the transaction since Olaf kept saying in the forums "we will fix it for you" "we will fix it for you"  "we regularly re initiate the transactions" etc etc.  I couldn't touch the money because I thought they were going to re initiate it.  so i couldn't even buy any bitcoins.

I explained everything to my bank and they took action.

Well, I was on the list, but if its on the TOS then there is nothing you can do about it.

Thats a matter of opinion actually. There have been several cases where companies have tried to cover their asses in a similar manner, only to have their terms of service torn to shreds in court. I'd wager that Coinbase's latest amendment doesn't hold up in court when the context is shown as to how that terms of service amendment came about, and how they got users to accept it through a threat of withholding access to user accounts.

They've been at this for 4 years now?  How?

Thats bad thing about coinbase. But I don't understand what problems you have got with it. I have been using coinbase still long period of time and Im still using it. Im not resident of US but it is still best option for my country. Im having no trouble doing transaction via this company wallet. Most of the payment I get from bitcointalk are coming to coinbase only. The transaction smooth for me. I also trade large volume of money through it to send to my family and friends wallet. You would rather check twice if there is any technical problem with coinbase for your region. Well thats too broad like I am saying in your "region"because wallets are not that sophisticated. You went crazy with las suits and all the things. But may be you are right at your own place as you are facing big problems with it. All the best to you.

Well, it wasn't a big problem because they're only tying up $80.  Maybe that's the problem, that they don't want to be bothered, they can't make much profit from it.  Yet a $1 test went right through.  I thought all this stuff was automated anyway, it should be pretty routine.

I filed cases with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, this is my description I filed: 

I don't so much mind them being a little late now and then but $80 is half a month's food money, it would buy 2 Raspberry Pi computers.  I'm trying to downscale and live on nothing, mostly big bags of rice.