If you signed up before Sep 10, 2015 (or possibly as late as Dec 3, 2015) you DID NOT AGREE to an INACTIVITY PERIODIf you signed up between Dec 3, 2015 to Apr 21, 2017 you agreed to a 2 CALENDAR YEAR inactivity period NOT 1 CALENDAR YEARNo one who agreed to an inactivity period can have reached the inactivity period yet (2 calendar years)Exact text (stress added to words is mine):If your account has been inactive for
2 calendar years, its status will be changed to “locked”. Please contact Support to unlock your account
https://support.btc-e.com/A
"calendar year" does
not mean 365 days. It means a calendar year: 2015 or 2016, from Jan 1 to Dec 31 (sources: [1] [2] [3]). This means if you signed up or logged in after Jan 1, 2015 then your account was active in 2015. If you did not log in during 2016 then your account was inactive for that calendar year. 2017 is not finished so it is not applicable yet . This means if you agreed to inactivity period
the most your account could have been inactive is 1 calendar year. It is truly
impossible for any account that agreed to an inactivity period to have reached the inactivity period yet. Possibles:
Account Active Last | Inactivity Period in terms then | Possible Inactive Years | Result |
Before Sep 10, 2015 | Not present | N/A | Inactivity Period does not apply to account |
Sep 10 - Dec 31, 2015 | 2 calendar years | 2016 | Inactivity Period impossible to have been reached |
2016 | 2 calendar years | None | Inactivity Period impossible to have been reached |
Jan 1 - Apr 21, 2017 | 2 calendar years | None | Inactivity Period impossible to have been reached |
After Apr 21, 2017 | 1 calendar year | None | Inactivity Period impossible to have been reached |
Terms changes:
By opening an account at BTC-e you agree to the Terms of Use stated in this page. BTC-e reserves the right, at its discretion, to add, remove, or modify portions of these Terms of Agreement at any time. Your continued use of BTC-e following the implementation of changes to these Terms of Agreement implies that you accept such changes.
Due to we have not been able to use our accounts we have not had "continued use of BTC-e" and have not agreed to any changes in terms. The terms that apply to our accounts are when the account was active last. If BTC-e says "you reset your password recently so you are subject to new terms" then that means our account was last active in 2017. BTC-e can not say we agreed to new terms while saying also our account was inactive at the time we agreed to new terms.
ConclusionThe inactivity period does not apply to any account yet and we have very firm legal ground to sue them on. Every day they withhold our funds causes further damages to us and can be added to the damages award at court.
Taking actionSpreading the word that BTC-e is refusing to release funds, for arbitrary reason not supported by their terms of service, will have more effect probably in the near term than a lawsuit. Every one is scared about exchanges becoming bankrupt and keeping every one's funds and refusing to release funds for arbitrary reason is usually the start sign of problems. If we tell people the truth about BTC-e and show them the indisputable evidence we can convince them hopefully to take their business to a trustworthy exchange. BTC-e must unlock our accounts to remain credible in the community (and avoid a lawsuit).
Please save copies of the archive.org pages in case BTC-e removes them.
Sources:
1:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/calendar+year2:
https://www.oregonlaws.org/glossary/definition/calendar_year3:
http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/C/CalendarYear.aspxThanks to IRC for the proof read and English correction.