I, being in the U.S., was really happy about Coinbase.com: the ease of setting up an account, getting verified, and instant buys/sells with a Visa or Mastercard. They even offered me a job, and I spoke with them via Skype a few years ago. But once I put my Visa card on my account to make instant buys, they cancelled every buy I made! I asked them why, and they said they needed proof of the charity for which I generated donate buttons with Bitcoin. I gave them the proof. They didn't even open up the encrypted PDF I sent them. I told them to split up my personal account from my charity account, and they told me to cancel my account and reopen it. So I did. But then their cancelling of every single
BTC buy transaction I made resumed! I asked them why again. They responded:
Hi Mr. XXXXXX,
Thank you for contacting us. We will be unable to provide you with Coinbase services due to your inability to complete our due diligence process for your non-profit organization.
You are no longer eligible to use our services. Please do not create any more Coinbase accounts.
To fully close your current Coinbase account, please visit this link:
https://www.coinbase.com/settings/cancelRespectfully,
Coinbase
Compliance Team
My "inability to complete our due diligence process"? They didn't even open the PDF because they asked me what the password was despite my telling them already.
I also didn't like that they, insecurely, sent me emails saying things like: "You just recently purchased 4536 BTC" [come, code crackers, get them!…].
Is there something fundamentally wrong with Coinbase.com-type companies? Don't they just want to hold on to our money? I never kept any $ or
BTC funds in my Coinbase.com account, and I'm wondering if that's why they stabbed me in the back like this.
A review on Google Maps says:
Sketch as they come. Please avoid at all cost. They have ZERO customer service, there is no way to contact them besides email, and even that is sketch because they pick and choose when/if they feel like responding. Interesting that they don't respond when its regarding the important matters related to your account etc. . . They also freeze accounts regularly, not based on "security" or merit, but based on how much money they can make off of you.
Like many investors, I was simply trying to purchase some Bitcoins after I had verified my bank. I also verified personal info including Social security number, DOB etc, all of which was more than enough . . . Fast forward when the price of Bitcoin fell and I tried to make a big purchase, nothing appeared on my dashboard besides getting a generic email about the purchase being made. I email them multiple times and a customer service rep says their supervisor will get back to me right away. That never happened. In fact they took forever, and finally I got an automated response saying the transaction was cancelled and they apologize if they had made a mistake. According to them, this was based on it "seems" like the transaction could have been fraud but they weren't sure. Considering how the public and government already has a bias against Bitcoin, unprofessional and sketch businesses like Coinbase just adds to the stigma and makes it harder for Bitcoin to be legitimized. Everyone hurts in the long run. . . By the way, when I tried buying when the price shot up, the transaction went through. I'm going to seek alternatives because my money is on the line!
I'm not the only one.
A Yelp reviewer writes:
I had a spotless record with them buying and selling bitcoins and then one day I get the following email. Apparently, if you dont store bitcoins on their wallet or vault, then they are incapable of "floating" bitcoins. Which means they've promised more than they have onhand (similar to a bank with dollars). I would always purchase coins and store to an offline wallet. These guys run a shoddy operation with a crappy customer service. Good luck finding a phone number to contact them.
They sent the following email after disabling my account...no good explanation given:
Unfortunately a manual review has determined that you are ineligible to
use the Coinbase platform to purchase Bitcoin. We're sorry for any
inconvenience that this may cause.
Please keep in mind that you still have access to our hosted wallet
services including the Coinbase Vault.
Again I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.
Avoid Coinbase.com. Is Bitstamp better, or are all these sorts of companies fundamentally flawed and against the
BTC philosophy? It sure seems so.
