Official Newbie BitInstant Support Thread (Active Customer Support)

[TheDarkBanker]

So TheDarkBanker, are you saying they never resolved it for you and kept your money? How much was it? This is insane, I called twice, wrote 2 emails used their contact form on their site (they talk about a livechat on their site which doesn't seem to exist), made a forum post and sent a pm to yankee. Not one beep from their side. This is totally unprofessional, even if I didn't have to pay a 15$ fee.

I'm just guessing here but could it be that they don't really check the reserves on btc-e before accepting the mtgox code? Because those reserves went really fast and maybe once they tried to process mine it was all gone? I mean, it would be ridiculous to sell and then check availability later, but that's kinda what it looked like to me.

Anyway, as said, so far I sent them 1000$ and got nothing + silence. What's next, do I have to fly to NY to get a rise out of them or what? Their motto is "time is money". Hilarious.

It wasn't even that much either. $20.
But I'm betting they make some excuse that the Feds saw a bunch of "suspicious activity" so they seize those funds. Threats to the freedom =_=
Funny how everything internet is threatened in the US first.
Leading everybody who still loves freedom to go to offshore VPNs, hosting, banks... although Swiss banks are no longer safe, hence the rise in bitcoin popularity

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[coffeeee]

Bitinstant,

On 3/18, when the BTC/USD exchange rate was $47, I transferred $100 from Dwolla to Mt. Gox, which worked out to be about $98 after your fee was taken. Although the money was taken from my Dwolla account immediately, I have yet to receive a deposit in my Mt. Gox account. In the interim, I have watched the exchange rate climb by 25%. The quote ID for this event is "de7e22f0-0275-4f84-a054-7855d4d63419".

On 3/19, I saw the prices rising and, giving you guys the benefit of the doubt, I once again attempted to use your service to transfer an additional $100 from my Dwolla account to Bitstamp. Again, although the money was taken from me immediately, no funds have shown up in my Bitstamp account. The quote ID for this event was "12521b67-9a79-4661-9dfa-9b8f6d74d537"

I have emailed you, attempted to use the live chat, and posted in your support thread and have not received a single reply yet. I feel like I've been robbed and have just sat here watching the value of my USD plummet relative to BTC. I do not understand why all of my attempts to resolve the disappearance of $200 have been ignored. Any help and a reply would be highly appreciated.

I am still awaiting the deposit in my Bitstamp account.

To date, I have still received zero communication from Bitinstant. When will I be informed on what happened with my money? When will I receive payment to my Bitstamp account? Will I be compensated for losses due to the failure of your service to work as described? Why should I ever use your service again?

So, I received an email 4 days ago in response to this exact post that I emailed in saying that my order had been processed. I only received the funds in my Mt. Gox account, not my Bitstamp account.

Moreover, Yankee mentioned that compensation would be provided. Is this a lie? If not, how and when will such compensation be provided? This has all been extremely frustrating.

[racercam999]

I too put in an order through ZipZap to bitinstant....for a quite a bit of money. This was my first time using bitinstant. I have not received any deposit into my wallet. I received the email from Seth last night and I appreciate them letting us know, albeit generally, what's going on.

My question: When the orders do finally go through, will the bitcoins deposied into our accounts be based on the price when I placed my order? Or based on the price when it finally goes through. This could be quite a significant difference.

MS

Just a quick update from my post the other day:

After my orders processed last night, about 36 hours after they were was placed, I realized the BTC exchange rate used to calculate my order was messed up. The rate was significantly higher than the rate at in effect when I deposited my cash at CVS on the morning of 3/20 -- and my orders were for more than $1k.

I PMd Charlie/Yankee this afternoon, outlining what happened. I explained why I believed the amount I had received was in error, and asked to have the difference, around 5 BTC, sent to my wallet. About 30min later I had a response. After a couple clarifying messages back and forth, my account has now been credited the full amount that I was owed. So thank you bitinstant! I appreciate being able to work with you to get my issue solved. I am certainly happy, and will use their service again.

If you respectfully communicate with the team, and provide clear, concise information regarding your issue, they will work to resolve it to the best of their ability. No scam here. Just a legitimate business breaking new barriers and in the process going through some growing pains.

MS

How on earth did you get them to do it? I've been trying to get the btc that are owed me since yesterday with no luck. I've PM'd Yankee and Gareth and emailed Seth, all with no result. I'd appreciate any input.

If you haven't heard anything by Mon/Tues, I would just write PM Yankee again. Make sure you support what you are asking for clearly. For example, if you are asking for a different exchange rate like I was, look up the exact time your order processed on bitcoincharts.com and copy and paste that information into your email. Explain how you came up with the BTC figure you say you are owed. Make it clear, concise, without too much additional detail. Then wait a couple days.

[Gramatik]

It is taking a while to process my order of $150 to mt. gox, which i wouldnt have an issue with if the price of bitcoins wasnt rising so fast. When I placed my order bitcoins were $63 market price and have gone up to nearly $73, so I have lost $20 and i'm sure other have lost much more. I plan on ordering something worth slightly less than 2 bitcoins so if this trend continues I will soon not have enough money in my account and will have to make another transaction for one order and ride this roller coaster all over again. Is there any system in place to remedy this? Perhaps having bitcoins transactions done at the price of the time of order?
It's a good service, but seems to be being poorly executed.

[mistermayi]

Hello.

I received an email from George at bitinstant Friday evening, but have not heard anything since. In addition to the technical problems which were affecting everyone else, I also typoed on my email address, so I have not received any email notifications with regards to my order.

The zipzap account number is 898-446-182. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[zkay]

I too put in an order through ZipZap to bitinstant....for a quite a bit of money. This was my first time using bitinstant. I have not received any deposit into my wallet. I received the email from Seth last night and I appreciate them letting us know, albeit generally, what's going on.

My question: When the orders do finally go through, will the bitcoins deposied into our accounts be based on the price when I placed my order? Or based on the price when it finally goes through. This could be quite a significant difference.

MS

Just a quick update from my post the other day:

After my orders processed last night, about 36 hours after they were was placed, I realized the BTC exchange rate used to calculate my order was messed up. The rate was significantly higher than the rate at in effect when I deposited my cash at CVS on the morning of 3/20 -- and my orders were for more than $1k.

I PMd Charlie/Yankee this afternoon, outlining what happened. I explained why I believed the amount I had received was in error, and asked to have the difference, around 5 BTC, sent to my wallet. About 30min later I had a response. After a couple clarifying messages back and forth, my account has now been credited the full amount that I was owed. So thank you bitinstant! I appreciate being able to work with you to get my issue solved. I am certainly happy, and will use their service again.

If you respectfully communicate with the team, and provide clear, concise information regarding your issue, they will work to resolve it to the best of their ability. No scam here. Just a legitimate business breaking new barriers and in the process going through some growing pains.

MS

How on earth did you get them to do it? I've been trying to get the btc that are owed me since yesterday with no luck. I've PM'd Yankee and Gareth and emailed Seth, all with no result. I'd appreciate any input.

If you haven't heard anything by Mon/Tues, I would just write PM Yankee again. Make sure you support what you are asking for clearly. For example, if you are asking for a different exchange rate like I was, look up the exact time your order processed on bitcoincharts.com and copy and paste that information into your email. Explain how you came up with the BTC figure you say you are owed. Make it clear, concise, without too much additional detail. Then wait a couple days.

How do I read this? I placed my order at 10:00am on 3/20/13, and paid for it at 10:40am 3/20/13. Which price are they honoring for you? Price at order, or price at deposit?



Or MtGox:





When I actually made the order it told me I could expect 6.1BTC for $300. Going by that chart, if I'm reading it correctly, that is a little more than I should have been getting for $300. I am willing to settle for this amount, even though the order sheet told me something different.

Going by these numbers, I am either owed (using the weighted closing price):

(10AM, Time of order) $300/$58.98=5.08BTC - 3.87BTC = 1.21BTC

OR

(10:40am, Time of deposit) $300/$59.30=5.05BTC - 3.87BTC = 1.18BTC

My transfer info:

Code:

OrderID: 3ff34e28-ba01-44e4-b9ab-7e6ece1c74d1
EventID: 830aa757-a373-4c5a-9e02-d26281409cc3
DestAccount: 12imfrCcAJvc2GRBoBaaHpYwvYFU2H21NC
QuoteID: 131c026b-6b5b-4322-8d4c-68f10d52ddb1
User: SYSTEM
DestExchange: btc
eventtype: Order executed
EventSentAt: 1363903251.65
APIResponse: {'Transaction_id': u'514b82b53fa78d54fb99e614'}
FundsSent: $288.03 USD

I appreciate your help in this.

I've tried emailing/PMing Yankee a few times after making my separate thread in services discussion. So far he seems confused, because he thought I hadn't received anything, whereas the real dispute is now that I have not received the amount of BTC I had ordered.

Like you said though, probably just takes time.

[magicmike20]

I use BitInstant all of the time and things usually go smoothly but it's been a few hours since I made the cash deposit and I wanted to make sure that I called it to the attention of the Support Team so that my order can get pushed through.

I was not given an order number because I have not received an e-mail from BitInstant, but I have this information from ZipZap:

Quote ID    60268933-b4a3-4f9e-b778-2b0a5e15737c
Event ID    be584f19-da01-44fb-9ceb-c78a73a88d40
Quote valid until    Mon Mar 25 00:55:51 2013
Fees (Not inclusive of ZipZap)    3.99%%
Amount you need to pay    $186.05 USD
Amount you will receive    $178.626605 USD
Expected delivery time(HH:MM:SS)    0:04:00
Guaranteed delivery time (HH:MM:SS)    1:00:00
Destination exchange    MtGox

Thanks in advance!

[sandyjg9]

funds not in my mtgox account and i need them now. i'm going to have to pay more for the bitcoins now because bitinstant is having problems.
please help with my issue.

Merchant order ID
bded2654-9219-41ff-a563-3d2561a6f006
Customer account ID
154 833 644
Payment code
54510766
Status
Paid
Amount
400.00 USD
Final full order amount
403.95 USD

[sandyjg9]

funds not in my mtgox account and i need them now. i'm going to have to pay more for the bitcoins now because bitinstant is having problems.
please help with my issue.

Merchant order ID
bded2654-9219-41ff-a563-3d2561a6f006
Customer account ID
154 833 644
Payment code
54510766
Status
Paid
Amount
400.00 USD
Final full order amount
403.95 USD

funds became available. took about 4 hours which seems better than a lot of people

[Gramatik]

Being a newbie, I may have screwed up my account number for transfer to Mt. Gox. Not asking anyone their number but would my merchant number which looks like "M<numbers>X" work or does it have to be the number you see when you click Payment options>bitinstant on mt gox which is a 6 digit number or my account name?
I have a terrible fear I may have wasted $150 as i got an email saying the transfer was complete yet there are no funds in my account and support has not responded to my emails.

[magicmike20]

Just got my e-mail with my MtGox coupon!

If you gave them your merchant ID instead of your account number/name, they will e-mail you a coupon that you can redeem on MtGox.

[Gramatik]

Just got my e-mail with my MtGox coupon!

If you gave them your merchant ID instead of your account number/name, they will e-mail you a coupon that you can redeem on MtGox.

But i got this in an email from bitinstant
"Hey there,

This is to notify you that your order has been updated, please find the details below:


We have made a direct deposit into your MTGox account and there is no need to use the coupon system on this order"

[shkiser]

Has anyone successfully placed an order for cash deposit to bitcoin address recently?? Seems like bitinstant has had nothing but issues for the last couple months. I havent used them for a long time now, have used them a few times prior with no issues. Most recently $500 cash to deposit at wallet, never showed up. Got the run around for a week, and finally they said theyd refund me, which they kindly did the entire amount. However, that was an absolute waste of time for me, and not very fruitful to send out $500 just to receive it back 2 weeks later..

I would have to drive 20 miles one way into town, plus its Snowing like a bitch.. I dont think Im going to bother taking my chances until I know for sure theyre running without problems again. Just too many ppl having issues with this exchange service..

[Alex Troyanskij]

Guys! How to pay for avalon? I've made an order and lost my 15 minutes given for me to pay.. Now I can't see any link to pay

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Has anyone successfully placed an order for cash deposit to bitcoin address recently?? Seems like bitinstant has had nothing but issues for the last couple months. I havent used them for a long time now, have used them a few times prior with no issues. Most recently $500 cash to deposit at wallet, never showed up. Got the run around for a week, and finally they said theyd refund me, which they kindly did the entire amount. However, that was an absolute waste of time for me, and not very fruitful to send out $500 just to receive it back 2 weeks later..

I would have to drive 20 miles one way into town, plus its Snowing like a bitch.. I dont think Im going to bother taking my chances until I know for sure theyre running without problems again. Just too many ppl having issues with this exchange service..

Yes, everything is fine! If you have an issue, feel free to PM me.

[habash]

Everything is fine? Shkiser, I would at least wait till all these people here got there screwed orders reolved.

Yankee, I wrote you a pm which you haven't answered. In fact the only answer I got so far is a quick email from George Mandrik after a LONG wait, Telling me what I suspected:

You currently don't have funds at btc-e (and who knows where else)! Yet you happily processed my Mt-Gox coupon and took the money. I specifically refreshed the btc-e site so I would place my order when the funds were in. However, it seems you just let everybody put in orders, take their money and THEN check if you actually have the funds to trade. Which you do not. And after countless tries to contact you I get a short note telling me to just wait till you have funds at btc-e again.

Wonderful, I pay 14$ for a service that successfully keeps me from investing my 1000$ when the btc-price fell. How about not taking the money till you get to honor your end of the deal? And how about actually sending me my money before going on the forums and suckering the next guy in by saying everything is fine. It's clearly not. As you said, time is money. At this rate I could have gone through one of btc-e's more obscure methods of depositing myself and it would have been way faster and I would have made a healthy profit.

So, when will the reserves at btc-e be up? I'm getting the feel you're just waiting for somebody to sell dollars at btc-e that you can then pass along to your waiting "customers" (don't feel like I'm treated that way).

!DON'T SEND THEM ANY MORE MONEY TILL THEY PROVE THEY CAN ACTUALLY PROCESS ALL THE OPEN ORDERS!

Order ID   6e8573ab-1408-43e3-814f-f5830698fa37

P.S. You should really waive the fees on all the messed up orders. We paid more than enough with time.

[zkay]

My order has been settled to my satisfaction. Charlie is seemingly trying to keep everything together. If anyone has any trouble, do PM him. He will answer.

[giga4less]

I encountered some weird issue for my order https://www.bitinstant.com/order_status/b4b9d586-63d6-42af-aee1-4cf342853041 which exchanges mtgox coupon for vouchx coupon.
It first says "gox coupon deposited at bitinstant account", and "order executed - funds deposited at remote exchange", but after that come the errors "serious error occurred" and "gox coupon deposit failed". How could gox coupon deposit failed after it was already deposited? Of course if you redeem a coupon twice it should fail since it is already cashed. Because of these errors I received nothing for the vouchx coupon I ordered. I tried to deposit the gox coupon back to mtgox but it failed, meaning that it was already redeemed. So obviously bitinstant already cashed my gox coupon, but I didn't get the vouchx coupon in return. Please help.

By the way I have ticket GWE-ODTCD-851 open at bitinstant.ladesk.com, but support happens to be really slow on the ticket.

[tastyratz]

zipzap, zip zap, zip zap inc, or the code 9611 - all show up as invalid on netspend. "Could not find any billers with the specified name. Please try again."

Looks like others have posted about a similar error before. Workaround?

[Shawnna]

Everything is fine? Shkiser, I would at least wait till all these people here got there screwed orders reolved.

Yankee, I wrote you a pm which you haven't answered. In fact the only answer I got so far is a quick email from George Mandrik after a LONG wait, Telling me what I suspected:

You currently don't have funds at btc-e (and who knows where else)! Yet you happily processed my Mt-Gox coupon and took the money. I specifically refreshed the btc-e site so I would place my order when the funds were in. However, it seems you just let everybody put in orders, take their money and THEN check if you actually have the funds to trade. Which you do not. And after countless tries to contact you I get a short note telling me to just wait till you have funds at btc-e again.

Wonderful, I pay 14$ for a service that successfully keeps me from investing my 1000$ when the btc-price fell. How about not taking the money till you get to honor your end of the deal? And how about actually sending me my money before going on the forums and suckering the next guy in by saying everything is fine. It's clearly not. As you said, time is money. At this rate I could have gone through one of btc-e's more obscure methods of depositing myself and it would have been way faster and I would have made a healthy profit.

So, when will the reserves at btc-e be up? I'm getting the feel you're just waiting for somebody to sell dollars at btc-e that you can then pass along to your waiting "customers" (don't feel like I'm treated that way).

!DON'T SEND THEM ANY MORE MONEY TILL THEY PROVE THEY CAN ACTUALLY PROCESS ALL THE OPEN ORDERS!

Order ID   6e8573ab-1408-43e3-814f-f5830698fa37

P.S. You should really waive the fees on all the messed up orders. We paid more than enough with time.

Whew.......  I'm glad I saw this.  Being new at this, I'm really struggling with how to make it work.  And seeing something like this makes me want to just give up.