Lost bitcoinstore order and expired bitpay invoice.

[Equus]

I have sent some bitcoins to a BitPay invoice, which then expired before my BitcoinStore order could be completed.

Worse, because the customer registration and the order submission get processed after the payment step, I don't think that there is any record at all for the merchant to follow up when BitPay notifies them of the expired payment.  Now I have no coins and no order.

I have had a generic customer service response from the BitcoinStore, and I assume that I will eventually resolve this with them.

I wonder, though, if others have gone through this.  I see a couple of similar threads in areas where I can't post.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155157.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=141285.0

Is this problem as common as it seems to be?  Why doesn't the BitcoinStore create the user profile and order number before working on the payment method?

[coolbeans94]

Contact customer service of Bitcoinstore/Bitpay and explain what happened and make sure to let them know the address you sent the coins from and the address you sent them to and the amount. THe nice thing about Bitcoin is there should be a record of the transaction somewhere on their records (Bitpay probably). Once they see that you sent them coins, but they did not go to anyone, you should be able to get your coins back from Bitpay. Bitcoinstore might need to confirm this with Bitpay, to prove that the mistake is for real. Just explain, and give the transaction details, and they should be able to confirm the mistake and refund your coins. Bitpay should have record of the address you sent the coins to and be able to serve a refund.

[MemoryDealers]

You likely had this problem because you didn't actually send the coins within the 15 minutes allotted by Bitpay.
You likely just instructed some other entity to send the coins for you,  and they took their sweet time doing so.
If you keep your bitcoins in a wallet in which you control the private keys, you wont have this problem anymore. 
You also wont be creating additional work for the people at bitpay and bitcoinstore.

Some good examples are the Bitcoin QT client,  Electrum and the blockchain.info wallet

Some bad examples are mtgox, bitstamp, and coinbase.

[Equus]

Thanks for your replies,

I did indeed send the coins from cavirtex because my Bitcoin QT client wasn't synchronized and I have never waited more than five minutes or so for withdrawls.  I also lost some time because I did not immediately recognize the BitPay invoice for what it was, and I did not realize that there was a time limit on the transaction.

I will be aware of this issue in the future and make sure that my payment method is ready to go before I begin to place an order.

Based on my experience with BitMit I thought that I would be able to create my profile with BitcoinStore and get the order rolling before I had to worry about getting my payment ducks in a row.  I suppose the difference is that BitMit prices are set in fiat so exchange volatility doesn't affect the merchant the way it would affect BitcoinStore.  Still, I would prefer to see a system where the customer profile and order number are created, and then there is a payment step where the prices are finalized and payment is made within a clear time limit.

I have followed up with BitPay now, and they seem to be on top of things.

[Argwai96]

this happened to me last month. very frustrating and purely bitpay's fault. i emailed both the vendor and bitpay and while the vendor got back to me very quickly, everything hinged on bitpay, who never emailed me back. however, they did fulfill the invoice the next day (~12-18 hours later) and all was well. but very frustrating with the error 100% bitpay's fault and their total lack of communication.

[MemoryDealers]

but very frustrating with the error 100% bitpay's fault

I don't see how you can blame it on bitpay since it was obviously the customer who failed to send the Bitcoins within the 15 minutes required.

[Equus]

I actually blame this mostly on BitcoinStore.

They could have registered me and my order before passing me to the BitPay process.
They could have given me a clear warning about having 15 minutes to get the money to them. 

They say: "Do not use CoinBase if you wish to receive your order," which I now realize is a cryptic reference to this exact situation. 
Instead, this could read: "Once the payment step begins you will have 15 minutes for your BTC transfer to be confirmed in the blockchain, otherwise this order may be cancelled and your money returned."

I am willing to share half the blame with BitPay.  I should have expected a bitcoin checkout to be more fussy than a Visa checkout.  They should be as good as Visa at tracking the money that people send them.



So far, after 24 hrs,  a BitcoinStore rep has passed my issue to their development staff, and a BitPay rep has asked if I have the url of the invoice I attempted to fill.  I realize that my 1/2 BTC is hardly a high priority for either company, but I am surprised that it hasn't been easier to sort this out.

[MemoryDealers]

I actually blame this mostly on BitcoinStore.

You not sending the payment in time is my fault?
OK....

They could have registered me and my order before passing me to the BitPay process.

Actually we had it setup like this before and we had dozens of orders per day entered into the system that people never paid for.  It was a nightmare to deal with.  The current system is much better.

They could have given me a clear warning about having 15 minutes to get the money to them. 
They say: "Do not use CoinBase if you wish to receive your order," which I now realize is a cryptic reference to this exact situation. 
Instead, this could read: "Once the payment step begins you will have 15 minutes for your BTC transfer to be confirmed in the blockchain, otherwise this order may be cancelled and your money returned."

You are right, and this will be updated by tomorrow.

I am willing to share half the blame with BitPay.  I should have expected a bitcoin checkout to be more fussy than a Visa checkout.  They should be as good as Visa at tracking the money that people send them.

I don't see how you not sending the payment in time is Bitpay's fault, although it is now their responsibility to track down your bitcoins.
You have never had a traditional shopping cart checkout time out when you didn't enter your CC information fast enough?
This seems like an analogous situation to me.

In the future,  please don't use hosted wallets when you actually want the payment to be sent at a specific time.

[Equus]

I am sorry.  I did not realize that I was talking to a BitcoinStore representative.  I am not here to pick a fight or to drive customers away from your service.  I was just curious whether this problem was widespread.  Based on my correspondence with BitPay it seems to be fairly common.

I think the added clarity during the checkout process will help prevent problems like this as other first time customers try you out.

We all want to see btc-commerce adopted by the masses, and the masses are as likely as I am to be a few minutes late on their payments.


I have retrieved the invoice url from BitPay and sent it to the support address for my BitcoinStore ticket.  I am sure this will all be resolved soon.

[MemoryDealers]

Thank you Equus,

I'm glad we have the same goals,  and I thank you for prompting me to improve the site.

Thank you for your first order,  and I look forward to your second order being even easier.

[Equus]

I am sure that you are all on the edge of your seats, so I will just add that my issue appears to be resolved.

I am told that the order went through normally, although my client profile was not created and I never received a confirmation. 

After my botched payment, BitcoinStore addressed my concerns 40 hours after I raised them and my "in stock" item will ship one week from today.  These things feel slow, but only in the way that a website feels slow if it takes 8 seconds to load.

Also, BitPay's customer service was excellent at their end.  I won't hesitate to use BitPay or BitcoinStore again.