Beware of Coins-E - they are stealing coins from the users

Update: Seems like the exchange is running on autopilot. I would suggest you to withdraw all your funds.
Update 2: They are under 'new' management. Still not got my PXC back. Tread with caution

I am creating this thread as a last recourse since the exchange is ignoring any communication from us and also to warn others of the potential pitfall of keeping the money there.

Last Friday (6th Sept) I withdrew 12k PXCs from Coins-E to my Cryptsy account. When those coins failed to arrive, I sent their support a mail and received a fairly quick reply saying they are looking into it. Over the weekend I mailed again asking for the status and finally got a mail on Monday saying their withdrawl has been processed. When I asked them for the transaction ID, they sent me this - bf282a81bca400ff7e71a9960eda6b4a4bf35aeffa5f704fb403bf9f8c2b4167

As you can check for yourself, this doesn't show up on the blockchain. When I asked them to show the transaction on the blockchain, I again got the reply
'Hi,
Sorry for the trouble caused. Our technical team will soon fix the issue. Your support and patience is highly appreciated.'

These all happened on Monday, 9th September. 2 days later they posted here saying 'Coins-E is working on the PXC problem, it seems their was a forced update the company wasn't told about.. rest assured you can still send your coins if your on the original chain.'

However, they outright lied, as MaGNet replied immediately pointing out they were indeed informed well in advance https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3128647#msg3128647

In the meantime, of course, they continued to ignore any communication from us. I understand they may have some problems and need time to fix; but they could at least inform us of that. The total silence on their part has made me nervous and unfortunately it looks like they just stole all the money. I withdrew the remaining PXCs to the same address (http://explorer.phenixcoin.com/a/PiKzgFoHJd), so clearly their client is working fine.

After they ignored all my mails and PMs I went to their chat and found a resident chat box camper (coin-rider) who kept vouching for the exchange and its support. I requested him to mail the exchange on my behalf and he duly obliged. But (surprise, surprise) still no response.

Users affected besides me:
Scooby903 lost almost 10k PXCs https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3123707#msg3123707
gica_contra lost 7 bucks worth of PXCs https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3105158#msg3105158
ByeByeCoins who can be found in Coins-E chatbox says he lost 2.1k PXCs besides 65 TRC
BitJohn says a lot of other users and other coins are also affected https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3139576#msg3139576

If you are also affected please post here; so that we can tally the total amount owed to us by Coins-E. I will keep bumping this thread until Coins-E gives us a valid response. If you are aware of the issues and get irritated by the constant bumpings, then I apologise in advance. I also appreciate the effort put in by BitJohn to resolve this issue; he even went to their chat to get a response.

Original thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270170.msg3102829#msg3102829
Scam accusation thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=293661.0

It sucks to lose such a huge amount - don't repeat my mistake. Their is no dearth of exchanges to choose from.

EDIT: Received a reply from them on Sept 15:

Hi,
Sorry for the delayed response. You could check your wallet now. The issue has been resolved. Thank you for your patience.

--
Thank you
Coins-e Support team

Of course, nothing actually came into the wallet. I checked the block explorer and still 12k PXC doesn't show up on it (http://explorer.phenixcoin.com/a/PiKzgFoHJd). I don't understand whether they are really really dumb or just trolling me Sad

Would have been easier if they just told me they stole my coins. At least I won't have any hopes then (not that I have much anyways).