Warning: BTC-E Not releasing my USD Deposit

[meelos]

Sent 10,000 USD on the 15th October... They changed their bank from Voice Commerce the day after. Support told me they had not received the funds and asked me to send in a SWIFT copy of the transfer from my bank. Contacted my bank and they ordered an investigation. I had a response saying the funds had been deposited. I sent BTC-E the SWIFT copy of the transfer over a week ago and there has been no reply since. Absolutely terrible support.

Seems like they don't speak English too well. Had to ask my bank to investigate further and provide me with information I will need to take legal action. Shudder to think I may have to go see a lawyer. NOT a good experience.

My advise thus far is to steer clear of BTC-E. I will continue to update this forum when I hear back from their support team. Since I sent my funds the price of Bitcoin has almost tripled. I really wish I had used another exchange .

[lucaspm98]

Ouch, keep us updated. They should give you the bitcoins at the price you would have been able to buy them at, but of course they cant...

[meelos]

Yeah at this point I'm not even concerned about missing out on the gains. I'm just concerned that they're trying to steal my money. I don't have 10 G's to lose. Especially if I have to go down the legal route to recover it. Not sleeping too well at the moment. Lesson learned.

[tlielaxu]

Quite a few people are having issues with BTC-e not releasing their money, myself included. >No one should be wiring them funds at this point.< If they had some sort of backlog you'd think they'd just come clean, but instead they give one word answers or request documents you've already submitted multiple times, in an obvious effort to stall for time. Not sure whats going over there but hopefully just bad customer service.

[l.j2300]

I fell into the same problem although my wire was sent a bit later then yours. It took more than 12 business days to deposit (they made me attach the swift paper), then finally credited my account. There is another problem you will most likely run into once you trade the USD for BTC (this is what happened to me). There is a money hold in the 30 day range which does not allow you to withdraw BTC until you provide photo ID and utility bill. I have sent these documents about 6 times so far and still no response from their support team.

[meelos]

Glad to hear you guys got credited in the end though. I'm just not getting any response from BTC-E whatsoever.

[l.j2300]

Glad to hear you guys got credited in the end though. I'm just not getting any response from BTC-E whatsoever.

meelos, try to send a support ticket to them in Russian. Also add them on skype, their skype name is: btc-e.support. Send them a message there along with your ticket ID for reference (try sending it in Russian too).

[meelos]

Thanks l.j2300

Tried both of your suggestions, sent them a message on skype in Russian both to the Russian and European Addresses. Also submitted another ticket in Russian. No response so far. Almost 5 weeks since I sent them my money now.

[l.j2300]

Thanks l.j2300

Tried both of your suggestions, sent them a message on skype in Russian both to the Russian and European Addresses. Also submitted another ticket in Russian. No response so far. Almost 5 weeks since I sent them my money now.

No problem.. Give it some time. I am still in the process as well, they usually take 3-4 business days to answer from experience.

[meelos]

Still absolutely no answer. Spoke to my bank today they pretty much confirmed that I've been ripped off. They're trying to see if they can have BTC-E's bank return my funds automatically, but failing that they recommend I go see a lawyer.

It's official. BTC-E has stolen my deposit.

[l.j2300]

They just released my money hold when I checked....


The situation you are in is odd though... they should fund it since you uploaded the bank swift document.

Did they not answer you on skype/support ticket in Russian?

[meelos]

Nope, no reply. I can tell my tickets are being read because they aren't marked as "New" anymore.

Also I created a fake account on Monday and raised a support ticket asking what their withdrawal limits were. Got a response in about 5 hours. Then I replied asking them why they aren't answering the support ticket from my other account.... Silence.

They're trying to rip me off.

Turns out customers have very little protection when sending wire transfers. Trying to get the bank on board at the moment to get more information so I can go see a lawyer.

BTC-E are trying to steal my money.

[kireinaha]

Found your thread while investigating deposit methods, thanks for sharing. Very incompetent on BTC-E`s part not to address issues like this promptly.

It seems like paying slightly more and going through Coinbase might be the safest method for now. I hope they release your funds soon. Keep us posted.

[meelos]

kireinaha. Hopefully others will be deterred from making the same mistake I did. I will keep everyone updated of the outcome from this thing.

[meelos]

Now they just CLOSED my ticket and had the cheek to send me a customer feedback email.

Thieving bastards.

[kireinaha]

I wonder if a lawyer in the US would be able to help you in this situation (given that it`s an overseas exchange) or if you`d be better getting in touch with a lawyer in Bulgaria? Does anyone even know the `headquarters` or personal contact information of the site operators?

Bottom line, nobody on this forum should be doing business with BTC-E (and should exercise extreme judgement with any bitcoin exchanges in general).

[rammy2k2]

I wonder if a lawyer in the US would be able to help you in this situation (given that it`s an overseas exchange) or if you`d be better getting in touch with a lawyer in Bulgaria? Does anyone even know the `headquarters` or personal contact information of the site operators?

Bottom line, nobody on this forum should be doing business with BTC-E (and should exercise extreme judgement with any bitcoin exchanges in general).

he cant, russian sites pisses on any US law by default

[meelos]

Yeah but the bank account was based in the UK... Voice Commerce Limited... I think the company was UK registered Mayzus Financial Services.

If I have to go after them I'm pretty sure I can.

[Hiroaki]

One would think the 4th biggest bitcoin exchange and probably biggest altchain exchange isn't that shaddy ! 
There definitely is a demand for a secure LTC/USD PPC/USD [...] one.

[moni3z]

They are just using OKpay bank info for deposits pretty sure, "Mayzeus" is a partner of Okpay and handles their transactions. Both will hold large transactions from 3rd party for all sorts of verification and can take a while but doesn't help if you just get no engrish one word answers