PSA: coinbase.com defrauds with different schemes

[HELP.org]

I am mad a Coinbase for spending time contacting Snoop Dogg, blogging, and doing interviews where they pretend everything is alright.  I think they are just immature guys who got in over their heads.  I have been trying to discuss these issues with the venture capitalist and angel investors who are funding these people and the so-called DATA group.  they are completely unreceptive to any discussion of customer service or customer experience.  People who raise these issue are seen as trying to take down the people who are doing good things for Bitcoin.  In a way they are correct because without these crappy services there would be no services at all.

If you read the blogs and tweets of the investors you almost never see customer service issued mentioned.  All you see is discussions of how much investing capital they received. http://cdixon.org is involved in the latest funding round.  If you want a call back you will probably have to say you are representing Snoop Dogg. 

[jballs]

Alright you all need to calm down a lot.

Coinbase is the only legit place to open as far as I am concerned.

Your complaint can be simplified as this: you are new.

Having dealt with exchanges and clearing houses from the inside for a decade, I can assure you that you would have similar problems if you were trying to trade in major exchanges (CME,NYMEX,etc). Except it would take a lot longer to clear your documents and they would not let you trade until they knew you more than you would like to be known.

I would give coinbase a lot of credit for doing as well as they are in the position they are in.

Just because they couldn't fill your first order with them does not make them crooks. It makes you late in getting to the point of opening an account, and expecting everything and everyone to jump through whatever hoops to get you in.

Had your cancelled position lost in value instead of gained, you know what we would be hearing from you?

Crickets. That's what.

For future reference, expect delays and complications any time you are initiating a relationship with an exchange. I don't care how tech savvy it is, there are a hundred things they must consider that you have no comprehension of.

For those asking, with the above caveat, I would trust coinbase and only coinbase at this time.

(edit- yes I know they are not an exchange in entirety, using the term loosely as the same circumstances apply.)

[thecapitalr]

Just to change the tone of this thread... I have had hundreds of successful buy and sells with coinbase and have never once had an issue. Even when buying cheap during a correction.  The company is wayyy better once you get "instant buy" enabled however.  Makes it super easy. 

Coinbase isn't a trading platform so people shouldn't use it as that. It is a way to get in and out of the market. Sometimes the site does crash during huge corrections.  A good way to avoid this risk is selling on Gox or Stamp and then holding USD there until the correction is done. You can then buy back in and send your coins to coinbase.

[BitcoinWalker]

Bitcoin value is going up pretty fast right now. On Coinbase each coin will cost $865 to buy at this time around. 

[23940103]

when you send out the bitcoin to somewhere else.... is it USD or BTC?

i understand they're wanting to show you USD but it looks like they're sending out USD not 1 actually bitcoin

i dont want to send what THEY think the BTC is worth....

[MPOE-PR]

Your complaint can be simplified as this: you are new.

Having dealt with exchanges and clearing houses from the inside for a decade, I can assure you that you would have similar problems if you were trying to trade in major exchanges (CME,NYMEX,etc). Except it would take a lot longer to clear your documents and they would not let you trade until they knew you more than you would like to be known.

No. There's a difference between planning a course of action and following it to industry standard, and deciding it's alright to selectively scam under the guise of extenuating and unforeseen circumstances.

Coinbase's adherence to the latter has been thoroughly laid bare by now. No amount of vague allusion to how you personally might justify your own experience with them matters.

[jballs]

Your complaint can be simplified as this: you are new.

Having dealt with exchanges and clearing houses from the inside for a decade, I can assure you that you would have similar problems if you were trying to trade in major exchanges (CME,NYMEX,etc). Except it would take a lot longer to clear your documents and they would not let you trade until they knew you more than you would like to be known.

No. There's a difference between planning a course of action and following it to industry standard, and deciding it's alright to selectively scam under the guise of extenuating and unforeseen circumstances.

Coinbase's adherence to the latter has been thoroughly laid bare by now. No amount of vague allusion to how you personally might justify your own experience with them matters.

I would be surprised if they were not taking as much on the fills as they can, it's what every forx desk is designed to do. You just don't see it, which is the point.

We get trades busted fairly often in the "real" markets. It's obnoxious for sure. But here is the thing. Everyone who gets a trade busted in their favor (i.e. they bought and the price went down) doesn't say a word. Ever. They crack a beer and wipe their brow and that's it.

The people who have a trade busted that went in their favor, they will rant and rave and bitch to the world to their last breath about it.

Funny thing is they are the same "people" of course, random selection by what trade was busted.

So it's just human nature. Everyone on here thinks they are being scammed because people who got good trades cancelled are going ballistic and people who got bad trades cancelled are not the slightest concerned.

Anyway I don't know how else you expect them to protect themselves. Part of the risk in Bitcoin is when it's gone it's gone, exchanges and banks don't have to deal with this so much.

[coga]

Id be happy to kick them to the curb, but need an alternative. I see a LOT of complaints about Coinbase but very few alternatives for US customers.

Learn to WoT. There's never an acceptable justification for giving money to known scam artists.

And that's the lesson, folks. It's not about cheering on crap that clearly has no business handling your money, and relying on Nanny Gov to help you out when shit inevitably hits the fan. It's about taking responsibility for yourself and not using services like these. The warnings have been ample.

i don't see too much trade going there...

is localbitcoins a better alternative? i had much better success there. And they have escrow

[MPOE-PR]

So it's just human nature. Everyone on here thinks they are being scammed because people who got good trades cancelled are going ballistic and people who got bad trades cancelled are not the slightest concerned.

The indication of whether they've fucked up or not isn't established by the volume or tone of public complaints. Do they purport to offer a service? Is that service in fact being delivered? No? Then they've fucked up. No matter whether some other people got what they wanted. No matter whether some other arguably comparable service did something similar.

i don't see too much trade going there...

is localbitcoins a better alternative? i had much better success there. And they have escrow

I've seen mixed experiences on localbitcoins; you can sift through reviews and whatnot on the forum I guess. Getting in the WoT and trading OTC is probably your best bet though.

[shwackd]

I can confirm this is all true..

I have been doing business with Coinbase for quite some time and up until now I thought everything was legit... Until they "decided" to take my money for an attempted purchase... "decide" not to send any BTC.. and then tell me they would refund me in 3 or 4 business days... which  basically means sometime next week...   I reached out to customer support who assured me they were going to look into my problem, fix it personally, and make sure it NEVER happened again... They told me everything was good and that I could go ahead and attempt the purchase again... I did, and the same thing happened, they "decided" to cancel the transaction after taking my money... now I have to wait 3 or 4 business days while thy play with my money and I get nothing.    Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin has gone up so I am now unable to get the purchase price I desired because coinbase "decided" to take my money and send me nothing.  This is criminal, it is fraud and they should be shut down.. Do NOT do business with Coinbase they are a giant scam.

[gijoes]

Similar problems were reported by many users, especially in April-May when the price was diving and people thought they were buying BTC at a good price point through Coinbase. What a disappointment.

[fonzie]

#Coinbase
#MtGox
#RxIxP soonish

[redwraith]

man you people!  Shadows in every corner...  Coinbase is basically another Bitpay.   Coinbase processes for Expedia.com among others.  They are no scam.  Companies have customer service problems daily, including Coinbase, it doesn't mean they're a scam. 

Just stop the hysterics.   

[Xiaoxiao]

Do not agree to coinbase new terms and contracts!

[opentoe]

I can confirm this is all true..

I have been doing business with Coinbase for quite some time and up until now I thought everything was legit... Until they "decided" to take my money for an attempted purchase... "decide" not to send any BTC.. and then tell me they would refund me in 3 or 4 business days... which  basically means sometime next week...   I reached out to customer support who assured me they were going to look into my problem, fix it personally, and make sure it NEVER happened again... They told me everything was good and that I could go ahead and attempt the purchase again... I did, and the same thing happened, they "decided" to cancel the transaction after taking my money... now I have to wait 3 or 4 business days while thy play with my money and I get nothing.    Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin has gone up so I am now unable to get the purchase price I desired because coinbase "decided" to take my money and send me nothing.  This is criminal, it is fraud and they should be shut down.. Do NOT do business with Coinbase they are a giant scam.

Make sure you turn on two factor authentication on. When ever I make a BTC purchase I have an SMS code sent to my cell phone. If you don't enter in the correct number you can't buy/move/sell any bitcoin.