Do NOT use MtGox, they have NO customer service AT ALL

[getbitcoin]

Dear Bitcoiners:

For the first few months of our existence, we happily used MtGox as our Bitcoin trading platform of choice. Except for, ah, getting hacked, it seemed to work fairly well.

But then we got big, and we couldn't move money or Bitcoin out of our account, because of MtGox's withdrawal limits. We emailed them asking for them to increase the limits, which they said they would do. Waited one week, no response. Waited two weeks, no response. Waited four weeks, no response. They didn't request verification. They just remained totally silent.

It's now been five full weeks since we first emailed them. We've tried contacting them at five different email addresses - we've never gotten one single response from any of them. We are a company that has placed over $20,000 - twenty thousand US dollars - on deposit with MtGox through Dwolla and wire transfer. That's more than an entire year's salary for a lot of people. And they can't even be bothered to respond to a single email?! Not even to say "no, we're not raising your limit"? Not even to say "sorry, we need more information on you guys"?

Do not use MtGox. Because sooner or later, they'll get hacked again, and when that happens, you will never get any assistance from them, no matter how good of a customer you are or how much money you lost. The balance in your account will just mysteriously drop to "zero", and you'll never hear a single word of explanation.

[1714133599]

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[1714133599]

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[1714133599]

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[bulanula]

Well said mate. Fuck the Japanese scammers.

[Xiong Zhuang]

What else choice do we have?

[WiseOldOwl]

Dear Bitcoiners:

For the first few months of our existence, we happily used MtGox as our Bitcoin trading platform of choice. Except for, ah, getting hacked, it seemed to work fairly well.

But then we got big, and we couldn't move money or Bitcoin out of our account, because of MtGox's withdrawal limits. We emailed them asking for them to increase the limits, which they said they would do. Waited one week, no response. Waited two weeks, no response. Waited four weeks, no response. They didn't request verification. They just remained totally silent.

It's now been five full weeks since we first emailed them. We've tried contacting them at five different email addresses - we've never gotten one single response from any of them. We are a company that has placed over $20,000 - twenty thousand US dollars - on deposit with MtGox through Dwolla and wire transfer. That's more than an entire year's salary for a lot of people. And they can't even be bothered to respond to a single email?! Not even to say "no, we're not raising your limit"? Not even to say "sorry, we need more information on you guys"?

Do not use MtGox. Because sooner or later, they'll get hacked again, and when that happens, you will never get any assistance from them, no matter how good of a customer you are or how much money you lost. The balance in your account will just mysteriously drop to "zero", and you'll never hear a single word of explanation.

+1

[MaxSan]

What else choice do we have?

Ive never used MtGox. Only exchange I will ever use is Ruxum. Simple.

Mite not have the volume but i feel much safer leaving my money in an outfit that seems to have a good security as my bank does (if not better).

[Wintermute]

I have the same problem (never got a reply to my email). However, there is a new verification process in place which might work better:

https://mtgox.com/forms/verification

[Jonathan Ryan Owens]

+1

I'd like to further add that MtGox is showing obvious signs of less than ideal liquidity. The Magical Frenchman and his cohorts / CSR's aren't responding to anyones requests. I believe that there are FAR more people affected by the AML withdrawal lockouts than is currently known. I also think that for many of the account holders, they fully understand the Mutually Assured Destruction that will happen should they 'call out' MtGox publicly on this issue.

In other words: I (and many others) believe that MtGox is using AML requests and sand bagging to shore up its accounts, and once this becomes public knowledge, then it may be the final death blow that Bitcoin needs to go the way of the Dinosaur.

There's very little possibility at this point that MtGox is telling the whole truth. AML requests and the delays associated with them are currently at the ridiculous level. My 20 bitcoin account got locked. As far as I know, there are no AML's in any jurisdiction that consider ~$50 accounts as suspect when looking at money laundering activity, especially where the volume of transactions is infrequent and small (such as my account there).

It might be painful for a lot of people to admit, but there's growing evidence and likelihood that MtGox is on life support, and that they are planning their exit strategy, and/or desperately seeking additional capitalization from outside investors to shore up their accounts. This AML nonsense is no longer believable.

My two cents.

TL;DR: MtGox is insolvent.

-Jonathan

[bulanula]

+1

I'd like to further add that MtGox is showing obvious signs of less than ideal liquidity. The Magical Frenchman and his cohorts / CSR's aren't responding to anyones requests. I believe that there are FAR more people affected by the AML withdrawal lockouts than is currently known. I also think that for many of the account holders, they fully understand the Mutually Assured Destruction that will happen should they 'call out' MtGox publicly on this issue.

In other words: I (and many others) believe that MtGox is using AML requests and sand bagging to shore up its accounts, and once this becomes public knowledge, then it may be the final death blow that Bitcoin needs to go the way of the Dinosaur.

There's very little possibility at this point that MtGox is telling the whole truth. AML requests and the delays associated with them are currently at the ridiculous level. My 20 bitcoin account got locked. As far as I know, there are no AML's in any jurisdiction that consider ~$50 accounts as suspect when looking at money laundering activity, especially where the volume of transactions is infrequent and small (such as my account there).

It might be painful for a lot of people to admit, but there's growing evidence and likelihood that MtGox is on life support, and that they are planning their exit strategy, and/or desperately seeking additional capitalization from outside investors to shore up their accounts. This AML nonsense is no longer believable.

My two cents.

TL;DR: MtGox is insolvent.

-Jonathan

I will be laughing all the way to the bank if that is true. Long live intersango !

[Mt.Gox Support]

In response to increased incidence of phishing and hacking attempts made against Mt.Gox and its users, stricter security precautions have been implemented to protect our users and their funds. Should suspicious activity be detected in relation to an Mt.Gox account, the ability to withdraw funds will be temporarily suspended until it can be confirmed that the owner of the account is in fact still in control.  Please login onto the Mt.Gox page and visit https://www.mtgox.com/forms/verification to start the identification process.

If you wish to submit identification documentation to facilitate the account review process and/or increase your daily withdrawal limit, please visit the website also.

[WiseOldOwl]

I am already verified, now process my order please.
If you are out of dwolla $'s buy some with some with your LR and bite the bullet on fees. Or any combo of e-currency transactions to fulfill your customer withdraws.

[tvbcof]

I've had Tradehill hold up some of my transfers for closer evaluation.  It was annoying but I basically agree with their methods here.

I expect that they (both Tradehill and Mt Gox) are likely cooperating with law enforcement and are collecting information on suspicious activity.  Naturally they would be able to tie together Bitcoin transfers to names so if there is some information about names missing they would want to obtain it.  Methods of tracking transfers within the network are, I would suspect, outrunning the garden variety 'Tom Williams' class crook's ability to adapt.

I would not be surprised if a few people are squirming a bit and are likely most unhappy as the value of their haul deteriorates with the price value of Bitcoin.  To bad, so sad.

Both Tradehill and MtGox could probably do a pretty good business extorting thieves if authorities are actively pursuing some of the thefts.  If nothing else, one wonders what they are planning to do with the unclaimed funds?

[WiseOldOwl]

I think it has nothing to do with thieves and everything to do with basic finances

[tvbcof]

I think it has nothing to do with thieves and everything to do with basic finances

That sounds like a hypothesis to me.  A valid one, but a hypothesis none-the-less unless you are privy to their books.

Mt Gox seems to me to be one of the few organizations having anything to do with Bitcoin who has the potential to be solvent at this point.  I cannot see that their business costs much to run, though it seems quite possible that they got caught short in their projections of the economy and made some mis-steps.  It's also possible the they got robbed.

But the simplest explanation seems to me to be that Mt Gox has realized that there is not much to lose by avoiding facilitating the rampant fraud and theft which characterizes Bitcoin at this time.  Seems like the Bitcoin development wing and a lot of the bigger commercial efforts have concluded that joining the mainstream legal environment is the way forward.  For better or worse, time will tell...

[cbeast]

I think it has nothing to do with thieves and everything to do with basic finances

+1
This is a new frontier in global resource transactions. MtGox is having to tread carefully within constraints of any perceivable legal infractions. They are abiding international laws (including USA) and have self-imposed limitations in order to stay within normal business rules even though they are quite capable of so much more. It will take time for the world legal systems to adjust to what bitcoin and MtGox have created. We must be patient and not expect too much too fast. If you have someone else in mind that does not self-regulate, then the risk is yours to trust them to remain so.

[WiseOldOwl]

I think it has nothing to do with thieves and everything to do with basic finances

That sounds like a hypothesis to me.  A valid one, but a hypothesis none-the-less unless you are privy to their books.

Mt Gox seems to me to be one of the few organizations having anything to do with Bitcoin who has the potential to be solvent at this point.  I cannot see that their business costs much to run, though it seems quite possible that they got caught short in their projections of the economy and made some mis-steps.  It's also possible the they got robbed.

But the simplest explanation seems to me to be that Mt Gox has realized that there is not much to lose by avoiding facilitating the rampant fraud and theft which characterizes Bitcoin at this time.  Seems like the Bitcoin development wing and a lot of the bigger commercial efforts have concluded that joining the mainstream legal environment is the way forward.  For better or worse, time will tell...

When a statement starts with I think, it is a hypothesis.
The thing is, people are suspicious that there are no new accounts that they are referring too. When I brought up my issue, they said to get my account verified. I already have a verified account with 7.5X the normal limits!! They are making up the issues you are bringing up, there is no AML or terrorist BS, at least that's what some are saying.

[pekv2]

Users should pull out before it is to late. I agree with the OP.

[bitleaker]

I thought most sensible traders had long since ditched MtGox. I took my cash out straight after the hack.

A fool and his money etc.

Good luck to everyone trying to gain access to their funds. There is definitely something amiss with the way that MtGox are behaving.

[Jonathan Ryan Owens]

I think it has nothing to do with thieves and everything to do with basic finances

+1
This is a new frontier in global resource transactions. MtGox is having to tread carefully within constraints of any perceivable legal infractions. They are abiding international laws (including USA) and have self-imposed limitations in order to stay within normal business rules even though they are quite capable of so much more. It will take time for the world legal systems to adjust to what bitcoin and MtGox have created. We must be patient and not expect too much too fast. If you have someone else in mind that does not self-regulate, then the risk is yours to trust them to remain so.

I wholeheartedly agree that you should know your customer, and exercise internal controls for the purpose of decreasing fraud. However, the current issue is a lack of solvency and conflicting statements from MtGox support. As many others have seen and stated, even verified accounts have no ability to withdraw. Further, while I agree with the need to comply with AML, there is nothing on MtGox stating their policies and procedures in regards to account verification. I could write a compliance document in 2 hours, as could many of you with financial background. In fact, I have written them before, in a previous life as a loan officer for my broker when opening new banking agreements with lenders. It's basic stuff, guys.

Still, I hope youre right.

[WiseOldOwl]

I think it has nothing to do with thieves and everything to do with basic finances

+1
This is a new frontier in global resource transactions. MtGox is having to tread carefully within constraints of any perceivable legal infractions. They are abiding international laws (including USA) and have self-imposed limitations in order to stay within normal business rules even though they are quite capable of so much more. It will take time for the world legal systems to adjust to what bitcoin and MtGox have created. We must be patient and not expect too much too fast. If you have someone else in mind that does not self-regulate, then the risk is yours to trust them to remain so.

I wholeheartedly agree that you should know your customer, and exercise internal controls for the purpose of decreasing fraud. However, the current issue is a lack of solvency and conflicting statements from MtGox support. As many others have seen and stated, even verified accounts have no ability to withdraw. Further, while I agree with the need to comply with AML, there is nothing on MtGox stating their policies and procedures in regards to account verification. I could write a compliance document in 2 hours, as could many of you with financial background. In fact, I have written them before, in a previous life as a loan officer for my broker when opening new banking agreements with lenders. It's basic stuff, guys.

Still, I hope youre right.

+1 JRO

Users should pull out before it is to late. I agree with the OP.

How? nothing is automatic, when you withdraw to dwolla, the balance in gox drops and the balance in dwolla stays the same...

*edit maybe you can still take out btc, but access to the cash is most important because if that goes then the btc are going to be worth...well you know

[tvbcof]

When a statement starts with I think, it is a hypothesis.

True.  I was supposed to be working and did not read carefully enough to see that.  Sorry.

The thing is, people are suspicious that there are no new accounts that they are referring too. When I brought up my issue, they said to get my account verified. I already have a verified account with 7.5X the normal limits!! They are making up the issues you are bringing up, there is no AML or terrorist BS, at least that's what some are saying.

I never read anything about AML or terrorism in anything from Mt Gox, but I also didn't spend much time seeking it.  I'm just postulating about the various things which could cause a delay.

I hope you are right that Mt Gox has just run out of money, but the evidence seems shaky to me.  If I had anything which could be remotely construed as questionable going on and Mt Gox was giving me a lot of grief, I'd be nervous and starting to plan my defense.

One way or another, big delays in dealing with funding could be costing people a bundle depending on the situation, particularly with Bitcoin losing so much value so fast.  I was in no big hurry when Tradehill 'messed' with me, but they got things worked out within a day of their stated time frame as I recall.

But that's the way free markets work, and the reason I like Bitcoin.  If Mt Gox gives people bad service and/or flat out steals their money, they'll loose customers and go under...Eventually

I've got very precious little sympathy for anyone who loses much to any Bitcoin related enterprise.  Bitcoin is not an appropriate playground for the weak and stupid at this time, and people who cannot stand the heat should get out of the kitchen as far as I am concerned.