Mt. Gox, which collapsed after losing 750,000 Bitcoins belonging to clients on its exchange, is finding that some customers dialing in to its new call center are getting lost in translation.
Users of the Reddit social media website made posts today complaining of being put on hold and talking to operators who only spoke Japanese. After about 20 minutes, Bloomberg News was connected to an operator who said there are more than 10 people fielding calls, and some are able to deal with English speakers.
Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest exchange for the virtual currency, set up the phone line after filing for bankruptcy in Tokyo last week with about $480 million in Bitcoins missing. Fewer than 1 percent of its creditors are from Japan, underscoring the difficulties for the thousands of clients who had assets at the company to get answers.
The call center will “respond to all inquiries” from today between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. local time, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox said in a statement on its website yesterday. An “overview of the situation” will be published on the site as soon as today, it said.
Mt. Gox lost 750,000 Bitcoins belonging to customers and 100,000 of its own, the company said on Feb. 28, when it applied to start civil rehabilitation procedures with debt exceeding assets by 2.7 billion yen ($27 million).
Bitcoin was priced at $564.50 at 2:58 p.m. in Tokyo, according to an index compiled by CoinDesk, valuing Mt. Gox’s lost holdings at $480 million.
Fewer than 1 percent of the company’s 127,000 creditors are from Japan, Junko Suetomi, a lawyer from Baker & McKenzie who is representing Mt. Gox, told reporters at the Tokyo District Court on Feb. 28.
One Bitcoin user, Illinois resident Gregory Greene, last week filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in federal court in Chicago, seeking to represent U.S. customers who lost money.
“I’ve got some hold music,” a Reddit user named “willdcc” posted today. “It is quite soothing but I still want my money back.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Monami Yui in Tokyo at
myui1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Chitra Somayaji at
csomayaji@bloomberg.netSource:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-03/mt-gox-call-center-leaves-bitcoin-customers-lost-in-translation.html
