I need help bad. National bitcoin atm at my gas station ripped me off

[boat287]

i spent $200 to purchase bitcoin, because i wanted to buy it for deposit on a website, and i cant go thru coinbase or cash app because my phone wont scan an ID. i paid a friend before $20 to get my ID to scan, and he finally gave up. it would only scan the front and not the back. so i always buy from people i trust, and since he wasnt online, decided to use the atm and pay heavy juice just to get it quicker.

its been 4 days now and i still have not got it. the first day they answered my email, and said theyd have to have the developer speed it up in the queue whatever that means. they advertise all over the place for people to put a kiosk in their store, name of the company is national bitcoin atm. and they claim u are supposed to get the bitcoin instantly. when i bought bitcoin at an atm a few times in my life in other cities from other companies, i would get it instantly.

so yeah i knew i was paying $200 for only about $160 worth of bitcoin, but i thought id do it for immediate service just so i could play online poker that night. man did i get ripped off. after the first email, they ignored any other emails. today i found a phone number and called and the lady i talked to told me she would have them email me and submit another support ticket. i dont think they plan to send it and i think the last few hundred people who used any of their atms probably didnt get it either, i doubt its only happening to me.

can i complain to the local police or bug the owner of the gas station so much he will demand the machines be taken out and a company rep show up to remove them? id like to cause the company as much hell as possible for keeping $200 and giving me nothing. im sure the owner of the gas station doesnt want to deal with many angry customers, but im probably the only guy in a month that ever used the atm.

how many more days is reasonable to wait. this is day 4, and blockchain shows the transaction was never submitted. i knew the company was greedy when it charged me 65k a bitcoin when it was only 52k a bitcoin, but i didnt think theyd rip me off completely.

also i seen numerous bad reviews on a different forum for this company, but i couldnt post in those threads because they were over 2 years old. i just wanted to know if those people eventually got their money.

[1713502481]

1713502481

[1713502481]

1713502481

[1713502481]

1713502481

[DdmrDdmr]

I figure that your so far 4 day waiting time includes the weekend, and although they should have some kind of active support throughout, the backend people may not retake their tasks until Monday (today).

The best course of action for now is to insist through their contact channels, referencing your support ticket number, and archiving the answers you get from them. Them being slow and/or inefficient in resolving incidents is not good for business, but taking into consideration that the past few days were a week-end, I’d simply insist for now as stated.

I’m not sure if you see a proper Bitcoin blockchain TX Id on your receipt. Their help shows a sample receipt, but they only seem to show an internal TX Id there (see: https://nationalbitcoinatm.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000129190-how-do-i-buy-bitcoin-at-a-national-bitcoin-atm-). If they have, on the other hand, provided a proper Bitcoin blockchain TX Id, you’d need to see if it really exists and states that the TX is pending, or whether the TX wasn’t even generated to begin with, and thus only their support can move the issue along to resolution.

[boat287]

I figure that your so far 4 day waiting time includes the weekend, and although they should have some kind of active support throughout, the backend people may not retake their tasks until Monday (today).

The best course of action for now is to insist through their contact channels, referencing your support ticket number, and archiving the answers you get from them. Them being slow and/or inefficient in resolving incidents is not good for business, but taking into consideration that the past few days were a week-end, I’d simply insist for now as stated.

I’m not sure if you see a proper Bitcoin blockchain TX Id on your receipt. Their help shows a sample receipt, but they only seem to show an internal TX Id there (see: https://nationalbitcoinatm.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000129190-how-do-i-buy-bitcoin-at-a-national-bitcoin-atm-). If they have, on the other hand, provided a proper Bitcoin blockchain TX Id, you’d need to see if it really exists and states that the TX is pending, or whether the TX wasn’t even generated to begin with, and thus only their support can move the issue along to resolution.

i looked on blockchain, the transaction was never even put in the blockchain. according to the other forum, it seems for most of those people they had the same experience as me, but some finally posted they eventually got it, sometimes after 2 weeks. says mostly the company couldnt find a processor to process transactions quick enough. still, its poor customer service and if the owner of that gas station knew how poor it was and how his customers are getting pissed, he might stop carrying the atm and if enough gas stations owners took them out that would sure help the company get the message they better improve. what makes me angry is a lack of email communicating why the delay. i paid such heavy juice they could afford the highest priced miner there is to send it instantly. yep the transaction never was ever begun.

[Lucius]

can i complain to the local police or bug the owner of the gas station so much he will demand the machines be taken out and a company rep show up to remove them? id like to cause the company as much hell as possible for keeping $200 and giving me nothing. im sure the owner of the gas station doesnt want to deal with many angry customers, but im probably the only guy in a month that ever used the atm.

You did not mention the name of that company, and consequently no one but you can know what is written in their terms of use - it may be stated somewhere that the delivery time is 7 or 14 days, in which case you have no grounds to report to the police, and also to complain to the owner of the gas station.

From everything you have written, I conclude that this is a sale that stems from the fact that the seller does not actually have what you buy - but with the money you paid they will at some point try to buy BTC at a price that allows them to make a profit. It is not moral, nor ethical towards customers, but if the law allows them, and they listed those conditions in their TOS, then you can only avoid them in the future.

[boat287]

well in their website (national bitcoin atm) they claim the customer receives it "instantly". and most of the do when using a bitcoin atm u do. just not this time and i think this is the first time i ever used one from this company but not sure.

[Lucius]

boat287, my mistake, I completely overlooked that crypto ATM is actually called National Bitcoin ATM. In that case, there is definitely something wrong with your transaction - and from your first post and their response, it seems that all transactions are approved manually and that you are on a waiting list.

I hope you get what you bought as soon as possible, and this thread will surely serve as a warning to others not to buy BTC on their ATMs.

[boat287]

Hi Tony,

Rest assured, we're actively working to resolve the delay with your transaction. I'll reach out with an update once we have more information.

Thank you again for your patience,


found this email when i woke up, but no real explanation as to why they are delaying sending it to the blockchain

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

If they don’t provide a reason per se, you could always reach back to them (perhaps better once the issue has been resolved) as a concerned citizen who plans to use their ATMs frequently, but whom is now deeply concerned about their compliance with their purchasing time compromise (*) after this documented experience …
 
(*) Their site does indicate that: "Buy bitcoin in person and receive it instantly" or worst case scenario: "Please note that sometimes it may take few minutes for your Bitcoin to arrive depending on how fast the network picks up the transaction."

[boat287]

and when i woke up now for good, about 5 hours later instead of like earlier when i woke up after 4 hours to fall back asleep for 4 hours more, i finally got the bitcoin. what a relief. i still dont think it would be a good idea to use their atm again though