Bitcoinica customer support first impression

[jwzguy]

I asked a simple question of the support staff: will I be required to send ID and verify my account if I never plan on withdrawing any USD?
IE - can I be confident that depositing, trading, and withdrawing only using bitcoin will not force me to compromise my anonymity?

I feel like this is a fair and important question.

I got an immediate automated response that I would be getting a real response in a few hours - it's been 4 days, no response.

I've checked the bitcoinica support chatroom several times a day at different times (yes, I realize I'm in a very different timezone.) It's been empty every single time, despite the claim that "we're almost ALWAYS in the chatroom."

I understand this is a small operation, and perhaps answering my question is not a priority. I'm not trying to bash Zhou Tong. In fact, his site/services appear to be very impressive. But I'd like to offer some friendly constructive criticism to Bitcoinica and ALL bitcoin startups: Don't make claims about your customer service response times when you clearly don't have the staff/resources to back them up. This is extremely detrimental to customer confidence, and it's becoming increasingly common.

Just be honest: you're running a one or two man operation out of your bedroom and you probably have a day job and a life outside bitcoin. I think most of your customer base can handle that.

[Stephen Gornick]

Aren't some gains earned in USDs?

Either way, I don't think it matters for AML reporting purposes.  Other exchanges, for instance, have daily limits that apply to withdrawals of BTCs just as they do for withdrawals of USDs.

Probably what is happening is that the service is not responding on their policy because that policy is still being developed. 
 "We will have a detailed Terms of Service and Privacy Policy before identification becomes an absolute requirement."
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=64275.0

[jwzguy]

Maybe, but that's beside the point: Don't make customer service claims that are obviously completely untrue. Just be honest and straight-foward, it will be appreciated more.