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This would be a good time to spend some of that money on building up the customer support. I gave them a try and for my first purchase I received BTC at a sign

by tga 13y ago

This would be a good time to spend some of that money on building up the customer support. I gave them a try and for my first purchase I received BTC at a significantly higher rate than they quoted and confirmed. To make things worse, I still have no reply on the support ticket 10 days later. Not exactly what I'd expect from a company handling significant amounts of money in a market that's struggling to gain recognition and trust.

coinbase-craig 13y ago
On rare occasions we are not able to provide bitcoin at a locked-in price. When we can't, we offer the ability to place an order in USD for an amount of BTC equal to the exchange rate at the time that we receive your USD from the bank, 4 business days later. When this is offered as an option, we display a note on the buy page that says: "Note! We've exceeded our normal buy limits for today. If you would still like to purchase you will receive the market price of bitcoin on [some date] after your funds have arrived." You are also required to agree to a term like this before placing an order: "I acknowledge that the amount of BTC I receive will vary based on future exchange rates." Some users check the box without reading it; maybe this happened to you. We're trying very hard to scale our support team. We've gone from 1 to 12 support in a matter of months, and we are hiring more support staff, and it is still difficult to keep up. We are responding, but it is almost impossible to grow fast enough. That said, 10 days sounds way too long. If you send your coinbase email address to me at craig(at)coinbase, I'll get your ticket prioritized.
- tga 13y ago
  Thanks Craig, posting about my personal issue here feels a bit like cheating, but it was nice of you to jump in. I can imagine support is already a priority, but consider this my nudge about it.
  - ejhong 13y ago
    And also note that it is 3:30 am in San Francisco. Go to bed coinbase-craig!
- simonebrunozzi 13y ago
  Craig, on another note: I am based in SF, and I'd like to get in touch with someone at Coinbase (I am writing a book on Bitcoin). Can you help?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- polarix 13y ago
  I've also had tickets dropped on the floor (explicitly, actually), and the email reply address bounced. FYI. Also, I can't find any way to open support tickets any more. FYI. I really wanted to like you guys, and I field a lot of questions about how to buy these days.
- Dilan 13y ago
  I'm considering to apply for the support position, is there anyone I can speak to for more information?
- jessaustin 13y ago
  ...at the time that we receive your USD from the bank, 4 business days later. Is there really no faster way for coinbase to receive a payment? This doesn't seem practical, or rather it seems a bit too practical for a company that wanted to set up a one-way "pump" to profit by alternatively: immediately completing, or stretching out, transactions based on which action pulls value directly out of the customer's pocket.
  - coinbase-craig 13y ago
    This is the speed of ACH bank transfers. There is nothing we can do it about it. It's part of the reason bitcoin is important.
    - jessaustin 13y ago
      Sure, but why can't I transfer money to you, receive confirmation that the transfer has completed, wait some reasonable amount of time (no more than a month maybe?) and then convert to BTC at the exact moment I prefer? Then I would feel like an investor, rather than a chump. EDIT: actually it would be nice if you responded to some of the many seemingly-reasonable customer complaints on this page.
      - kolev 13y ago
        They on purpose don't allow balances in USD as maybe then they will be considered a bank. Once you go thru their verification process, you get buy instantly up to 10 BTC/week without waiting (although sometimes they turn this feature off for whatever reason). Also, you don't need to wait a whole week - you get hourly increases of the 10 BTC quota, which is nice... when it works.
        jessaustin 13y ago
        They on purpose don't allow balances in USD as maybe then they will be considered a bank. It seems e.g. PayPal, Amazon, Coinstar, and Bitstamp have negotiated this particular obstacle somehow.
- kolev 13y ago
  Yes, but there are situations where you don't honor the confirmed price even for instant buy purchases or sales. You can read about my experience below in a separate thread!
kissickas 13y ago
I'm not sure if that's better or worse than my experience, where my order was cancelled altogether, freezing ~$1800 in my bank account for six+ days only to return the money because it was "too risky." I'm not interested in doing business with Coinbase anymore.
- vtmountainman 13y ago
  that seems to only happen when they can keep your coins and profit due to rising prices.. basically giving themselves a free loan and free coins.. super scammy.. I had made 20 purchases with them, and then initiated a buy at $180.. by the time i became "high risk" it had rocketed to $400+.. i've heard they honor these prices but they have failed to respond to my emails for months.. They selectively scam their customers.. I quit giving them business too and wouldn't advise anyone to do business with conbase.
  - sard420 13y ago
    echos my experience with them exactly, tied up my money for weeks, then said they can't help me. I'm convinced it's a scam.
  - sk55 13y ago
    I believe they're just working on fraud prevention. No need to sound the alarm. I bought bitcoins and my transactions were deemed high risk and cancelled after they received the money and held onto it for some time. Price actually went down from when I bought. However, their customer service could definitely be improved. It's been over 9 days since I sent a request with no response and my transactions keep getting denied.
- japhyr 13y ago
  Who deemed the transaction "too risky"? Coinbase, or your bank?
  - kissickas 13y ago
    Coinbase. It's well documented online if you just search "coinbase fraud" before you try buying...
vtmountainman 13y ago
their support is the worst i've ever had.. over a month for a response then i got a response, "if you still need help please reply"... pretty crappy for the 2nd most interesting startup of 2013 according to time magazine.
bfell 13y ago
I wholeheartedly agree with this - it's been 3 weeks since bitcoin "disappeared" from my account and still no response from Coinbase despite multiple requests from me.
- ebspelman 13y ago
  Same exact thing here.
baddox 13y ago
That's not primarily a customer support issue. It's an issue with them deliberately concealing exactly what will happen when you choose to take an action on their website, and in some cases blatantly lying about what will happen.
bensw 13y ago
Have had a very similar experience. Haven't heard a reply for nearly a month.
shizzy0 13y ago
I had a similar experience a while back where it seemed to be the case that I ordered 1 BTC, but then only received ~0.7 BTC because the exchange rate had changed. More recently, however, when I've ordered 1 BTC I received 1 BTC x days later even though the exchange rate had changed (and not in coinbase's favor). So it seems like they've changed how they deal with the large latency in transactions--for the better. Also, they're doing something called instant pay, which could help normalize expectations of what happens when you buy BTC. I wonder how that works with credit card charge back problems?

by tga 13y ago

coinbase-craig 13y ago

On rare occasions we are not able to provide bitcoin at a locked-in price. When we can't, we offer the ability to place an order in USD for an amount of BTC equal to the exchange rate at the time that we receive your USD from the bank, 4 business days later. When this is offered as an option, we display a note on the buy page that says: "Note! We've exceeded our normal buy limits for today. If you would still like to purchase you will receive the market price of bitcoin on [some date] after your funds have arrived." You are also required to agree to a term like this before placing an order: "I acknowledge that the amount of BTC I receive will vary based on future exchange rates." Some users check the box without reading it; maybe this happened to you. We're trying very hard to scale our support team. We've gone from 1 to 12 support in a matter of months, and we are hiring more support staff, and it is still difficult to keep up. We are responding, but it is almost impossible to grow fast enough. That said, 10 days sounds way too long. If you send your coinbase email address to me at craig(at)coinbase, I'll get your ticket prioritized.

tga 13y ago
Thanks Craig, posting about my personal issue here feels a bit like cheating, but it was nice of you to jump in. I can imagine support is already a priority, but consider this my nudge about it.
- ejhong 13y ago
  And also note that it is 3:30 am in San Francisco. Go to bed coinbase-craig!
simonebrunozzi 13y ago
Craig, on another note: I am based in SF, and I'd like to get in touch with someone at Coinbase (I am writing a book on Bitcoin). Can you help?
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
polarix 13y ago
I've also had tickets dropped on the floor (explicitly, actually), and the email reply address bounced. FYI. Also, I can't find any way to open support tickets any more. FYI. I really wanted to like you guys, and I field a lot of questions about how to buy these days.
Dilan 13y ago
I'm considering to apply for the support position, is there anyone I can speak to for more information?
jessaustin 13y ago
...at the time that we receive your USD from the bank, 4 business days later. Is there really no faster way for coinbase to receive a payment? This doesn't seem practical, or rather it seems a bit too practical for a company that wanted to set up a one-way "pump" to profit by alternatively: immediately completing, or stretching out, transactions based on which action pulls value directly out of the customer's pocket.
- coinbase-craig 13y ago
  This is the speed of ACH bank transfers. There is nothing we can do it about it. It's part of the reason bitcoin is important.
  - jessaustin 13y ago
    Sure, but why can't I transfer money to you, receive confirmation that the transfer has completed, wait some reasonable amount of time (no more than a month maybe?) and then convert to BTC at the exact moment I prefer? Then I would feel like an investor, rather than a chump. EDIT: actually it would be nice if you responded to some of the many seemingly-reasonable customer complaints on this page.
    - kolev 13y ago
      They on purpose don't allow balances in USD as maybe then they will be considered a bank. Once you go thru their verification process, you get buy instantly up to 10 BTC/week without waiting (although sometimes they turn this feature off for whatever reason). Also, you don't need to wait a whole week - you get hourly increases of the 10 BTC quota, which is nice... when it works.
      - jessaustin 13y ago
        They on purpose don't allow balances in USD as maybe then they will be considered a bank. It seems e.g. PayPal, Amazon, Coinstar, and Bitstamp have negotiated this particular obstacle somehow.
kolev 13y ago
Yes, but there are situations where you don't honor the confirmed price even for instant buy purchases or sales. You can read about my experience below in a separate thread!

kissickas 13y ago

I'm not sure if that's better or worse than my experience, where my order was cancelled altogether, freezing ~$1800 in my bank account for six+ days only to return the money because it was "too risky." I'm not interested in doing business with Coinbase anymore.

vtmountainman 13y ago
that seems to only happen when they can keep your coins and profit due to rising prices.. basically giving themselves a free loan and free coins.. super scammy.. I had made 20 purchases with them, and then initiated a buy at $180.. by the time i became "high risk" it had rocketed to $400+.. i've heard they honor these prices but they have failed to respond to my emails for months.. They selectively scam their customers.. I quit giving them business too and wouldn't advise anyone to do business with conbase.
- sard420 13y ago
  echos my experience with them exactly, tied up my money for weeks, then said they can't help me. I'm convinced it's a scam.
- sk55 13y ago
  I believe they're just working on fraud prevention. No need to sound the alarm. I bought bitcoins and my transactions were deemed high risk and cancelled after they received the money and held onto it for some time. Price actually went down from when I bought. However, their customer service could definitely be improved. It's been over 9 days since I sent a request with no response and my transactions keep getting denied.
japhyr 13y ago
Who deemed the transaction "too risky"? Coinbase, or your bank?
- kissickas 13y ago
  Coinbase. It's well documented online if you just search "coinbase fraud" before you try buying...

vtmountainman 13y ago

their support is the worst i've ever had.. over a month for a response then i got a response, "if you still need help please reply"... pretty crappy for the 2nd most interesting startup of 2013 according to time magazine.

bfell 13y ago

I wholeheartedly agree with this - it's been 3 weeks since bitcoin "disappeared" from my account and still no response from Coinbase despite multiple requests from me.

ebspelman 13y ago
Same exact thing here.

baddox 13y ago

That's not primarily a customer support issue. It's an issue with them deliberately concealing exactly what will happen when you choose to take an action on their website, and in some cases blatantly lying about what will happen.

bensw 13y ago

Have had a very similar experience. Haven't heard a reply for nearly a month.

shizzy0 13y ago

I had a similar experience a while back where it seemed to be the case that I ordered 1 BTC, but then only received ~0.7 BTC because the exchange rate had changed. More recently, however, when I've ordered 1 BTC I received 1 BTC x days later even though the exchange rate had changed (and not in coinbase's favor). So it seems like they've changed how they deal with the large latency in transactions--for the better. Also, they're doing something called instant pay, which could help normalize expectations of what happens when you buy BTC. I wonder how that works with credit card charge back problems?