Dear Coinbase, I Forgive You

in cryptocurrency •  8 years ago 

Something very interesting happened today. Something that I did not expect to happen for some time, if ever.

Some Bitcoin I transferred from my Poloniex account to my Coinbase account roughly 4 months ago finally showed up.

No, I am not talking about the transaction being unconfirmed and then finally it got confirmed, that is another issue entirely, but one that is very prevalent never the less.

To fully understand what happened in my case you will need a little bit of the backstory.

About 4 or 5 months ago I transferred a small amount of Bitcoin from my Poloniex account to my Bitcoin wallet at Coinbase. I had done this numerous times in the past and never really had any issues, well besides the slow transaction times, but that is nothing everyone hasn't experienced from time to time.

The amount in question was roughly .03 Bitcoin. At the time I believe it was worth somewhere around $35 dollars.

The transaction confirmed from my Poloniex account and it was sent over to my Coinbase account where it was also confirmed, although it took several hours which was a bit longer than usual.

However, the Bitcoin itself never showed up in my account. The transaction was shown as completed but my account was never credited with the confirmed Bitcoin. 

I thought this was pretty strange but something I thought might resolve itself in a couple days.

It didn't.

I contacted customer support and filed my complaint with them. 

Weeks went by without even a response from them besides the confirmation that they had received my complaint.

So, I filed another one. 

This time a few days later I received a response back apologizing for the delay in helping me but that their support staff had been swamped with the sudden explosion in activity the site was getting. 

I understood that and patiently waited for them to resolve the issue. 

Another few weeks went by and then another email came, this one asking me if my issue had been taken care of yet.

I responded that it had not been resolved and it had now been a couple months without any kind of resolution. 

A few more weeks went by, then a few more, then a few more. 

At this point I pretty much figured I was never going to get that .03 Bitcoin back, all the while Bitcoin was climbing higher and higher by the way. 

As the weeks turned into months without any more responses from Coinbase, I had officially written off the transaction in my mind as lost money. 

However, then out of no where, the lost .03 Bitcoin unexpectedly showed up in my Coinbase account today.

Is this Christmas?

I haven't heard any response from the company for months but my Bitcoin finally showed up.

It was ironic because at the time I was thinking of turning that .03 Bitcoin into fiat, which was worth about $35 dollars at the time. 

Well after it was deposited today, I went ahead and turned it into fiat, giving me roughly $80 dollars. 

By Coinbase locking up my Bitcoin, I effectively doubled my money.

So, in a round about way, Coinbase invested my money for 4 months and returned it to me with an incredible return. ;)

I still am not thrilled with what happened, but I can understand that the infrastructure is not quite set up yet for the amount of people that are soon to be using it. The customer service aspect is light years behind where it will be someday when these things reach mainstream. 

So, while I wasn't happy with the process, I am pretty happy with the results!

I forgive you Coinbase!

Stay informed my friends.

Image Sources:

https://coinbase.com

https://support.coinbase.com/

http://www.greatcrawl.com/

Follow me: @jrcornel

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Lmao it was actually all planned right? you sent it off to just be HELD.

Coinbase? No, thanks!

So, in a round about way, Coinbase invested my money for 4 months and returned it to me with an incredible return. ;)

It seems they handsomely rewarded you for being part of a trial run. ;)

Haha yes they did. I got very lucky. Had the price of btc gone the other way, my post today would likely have been very different. ;)

The customer service aspect is light years behind where it will be someday when these things reach mainstream.

We should all be in star-trek-land & Back To The future by now. What the heck is holding us back?

Haha, a what if post instead. ;)

maybe they know you're a Steemian
but this article reminds me of what I saw offline on @jamesbrown's page
that's a different story he resteemed

Great story. I am sure it feel bad at first but sure it works well at the end. This is exactly like life when not everything work perfect at the beginning and finally it will get better. Happy friday ~

Hi @jrcornel,

I'm so happy for you, but also kind of peeved, because I wish they treated me the same way. I recently had my life's savings I had built up in crypto for over 6 months stolen by a hacker who sim swapped and social engineered their way into my coinbase and gmail accounts and proceeded to wipe it clean and then closed my account to cover their tracks. When I reached out to coinbase they told me to essentially deal with it, that there was nothing they could do. Anyways I don't think you should really forgive them, as I and others here on steemit can tell you they are a bunch of shady bastards. Here is my full writing on this horrific week I've had, if you could potentially resteem it to help others take steps to protect themselves that would mean a lot to me, I would hate to see others lose any more
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@sensatus/if-you-have-a-coinbase-account-beware-spread-the-word-fellow-steemians-and-cryptotraders

Let's double your money with upvoting this post, meaning you will quadripple your money now :)

Haha thank you!

3, 2, 1, DONE
Go Steem it's your birthday!

Today is your lucky day mate. Make a wish and I can assure you it may come to past. I am a long time coinbase user and I never experience this. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

There is a big powerball coming up... perhaps I should play it? ;)

Yes, perhaps you should play it. Thanks so much!

This is a difficult situation to deal with. When you have an issue and are not recognized. I commend your patience with Coinbase. I think that us "early adopters of blockchain tech" must realize that these massive surges in users and transaction are overpowering these small companies. However, we still deserve to have good service and when transactions are caught up, we need to be treated better than how you were treated, no matter the amount. As you know, now 81 people have viewed and read this article. I still support Coinbase, and it sounds like you do as well. Congrats on your great return! lol

Yes, I agree. I think at some point it will get better or they will be replaced. Virtual currency trading is exploding and customers are going to demand better service or they will go to someone else that offers it.

One of my favorites has been Shapeshift. Have had two transactions get mishandled and within 24 hours have has the funds sent back to the correct account.

that's funny, you write a post about doubling up ya money then now you get $400 for writing such a good piece. brilliant. what a community!

Isn't Steemit great?! :)

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

It was not a really big issue in your case because you didn't have much money inverted and bitcoin raised it's price.
But if you had inverted an important amount of money and bitcoin value dropped down you would maybe even need to report it to the police.

Good point. If Bitcoin had gone way down over those 4 months, I would likely be writing a very different type of post today. ;)

hahahahahaha

Something similar happened to me with blockchain info lol

Due to a transaction error with Poloniex and my wallet there was some bitcoin I wanted to use to buy an alt-coin and I could not buy it in time and lost the profit I could have earned.

That was when 1 btc = 1300$ Thanks to them my money on my wallet (once the btc reached) multiply , a lot!

Thank you Polo for being slow with BTC

Haha that is fantastic! It's great when it works in your favor eh? :)

I would say their failure is your safety hahaha

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Good post and a great sense of humour even at an initial loss of money...thanks goodness that you got your bitcoin back...Lol you can change it it steem and power it up!!! more success and thanks for sharing

Thank you!

Now that they've made enough interest off you, they decided to pay you back, lol!

Haha I am not sure where it went, but it vanished for 4 months and then suddenly just reappeared.

Maybe it's a new and kind strategy of theirs to help everyone double their cash!!

Join Coinbase and you will double your money! Whether you want to or not! It's a new marketing slogan...

Whether you want to or not is the cincher lol!

... I am in deep thinking now

Good it went in your favor. Theoretically it could have gone the other way. Lucky..

Yes. I got very lucky. Had it gone the other way, my post today would have likely been very different. ;)

Awesome story... Lets make you 1000% more on this post. BTW:I wonder in Poloniex will do the same with a much larger amount I still have not received.

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Coinbase's #CustomerCare is #horrendous. I experienced a similar issue with my vault wallet: I had a considerable amount of Bitcoin in it that I could not transfer out. It was infuriating.

They ask you to fill out that survey as if it matters...

I forgive them too (because why not?), but their service beyond the website still #sucks.

Yes I agree. I think they will either get much much better or they will be replaced. Cryptocurrency trading is exploding to the point where customers will no longer have to deal with things like this. If Coinbase doesn't do it better customers will leave to someone else that does.

It took forever but at least the correction was finally made!

Yes, it had a good ending. This time... :)

Do you know what the real issue was? Was it a mistake by coinbase?

Honestly, I have no idea what the issue was. I haven't heard a word since months back. It just showed up in my account today.

This is a bit scary to hear ...because if it would have been 3 BTC that disappear for such a long time i would hammer them daily asking WTF are my BTC

Really very lucky

great

your forgiveness produce "big return".....hahahaha....

Most people in this day and age look at delays as nothing but a negative. So, it is odd, and somewhat refreshing to come across a story where a delay actually provided a benefit. Thank you for sharing!

"So, in a round about way, Coinbase invested my money for 4 months and returned it to me with an incredible return. "Roundabout you say? ;) lol Indeed Coinbase o some other entity "borrowed" your bitcoin without your permission, without promise of return, and your BTC put it into your account when "they "were through with it. I wonder , mildly curious, what your .03 BTC was being used for. I wonder if this happens "randomly" and at will with some statistically significant frequency

If Coinbase or anyone else for that matter wants to borrow BTC, they can do so on BitConnect and pay a fee for the priveledge. Your BTC was borrowed, interest free, for 4 months, with neither your blessings nor permission. Sounds a bit shady to me. Maybe somebody wrote a script that targets, culls, re-routes and then returns BTC intact at some later date. The value of the BTC depends on the market. Whether you spend, exchange, or hoard your BTC should your decision not some benevolent thief's decision.

You are so lucky :)

Pretty scary accounting practices. Has anyone lost their transfers entirely?

Not a bad outcome in the end.

Good story from you @jrcornel

I had a similar incident with Coinbase yesterday as well. Strange & yet a little scary.

Great little story, made me smile:)

You deserve a:

for being a very understanding and kind being.

you are a real patient guy ;-)
but there is not much you can do than just wait and hope ^^
i hate 3rd parties

In every misfortune there is something positive ^^

Got lucky in this case. Could've been the other way around as well, that would've been much worse. Must say though that it is very important that you can trust these exchanges!

That was a good result!

Nice post..
I like it.
♡ jrcornel
Have a nice day ^_^

i'd still be sorta pissed

Me too. Who knows what kind of ROI I could have gotten if I had that money in hand when I was supposed to. Granted - a straight double absent any other action at all is hard to beat.

So, still a happy customer service problem story, overall!

Thanks for heads up

the Lord works in mysterious ways...you help many people ...good karma :-)

great :)

Nice post so I vote you

Coinbase customer support is obscene. Not to mention my account was cancelled inappropriately. They closed all of the Hawaii accounts, and I had relocated from Hawaii back to the mainland, updated my account providing new drivers license from my new state of residents, and my account was still closed. They sent me some 'canned' email stating my account was being closed because of of use that went against their policy?? WTF? To this day I'm still awaiting a response. The only positive thing was I was able to take my money and run. I would never give them any kind of business again in the future.

Good post and congratulations on things going your way in a profitable way!

lol, i would not use coinbase anymore, regardless they did you a favor... Imagine that the opposite was the case, that the price of the coin you where transferring dropped?... I think overall the support from this sites (not just coinbase, all of them) is pretty crappy...

I use both coinbase and poloniex and have heard a few nightmare stories don't know if to change before I have any problems but I'm glad you got your money back thanks for your story cheers mike

Amazing.

Hey man, I started to sweat and blood runs cold, you make a plot twist!
Congrat:)

Glad to hear you got your issues resolved now my account is frozen due to the bank and coinbase errors and now i cannot buy or send funds or pay them there fees owed, and its going on a week since i filed and have not heard back yet...

Very nice

This is sad, crypto is something that you dont expect to be like this.

Awesome story! good to see they're honest, although its a shame they didn't lock that up for a year or two! you'd probably be even more thankful as I see the price going even higher! lol

Good))

That's awesome! Im sure it gives hope to a lot of people who have been in the same predicament. Hopefully everyone's money will get back to them eventually. Since this is about turning bitcoin into fiat, I would like your opinion on the problem THAT WE WILL ALL FACE eventually, and maybe some insight on the post. Looking for critical thinkers:
https://steemit.com/money/@threat08/avoiding-capital-gains-tax-15-avg-when-cashing-out-your-bitcoin-into-fiat-theoretically-of-course

Thankfully it didn't happen the other way round. I wonder what would have happened if it did occur the way other way round.

I would not trust them as an investor though.

The problem is these slow transfer rates and btc being "lost" will stop crypto from becoming mainstream. we need a much simpler way of transfering.

I can't stand coinbase. It's a crypto paypal wannabe. It took 2 WEEKS, 2 WEEKS to move money from my bank into my account. WTH? I have been using PayPal for well over a decade and it runs like a well oiled machine. If PayPal would get into the crypto market and open an exchange...it would be FANTASTIC! And would move mass adoption into light speed! my article here: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@mericanhomestead/paypal-opens-up-bitcoin-exchange-my-dream-come-true-then-i-woke-up

So glad that it worked out for you. Coinbase needs to get their customer service together and make sure that people get replied to in a timely matter.

What an experience, good thing I already stopped using coinbase.

I might be lucky bcoz when i was trying to buy btc using coinbase it says it is not yet supported in my country so i looked fo other wallets. All has bad reviews. Would yoy suggest other wallets that has no negative issues.

Appreciate for some answers. I am new in cryptocurrency.

Thanks!
Upvoted and followed!

They as well as you became victim to their shortsightedness. If you believe in your product, you have to go all in. If they believed bitcoin and the others would prosper, they should have seen the need for better infrastructure.
Thanks for this. I have literally made like two transactions using coinbase. I am a cryptonewb. I have powered up everything on here that I haven't invested in other steemians.

well can't say it was good that it took 4 months but very nice return in the end by them hilding your coin

@ jrcornel LOL lucky you enjoy the reward. Good for you.

Dump centralized exchanges, use Lykke or Bitsquare then you hold the private key and you arent waiting to see if someone can sort out thier cock-ups.

This is very promising!!!! I have some pending deposits that went to Poloniex and they are history to me at the moment! I hope anyone else in this situation will receive the same good news soon! I had a surge of $10 commissions come in from Coinbase the other day that I knew were pending for a few weeks. I hope they are investing all this money into some better servers!

That's pretty cool - call it accidental gain :)

But seriously, this shows that all we have to do is buy and HODL, and we will be alright!

Good point! Just hold on as long as you can!

"All's well that ends well" Shakespeare. Happy it worked out!! Yay!!

hmm thanks for this

Lol this guy made $45 on his BTC trade and $833.54 in Steem just for sharing the story of the $45 gain... that's the world we live in

@jcornel - ay there you go! Same thing is happening with buying BTC/ETH/LTC w/ fiat on Coinbase...takes me like 5 days, but sometimes like 8 because Coinbase isn't good at estimating. Great post man!

Do you still use coinbase? if not what do you suggest? Really cool post BTW! Peace out!

It is a long long journey. LOL

i wonder if they are gonna continue to have issues like this? i tried emailing them about some questions i had and they never responded but the issue did resolve itself eventually. makes me wanna swtich wallets.

Dear cousin base, stop invading your customers privacy with your crazy verification rules. Glad you got your Bitcoin back though!

and the $80 story earned you another $800... way to go... congrats...

Coin Base suck lost 20 bucks of bitcoin after 5 days says. We don't give back moneyfrom a wrong address​, but wasn't​ wrong so, I send a photo​ and after 2 days answer me sorry for mistakes​ but we can't fix your transaction.

This is one story in many that has worked out favorably for you. Congratulations! With all the problems they're having, I'm beginning to wonder if this is just incompetency, or interference from outside sources (and I think we know who THAT might be!)

If you think that 35 to 80 is a good return, your post is at 840 currently which is over 1700 cashed out. Now, that is pretty damn good for .03 BTC.

You are lucky coinbase rewarded you.

You made $850 on this post !!!

It is always nice to hear a good returns story! I have faith in CoinBase as a company, and am assuming it is because of the amazing increase in volume they have received over the past few months. Glad to hear everything went well!

Hats off to your patience levels.. Finally you got good returns :)

Everything happens for a reason! Glad that worked out for you. If your looking for an investment coin or option check out www.compcoin.com

hahaha Forgiveness is a virtue, but this IS concerning. I'm glad it worked out well for you! :)

Hmm, amazing this can also happen on a blockchain!!! But nothing beats the happiness of surprise incoming money, right!!

The point is that your money is back, may be it saved your money didn't let you lavish it.

Cheers! never give up until is over.

Coinbase, you're so nice. What an offer to make for a random client.

I am happy for you @jrcornel and its great that you money doubled from the transfer screw up. I however am sick of coinbase charging me 1.5% on each transaction buying or selling, then taking a week to complete the trade and now they don't even have a working site. I can't even take advantage of the drop in price right now because of coinbase's shit platform

  ·  8 years ago Reveal Comment