Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins. • Hacker News Board

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#21

Post by mcphilip » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 10:27 AM UTC

kjackson2012 wrote: post #15

Why are people even posting on HN? The easy answer is do an ACH chargeback and be done with it. Do it quickly as well since the price has plummeted. Don't even bother with contacting customer support.

It serves the useful function of alerting the community of early adopters that coinbase is (probably) not (yet) ready to be trusted to competently handle one's cash. Also, YC is a backer of coinbase so there's a high likelihood that someone from coinbase will see the post here if it's on the front page long enough.

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#22

Post by jnardiello » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 10:37 AM UTC

Seems like Coinbase wasn't able to create a viable and sustainable process. To me, they will just fail as long as their processes become scalable. Surely i won't deal with them anytime soon :)

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#23

Post by Saus » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 10:44 AM UTC

The problem what I have is 'fairness' (not just Coinbase, mostly all companies with customer service).

OP tried to solve it without making a fuss, without causing trouble for CoinBase but they couldn't help him and they didn't want to help him. Now he is creating negative press (exactly what you don't want) and see the response from last night. CEO probably comes in and saves the day.

The problem is that the people who 'behave' will get shafted, and those who seek 'social media' will get a prompt resolution.

That is a disappointing trend that with Twitter/Facebook only became worse (before those it was mostly threatening with consumer advocate programs on TV). Try it yourself, send an e-mail and a tweet to a company. E-mail gets a reply within 48h, twitter within 1h. Companies are creating their own monster this way....

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#24

Post by seferphier » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 10:49 AM UTC

znowi wrote: post #18

When it takes a public outcry on HN for a company to do their job, I no longer deal with such a company. Simple as that. I don't care if you raised $25 million - if you can't treat your users fairly, you deserve neither.

Agreed. When there is a public outcry, it means that there is inadequate processes are put into place for protect their customers. This happened twice today. This means something is fundamentally broken in Coinbase's customer service.

Many famous VCs and founders browse HN. This will hurt their reputation.

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#25

Post by simias » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 10:52 AM UTC

HN is not a Coinbase support group. There must be better ways to deal with this.

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#26

Post by samastur » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 10:52 AM UTC

PeterisP wrote: post #13

jackgavigan wrote: post #11

Before the $25m round that was just announced, CoinBase had raised $6.71m. What have they spent that money on?

It's a tiny amount of money for a financial services company - because they need money not for expenses & salaries (as a software company), but as a pure instrument in their everyday transactions. I can easily imagine Coinbase needing ten times more working capital than that simply to function properly (i.e., not as they seem to function now).

I would love it if you could elaborate on this. Since most exchanges don't do anything before they received money from buyer, what would they need the money for?

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#27

Post by grimaceindex » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 10:53 AM UTC

To the OP: if Coinbase provides terrible customer service but you still publicly declare you're a "huge fan", what incentive is there for them to change?

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#28

Post by eterm » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 11:06 AM UTC

qq66 wrote: post #17

kjackson2012 wrote: post #15

Why are people even posting on HN? The easy answer is do an ACH chargeback and be done with it. Do it quickly as well since the price has plummeted. Don't even bother with contacting customer support.

Could Coinbase be arbitraged this way? Just running ACH chargebacks every time the Bitcoin price falls before fulfillment?

That would be fraud. I'm sure there are plenty of ways to make money if you're willing to commit fraud.

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#29

Post by k-mcgrady » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 11:07 AM UTC

samastur wrote: post #26

PeterisP wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a tiny amount of money for a financial services company - because they need money not for expenses & salaries (as a software company), but as a pure instrument in their everyday transactions. I can easily imagine Coinbase needing ten times more working capital than that simply to function properly (i.e., not as they seem to function now).

I would love it if you could elaborate on this. Since most exchanges don't do anything before they received money from buyer, what would they need the money for?

The huge fluctuations in the price of BitCoin probably cause problems. Taking an order, locking the price in, and waiting a few days for the transfer gives BitCoin time to drastically change in value.

Re: Sent $10,701.03 to Coinbase. Still missing bitcoins.

#30

Post by tankenmate » Thu, Dec 19, 2013, 11:09 AM UTC

qq66 wrote: post #17

kjackson2012 wrote: post #15

Why are people even posting on HN? The easy answer is do an ACH chargeback and be done with it. Do it quickly as well since the price has plummeted. Don't even bother with contacting customer support.

Could Coinbase be arbitraged this way? Just running ACH chargebacks every time the Bitcoin price falls before fulfillment?

It makes you wonder if this is why these customers didn't get their bitcoins, someone else charged back their transaction; concommitant risk?