Dear Coinbase, I Forgive You
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.
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Follow me: @jrcornel
Lmao it was actually all planned right? you sent it off to just be HELD.
Coinbase? No, thanks!
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. ;)
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?! :)