Consumer complaint received 2021-02-19
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing your mobile wallet account

Complaint:
Dear Financial Ombudsman Service Team, I am writing to you to launch an official complaint against the US-based financial services company Coinbase. I am a XXXX citizen and I have an account with Coinbase ever since the beginning of XXXX where I hold different crypto currencies. 

Please help me! Writing to you is the last thing I can think of to get back my money. Coinbase wont help. I have contacted them in various ways over the last 4 months but they are not helping me leading to my financial loss. 


Some background information : Coinbase offers an option to store crypto currencies in a vault instead of the regular asset portfolio since even large companies such as Conbase could be hacked and crypto that people keep in the regular asset portfolio could be stolen. 

That's why I stored one of my crypto assets ( Litecoin ) safely in the vault. In order to retrieve it, you have to go to the vault - click on withdrawal and in the next step you will get two emails that you will have to confirm : one email to your primary email account and one email to the second email account. 

The problem is : every time I click on the link in the email that I receive at my second email address - the coinbase link doesnt work. The vault always says that the email sent to my second email address hasnt been confirmed yet. But I did confirm it. It is a technical problem caused by Coinbase. 

I have tried to retrieve my Litecoins from the vault at least 10 times and the problem remains. 

Usually this would not be a big deal. You write to the support and they fix their bugs on the website. 
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- The PROBLEM : This is where the issue starts : I first wrote to the Coinbase support on the XX/XX/XXXX. Case # XXXX - Problem with Withdrawal from the Vault I launched all tickets through the official Coinbase Website and I can provide you with screenshots of the replies they send me on my primary e-mail address XXXX I didnt get an answer. I gave them quite a bit of time to answer before I contacted to the support again on the XX/XX/XXXX : Case # XXXX - HELP! I can not withdraw money from my vault Again, I didnt get an answer from them. 

So, I called their customer hotline but it turns out that it is a robot answering the phone and you can only continue if your account has been compromised. Then you can press a number on the keypad and they will shut down your account. There was no way of getting put through to a person who could help me with the problem. 

Meanwhile, I tried to access my vault many times without success. 
I can provide you with more detailed information and proof of that. 

I launched an official complaint via their website ( since they wrote on their website that they will answer to official complaints within 15 business days ) but I didnt get a confirmation email so I am not sure if that has worked. It could be that there was a bug in that function as well. 

Then I finally got a reply from the Coinbase support on the 10 of XX/XX/XXXX. They were answering to Case # XXXX - Problem with Withdrawal from the Vault I took them almost 3 MONTHS!!! to answer the ticket it opened in XXXX. When I read the email I saw that they haven't even understood the problem that I am having. The person answering my email probably just scanned it and didnt read it and understand the issue. 

They just told me that I need to confirm both emails on both email addresses. Yeah, I know that but it is a technical problem and doesnt work. 

So I replied to them explaining this on the XX/XX/XXXX : ( 2 ) [ Reply ] Case # XXXX - Problem with Withdrawal from the Vault Again, I didnt get an answer. 

On the XX/XX/XXXX I received an automated email where I should rate weather my problem was resolved or not. I clicked on the bottom indicating that it wasnt resolved and wrote a text to explain the problem that the person didnt even read or understand the problem that I had and just sent me a standard reply. 


So finally today, Friday the XX/XX/XXXX I wrote to the support AGAIN plus I launched an official complaint through their website : This time I received an automated E-Mail that my complaint has successfully been launched : [ Created ] Case # XXXX - Complaint # XXXX This is the ticket that I wrote to the support : Case # XXXX - CAN NOT ACCESS MY VAULT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- This is me trying to get help from Coinbase support for the last 4 months. 


THE PROBLEM : I want to sell all my Litecoins NOW - like TODAY - If Coinbase wont answer me and fix their technical issue so that I can access my vault to take back MY MONEY I will suffer a financial loss caused by Coinbase. Not only because it is their technical problem causing the issue but also because nobody can be reached to fix it and even if I reach somebody they apparently cant be bothered to even read the email or provide help. 

Today my wallet balance is : Wallet balance : XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) I will include a picture of that. 

While I understand that with Covid there might be a bit of delay sometimes but other financial services also manage to answer their customers. I have an account at the crypto plattform XXXX. They also had a technical issue but the support answered me back the NEXT DAY! 

Imagine you had an issue with your bank account and it took the bank 4 months to get back to you and then not even reading your email. 

Please help me! This is the last thing I can think of to get back my money. 

Thank you very much in advance! 

Best regards, XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief