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I hope this is the right fora. As you can tell by the name, I am fighting Coinbase, in the UK.
About two years ago I got caught up in the Crypto currency game. I joined Coinbase whist on holiday in the USA. At no point was a social security number requested when joining.
I bought and sold in very low numbers (about £500 - $1000 a time) for 18 months or so, turned a very modest profit. Last May I bought 4 Ethereum at a cost of $1,080, and had the opportunity to sell for $1,480 a few weeks later. On trying to sell them, I was asked for a social security number. Obvs, as a UK citizen, I do not have.
So I could not do anything with the account. I tried for months to contact Coinbase via their online web form, and also email address I found online. Further, I tried both their numbers in the USA and the UK. These numbers are infuriating. There is no way to get hold of an actual person.
Worse, last July my phone died and as a result I could not access my Coinbase account at all. I needed access to this specific phone and an app called Authenticator. But the process to get reinstated involved using an old phone number I no longer had. Again, contacting Coinbase proved fruitless. I got only automatic, form responses and ZERO help. Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever had the misfortune to experience.
I sent a letter recorded delivery to the CEO of Coinbase in the UK. I informed him I was imminently going to take legal action to recover the $1,480 I am out of pocket. As far as I am concerned, Coinbase should have never allowed me to BUY 4 Ethereum if they were then going to prevent me selling it weeks later because I am not a USA citizen. They should have informed me of what they had planned.
After two months, with no response to my letter, I took legal action. The claim was for £300 which was the difference between the worth of the Ethereum from when I wanted to sell, and the day the claim was started, and ALSO to force Coinbase to finally take note and help me get back into my account, to sell the Ethereum and be done with Coinbase.
They did not acknowledge, and I received Default Judgement. Waited another fortnight with no contact from them. My USA bank account by this point had closed. Which is needed to buy and sell on Coinbase. Further, the worth of the Ethereum was now $500 less.
Coinbase finally contacted me to advise they were dealing with my requests for access from May last year!
I emailed them back to inform them of the situation re: the bank closing, and to tell them what is owed, total, to avoid a second legal claim for the difference.
I then get a call from their UK solicitor, 6 weeks after they claim was started, to tell me I can have either access to my account, or the Judgement amount of £325. Not both. I was then told that if I made a second claim, they would have it struck out as an abuse of the Courts processes and I would pay the firms costs.
I hung up. I am not someone who takes kindly to ultimatums and threats. I told them so via email, responding to their WITHOUT PREJUDICE contact making the above offer. No mention, at this point, of their considering I had contacted the wrong entity.
I started my second claim, and made mention of their ultimatum.
I am now in receipt of an application from them to have the Default Judgement removed, as he has taken the wrong entity, i.e. Coinbase UK, to Court, when his contract is with Coinbase USA. This is dated a month after the Judgment was issued.
And a request for costs.
I feel I am dealing with a real scumbag company here. Rather that deal with me in anything like a timely manner and sort out this massive mess, that are paying a solicitor and making £255 application payments after their intimidation tactics dont work.
Can anyone advise me of the next steps I should take please?
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About two years ago I got caught up in the Crypto currency game. I joined Coinbase whist on holiday in the USA. At no point was a social security number requested when joining.
I bought and sold in very low numbers (about £500 - $1000 a time) for 18 months or so, turned a very modest profit. Last May I bought 4 Ethereum at a cost of $1,080, and had the opportunity to sell for $1,480 a few weeks later. On trying to sell them, I was asked for a social security number. Obvs, as a UK citizen, I do not have.
So I could not do anything with the account. I tried for months to contact Coinbase via their online web form, and also email address I found online. Further, I tried both their numbers in the USA and the UK. These numbers are infuriating. There is no way to get hold of an actual person.
Worse, last July my phone died and as a result I could not access my Coinbase account at all. I needed access to this specific phone and an app called Authenticator. But the process to get reinstated involved using an old phone number I no longer had. Again, contacting Coinbase proved fruitless. I got only automatic, form responses and ZERO help. Absolutely the worst customer service I have ever had the misfortune to experience.
I sent a letter recorded delivery to the CEO of Coinbase in the UK. I informed him I was imminently going to take legal action to recover the $1,480 I am out of pocket. As far as I am concerned, Coinbase should have never allowed me to BUY 4 Ethereum if they were then going to prevent me selling it weeks later because I am not a USA citizen. They should have informed me of what they had planned.
After two months, with no response to my letter, I took legal action. The claim was for £300 which was the difference between the worth of the Ethereum from when I wanted to sell, and the day the claim was started, and ALSO to force Coinbase to finally take note and help me get back into my account, to sell the Ethereum and be done with Coinbase.
They did not acknowledge, and I received Default Judgement. Waited another fortnight with no contact from them. My USA bank account by this point had closed. Which is needed to buy and sell on Coinbase. Further, the worth of the Ethereum was now $500 less.
Coinbase finally contacted me to advise they were dealing with my requests for access from May last year!
I emailed them back to inform them of the situation re: the bank closing, and to tell them what is owed, total, to avoid a second legal claim for the difference.
I then get a call from their UK solicitor, 6 weeks after they claim was started, to tell me I can have either access to my account, or the Judgement amount of £325. Not both. I was then told that if I made a second claim, they would have it struck out as an abuse of the Courts processes and I would pay the firms costs.
I hung up. I am not someone who takes kindly to ultimatums and threats. I told them so via email, responding to their WITHOUT PREJUDICE contact making the above offer. No mention, at this point, of their considering I had contacted the wrong entity.
I started my second claim, and made mention of their ultimatum.
I am now in receipt of an application from them to have the Default Judgement removed, as he has taken the wrong entity, i.e. Coinbase UK, to Court, when his contract is with Coinbase USA. This is dated a month after the Judgment was issued.
And a request for costs.
I feel I am dealing with a real scumbag company here. Rather that deal with me in anything like a timely manner and sort out this massive mess, that are paying a solicitor and making £255 application payments after their intimidation tactics dont work.
Can anyone advise me of the next steps I should take please?
*
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