An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Interviews with Coinbase customers around the country and a review of thousands of complaints reveal a pattern of account takeovers, where users see money suddenly vanish from their account, followed by poor customer service from Coinbase that made those users feel left hanging and angry. Making the issue even worse, cryptocurrency transactions cannot be reversed, according to the FBI. Experts say once criminals access an account, funds can be drained in minutes. Coinbase, which went public in April, has a market cap of about $65 billion, has more than 68 million users in 100-plus countries, more than 2,100 full-time employees and $223 billion in held assets, according to the company. While the cryptocurrency exchange company has grown rapidly, complaints have continued to arise. Since 2016, Coinbase users have filed more than 11,000 complaints against Coinbase with the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, mostly related to customer service. Former employees told CNBC the company’s customer service practices shifted over time, with representatives struggling to keep up with demand.
After a review of Coinbase’s complaints, the Better Business Bureau in March determined the company has a “pattern of complaints from customers who state they are locked out of their accounts, even after providing required information or updates.” The organization has received 1,128 complaints in the past three years, according to its website. BBB said it sent a letter to Coinbase in order to address the customers’ complaints and receive feedback from any implemented improvements. The group has “not heard a response from this business, about the situation, pattern of complaints for the last three years,” Alma Galvan, a marketing and communication manager with the organization, said in an email to CNBC. In an email to CNBC, Coinbase said: “Over the years, we’ve consistently updated our customer support offerings to help us scale. In early 2020, we moved to email as our primary channel of support. Many of our customer inquiries require our agents to conduct a significant amount of research to resolve the issue. And, to avoid long wait times, communicating asynchronously via email was the preferred method. However, we recognize that customers want real-time support, and that’s why we’re rolling out phone support for ATOs this month and live messaging for all customers later this year.”
Asked about the number of customer service complaints, the company said: “Over the past several years, our customer base grew exponentially. We grew from 43+ million users at the end of 2020 to 68+ million registered users, as of June 30, 2021. Through all this growth, some of our customers unfortunately experienced challenges and delays reaching our support team, which resulted in a negative impact for some of our customers. Improving our customer experience remains a top priority for Coinbase.” They declined to disclose how many customers’ accounts have been hacked or the total amount it has refunded customers as a result of the hacks.
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