I have used Changelly many times since 2017, and have never had any problems with them. Not even any delays that I recall.
But oh boy, I have to relate my recent shitty experience with their customer service. This is not a scam accusation yet, since they tell me the issue is going to be resolved, but I will fill out a formal scam accusation form if I don’t receive my coins within a week or so.
I sent Changelly 0.004688 btc to exchange for 3 NEO. After waiting about 4 hours or so, the NEO still had not arrived in my wallet. I figured I might not have sent enough bitcoin, as Changelly advises customers to send a little extra when buying NEO (I forget the reason, but the statement was there when I did the exchange). I then sent 0.0001 btc to the same Changelly address just in case. More hours went by, and still no NEO.
The e-mail correspondence between Changelly and myself is as follows:
5/22, me:
This is regarding transaction ID zwp8sahntbks2kc0 which I made
yesterday. I am expecting 3 NEO, and I even sent 0.0001 btc extra to
the receiving wallet in case I hadn't sent enough the first time. Can
you please advise when I will receive my NEO?
5/22, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your query.
We had to temporarily switch NEO off due to its maintenance. Once the maintenance is completed, the transaction will be finished.
Hope for understanding!
Sincerely,
Changelly support team
5/22, me:
There was no warning before I sent my funds that NEO would be in maintenance mode. Do you have an estimation of when I will receive my coins?
5/22, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
Unfortunately, we don't have ETA of when NEO is back but our team is doing its best to complete the matter shortly.
5/25, me:
Any estimation on when I will receive my 3 NEO?
If I don't receive a specific response from you as to when I can
expect them, you're going to lose me as a customer, and I'm going to
have to open up a scam accusation on bitcointalk (userid: The
Pharmacist).
This would not have been a problem had you put NEO into maintenance
mode BEFORE accepting my funds. As it stands, you are basically
getting an interest-free loan, and am without the coins I bought and
the GAS they generate. This is absolutely horrible service, and I've
never had problems with Changelly before.
The NEO should be sent to AZuTBfavgfJYVXPsWq7nxWHKbY4k1Z7gzR, which is
the address I used for the transaction. It would be an act of honesty
on your part if you sent the GAS earned during this delay.
Thank you.
5/25, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for keeping in touch!
Please kindly note that the transaction got halted exactly at Sending stage, so your funds got stuck half-way, unfortunately. Once NEO service is restored, the amount will be delivered to the recipient wallet indicated.
Hope for your understanding!
5/28, me:
Since it appears you have no idea when I will receive my 3 NEO, I
would like to request either a refund of the 0.004788 btc that I sent,
or an equivalent exchange to another coin, preferably BCH.
This sounds like a fair resolution to me since you have been keeping
my NEO and the GAS it earns. Please let me know your decision.
5/28, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your query.
NEO is still under maintenance.
In case you want a refund, please provide us the refund address and once NEO is on we'll try to refund your funds.
5/28, me:
OK, refund address is 18jgCW4WX3kqZU6cacgGEReGc7nZJf7S29
0.004788 btc is what I sent to the address you provided for the NEO exchange.
5/28, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your query.
We have investigated your issue once again and found out that due to the reason that your funds are exchanged already, we are not able to provide you with the refund. However, please kindly take into account that since your funds have been exchanged already, no further delay can affect the resulting amount of NEO
Once NEO is back, this amount will be deposited to your wallet.
Hope for your understanding!
5/28, me:
You JUST said you would give me a refund. If my bitcoin funds have
been exchanged for NEO, you can just keep the NEO. This is a
ridiculous excuse on your part and is extremely poor customer service.
If I don't receive my 3 NEO with in 2 days, I am starting a scam
accusation thread on bitcointalk to let the community know how
Changelly treats its customers--and over such a small amount, too.
There is no problem with the NEO network right now and you have given
me no explanation as to why you cannot send my 3 NEO.
5/28, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for your query.
Please kindly note that we will be able to initiate any operations with your transaction once NEO is back on. Since NEO service is not available, we cannot proceed with your order. Once NEO is switched on, you will get your money!
Thank you for your patience!
5/28, me:
1) You just lost a customer over what amounts to about $36.
2) I'm writing a report about this lousy customer service experience,
which will be followed by a formal scam accusation if I do not receive
the NEO.
5/28, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
Sorry to hear you had such an experience.
Once NEO is back, we'll certainly help you with this issue.
5/28, me:
You keep giving me canned responses, and I am writing a full
description of this awful experience for a bitcointalk thread as I'm
writing this. In fact, I'll give you a preview in an attachment. I'm
not done with it, of course.
(I was writing this in a Word document in between these exchanges and sent them a draft)5/28, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
We apologize for this experience you had.
We'll try to do our best to resolve it for you.
5/28, me:
You're not trying.
You offered a refund and then in the next e-mail reneged on that
offer. You are losing a customer and getting a forum complaint over
$36 worth of NEO. That says a lot about what kind of business you
run.
5/28, Changelly:
Dear Customer,
Sorry for misleading you but your funds have been already exchanged to NEO that's why the refund process is not possible.
Our engineers are working on the issue, as we have problems with NEO.
We're kindly ask for your patience and promise that you'll get your NEO once it's on.
_______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
So the bottom line here is that
immediately after I sent my bitcoin to exchange for NEO on 5/22, they took NEO down for maintenance and have not resolved this issue since.
They offered a refund and then immediately reneged.
They have no idea how long NEO is going to be in “maintenance mode” and their method of providing customer service is to basically stonewall their customers with generic responses.
No reputable exchange would have customer service like this. I would think twice about using Changelly, because you just don’t know if they’re going to pull some shit like this on you. I'm not looking for pity or "I told you so's" in this thread; I'm just fed up with exchanges that think they can do crap like this.
Again, this isn’t a formal scam accusation since there’s still the hope that I’ll get my NEO, but I wanted to warn the community and advise people not to stand for garbage the likes of which Changelly is serving up.
Edit: As a huge, belly-laughing LOL, this is their response after I sent them a link to this thread:
Dear Customer,
Thank you for the link provided!
In case you need any other assistance, please do not hesitate to ask!
Fucking morons.