Topic: Bitstamp is bullying VERIFIED CUSTOMERS! (Read 4120 times)

You are right and that's why it's so painful for me to actually stop relations with Bitstamp. I wish there was some other legit Bitcoin exchange in Europe. I would gladly use that one instead and even go through the painful verification process again. I just cannot accept the fact that the same Bitcoin exchange company would ask me to verify my account twice. It's just unacceptable. They are doomed to lose customers this way.

edit:
For the record, things are getting better now as I received this answer from the support:

Their offer satisfies my interests because I can scan in ID, no problem. I just have a humongous problem getting a proof of residency.

it's worth having an account there if you have big amounts to exchange...

I had a fully verified account. All was ok. Then I requested password reset and now they want me to verify my account again. What's your e-mail? I will reset your password for you and you will have to verify your account again. Then let's see if you still think I'm making fun here and this topic is not for real. Fact is that I don't tolerate going physically to bank and scanning in paper documents. I did it once and if they demand it again they lose a customer. There has to be simpler way to do business with bitcoin exchanges. If you think it's all my fault then you got it all wrong because they are making a customer's life miserable while in reality a business should make the customer's life as simple as possible.


It's not that I'm going to start daytrading on LBC. I never daytrade anyway. I would have no problem using an exchange such as Bitstamp having my account verified but I will simply not tolerate it if they make me verify my account every time they feel like it. Verification should be strictly a one time procedure.

You need to remember that LBC is full of scammers, so you will likely spend a lot of time, at the very least protecting yourself against such scams, and will probably have a lot of failed trades because of a scam attempt against you. I would say that you are essentially trading the fact that you are essentially trading off the fact that you do not need to give up your identity documents for the fact that it will take many attempt to have a successful trade

lol.

tl;dr
"Hey Bitstamp, someone is trying to hack my account!"
"Thanks for letting us know, I disabled withdrawals to keep you safe. You should think about the following to make your account more secure..."
"WTF Bitstamp, I was just messing with you. Why would you do that? How can I trust you to keep my money safe when you take me seriously when I lie to your support staff?"

Did I miss something pertinent there, or is that about it?

Why do you recommend LakeBTC too? Is it better than BTC-e?

I got an answer from Bitstamp saying that they will include my suggestions to the discussion of how to improve their services next time. That's all, I guess they didn't reactivate my withdraw possibilities so I'm pretty much done with Bitstamp.

However, I tested out localbitcoins for the first time last week and today I completed my first trade. I sold 10 euros worth of bitcoins to the user cortex and received the money as a SEPA transfer on the second banking day. My account in localbitcoins is Hyena by the way. So anyone who is having trouble with Bitstamp I recommend you use localbitcoins because they have made it really simple, no verification is needed. If you have used SR or BMR in past then you are already familiar with the way localbitcoins operates. The really cool thing about localbitcoins was that they have automatic SMS sending, so I actually receive an SMS immediately when my order is filled or needs my attention.

First of all, I admit I was a bit overreacting myself. While Bitstamp is overreacting because they are afraid for their own butt I am overreacting because I am afraid they will make me go through the verification process AGAIN. And guess what, they did:


Thanks for the tip. I really did not know that but now I will look the specifics of Google Authenticator. Perhaps I could still use it even though I don't like Google.


Exactly, that's what I'm afraid of. Once I start moving big money they might make my life miserable as they obviosuly do not care for their customers' convenience and user experience at all! Too bad bitcoin.de is not an exchange though, I was really hoping that there is some exchange in Europe that makes the verification process super easy. Come on, we have ID cards that allow signing documents digitally. Verification could be so simple yet they are stuck in the archaic way of doing things by requiring photos of physical world objects!


Isn't Kraken like on the other side of the planet? I'd prefere an EU exchange but if you say LakeBTC and Kraken would work then I will definitely check them out, thank you!


I guess it's free market. You can say that it's for the customers' own good but the fact is that their security measures are inconvenient, archaic and could be done much better. People will soon simply go to other exchanges. Facebook has automatic SMS sending to improve account security. Why doesn't Bitstamp have one? I would happily receive a SMS to my mobile phone with a pin.


I requested the password recovery because I did not know what e-mail belonged to what account in Bitstamp. I had 3 accounts in Bitstamp and 3 different e-mails for them as this idiotic Bitstamp does not let you register 2 accounts for the same e-mail. So I requested password reset to know which account is which. Never before I have seen a system so moronic that instead of resetting your password it creates a new account for your e-mail and requires you to go through the painful verification process again. This could be abused so bad. I could just datamine all the e-mail addresses used in the bitcointalk forum and reset everyone's password in Bitstamp and everyone would need to verify their account AGAIN. It is clearly Bitstamp's idiocy here and it has nothing to do with security precautions. From this moment I seriously distrust Bitstamp. If they make such mistakes who knows what other mistakes they have made!


While I get your point you are wrong at one thing: users don't need to suffer due to lazy programming and bad business workflows. Does PayPal require users to verify their account like that? Scanning in some papers and so on? I doubt it. See, it can be done more easily so why hasn't Bitstamp come up with a better solution? Or perhaps they don't have enough money for these developments. The biggest exchange does not have enough money? Suspicious.

This verification process is annoying I agree, but they are forced to do so.

At this point people are complaining about it's way too difficults, too much hassle....

But if they don't, and one day lose a lot btc due to a hack or fraud, then people will complain and moan about why they don't have a proper verification process.

Rules are rules, if you prefer to have an exchange with less rules, then I suggest BTC-E.

I will never ever use Bitstamp. But on the other hand you shouldnt have made it complicated. Youre account was ok, why did you try the password recovery? You shouldve crossed the bridge when you get there.. You shoudve tried the password recovery if you really need it.

Just a measure to protect the customers from themselves.

It is way better than having all your coins stolen.

I guess there is a problem with stamp's database or capital chain, so they are so anxious to clean up the accounts, wish it not to be gox 2.



edit: about bitcoin.de, its verification seem to be the same hard: if you're not German, you have to send them all kinds of documents to be able to buy/sell for more than 750 eur a year.

according to https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-exchange-reviews-collection-the-most-complete-695082 , LakeBTC and Kraken both have sepa account, while them also need to verify, but it will be a lot easier, you can try.

just wait and see what happens when you hit some (invisible) volume limits with fiat deposits and withdrawals...

got my assets frozen for a week and a half while I was travelling europe. awsome experience.

but to get back to OPs issue:

They are simply scared shitless, that someone might actually steal customer funds so they are overshooting a "bit".

bitcoin.de is a great place, but it is a market place, not an exchange so that comes with its own set of issues (forget trading apis and other fancy stuff).

Ignoring the rest of the post, but this is a bit inaccurate. The "Google Authenticator" uses a very common open-source algorithm to determine the 2-factor-codes. The app from Google is simply the most commonly used, which is why the whole system is often named after Google. There are however alternative implementations for all kinds of platforms and the algorithm is simple enough that any semi-decent programmer can create his own personal implementation, so that you don't have to trust any third party software producer.

Why is that funny? It's best to use a different account for automated trading because if your bot screws something up you don't want to lose more than you can afford to lose, do you?



Yes, and I won't. However, how come some random customer support dude can stop my withdraws without asking my permission or anything? I've been wanting to change my e-mail for a year because I registered with a throwaway e-mail address and now they won't let me change the e-mail and I have to use it just to please Bitstamp. What a mess.

which means you don't have to change anything, bro.

lol.

I went through the painful process of getting my account verified a year ago. It included going physically to bank to get a proof of residency paper printed out and signed on paper (in the era of digital signatures provided by the ID-card in EU, hilarious). Not only that, I had to scan in my driver's license and that proof of residency and submit it to Bitstamp and they rejected it due to poor quality! So I scanned the documents in again with higher resolution and got finally verified.

From the beginning I had problems because I had several accounts in Bitstamp due to the need to use their API in a separate account. These idiots demand different e-mail for different accounts and to make matters worse YOU CAN NEVER CHANGE YOUR E-MAIL. If you do, they require verification AGAIN. Unbelievable. But that's not the end of it.

I tested out their password recovery mechanism and entered my e-mail in the according form. I received a message from Bitstamp saying that a new account was created for me. What the hell? They create a new account when you request password recovery! Anyone who knows your e-mail can make a new account under your name and that new account is NOT VERIFIED by default.

So I got worried that they might force me to go physically to bank again just to get a piece of paper and I contacted the support and it made things even worse as they disabled my account's withdraw capabilities:


So here's my reply:


So clearly Bitstamp is getting worse and worse over time. Just painful user experience. What other businesses offer bitcoin exchange services in Europe? (Preferrably not shady)

edit:
So I found out about https://www.bitcoin.de/en they seem to have automated verification so I'd suggest I don't need to scan in any documents, I think it's great! Also, I still cannot believe that Bitstamp morons require the user to change their e-mail address. An e-mail address is not a thing anyone would easily change. God it makes me vomit to see how stupid the Bitstamp developers are. Do you imagine if all the web services started demanding from their customers to CHANGE THEIR E-MAIL ADDRESS?! Bitstamp shold be sued for such idiocy.