LATEST UPDATE: The issue resolved, both deposits cleared, account re-verified.
Canadians, stay away from Cavirtex.
I registered with Cavirtex a while back, and as requested, I sent all the necessary documents to complete their verification requirements.
I signed their contract, the terms and conditions document. (That forces you into arbitration and releases them from everything, of course).
I sent them a color copy of my government issued ID, front and back.
I was then notified via my account (verification status, screenshot attached) that it has been verified.
This:
https://i.imgur.com/0vWW41L.png, and then this:
https://i.imgur.com/W2ys5ES.pngYou would think this mean your account have been fully verified. Apparently not.
Everything was great until about a week ago, when I deposited a fairly sizeable amount of money to buy some bitcoins.
They not only took their sweet time in confirming the receipt of my payment, but went ahead and sent me a surprise request for more identification, they for some reason needed further proof of identity from me in order to release my funds.
_______________________
This email is to inform you about the new documents we will need for future depositing. Due to increasing fraud protection requirements for operating our Bitcoin exchange we require the following documents:
Please submit the front and back of your government issued photo ID showing your current address,it must be in color with all edges showing.
We no longer accept bank statements as a form of address verification please choose one of the following:
Tax bill (recent within 12 months) Notice of assessment
Electricity, gas, water, LAND LINE phone (not cellphone), TV, or Internet bill, (recent within 3 months)
House insurance certificate (for the current period).
Please go to the account verification link in your VirtEx account and use the secure encrypted upload feature to send us these documents.
If you have a payment waiting to be credited, we must receive these documents and we must contact you by phone before we can credit the payment on your account. We thank you in advance for your co-operation and understanding on this matter.
Thank-you
Jennifer Kirk
Account Verifications
_____________________________________________________
Just in time, as I just completed a deposit! What a convenient time to change the policy! Did you notify all of your clients, because it sounds like I have been singled out.
Numerous requests to contact and to resolve the issue have been futile. In the time between me depositing the money and now, the price of bitcoin has gone up by $50 -60 a coin(costs me thousands by now.). Not only have they caused me to lose a size able amount of money as a result of their incompetence - which I in fact hope is just incompetence, and not an attempt to take advantage of deposits and give clients the runaround in the meanwhile, they have also managed to lock clients such as myself and thousands of others into unfair contracts which strip customers of their right to any means of legal protection other than an arbitration/mediation session.
Here are my questions for Cavitrex, now that it seems so difficult to find a resolution to this issue:
1- Why do your customers need to send you a copy of their TAX ASSESSMENT ? Tax assessments contain an enormous amount information (including your family situation,married/divorced/etc, number of children, medical and disability status of yourself and your dependents, SIN number, various tax credits that reveal all sorts of personal information, etc) and can be used to commit serious identity theft !
How is this document more verifiable of my address and identification than my driver's license, which you can directly call and verify, either online or telephone, with the Ministry of Transportation, branch of the Government ITSELF? The same database that is used by the police to serve summons, warrants, apprehend and arrest, and enforce law in general. Good enough for courts and law enforcement, but not Cavirtex. Why on earth should we trust a non-regulated, unlicensed company which doesn't even trust its so called "clients" ? The other ID was a federally issued identification card, which would really be enough identification to become eligible as a candidate in federal elections. I could run for the Prime Minister office, however, not solid enough identification for Cavirtex.
To be fair, it does cost a whole $2.50 to pick up and dial the Ministry's number, which I have even offered to cover. Cavirtex did not seem to be interested. Revenue Canada, however, will not verify my information for VirtEx, in case VirtEx will try to call them.
Instead they suggest: "If you do not have any of these documents we require a Tenancy Agreement, attestation of lodging signed by your landlord, *****your landlord's picture ID as described above***** and a third party bill in your name and address." A third party bill, but in my name? What?
So now I need to get my landlord's photo ID, both front and back, with edges clearly visible, of course. How does one obtain picture IDs of rental property corporations? Should their CEO send Cavirtex his driver license (with clearly visible edges, of course) would the CFO suffice? Or should I demand the property manager gets everyone on the corporate board/trustees to send Cavirtex all of their personal info, including their dental records, just to make sure? Are you really telling me to get the superintendent to give me a copy, back and front of his personal photo identification, so that I can "send some money to Cavirtex in another province to buy bitcoins"? Really?
2 -What will happen to the losses you have caused my investments as a result of your tardiness, inefficiency, and lack of regard for customers, is this how you intend to treat anyone who dares to transact in anything larger than a couple of bucks? My transaction fees alone on this SINGLE transaction would be HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS. Are you after repeat customers at all?
3- Why my request for a callback has been ignored? Is it that hard to tell me if ONLY TWO IDs (one federal, one provincial, with AN ACTUALLY VERIFIABLE ADDRESS) are sufficient?
4- You say this is because of increased fraud, then why am I being notified just as I deposited money, and not when your policy was changed? Am I being singled-out? How am I to trust your company with protection of my private information, if you cant even protect your own company from fraud and have to resort to such methods? Does not instill confidence to say the least.
No bank, brokerage, insurance or trust company has EVER demanded my tax assessments and my landlords photo ID, even though I've cleared thousands of futures contracts round-trip daily. They all honored the contract they were a party to, never applied changes retroactively, and provided ample notice on every future change of terms, instead of surprising me with some kind of unreasonable demands soon after I actually try to use their service. Instead it actually seemed they were trying to compete for my business, and I frequently received very, very deep discounts for repeat business, instead of sudden demands for full tax assessments and landlord photo IDs. Note, all of those businesses are tightly regulated. You advertise your company as an investment vehicle, I sure hope your investors read this thread. Is this how you treat investors also?
Your reputation matters. How are you going to rectify this very unpleasant situation?
