Account Under Review Lock - Solved in 9 days.

Hi all,

I wanted to put a quick post up to describe the events of the last ~week and what I did to get my account that was under review unlocked after 9 days.

For some context, last week I created a new Coinbase account for the first time and submitted my passport for identity verification. I am a U.K. citizen living and working permanently in Norway. Once the account verification was complete (level 2, full access to buying, selling and exchanging Crypto on coinbase), I moved a decent amount of Bitcoin to Coinbase. When the funds arrived my account was placed under review and I was unable to access anything.

I came to this subreddit and to my horror discovered many people were in the same boat - some having been locked out for many weeks or months. Here are the events of the last 9 days that have culminated with me being granted access to my funds again:

9 days ago, Monday, Feb 8

My account is "locked" immediately after Coinbase receives my Bitcoin without any rhyme or reason. I submit a support request via the contact form on the Coinbase website and ask for a reason as to why my account has been locked and asking that it be unlocked so that I may freely access my funds. I recieve a confirmation of a case being opened via email and follow this up with a post on this subreddit, replying to the bot with my case number.

8 days ago, Tuesday, Feb 9

I send out a public Tweet and I tag @Coinbase asking them for an update to my situation. I then message Coinbase directly on Twitter, linking my tweet in the message and tell them I am in desperate need of a resolution to my case. I include my case number in the tweet.

Roughly 2 hours after this tweet is sent out I recieve a follow up email from Coinbase support that states:

Hi redacted,

Thank you for following up with us.

Our team has received a high number of account review requests. However, we've asked them to expedite their review of your account, and will get to your inquiry as soon as possible.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.  

Regards,Coinbase Support

I reply thanking them for getting back to me and asking that they please keep me up to date as soon as possible.

I decide at this point that since I have at least recieved a response, I should give them some time to do what they need to do. I decide to wait a week before attempting to contact them again.

Now, Wednesday, Feb 17

Having reached my limit and feeling the pressure of not having access to a large sum of money locked up in a highly volatile crypto currency, I decide it's time to escalate to an official complaint. I pull up Section 10 of the Coinbase User Agreement on one screen, and the Coinbase official complaint form on another. I read every line of Section 10 of the agreement to ensure I understand the wording of this agreement so that my complaint contains exactly what Coinbase expects.

In particular, I take not of the fact that you must:

1. Set out the cause of the complaint.
2. How you would like Coinbase to resolve the complaint.
3. Any other information I believe to be relevant.

I then carefully formatted my complaint so that it met all of these criteria. It may help others, so here is the exact complaint I sent coinbase, with all sensitive information removed:

​

Name: redacted

Email address: redacted

Address: redacted

Existing case number: #04562597

I have contacted your support team seeking a resolution to my case (#04562597) but have been unable to find a solution within a timely manner. I am now following through with the escalated complaint process as outlined in Section 10.2 of the Coinbase user agreement by using the Coinbase complaint form to set out the cause of my complaint and how I would like you to resolve this complaint.The causes of my complaint is as follows:

a) I have been unjustly blocked from accessing my own Bitcoin for an extensive amount of time without any reason beyond the account needing additional verification. This process is taking too long and your social media accounts show many people have been stuck in a similar process for weeks/months.b) I have been unable to regain access to my funds in a timely manner due to long wait times negligence from Coinbase support.

I would like Coinbase to resolve this complaint by either:

a) Coinbase must complete the process of “reviewing my account” in a timely manner so that I may freely access the redacted total BTC in my Coinbase account.

- or -

b) Coinbase must return my assets to me by transferring the redacted total BTC to the same wallet that the coins were sent from. The receiving address for that wallet is: redacted address.

Thank you

Several hours later I received an email stating my account has been verified. 5 minutes later I had safely transfered my Bitcoin out of Coinbase.

I hope this helps.