Bitstamp: A two year battle to get my money back

I should have known it was bad when Bitstamp’s people blocked my first money wire, because they couldn’t understand how maid and married last names work.

They refused to credit my account, but happily took the incoming money. If they were so worried about the source of the money I guess they could have as well just rejected it or send it back.

Now, for two years, they’ve become a pseudo- government; effectively seizing my money and refusing to return it; and inflicting further damage on crypto positions currently open.

From the beginning I’ve had to produce an absurd amount of documents for BS: a lot more than reputable broker like Fidelity, MM or Schwab has ever required. It even boiled down to having to explain to Bitstamp how ladies change last names once they marry. At least 5 batches of documentation has been provided to Bitstamp, and I’m sure that even the system can’t handle the absurd amount of data required from me.

When the KYC nightmare happened, this time being the third time that Bitstamp requested additional information, I Sent a LOT of documents, including straight bank statements that f the account used for funding Bitstamp. Shortly after somebody replied that it was not enough (!!!!! )And requested even more data. I produced even. Ore documents and didn’t hear anything back. In fact I submitted so many documents that reached the limit that Bitstamp can accept. At this point I’m thinking that maybe the reason they didn’t take action is because they didn’t get all the documents I uploaded originally. The picture shows proof that Bitstamp can not accept any more documents.

The worst has been after I commited the “offense” of feel confident in cryptocurrency trading and on the platform and abilities; so I deposited more money beyond the initial deposit. Bitstamp, once again, happily took the money, and then proceeded to freeze my account citing a need to “update my information” For the longest time I have tried to lift the restriction on my account to no avail. I’m sure that not even all the documents I sent reached Bitstamp (per the max documents thing that shows in the image above) but no matter what, information- hungry bitstamp is not satisfied and keeps asking for more. I just can’t provide more.

I’ve now reached bitstamp over the phone to figure out what’s going on, and am asked again for financial documents, as well as proof of residence. Keep in mind that nowhere in the original request it says anything about address). I produced brokerage statement ( which is one of the requests from Bitstamp and this is from the actual account where most of the money that would eventually fund the Bitstamp account came from) and a copy of the current driver license, but attached to a supplemental ticket since the original information request was not able to accept any more documents. The ticket foolishly goes thru steps to troubleshoot data upload issues ( although I said time and again that the issue was that Bitstamp couldn’t take more uploads, but at least the ticket also explicitly says that the required documents could be attached there). This was done but not even an acknowledgement is received.

24 + hrs after I request a confirmation and update. And it seems that only then does customer service become aware if the documents attached to the ticket. Tried calling again and was basically told that needed to upload the documents. (!!!) I did an above-average effort to make it clear that the ticket had already the documents attached and it became obvious that it had never been forwarded to right people at KYC. I make it clear again that this needs to be processed ASAP and that is follow up in two hours.

Two hours passed. Just made the call and there’s pretty much zero progress. Every agent seems of no use and this mistery KYC department is unreachable by me, or them; for what it’s worth.

I also wasn’t able to have a proper answer from the agents on when did the KYC department get the necessary information and when is the expected resolution time. This just makes me believe that once again the ball has been dropped and documents again sat idle for 2 days without reaching their intended receivers.

I have been put on tremendous pressure, financial loss and opportunity loss; not to mention that no other financial entity has done anything similar to me. Some of this damage just can’t be measured.

No matter what I do, who I talk to, or what information I submit, I keep receiving hearing that it’s either not enough, or that it has not been received. And customer support offers no support

It all seems just a scheme to retain my money. At no point I see how BS feels it has authority that of a government that can seize a citizen’s asset. We’re talking of a US citizen it’s a US address opening an account: nothing extraordinary here. Many different institutions have validated my information, most within seconds.

After two years, I still can’t get my money.

Can somebody please fix this? I promise I’ve seen movie scripts not nearly as interesting as this.