Wirex: Must Read Before Doing Business With Them!
(Quick Read: Don’t! They are holding my Bitcoin against my will for over 45 days with no reason)
I opened an account with WireX back when it was still named E-Coin, in December of 2016. Like most people, I was attracted to their physical and virtual VISA debit cards. I am an American living in Belize and was immediately approved and given both cards. The virtual card was approved in minutes and the physical card arrived in the mail in three weeks. I was a happy camper.
Sometime around May of 2017, they started having problems with their card issuer Wavecrest and had to replace all their cards. Ok, no problem...sh!t happens. Then a few months later, Wavecrest cancels all cards. Ok, now I’m a little worried, but Wirex has assured me they are working with a new card issuer and another one is coming soon. To date, none have arrived. This is an annoyance, but not the problem.
The problem occured in December 2017, when I tried to move my BTC. First, it only allowed me to move 2 BTC at a time at a cost of nearly $300US fee...ouch. After complaining of this and being told it wasn’t their fees, it is Bitcoin, and that I should verify my account if I want to move a larger number at a time, I sent in verification documents (second time). I was told they could not verify me because their new card issuer did not do business in Belize. Huh? I continued to move 2 BTC at a time until one day my account was closed. I of course emailed customer support and was given the runaround for a week and then asked to verify myself, again. I complied (having previously sent in verification papers twice already) and was told that my account was closed because Wirex doesn’t do business in my country. No notification had ever been given and I had an account opened with them for over a year.
It has now been over 45 days of emails back and forth with customer support and no reason has been given for why they will not allow me access to my account or send me my BTC. I understand if something changed and they can’t/won’t do business with Belize, but be professional about it and send out a notification. Why would you hold someone’s BTC? On December 29th they teased me and asked for a BTC address they could send all my BTC to...still waiting as of today.
Oh, I was naive (stupid?) and had my BTC with them on August 1st, which means they also are holding my BCH and later, BCG. Supposedly, BCH will be available in the 2nd quarter of 2018. Who knows when BCG will be available. Needless to say, I and all of their customers, have zero access to these forked coins.
Conclusion: Do I think, at this time, that Wirex is shady? No. Unprofessional, absolutely. My recommendation - do NOT do business with them!
Is anyone else having issues with Wirex?