Coinbase pledges major improvements to customer support after backlash

Coinbase’s support team has promised to improve their customer services after being heavily criticized for taking unreasonable amounts of time to solve account issues. Jonathan Wes Griffith, the customer experience lead at Coinbase, said it is “consistently improving” and “wants to bring customers along the way.”

Griffith wrote an X post on Friday, trying to calm the public’s anger towards the crypto exchange, admitting that service quality has not met expectations.

“In August, our Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) hit an all-time high, up 20% over the last 2 months. Reduced customer contact transfers to 10% to make support quicker. Less customer effort, faster resolutions, and higher satisfaction…This is a good step forward, but we’ve got plenty more to do,” he conceded. 

Support team lists steps to improve user experience

Griffith detailed a four-step plan to improve how the exchange’s support team handles account issues. The first priority, he said, is saving customers’ time by addressing product issues before they lead to support requests. 

Coinbase is reportedly investing in automation with enhanced application programming interfaces (APIs), an expanded knowledge base, and artificial intelligence-powered tools. 

But the company has been bashed for using AI when customers submit tickets about their problems, so the third step is replacing chatbots with them to speak to a live representative.

Finally, Coinbase is introducing new tools for its staff to expedite resolutions and provide quality service during live interactions.

Chief Executive Brian Armstrong quoted Griffith’s proposal, saying Coinbase must improve both product design and customer care.

“We’re putting a big focus on getting better at customer support at both ends,” Armstrong wrote on X late Friday. “Improving products so fewer people need support, and providing a faster, higher quality experience when you do.”

Growing on one hand, heavy criticism on the other

Coinbase, launched in 2012, is arguably North America’s most used centralized crypto exchange, now publicly listed on Nasdaq. Although it’s undoubtedly successful, the trading platform’s customer service is lucklustre. 

The biggest complaints have been coming from sudden account closures and frozen assets, all those without timely resolutions. As reported by Cryptopolitan on Friday, NBA champion Kevin Durant had invested in Bitcoin in 2016, but lost access to his Coinbase account after forgetting his password. 

Durant was unable to retrieve the funds for nearly a decade. After his manager publicly talked about it earlier this week, Coinbase finally gave him back access after nine years.

In June, Armstrong conceded that account restrictions had plagued the company for too long. Writing on X, he said account freezes had “been a problem for longer than is acceptable” and like Griffith, he promised the exchange will improve.

“The issue has been reduced by 82% so far, with more improvements coming,” Armstrong said. He asked users still experiencing frozen accounts to contact Coinbase Support directly.

Many have complained about their accounts being frozen for months, sometimes even years, which has led some to abandon the platform altogether. Looking at grievances shared on social media, users claim they only interacted with chatbots that couldn’t solve their issues. There’s also chatter about live customer service being availed exclusively to those with premium accounts. 

“I canceled Coinbase One last month after paying for it since inception,” one user commented. “Premium support was four hours chatting with a CSR in another country who escalated my issue into a black hole. I never heard back.”

Griffith responded to the comment directly, apologizing and offering compensation. “That’s not good. Let’s get you a free month and some 1:1 time with a Concierge. Can you DM your account email, and I will get this setup?”

Beyond service delays, Coinbase’s reputation was hit by a large-scale data breach affecting more than 70,000 customers. The company initially linked the breach to a rogue staff member at an overseas vendor. Still, investigators later identified Ashita Mishra, an employee of TaskUs in Indore, India, as the prime suspect. 

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