The other day, through the dip, I tried to buy some bitcoin. Well, Coinbase's app said it didn't go through. I tried numerous other times, and finally it did. All was fine, until I woke up a day later to find my bank account empty. Turns out, they ran the transaction five more times - a day later, with a timestamp also reflecting a day later (not for the time I attempted to run them even), and with a different (highest of the day, perhaps coincidentally) price.

I tried contacting customer service, but much to my horror, they don't have customer service. This is a major red flag for a financial institution. I emailed them but of course heard nothing.

So, I called my bank. They were equally shocked when they asked if I called Coinbase and I told them you can't. They tried the number they had listed, and got the same results I did (nothing). They walked me through filling out the paperwork for unauthorized charges, and will be reversing it. They explained it exactly as I saw it - although you DID attempt the purchase, the fact that they claimed it didn't go through, and then ran a different purchase on a different day for a different price (same fiat amount), means it is not at all the transaction you tried to authorize. It'd be like trying to buy 10 apples from a store on Monday, only to have them tell you no, but then later charge you and give you 4 apples on Wednesday.

So, if this has happened to you (as it has many), I advise and even ask of you, to contact your bank and file unauthorized charge paperwork. They should not be allowed to get away with anything less than perfect functionality in an application that can handle millions or billions of dollars, and not having accessible customer support should literally be criminal. A couple hundred or thousand (I have no doubt this is limited to just me or the few others that chimed in) reversals may be enough to get them to give a shit.

I should note, I moved all my crypto into alternate holding methods before this - making very sure to not take out the coins that should not have been bought (you just want to protect your already held crypto, not commit fraud). If you do the same, do so by absolute crypto amount (x BTC), NOT speculative price (x USD/etc), and remember network fees. Perhaps leave a tiny cushion too. A few cents is with the safety. I will update if they lock my account for making a reversal, I don't give a shit because their actual fraud here has to stop regardless but I know some of you may want to know. I found on their site mention that you could end up with a negative balance from a reversal, but they did not indicate a reversal would cause your account to be locked so that may be promising, but I still moved everything because... Clearly they can't be trusted, and have no support for their mistakes.

TL;DR: If Coinbase ran transactions at a later date and/or for a different price, after claiming the transaction did not go through, that's an unauthorized transaction. Call it as it is, and call your bank. They will help you.

Fuck businesses that try to get away with no or piss poor customer services, or otherwise make it difficult to attain a fair dealing.