An open letter to Jaxx Wallet and Shape Shift

It happens on occasion. You want something to snack on and you come across a bright shiny vending machine full of fancy little treats. You empty your pockets, counting…counting…. you check the ashtray in your car, counting…. counting…. you check that little useless coin holder on the dash, counting… counting, and finally you locate that final coin under your floor mat. You have the change! Excited, you run back to the vending machine, drop in the coins, select your delicious tasty treat and hit enter. The machine comes to life! It lights up, it whirls, the screws start turning, your treat starts moving! You start daydreaming a little, you can almost taste it! This is exactly what you never knew you even wanted! Your treat is at the end of the screw, it’s about to fall… but it hangs!!! Everything stops! The machine goes silent. What the hell! You bang on the side of the machine!! You shake the machine!!! You ram your arm as far up the vending hole as you can, attempting to grab what’s rightfully yours!!! But you are left with nothing. Sitting on the floor next to the machine, you realize you have been robbed by a cruel impersonal electronic machine. Thoughts of vandalism start running through your head. Thoughts of tying a rope around this sucker and dragging it home behind your pickup start running through your head! You are scared and amazed at how fast you turn from a civilized human being into a sadistic predator. You don’t even recognize yourself. You walk away from the machine. But you vow to return with a vengeance.

So that’s my story. I wish I was talking about $1.50 stuck in a vending machine, but sadly I am talking about my crypto coins. This scenario is exactly what played out with my last deposit into my Jaxx wallet.

Let me expand. I am a hobby miner. I built a coin mining rig and hooked it up to Nicehash, (Quick plug, Nicehash has performed exactly as advertised. I love their platform and their service). Every week I get a deposit of BTC for my efforts. Yea! I am finally participating in the crypto community and have a growing lump of BTC. I’m finally one of the cool kids. I’m on the inside of something great😊

I decide to store my BTC in my newly downloaded Jaxx wallet. I chose Jaxx because I heard a very professional sounding advertisement for their wallet on a podcast that I have been listening to while trying to educate myself on all things crypto. For three weeks the wallet performed as advertised. That was until I tried to use the Shape Shift feature.

I did some research which led me to take a serious interest in ICN. I decided to take my last Nicehash BTC deposit and Shape Shift it into ICN tokens. I won’t tell you how much was at stake because it is not important to the story, but I will say that the Bitcoin transaction fee caused me some anguish because it was a significant percentage of the total transaction. But with good intentions and high hopes I hit the Enter key to complete the Shape Shift.

The machine comes to life! It lights up, it whirls, the screws start turning, your treat starts moving! You start daydreaming a little, you can almost taste it!

Oh wait, I’m sorry... back to the story. The BTC leaves my wallet. I start watching the transaction ledger. After six confirmations, I start looking form my ICN tokens in my Jaxx wallet. But there is nothing! One hour…two hours…24 hours. Nothing! I submit remedy tickets to Jaxx and to Shape Shift. I am careful to submit all information required for them to resolve my issue. I’m serious. Everything required. A day later I get auto replies on both my remedy tickets. The Jaxx auto reply blames the problem on Shape Shift. The Shape Shift auto reply blames it on an Ethereum initial coin offering (ICO) clogging up the network. I am assured in 24 hours I will have my coins. 24 hours later I get a second auto reply from Shape Shift. “How do you like our customer service? Did we resolve your issue to your satisfaction?” WTF… Do I have my ICN coins? Nope! Do I have my original BTC? Nope! So I guess the answer is No, you have not answered my remedy ticket to my satisfaction!

Thoughts of vandalism start running through your head. Thoughts of tying a rope around this sucker and dragging it home behind your pickup start running through your head! You are scared and amazed at how fast you can go from a civilized human being to a sadistic predator. You don’t even recognize yourself. You walk away from the machine. But you vow to return with a vengeance.

Oh wait, I’m sorry, back to the story. So there it is, my Jaxx Wallet / Shape Shift experience. It’s been three days and I have yet to receive an honest live breathing flesh response to my inquiry from either company. Until my coins are returned I will be spreading the word to avoid Jaxx Wallet and Shape Shift.

Good luck everyone. The crypto space is clearly still like the wild wild west. Swindlers everywhere. Stay safe. Stay secure.

Btw, ICN has increased over 30% since my attempt to acquire the coin.

If you are a rep for Jaxx or Shape Shift and you stumbled across this letter, here are my digits.

Jaxx Wallet remedy ticket # xxxxxx
Shape Shift remedy ticket # xxxxxx

6/23/2017 update. My ICN coins have posted. Of course I was not given my original entry point on ICN, but was given the current entry point. Missed out on a serious run up. But at least I have some coins. Buyer beware.