Once the biggest exchange by market share, Mt. Gox looms over the bitcoin economy. But the Tokyo-based exchange has lost its dominant position and complaints about its service from customers are growing louder.
Although delays in routine transactions like withdrawals are to be expected of any fast growing startup, the number of complaints about withdrawal delays at Mt. Gox have been mounting. The thread dedicated to the topic at Bitcoin Talk, for example, has accumulated more than 3,300 posts. Forum members have complained about withdrawals taking weeks to arrive in their wallets or accounts, plus vague communication from Mt. Gox customer support when they've asked for help, among other issues.
In addition, Mt. Gox prices are currently consistently higher than the other major exchanges. The difference in prices between Mt. Gox, Bitstamp and BTC-e hit a high of more than 20 percentage points at the end of January, according to data at Coinometrics.
The only official response from Mt. Gox so far has been a statement posted on 31st January, stating that a "limited number of users" had been affected by withdrawal delays of "several hours or days". The exchange then posted an update saying that large bitcoin withdrawals may have been "stuck", but that it had resolved the problem by refunding the affected accounts.
If you have a Mt. Gox account, what is your experience with withdrawals from the exchange? Have you experienced withdrawal delays of days, weeks or months? Or has your experience been largely smooth and incident-free?