Agora's resolution service is unacceptably bad

I placed an order several weeks ago with a domestic vendor I have dealt with successfully in the past. Unfortunately for whatever reason this vendor has not been responding to messages, and still to this date has not marked the item as posted.

This is where things get frustrating. After 10 days with no contact from the vendor (a fair and reasonable amount of time in my opinion), I opened a dispute through the orders page on Agora. I have only had to do this once before, on the original Silk Road. In that circumstance the resolution was speedy and my BTC were back in my account within 48 hours. On Agora, I am still waiting for ANY progress whatsoever weeks after opening the dispute. Multiple messages to Agora through the site have not given any results.

I understand that order resolution is a tricky process, but in this case it is absolutely clear cut. There is no reason for this delay other than the fact that nobody on Agora's end is actively monitoring and resolving disputes.

Fortunately for me the amount of BTC stuck in limbo is relatively small, but I won't be ordering from Agora ever again. A functional dispute resolution system is the backbone of a successful market. It is the only shred of protection that buyers have from shady vendors and scammers. Personally I would never feel safe placing an order larger than a couple hundred dollars on Agora given the way this dispute has been handled.

I just thought I'd share my experiences in case anyone else was considering placing a large order on Agora. Tread with the utmost care, because there is a good chance that if things go bad your BTC won't be coming back to you, at least in any timely fashion.


Comments


[13 Points] galaxyandspace:

how many times have you contacted, and what did you say?

did you give them the order number?


[4 Points] Nexus117:

I had a very positive experience with the support at agora. I was victim to DrMDA's exit scam and lost a chunk of change. I did not even think of messaging support about it until a month later, and within half a day they got back to me asking for my order number. After i gave them the order number, they credited my account almost all of what i lost. Whole process from my first message took less than 2 days to get my money back. I call that excellent service to be honest.

*Also this was just a few weeks ago.


[3 Points] None:

I've had three seperate encounters where I had to message support. Every single time they have asked me what the order number was within 24 hours and have resolved the issue from there.


[2 Points] ciphersexual:

Anyone else have a similar experience? This report from a single use account is a tad hard to believe without corroboration.


[2 Points] notusingdrugs:

I contacted admin about missing btc and it took 4 days for them to respond..another 3 days after that for them to look at my issue and when they did, it's apparent they didn't read my first message or even try to solve the issue. Never got my missing btc that never showed in my wallet. Over a week ago now I finally gave up trying to get them to deal with it. Their resolution process is slow unless the vendor is active. I had a vendor who confirmed and then went awol for 6 days..logged in and still didn't ship and went awol again. I started resolution and after 2 days the transaction was cancelled. I was one of many complaining though so it probably peeked their interest. Make sure you have your order number in the message and it will eventually get resolved. Probably. I pulled all my btc out and I'm fucking DONE with that site. It's been super unreliable lately being down 50% of the time I try to access and admin doesn't want to put in any effort dealing with legit customers. For the amount they are making on transactions, that's bullshit.


[2 Points] None:

I'm going to say it's probably the fact that for the past week or so they've been having a lot of trouble with site maintenance.


[1 Points] None:

I don't use Agora anymore. Two weeks ago, I enabled 2FA. I lost my private key, therefore, I can't decrypte the encrypted message 2FA gives you. I made another account, messaged Agora support, gave them all info I have; welcome message my Public PGP, password, username, how much bitcoins were in my account, etc. The next day they messaged me back and told me to wait a week then remind them about my situation so they can disable 2FA. Why a week, why couldn't they do it then? All you have to do is click a go damn button? I said okay. Well, a week later I messaged them again so I could remind them. No message back. A week after that, I messaged them. No response. Today I messaged them and firmly said I need my account now. No response yet.

I only use evolution now. For many reasons. I'm sorry about what you're going through, I understand. Good luck my friend, and keep us updated.


[1 Points] cactusbutt123:

I'm literally having this issue on Agora right now. I placed an order about 30 hours ago, but the vendor hasn't logged on in 2 days and 5 hours (which to me is quite a while for a vendor not to log on).

I'll probably place an order elsewhere and then look at recovering my funds from this vendor at a later date, but I'd like to avoid losing my cash, obviously. I ordered domestic because I wanted to get it quickly...


[1 Points] brendo927:

Was it over the weekend? Some vendors shut down shop over the weekend and reopen on Monday.


[1 Points] kraptinkirk:

I can't seem to be able to log into Agora today... is it crumbling already?