CAVIRTEX Cuts Fees by 50% in Bid to Boost Customer Morale

Calgary-based digital currency exchange CAVIRTEX took to reddit today in a bid to solicit community feedback about its policies and performance, and announce that its CEO, Joseph David, would soon partake in an upcoming Ask Me Anything conversation on the site.

Most notably, representative Kyle Kemper indicated that the company is cutting trading fees by half to 0.75%, and updating its account activity fee policy so that users now receive three alerts before new changes are made.

Kemper also sought to bolster the narrative surrounding the company, which has garnered criticism for mishandling the implementation of past policies, being slow to respond to customer concerns and for not providing investors with promised dividends from company revenue.

Nonetheless, Kemper was optimistic heading into the discussion with the community, placing a firm emphasis on how CAVIRTEX is looking to put its troubles behind it:

"We’ve got a solid roadmap ahead of us, but in the past we’ve made mistakes. It is my goal to change this and fix our reputation amongst one of the most impressive communities on the planet and have your support moving forward."

Kemper also defended the company's inactivity fees, which charge users $50 a month for keeping bitcoin in the exchange after more than 12 months of inactivity.

The representative added: "The message that the dormant activity fee tries to get across is that we are an exchange and not a bank/wallet. As part of your long-term bitcoin plan you shouldn't use an exchange to store your coins."

Customer refunds

Though Keeper wrote enthusiastically about his company's need for such fees, he did acknowledge that CAVIRTEX did not communicate the policy change effectively and that this caused understandable frustration within the community.

Kemper wrote:

"The way we implemented this was terrible, and we apologize. We didn't communicate it properly, we didn't include proper alerting, and we didn't test the system properly."

Kemper continued by telling reddit that the company has since refunded select users, and stating that those who feel as though they were improperly charged can submit a complaint ticket to address their concerns.

Vibrant debate

Community reaction to the post ranged from warm to hostile, with users reporting varied experiences with and reactions to the company.

For example, some chose to take aim at CAVIRTEX for the lack of dividends they say were promised to investors, while others, though upset regarding past issues, were willing to provide the exchange with feedback and recommendations about how it could improve.

Support and communication were two of the most often cited areas where users said improvement was needed, though others took aim that the company's current website.

CAVIRTEX hinted that updates to the site are forthcoming, and that a French version of the site is also in the works.

Company at crossroads

Despite its mixed reputation, CAVIRTEX has been one of the more successful crowdfunded bitcoin companies to emerge from a digital currency IPO, raising its initial funding on Havelock Investments and launching in March 2013. Along with competitor Vault of Satoshi, it is one of the more well-known exchanges serving the key North American market.

CAVIRTEX has also been among the more visible members in Canada's bitcoin ecosystem, speaking before the Canadian Senate earlier this year alongside bitcoin ATM manufacturer BitAccess and advisory services firm Bitcoin Strategy Group.

For more on the company and its planned launch of ATM services, read our most recent report.

Fee reduction visualization via Shutterstock