#1. CoinSpot - Overall Score 9.75

CoinSpot Live Chat Support

CoinSpot Email/Ticket Support

Review of CoinSpot Customer Support

CoinSpot really stood out with the responsiveness of their live chat support. Not only is it available 24/7, but I was pleasantly surprised to be speaking to a real support agent (not a bot) within 8 seconds of clicking the live chat button!

I spoke to Jackie, who did an excellent job of answering my questions. He was always polite, gave relevant links on where to access the information I was requesting, and ensured that I understood everything before finishing up the conversation. 

I also contacted CoinSpot through their ticketing system which is also available 24/7. I submitted my questions through their website and awaited a response via email. It took 16 hours and 20 minutes to receive a reply from the support team. This is quite good, as I usually expect email responses to take an average of 24 to 48 hours. You can see in the email below from Geoffrey that he answered all my questions in a simple and straightforward manner, and he used a very professional tone.

CoinSpot has clearly taken the #1 position in this real-world test on customer service. Besides their excellent customer support, they also have a huge range of 430+ cryptocurrencies, low fees of 0.1% for market orders, top-tier security features, and are trusted by over 2.5 million Australians, making them one of the top Australian crypto exchanges. If you want to learn more, see my full review on CoinSpot, or sign up to start buying crypto today.

#2. Swyftx - Overall Score 9.5

Swyftx Live Chat Support

Swyftx Email/Ticket Support

Review of Swyftx Customer Support

Swyftx also offers 24/7 live chat support, but the overall experience was slightly subpar compared to CoinSpot. Firstly, when you open the chat window, you are greeted with a bot, who will try to answer any basic questions you have. The bot was able to answer my question about account verification, however it couldn't answer my second question about security measures.

Instead, I requested to speak to a real person. I waited 11 minutes to be connected with a live agent which isn't too long, but it is lacking when you compare it to CoinSpot's immediate response.

I spoke to Malek who was helpful and polite. He sent me some information in the chat window, as well as links to more resources that answer my questions in more depth. 

I also sent an email to Swyftx, and I received a response in only 13 minutes! This was much faster than I expected. In the screenshot below you can see how Ranice answered my questions about user privacy. The answer was professional and comprehensive, and included links to more resources. However, Ranice forgot to answer the second question regarding market volatility and how Swyftx ensures reliability and order execution during high volatility. I replied to the email requesting the answer to the second question and the second email came through in 26 minutes. This second email answered the question sufficiently.

Swyftx is a very close second to CoinSpot, and they are also one of the best crypto exchanges in Australia. They offer 320+ coins, have low trading fees of 0.6%, and have a high 4.7 star rating on Trustpilot. If you want to find out more about Swyftx, read my detailed review here.

#3. Coinbase - Overall Score 4.0

Coinbase Live Chat Support

Coinbase Email/Ticket Support

Review of Coinbase Customer Support

When I contacted Coinbase using the live chat feature, I was greeted with the Virtual Assistant (bot). The bot was not really helpful in answering the questions, so I requested to speak to a support agent. Unfortunately, it took 47 minutes for a live agent to become available. This is a long time to wait for live chat, and the worst part is there is no estimated wait time, nor does it tell you your position in the queue. A lot of users may give up before they get a chance to speak to an agent.

I spoke to Mohit who was able to answer both my live chat questions, and he did so in a clear and comprehensive way. If it were not for long wait time, Coinbase would have scored very highly for their live chat.

During my live chat with Mohit, I asked if there was an email address to contact Coinbase. He gave me the address [email protected], and I sent them my questions. However, I received an immediate auto-reply as shown below. It states that they no longer accept email support to that email address. They gave me a link to submit a ticket request, but when I arrived at that page I couldn't find any options for ticket support, only live chat. The lack of email/ticket support is why Coinbase scores a zero for that part of the test.

Coinbase offers great live chat support, besides the long wait time. They do attempt to assist as soon as possible using their virtual assistant, but this is limited in its capabilities. If you prefer sending an email rather than live chat then you are out of luck with Coinbase, as this feature is no longer supported.

#4. Crypto.com - Overall Score 3.25

Crypto.com Live Chat Support

Crypto.com Email/Ticket Support

Review of Crypto.com Customer Support

Crypto.com's live chat support begins with what appears to be a real person, with the opening sentence "Hi there, I'm Sarah from Crypto.com". However, after I asked the first question, I could immediately tell that it was a bot, as the responses were instant, and extremely long. The answers were quite detailed and comprehensive, but I wanted to test out the actual live chat function from a real person. I requested to speak to a real person, and was told that I would be notified through the app as well as email when I received a response. I didn't need to remain in the app, which was convenient.

However, the response didn't come until 6 days and 5 hours after I first requested to speak to a real person. This is an extremely long time to wait for live chat support, which is why I scored Crypto.com zero for live chat response time. When I finally spoke to a real person (Kegan), he did not answer my question fully. I asked about verification, and he responded that I am already fully verified. I explained that I was asking on behalf of a friend, and Kegan simply told me to get my friend to sign up, and he will see all the verification information there.

I also contacted Crypto.com via email, and after 9 days I still had not received a response. I assumed they no longer responded to emails. Surprisingly, two days after that (11 days after my initial enquiry), I received an email. However, they did not answer any of my questions, and instead only apologised for the delay, then asked me to contact them AGAIN if my queries were still relevant! You can see their email response in the screenshot below. I scored Crypto.com zero for their email support, as it took 11 days to receive a reply that did not answer my question at all.

Overall, Crypto.com's support is very poor. With extremely long response times from email and live chat, I can only imagine how frustrating it would be if you were a Crypto.com user with an urgent issue to be resolved. 

#5. BTC Markets - Overall Score 3.0

BTC Markets Live Chat Support

BTC Markets Email/Ticket Support

Review of BTC Markets Customer Support

BTC Markets doesn't have any live chat feature, not even a virtual assistant or a bot that can direct you to a particular webpage. This is why it scores zero for live chat support.

I reached out to BTC Markets support team via their ticket system. I received a reply via email after 45 hours and 40 minutes. It is not speedy, but still falls under 2 full days, so I scored it 3/5 for response time. However, the reply was severely lacking in comprehensiveness and clarity. As you can see in the email below, the response is very short and abrupt, and simply links me to two pages on BTC Markets website. I scored them 3/5 for each of the other factors for ticket support.

As you can see, BTC Markets' customer support is quite poor, especially when compared to top performers such as CoinSpot and Swyftx.

#6. Binance - Overall Score 0

Binance Live Chat Support

Binance Email/Ticket Support

Review of Binance Customer Support

At first glance, Binance appears to offer live chat support, as there is a support icon in the bottom right corner of the site. However, when I clicked on it I realised it wasn't a real live chat feature. There are no live agents and the function simply directs you to articles to read. When I wanted to ask the question about verification, I was not able to, but instead I could select from their list of 'related questions'. I chose the one which I thought was most relevant, "How do I do the verification of the account", which is poorly phrased. You can also see in the fourth screenshot below, that Binance has a lot of poor grammar, which isn't very professional. I rated Binance's live chat as zero, as it is non-existent. Their 'live chat' function is nothing like what a live chat feature is on other crypto exchanges.

There is also no way to contact Binance via email. This is very frustrating, because when you have an issue that you need addressed, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. One of my friends encountered a similar issue with Binance, where his account was closed by Binance for no reason. He was unable to contact them and now simply can no longer use Binance. He can't simply create a new account as his identity was already used to verify the original account.

I would be careful to use a crypto exchange with no customer support, as you have nothing to fall back on if anything goes wrong. I highly suggest using a trusted crypto exchange with top-tier customer support, such as CoinSpot.

What other factors should I consider when choosing a crypto exchange?

Besides looking at the customer support, there are a few other things to compare when deciding which platform is best suited for you. It is a good idea to choose a crypto platform that is easy to use, particularly if you are a beginner. A large range of cryptocurrencies is also great, because it means you can diversify your investment, and there are more opportunities for you to find a coin with potential. Fees are also important, as you can save a lot of money with an exchange that charges lower trading fees. Finally, consider the trustworthiness, reputation, and security of the exchange. A well-established site with plenty of users is a good place to start.

In my experience, I would recommend CoinSpot for Australian crypto investors. It has a simple user-friendly interface, more than 430+ coins, and is the most trusted and secure exchange. It has been around since 2013, with more than 2.5 million customers, and it was the first Australian exchange to receive ISO 27001 certification. Click here to read my complete review of CoinSpot, or visit the official website to explore for yourself.