Bitcoin Forum

I've been trying to contact BFL (butterflylabs.com), but they have not responded. My order was charged before even shipping, and this company has been suspected of being a scam because they do not estimate when your order will be shipped, and people have been waiting for their products for over a year, with no proof BFL will actually deliver them, and PayPal is disputing with BFL to deliver. Pressure them to deliver or reverse my transaction. thx

Here's what I wrote (I was limited to a certain # of characters):

"waiting for their products for over a year"

It never helps your credibility when you start out with a falsehood.

Also, you got a huge run-on sentence in the middle.

What product has one been able to order for over a year which is yet to be delivered?

I just received a letter from American Express today saying they are beginning their investigation of BFL, but it could take up to 6-8 weeks. Hopefully it'll prod BFL to deliver.

They cannot deliver what they don't have.

Your own greed clouds your judgement.  You recognize that BFL's business practices are unethical but you are so eager to get your hands on their magic box that you still give your money to them.

Since it will still be months to take delivery from them, it is easy to calculate that it is more profitable to buy gear from friedcat or other sources for immediate delivery than it is to pay Josh's 'bargain' price.

I ordered on April 10. I came to the same conclusion a few days ago and I cancelled yesterday. The spammy "we're shipping" email pushed me into action. The hardest thing was realizing I made a mistake and had to correct it, but I feel very comfortable with the decision.

I don't think is going to end well for the majority of their customers, certainly anyone who ordered in the last couple of months (which is where the majority of their orders came from).

How is that false?

A wise decision.

Depending on how you look at things, it's not just recent buyers who are certain to do poorly.  Many people emptied their bitcoin reserves to buy last summer.   It took over 200 BTC to buy a single back then. My estimates of future hash rates suggest that recovery of that bitcoin will never happen, unless you were one of the 5 or 6 people who got Jalepenos in the last few weeks.  On a dollar basis they might still do quite well, of course.  But so has everyone else that has been mining for the past year, and some of us have Bitcoin in hand to convert to profits.  :-)

In terms of opportunity costs, that 200 BTC could have bought 40 GH/s from friedcat this week.  Or nearly 4 round 2 Avalons (270 GH/s) that should arrive by the end of May.  And don't even think about what investing it with friedcat last fall would have done instead of investing it in BFL.

Yes, though it wasn't clear then out of the 3 ASIC companies who the winners and losers were going to be. Or should that be winners and loser. In this 3 horse race 3rd place doesn't pay, it's a fail.

Amusingly enough, the only reason there was a race was because BFL wanted to poison the FPGA market where real credible competition had arisen, choking off their cash flow.

Without their fraudulent announcement and schedule, we would probably only see ASIC development starting now as the price increase and improved acceptance of BTC finally justifies the risks.

They cannot deliver what they don't have.

You recognize that BFL's business practices are unethical but you are so eager to get your hands on their magic box that you still give your money to them.

Your post history shows that you claim to have ordered this month (I presume you actually mean April).  Last month BFL's website was definitely saying that delivery may take two months or more after order and that all sales are final.  It still does.  Accuracy doesn't seem to be your thing.

Uh... well I've never actually requested a refund.

So, AMEX inquired with PayPal and PayPal must've talked to BFL because just today BFL refunded my order without my even asking them to. This proves to me that BFL is a scam.

They are a scam because you got your money back ????

I didn't tell them to refund me. I didn't tell PayPal to initiate a chargeback. I asked PayPal to inquire into their accounts for BFL. Ostensibly, that scared BFL enough to "force-refund" me.