Bitcoin Forum

Hi,

I just received a call (on my German phone number) from BFL.

Background:
I ordered a Jalapeno on December 3rd, 2012, payed via Paypal/CC.
I ordered the +2Gh upgrade (shortly after it had been announced).
I ordered 4 more 5 Gh Miners on April 22nd 2013, payed via Paypal/CC.
I received my 1. Jalapeno a little bit more than 2 month ago. It did work with >7 Gh. It did earn the investment.
I did not receive the other 4 5 Gh Miners.
I asked 2x for a refund, BFL denied it with "We are shipping".
I filed a complaint with Paypal (international and German). Had been rejected: "Out of the 45 days window."
I reminded Paypal that they did allow a company like BFL to breach their ToC (preorder and non delivery).
They told me that they took legal actions against BFL. But no refund for me.
I contacted my CC company very nicely, explained to them the problem and asked if they could get in contact
with Paypal and give me a refund.
I received a refund from my CC company! (OK, I am very good customer there, it's the Airberlin CC.)
I received a call from Paypal a week later. They asked if I did hear anything from BFL or received my order.
I said "no".

Back to the call form today. It had been a woman, typical sales type.
"How are you?", "You are happy with your Jalapeno?" etc....
I think she did know only about my first one.

Then she started with "as a loyal customer, I want to offer you...".
I interrupted her. Told her that BFL managed to deliver one device (after like 8 month, but still OK) but failed to deliver
the other 4. I told her that BFL did ignore my requests for a refund and that I had to file a compaint at Paypal and my
CC company to get a refund. "BFL is not able to deliver on time, I am not interested in doing any business with BFL again."
I did hang up.

Ralf

Probably should have used that opportunity to talk about the refund.

I had my refund.
Maybe a good idea for other people receiving this kind of call.

Yeah, I tried to call them once, and it was answer machine.  >:(

Outbound marketing from BFL? Hmmmmm

You mean people have stopped lining up at their "door" to order stuff?

Your B to C business is over Josh!  Focus on B to B!

Go sell another million dollar deal to another business interested in a tax write off from a bad deal.



http://home.comcast.net/~mikeh455/fark/ItsOverJohnny.jpg

I think they just called me too,I don't answer unknown numbers so,I'm not positive.But the the number is quite similar (866) 723-3108  ::)

I feel sorry for the CSReps.....

Calling the vast majority of happy BFL customers ...lolz

Good luck with that  ;)

Interesting. I'd have to say that my JP made back it's money (bought in Jan 2013, arrived Sept 1, mining ever since, 1.78btc or so now) but I won't buy another miner. I got lucky and unlike most I know when to recognize luck.

I also just recently broke even on 1 jally. Got a call from this number which disconnected. I ordered in Dec 2012, so maybe they're going down a list.
I'm not going to be ordering mining gear from anyone for a while. I've been buying up GH/s at Cex.io (see my sig) when they go under 0.1BTC as an immediate way to grow my BTC.

Funny, as I was reading this I received the call. Sounded like a woman of India descent.

They offered a 20% discount code with a 7 day expiration. I told her I was not interested due to the treatment by BFL. She then rebuttled by saying she could offer the discount with no expiration. To which I ranted a bit more how I would not order anything unless it was in stock and I don't believe that would ever happen with BFL, but I would accept the code for the heck of it. She seemed to miss the 'for the heck of it' part, or didn't care to give it out anymore at that point and said she understands and ended the call.  Probably for the best, as it will likely just collect dust and disappear like my 'first month 20% discount' and chip credits.  Really pathetic and sad they ran a company with so much potential into the ground.

 With Inaba / Josh Zerlan at the helm as COO, running the company into the ground is a certainty if his history is any indicator of his trustworthiness, accuracy, and timeliness.

 They can't go bankrupt or be prosecuted soon enough.

I think they are using an Indian call center, the reps likely have no idea about BFL's history. I told them off anyway. They offered 20% off and said they had been trying to send me a discount code. I doubt there was any trying involved.

I also received a call but didn't answer it in time - no voice-mail. Happy to learn what it was all about, so thanks.

I would have preferred they left our original discounts in place as "loyal customers".

Nina called this morning asking if I'm happy with the product I own. I wanted to say no, since unit is clocked to 60Gh/s, even it is capable of running faster if not capped, and it is loud, and efficiency is next to nothing compared to bitfury or KNC, but I had my wife sleeping and I said yes to end the conversation faster.

She said something about 20% off in a form of coupon, she will email it to me. Coupon works for the future orders only. Not sure if I want to buy anything from BFL going forward.

The phone number was 866-723-3108

i guess they didnt had new orders for some time ... and they start to panic ....  :D

Not sure?  Really.  After the long string of complete and utter failures by BFL they are only to the level of "not sure".  Maybe there is hope for BFL after all.  They don't need to be the best just need enough customers who are "not sure".

I was being polite, that's it!

The most sensible statement I've read all day.

I got a call today also.  Sounded like it was coming from a call center.  Seemed a bit sketchy..

I got a call as well.  I answered and announced my name.

All I heard was a beep, then a disconnect.   :-\

LOLOL

just got this also, was almost shouting at the poor dude by the end

"I could have taken the schedule slippage and blown power budget, but the continual obfuscation, lying and abuse of customers by Josh was totally unacceptable.  In spite of actually receiving hardware that has paid for itself I will not be making any further purchases from BFL"

or words to that effect, perhaps with a few expletives sprinkled in

Indian accent you say?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=320996.msg3436735#msg3436735 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=320996.msg3436735#msg3436735)

Maybe the true goal of these calls are to enable "customers" to vent against some low-cost call center person thus reducing possible windfalls against the BFL people.

I got the call too just now.  Same number as volosator reports.

Sounded like a call center.  She said her name was "Marith" I think.

She asked how I felt about my purchases, and I said that the hardware was working fine, but delivery was way too late, and that I wished I hadn't bought them.

She apologized, and asked if I planned to "upgrade" in the future.  I told her "No, I don't have faith that Monarch will be delivered on-time either."

She then gave me a coupon code good for 20% off future orders, and said that the code was good for one week.

What a joke.

I should have asked if the code was transferrable.  Maybe there's a sucker out there who would buy it.

To those getting the calls try to remember none of these unlucky employees work for BFL.  Their company bosses signed a contract for BFL so they make calls for BFL.  Hell 99% of them probably have no clue what mining or a mining rig is.   They are just phone jockeys.  The computer dials your number and they follow a script and try not to take the attacks they know are coming personal.

So try now to lash into these people.   This thread brings back bad memories.  My first IT job was customer support for Cannon.  <shudder>  although it did get better when I moved over to the professional SLR department.

Yeah D&T, I was well aware, and made sure I was polite, while still expressing how I truly felt about the products and my experience as a customer.

I said thanks and wished her a nice day at the end of the call.

conspicuous lack of Josh in this thread

Thats good.  It wasn't directed at you just maybe some BFL customers who haven't got a call and will in the future will see that.  You did the right thing.  If your unhappy let them know your unhappy but in a civil way.  BFL will probably get transcripts, notes, and summaries.  Not sure it will do any good but Josh seems to think most BFL customers are happy customers and the forums just have a few loudmouth malcontents.  Maybe if they get a summary that 95%+ of calls had a negative view of the company/product it will wake them up.  Probably not but it can't hurt.

I also received this call on Nov 7.  After her first question ' did someone there purchase equipment from Butterfly labs ', I said what pretty much the same thing everyone on this thread has said:

"Keep the coupon, I'm never doing business with Butterfly labs again."

I think the people calling have really no idea about what they are talking about.
She said "You are happy with your Jalapeno?" - so knowing I have this slow box.
I had been happy with my first one. So she then said "I hope you will make some more Bitcoin in
the future with it."
I just realized that she really had no clue about what a Jalapeno (even he 7 Gh version) can/will earn me in BTC.

trepex

Business must be good as he doesn't see the need to come here and drum up new business by pissing gasoline on the fires

I took the 20% off coupon.

My jalapeno arrived on time to earn me 0.3 bitcoins *and* double my original investment on eBay.

Maybe I'll buy a mining by the GH lottery ticket with it :P

Though I'd feel a bit dirty doing that given the number of people they've totally screwed over.

Even an 80% off coupon is useless by the time you actually get the hardware its too late with BFL

I don't see why anyone would order a Monarch now.  They're advertising 600Ghps for $4680 for Jan/Feb delivery (Nov/Dec delivery is sold out).

I could instead order up a 3-module CoinCraft Desk from bitmine.ch for January delivery for $4349 that promises 600Ghps nominal, and 900Ghps in "turbo mode".

And that's ignoring BFL's history of massively late deliveries.

So....if anyone wants my 20% off coupon code for some purpose, here it is.  It's supposedly good for one week beginning today:

BFL-357829

Do post a reply here please if you successfully redeem it.

I asked the lady that called me, they are non-transferable. Pretty sure they couldn't get any more worthless

now there is a true testimonial to the "value" of these vouchers, lol

+1

Did they ever bring their "preorder marketplace" online?

Not that I have enough risk appetite to try it.

This is kind of freaky.  While reading through these messages, my cell phone starts ringing...yep it's 1-866-723-3108. I didn't answer because I'm done with BFL.  I ordered my Jalapeno on 1 April (April fool's day--I should have known) when the website gave me the impression that delivery would be in a couple months, then I sent more $$ for the 2G upgrade when it came out.  My Jalapeno arrived less than two weeks ago (taking over 6 1/2 months vs 2 months).  As most everyone knows, difficulty has exponentially exploded and there's zero chance of ever recouping costs.  So my first purchase is my only purchase I will ever make with BFL.

I think the only way to make money from BFL would be if the company went public...short their stock.  >:(

I received the same call this morning.  I was asked if I was happy with the SC.  I pointed out that I doubt it will make back what I paid for it.
I was then offered a discount for the Monarch product.  I was polite and said that by the time it will be delivered it won't make any money so I will hold off on purchasing it for now (being polite).  The poor lady asked if she could email me the code if i changed my mind later, I said sure.  Received that email pretty much right away.

I don't know what to make of this other than the sales are being worked aggressively now by BFL which could indicate cash-flow/solvency problems. (<-- this is absolutely speculation on my part, I have no info other than the sales call/tactic to go on).  The other thought is that given all the VC activity around btc, maybe they want to sell and to inflate the price, they want to show as much "booked" orders as humanly possible...  No matter what the situation, I will conclude that they will not meet expected delivery dates on Monarch because if they were able to finally deliver as promised, their sales would explode once again with people believing that BFL has solved that issue and it's safe to order.

Whatever the situation, nothing positive about this, from my perspective...

Same call from +1-866-723-3108.  If someone wants my code, it's bfl-590347 for 20% discount.

But anyone reading this thread probably will want to think twice before buying into their death spiral.

Thanks for the headsup! I missed three calls from this number today, no voice message left.  Now I know to keep not answering it.  I'm a two time BFL customer FPGA and ASIC.  I had to wait over a year for my 60GH unit, after many phone calls and emails I finally got my miner close to 8 mos later then it was promised.  I'm done doing any more business with them.

Sounds like some last-ditch furious scamming to squeeze some more money out of the nearly-dead racket before the inevitable collapse.

feeling so much love in this thread

I wonder how the tiny bit of additional business these calls generate stacks up against the reduction in business arising from giving everyone (even those who got their kit well before KnC kit hit the hashrate curve) a reason to start telling the world they wouldn't go near BFL again...

I doubt they'll even recoup the costs of the campaign tbh.

<foot cannon\>

NB: I have my KnC boxes, I have my 3rd-party BFL chip boards, and they're still yet to ship the LS from a few weeks before my initial order date.  I switched to Monarch, because, meh - it gives me an excuse to be bitter and twisted for longer
  :-o

Why is everyone receiving a call from an 866 number when I received my call from an Oregon number?

Weird.

So, instead of blasting emails to all those that ordered in the past offering 20% coupons, BFL decided to give a telemarketing firm all the phone numbers of their customers. So much for their ToS stating in no uncertain terms that no information will be sold, given, traded, etc. to ANY third party. Then again, there was no "promise" or cross-my-heart-hope-to-die clause either.

~TMIBTCITW

 Amen. Butterfly Labs cannot be trusted at all with your private information. Can't be trusted, period.

I got the call as well. 

very good point Phinnaeus

My caller indicated that he had access to the entire dataset, including, specifically, physical address.

No costs on BFL's side for a willing call center.  Outbound centers get paid per sale, in this case, for a successful issuance of a coupon code.  I would tend to think that the coupon code wouldn't be enough for the center to get paid, and that BFL would require the code to be used by the lead to generate a payout to the center.

On the center's side, they can add upsells such as cards for free gas and groceries, magazine subscriptions, government grant training (is that still alive?), identity theft protection, etc, just to have an income stream while the coupon hasn't been used.

I too got a call from the 1-866-723-3108 number while I was at work. 
Being that I was at work and busy, I rejected the call.

Probably good, too.  I'd rather not be fired for going on a screaming rampage rant on my phone while at work.

Kick that discount code up to 50% and people may at least listen to the poor call center reps who don't even realize the massive pile of shit they're being thrown into calling for BFL.... Note I said listen... I can't honestly see anyone of sound mind ordering more BFL stuff at the current delivery rate and prices.

My LS paid for itself.  I'll run it till it dies in a fire.  That will be the end of any BFL ownership for me most likely.

You came out better than most.

Amen on that.  I paid 15 BTC for my Jalapeno and bought the $100 2 GH upgrade.  Since it was delivered in June, it has earned 7 BTC running 24/7/365.

Purchase price in BTC:  15, plus the $100 upgrade
Purchase price equivalent in $ (at that time):  $365
Purchase price equivalent in $ (today, BTC=$330): $5000
Payback equivalent in $ (today, BTC=330):  $2300

Looking at it from a $ standpoint, I did very well.

Looking at it from a BTC standpoint, I lost half my investment.

I doubt BFL will be calling me for a testimonial.  My Paypal chargebacks for the last two orders have just been finalized and the BFL site shows status as "canceled" (sic).

too funny

This should get somebody's attention: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=327621.0

I got the call to my google voice for days, with no msg left.  I finally forwarded the call, answered, and got a beep-click-hangup.  BFL assholes.

Making friends everywhere.

 the single Josh gave you doesnt make any money now due to difficulty so you're on our side now? damn you swing like a hooker bro.

Rather than saying "Looking at it from a $ standpoint" say "When I include the appreciation of BTC in USD terms"
Most miners lump in BTC appreciation and include that as profit, when in fact that obscures whether or not your mining operation is a loss-maker.
A few ASIC devices have earned more BTC than was spent on them, but I don't think there are any BFL Singles that have.

They called me, told I have a promo code of 10% discoount on their 600 Ghs miner...
I replyed I would maybe buy if they give me a 80% discount code.. He offer me a 20% discount code.
I asked if their 600 Ghs is ready to ship, he replyed that "he think" that's the case, and I have to look to the BFL website.
I've took a look, and it still on pre-order.. Even with a 80% discount code, I would not pre-order this 600 Ghs !

Reported ;)

I got a call from Rob, had a slight Indian accent in his tone.. but, I digress.

My phone conversation went like this:

Rob: Hello, I'm calling from BFL and it shows you purchased 60GH from us, are you still mining with it?
Me: No
Rob: Oh, why not?
Me: Because it's a waste of time
Rob: Why did you stop?
Me: When diff. hit 510m
Rob: Well, you know the difficulty is getting higher because Bitcoin is starting to grasp a larger audience
Me: True, but also because you guys delivered 1 year late and now I'm not making my investment back
Rob: Well, if you're interested I have a 20% off coupon exclusively for you for your next future purchase
Me: Does this coupon expire?
Rob: Yes, in 2 weeks™ (I AM NOT JOKING ABOUT HIS ANSWER)
Me: No, not interested.. I don't plan on purchasing anything from BFL.
Rob: Oh, okay.. have a good day.
-END

Thank you for solving this mystery number for me. I was wondering who called!

They keep deleting my replies, but let me say it again. They called me 12 times. 12!!! And I'm on vacation in a foreign country so it would cost me money to answer the phone and tell them where they can stick their code. If they call me again tomorrow so help me God BFL is going to have their time wasted just like mine's been.

edit: I was wrong about them deleting my replies. Looking at the wrong forum. Lol. But the calls are annoying as all hell.

Same for me... I wish they would at lest say something if they are going to bother calling.

The bitcoin price is over $300 now. BFL 60 GH machine should worth to run again. ;D

you need to steal them time.
I manage unwanted telemarketing calls always this way:
wow sounds interesting. Wait a minute, I just turn the stove off.
Put phone handset aside.... :D

Yet another reason you have to be literally retarded to open up biz dealings with subhuman turds like this.

You basically give them permission to harass you by phone forever.

Enjoy that shit.  I hope the non-paid shill dumbfucks who have posted garbage to every BFL thread are suffering this now while they are hiding their heads in shame.  How does it feel to be so stupid?  Feel free to post answers here, feel free to wear a mask.