BFL Scam

[ndrmutz]

Hello fellow n00bs,

I've noticed that BFL only seems to advertise their vaporware products on the n00b section.  There are reasons why and I'd encourage you all to do you homework to form your own opinions about what those reasons may be.  A good place to start would be https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=150803.0

If you click on their advertising and look at their "Monarch" vaporware you can see that it's a fairly simple rendering of somebody's imagination.  Good luck finding a picture or video of an actual working chip, much less a working device, because they may not really exist.  In the experience of many, including me, their customer service is legendarily non-existent and guess why they only accept payment that is non-refundable?  No more credit cards or Paypal for them.  I suppose too many forced refunds?

BFL's clearly discernible pattern is to promise, promise, promise delivery at some vague point in the implied near future, maybe in "two weeks",  and then find one problem after another thus delaying delivery.  Maybe they're just total dipshits and this is difficult work to do and they really _believe_ what they're saying.  Nobody can get inside their minds and know for sure, but a possible alternate explanation is that they're scammers. 

Another theory of their apparent fraud is that they mine with the chips and completed devices for their own benefit and delay delivery to the end-users as long as they possibly can.  By the time you get your little fingers on one of these devices, 99% of the BTC it will ever generate in its lifetime has already been taken.  Enjoy the scraps my friends!

[nirom]

Well it is a know fact that BFL does take an eternity to deliver its products but I doubt it is a scam. I have bought some jalapenos in the past and they delivered as expected, but it took time. As far as the Monarch family of products, by the time they reach the market, they might not even break even.

One thing i find odd, is that the advertisement in the newbie section has the old price of 4k$ instead of the discounted price of 2k$.

nirom

[artibaton]

Tiered pricing strategy / Pricing discrimination.

[Kasandra]

it takes an eternity to deliver, because they mine themselves. a product is removed from the BFL mining farm after some time, usually when the difficulty increases.

[ndrmutz]

Well it is a know fact that BFL does take an eternity to deliver its products but I doubt it is a scam. ...
nirom

I agree that to date they have (mostly) delivered hardware that matches the original order.  But, the hardware is chronically late.  My two orders were both about 10 months late.  10 months of difficulty increase was the difference between gold mine and door stop.  I allege that they used the chips and/or my machines for mining during these months and therein lies part of the scam.  The other part comes from their endless promises about "almost here".  They have a long, long track record of broken promises.  How are the November deliveries of the Monarch working out?  August 2013 tapeout?  Come on!  I can't wait to see the power and cooling morass the Monarchs are going to spawn and the endless delays thereby justified.

[2516]

One thing i find odd, is that the advertisement in the newbie section has the old price of 4k$ instead of the discounted price of 2k$.

The advertisement is incorrect and out dated.

The original $4650 price tag was for Batch 1 with an earlier delivery date. The estimate for shipping was January 2014.
The new $2k price tag is for Batch 2 with a later deliver date. The justification for the price difference was down to recovery of RnD dollars paid for by Batch 1. The advantage of the new price is that the customer gets the same product for a significantly cheaper price. The negative is that by the time it's delivered, it's absolutely, completely and utterly useless.

[bitpop]

It's sad to see this forum complicit in the bfl scam