TL;DR: Although I don't have evidence that this is a scam company, please use caution when dealing with Discount Miners. I was told they do not give refunds (but they apparently will refund your money if the price of the machines rises before their shipping date).
In November, I ordered an Antminer S9 from Discount Miners (
www.discountminers.com) for ~$2300. This was at a substantial markup to what Bitmain was selling the units for at that time, but I was inexperienced with Bitcoin purchases and wanted to make a purchase using actual dollars.
For the first payment, I used a credit card application that they instructed me about over the telephone (Nov 2 SQ *IREPAIR). A few days later (Nov 12), my money was refunded. The company contacted me to make the payment again, and I did so after the Thanksgiving break (Nov 28, IN *DISCOUNT MINERS), paying what they told me was a Black Friday special (which was the same as previously). This time, I was instructed by the company to make the payment again using their website.
In December, I received a box of cookies with a note that said "Welcome to the Discount Miners Family" and also confirmed my order with an invoice.
On January 5th, this payment was refunded to me without any prior notification. I then received this e-mail from Discount Miners:
RE: December Credit Card Orders Date: 01/05/1975
Dear valued customers:
Discount Miners is committed to processing and delivering Antminers on time as ordered. Since our launch in November we have had to pivot our sales from using Paypal, and other credit card processors to bank wires and check payments. This is not the most desirable action from a business standpoint, however the mere mention of cryptocurrency shuts our business down with credit card processors. This situation has ultimately lead to a withholding of funds from all credit card transactions by the processor (Intuit).
Discount Miners was forced to issue refunds to these credit card orders. This was forced by Intuit credit card processors and PayPal, not Discount Miners. We regret that those credit card orders could not be filled because of the withheld funds. Discount Miners has begun the process of refunding those orders. Completed refunds should take 5 - 7 business days to show up on your account. We are now processing bank wires, cryptocurrency, and check payments. Some small purchases can still be processed by Square but limited to $1500.
We are aware of the scam sites and shady nature of some of the other websites out there selling Antminers, and we do not want to associate our company with those organizations. Having said that, we do not want to lose your business and welcome any receiving this email to reorder. We will expedite these orders to the best of our ability as inventory becomes available and will work to discount reorders as much as the new prices will allow.
Again, we apologize for the inconvenience this may cause. Discount Miners has been fighting tooth and nail with the credit card processors and PayPal to release the funds to us, yet this is the only option we have been given.
If you have anymore questions or concerns please email us at sales@discountminers.com.After receiving this e-mail, I called the company and spoke directly with a representative. He said there were issues with paying with credit card but that my order was still active and that I could mail them a check (which was mailed that week). He assured me on the phone that if I mailed the check, there would be no delay in shipping. At no point did he mention that my order would be canceled if it wasn't received before a certain date (if he had, I would have made a wire transfer). He also suggested that I buy their Power Supply Unit, since I didn't originally purchase one. After spending time and money to update my house, I decided to purchase the power supply unit (returning a 1600W EVGA power unit that I had previously purchased).
Friday last week (Jan 12th), I called Discount Miners over the telephone to confirm that they received my check (and to figure out additional payment methods if that fell through). A secretary took my call, but my call was never returned. Today (Jan 17th), I decided to call again and check the status of my payment. I was told to contact their sales department. Here is the following exchange:
Me: Last week, I e-mailed a check to your PO box for order #950 (1 antminer + power supply), and I wanted to double-check to make sure you received this check? Additionally, is there an expected send-out date? Please let me know if there are any issues.
sales@discountminers.com: We received your check in the amount of 2525.97. It appears the original order was canceled and a new order must be created in order to sell you a miner. We will need you to return to our website and reorder the unit and power supply. There will be a difference of pricing for the new batch that is coming out due to a factory price increase. This we have no control over. You may either mail an additional payment to cover the difference or we can return your check to you. Please advise.
At that point, I called the secretary back at Discount Miners, she placed me on hold for several minutes, and came back to tell me that there was a note on my account that I was to respond to the e-mail. I did, and I informed them that I was placing a stop payment on the check and would not be using their services in the future.
I am not sure if they are running a scam exactly, but I do know that I would have ordered via Bitmain a few times over the past few months if I had not expected to receive a miner from this company. I think it is wrong to agree upon a price in November and then demand more money when the agreed upon shipping date arrives. At the very least, this seems to be a very sloppy business, and I would be very careful dealing with them. As it stands for me, I invested a lot of money in infrastructure and time in planning that will now be delayed (I was lucky enough to get a confirmed order from Bitmain this past week).
