Butterfly Labs has pissed off thousands of people with their delayed orders. Oftentimes, our ASICs are no longer profitable and will take years to pay for themselves.
Butterfly Labs clearly states that refunds can not be issued, all sales are final, blah blah blah. They do this to make you think you cannot get your money back.
However, the way they operate is illegal and against the Federal Trade Commission aswell as Paypal Terms of Service.
I have strong reason to believe that they hired someone to take down bflrefund.me because this method is so effective at getting your money back.
I managed to hunt down a preserved page of this website with a sample letter. I am not the author of the post below, I am merely reviving this website through blogspot. Good luck!
If I have helped you, please consider donating :)
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How to: Get a refund from Butterfly Labs
Monday, November 4, 2013
Butterfly Labs Refund 101 with Sample Letter from bflrefund.me
Summary
A lot of Bitcoin ASIC mining equipment is has been sold by BFL and remains undelivered.BFL are not honoring refunds and delivery of their products. They have failed to meet any of their deadlines, leading to the joke of "two weeks(tm)".
BFL refuse to give any refunds for undelivered goods which is against US and UK laws. You have a right to cancel your order at any time before delivery, and usually for a period after delivery too.
How to get a refund by Paypal
Paypal does not allow "pre-order" funding and Paypal's TOS state a product must be shipped within 20 days of purchase. All BFL orders have been "pre-orders" so far. This means anything ordered under these terms is illegal under Paypal's terms of service and they can give a refund at any point.BF Labs Inc are known to Paypal and they have frozen their account permanently so they cannot sell any more by Paypal. There are now dedicated case-workers who will help you outside of the normal dispute resolution process. This is only because they have received so many complaints already and it is clear BF Labs Inc have clearly broken Paypal's rules by raising money for products they cannot deliver in 20 days from purchase date.
The process
BEFORE YOU BEGIN make sure you have opened a dispute by inside your Paypal account FOR EACH TRANSACTION SEPARATELY and say you want a refund because the goods have not been delivered. It will be auto-closed withing a minute if your purchase was over 45 days ago. Make a note of the PP dispute IDs for later along with the individual paypal transaction IDs.Contact a caseworker directly by email with the specifics of your case.
What to include
- Your name
- Your paypal email address
- Your contact phone numbers (day and evening)
- The date(s) of the orders
- The transaction IDs and of each and every payment you are disputing to BF Labs Inc.
- The paypal dispute IDs.
- the goods were sold on a pre-order basis for delivery in around 2 months
- you have not yet received delivery of the goods you ordered and it's been months
- they have continuously failed to meet delivery deadlines
- they have refused you a refund
Sample Letter
You may use the following letter and adapt it for your particular case:Subject: Complaint about BF Labs Inc. fraud
I have a complaint to file against a Paypal merchant,
BF Labs Inc, (office@butterflylabs.com)
This company is now infamous on the internet for defrauding customers. I
have been defrauded of $xxxxxx. They have been selling physical goods on
a pre-order basis (for delivery later than 20 days) against Paypals
terms of service.
I bought physical goods several months ago and they still have not been
delivered.
They have constantly delayed delivery which I believe is designed to
cause the expiry of Paypal's 45 day limit on disputes.
Unfortunately, I believed their lies and gave them the benefit of the
doubt until recently when I then came to know one of the company's
founders is a convicted felon who is still on probation for running a
previous "long con" operation.
I request a refund from BF Labs Inc I was refused saying "all orders are
final" even though I have still not received delivery of my orders.
Here are the transaction ID
[paypal transaction ID list]
I filed claims in the paypal dispute center but they were automatically
closed because it's outside the 45 day period.
[paypal dispute reference list]
I would be very grateful if you could escalate this issue and refund my
money because BF Labs Inc. have broken Paypal terms of service by
selling pre-orders and not delivering within 20 days.
At this point I am no longer interested in receiving a delivery from
BF Labs Inc, and I just want my money back.
I have been a loyal customer and hope Paypal can protect us all from
fraudsters like this.
Yours sincerely,
[your name]
Tel [your phone numbers]
Who to contact
Contact us for the email addresses of the Paypal case workers on bflrefund@gmail.com or via Reddit via http://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=tharlamDO NOT send us your personal information.
After you get your refund, please let us know how much you got back so we can keep tally. This will help inspire and motivate this campaign.
How long does this take?
Please understand Paypal is not obligated to help you after 45 days from purchase date. What they are doing here is exceptional due to the scale of the problem. You may get a response the same day, or it may take several days. They don't work on weekends. Mail them once and wait. You will get a response. Be patient and understand they are fielding A LOT of enquiries.Other methods
If you paid by credit card directly, you may be able to get a refund from your credit card company by filing a chargeback for non-delivery.If you paid by Paypal regardless of the funding method (card, bank transfer or part payment), your best bet is with Paypal first.
If you are a new customer, within the last 45 days and want a refund, you should follow the normal Paypal dispute resolution process
Successes to date
164 refunds and counting have been reported at:- http://redd.it/1mju6g
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=295187.0 (original source)
Donate
If this information helps you get a refund you are welcome to make a donation to 1G21KnvRq2NUKfHscVB9v86QQtct7snJvR
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