My assertion is that if they had 200ish chips (~500GH/s) it would make far more sense to mine with it than to ship out the units. They cannot clear their order book with 100 Jalapenos (or get anywhere close to it). They could easily disguise the addition of 500GH/s (0.5% of the total network). If they did that for a month it would earn $80K at current prices. That would be a powerful temptation to a company that is in a cash crunch.
Hold up... if BFL is "a company that is in a cash crunch"
...wouldn't it be illogical to be forcing refunds on unhappy customers - the point of this thread?
BFL said they have all of their customer's pre-order funds segregated from their operational cash flow. They have asserted that anyone and everyone who wants one can get a refund. It is very possible, even likely, given all of their delays that they are running low on cash for operations and the raw materials for production.
@puertolibre: Thanks for the corrections on the Avalon Batch pricing. I am only figuring specs from BFL units that have left their labs. Who knows what the units on their drawing boards will actually be capable of (if anything).