I recently received a full refund from BFL for an order I placed several months ago.
I know, I know, BFL claims that
"all sales are final". Well, there's "final", and then there's "final"...
It took a month, but here's what worked for me:
- I sent an email to office@butterflylabs.com in which I politely requested a refund.
- About a week later, I received a reply from BFL denying my request.
- I filed a dispute with PayPal. In this dispute I noted that BFL failed to deliver, denied my refund request, and violated PayPal's Terms of Service for pre-order sales.
- PayPal closed my dispute the same day, stating that I was outside the 45-day window.
- I called PayPal's customer service and complained about my dispute being closed, and explained to PayPal exactly how BFL is violating the ToS.
- I sent an email to fraud@paypal.com in which I listed my transaction and dispute number, and explained how BFL is violating the ToS.
- A few days later, a PayPal Customer Solutions Supervisor called me on the phone. He had already spoken to BFL and assured me that BFL would be contacting me. I told him that I just wanted a refund, and explained to him how BFL is violating the ToS.
- I waited a week to give BFL plenty of time to contact me. They didn't.
- I emailed the PayPal Customer Solutions Supervisor and told him that BFL had not contacted me. He seemed shocked. I wasn't. He told me that PayPal could take action against BFL if necessary.
- The PayPal Customer Solutions Supervisor escalated my dispute to the next level (whatever that is). He told me that someone else would call.
- The next day I received a call from a guy named Bruce at BFL. He told me that since I had complained to PayPal, BFL was placing my order "under review" and taking it out of the queue. From his tone, I got the impression that Bruce thought this would bother me. I told him that I didn't need a review, I just wanted my money back. He wouldn't give me a firm answer and just kept repeating that they were placing my order "under review" and taking it out of the queue. I even asked if this review would take a day, week, month, or year. No answer, just the same "under review" statement.
- Within 5 minutes of BFL's call, an Account Representative from PayPal called. I told her about the strange conversation with Bruce. She said that she would contact BFL again.
- My payment to BFL was refunded to my PayPal account the next business day.
IMHO, this is the bottom line:
BFL needs PayPal. If you want your money back, complain to PayPal and don't give up.