No the above was very much in topic as this 'deal' is a means to sway your judgement without thinking clearly.
They offer No refund until January. None.
They have your funds, if they f**k up, they promise to return monies, but have no third party to guarantee it.
You are basically acting on their word they can deliver on time.
They have offered no compelling evidence to believe this, and there is nothing backing you up if they can't, or don't succeed.
There are several companies copying the KnC method of bringing a device to market straight from receipt of chips as a prototype.
None of these competing companies have met the strict requirements of a third party totally independent Issuing Bank and Payment processor.
None of these competing companies have the backing of Paypal, except Butterfly Labs, of which this is starting to become a very welcome avenue for disgruntled BFL customers.
None of these competing companies are assuming the risk involved with a credit card payment processor and promising the buyer protection from these independent third party bodies.
None of these competing companies are offering any real buyer protection (and BFL are trying their damnedest to change their terms and wriggle out of the responsibility).
I wouldn't ever use a credit card processor for bitcoin hardware. I've had legitimate (non-fraud customers), purchase something, or use a service, then charge back even after 90 days. For a machine that prints money the risk of people using a fraudulent credit card is even higher. For merchants, users not being able to claw back money is one of the pluses for bitcoin. If you're not sure if someone is legit or not, then don't buy.
Judging by the amount of scams, and reputedly safe bets such as BFL and Avalon and the enormous amount of funding raised through pre-orders that is very poor and inconsiderate advice. The name 'senseless' seems apt here. Both BFL and Bitsyncom/Avalon are sitting on tens of millions of dollars worth of pre-order funding, each!
Chargebacks, approx $35 amount to a minor percentage and a is a risk to the merchant that pales in comparioson to that of the vast sums asked from the consumer.
Credit card fraud is assumed by the payment processor, not the merchant.