Quote from: steamboat on September 04, 2013, 12:34:41 AM

Update:

We have sent the first of a two part update to all members of the group buy. Please note this email has accidentally been sent from steamboats personal email address. A copy of this update is posted below.

The following is an update on the order status of Avalon ASIC chips regarding an order you have placed.

Chip order status:

We have been in contact with Yifu over the past three days and are currently negotiating a compensation plan for damages incurred as a result of Bitsyncoms failure to deliver. We cannot give any additional information at this time. While we are working to reach a fair and agreeable resolution for all parties involved, it is still unclear whether further action will be required, and we make no promises regarding the outcome. Yifu has informed us he will be releasing an update later today, but has not disclosed the topic.

We have confirmed with Yifu directly the eligibility of all batches ordered for a refund, to be processed when requested. Additionally, there is no deadline for requesting a refund. As such, we have begun processing all requests for refunds of orders placed with us, which will be submitted to Yifu upon each batch being requested in full.

The following procedure will be used to facilitate the refund requests:

Refunds will be in the amount of 95% of the original .086 BTC purchase price, or .0817 BTC per chip.

All those requesting a chip refund will be allowed to do so, so long as there are enough requests to fulfill an entire batch.

No customer will be forced to accept a refund in order to process a batch refund.

Each customer may choose to submit a refund request for a single order or all orders they have placed, but must refund each order in its entirety. Partial refunds for any order will not be accepted.

Refunds of batches will be requested from Mr. Yifu Guo of Bitsyncom beginning with Batch 6, and continue in reverse order to the first so long as refund requests equal an entire batch.

Customers in a batch which has been refunded will be placed in an earlier batch according to their position in that batchs order, and their position relative to other batches. All purchases will be kept in their original order, and the order book truncated to reflect the refunded purchases.

Once a refund request has been placed with us, and the refund request submitted to Mr. Yifu Guo of Bitsyncom, it is final. There will be no option to receive the chips originally ordered for any reason once the process has begun.

Chip purchase refunds will be dispersed upon receipt of the refund from Mr. Yifu Guo of Bitsyncom. We will supply any administrative paperwork necessary and do what we can to facilitate the refund. We accept no responsibility for any delays outside of our control, which include delayed receipt of the refund from Mr. Yifu Guo of Bitsyncom, and will not disperse refunds prior to receipt of the funds from Mr. Yifu Guo of Bitsyncom.

To process your refund, please fill out the refund request form found at the bottom of this email in its entirety. Each refund request will be verified for its authenticity and processed. Any submissions failing verification will be sent an email for additional verification. Once we have reached 10,000 chips, the request will be submitted to Mr. Yifu Guo of Bitsyncom and processed.

The situation as it stands is far from optimal, and while we realize a 100% refund is desired by most of those who have purchased chips through us, we have invested considerable resources in order to facilitate our offer of Avalon ASIC chips to the community, and cannot offer a full refund. We have done everything in our power to educate potential customers of the risks involved when considering placing an order, and have stated explicitly we assume no responsibility for any issues that may arise due to circumstances outside our control; including but not limited to Avalon failing to ship, shipment being seized by customs, shipment arriving late, etc.

While we are not bound in any way to do so, we know it is unethical to retain the profits made from chip purchases, and have chosen to refund all profits which remain after administrative, logistical, and material expenses have been taken into consideration.

And the ~$60 assembly cost? Not the parts. Keep the parts and resell them if you want. This is a huge deciding factor to those of us who want to refund but are held back by this assembly fee for something that hasn't happened.