All is not quite lost, Bakal. [Info From R1 below]
UPDATE: They're forcing USD refunds on people that didn't request them if you missed that in the CH forum yesterday. If this is forced on us, we are *not* cashing this refund check worth about 1/8th of our orig. BTC sent for R1-4, and will consult with our legal team.
It was a major PITA to get all the evidence in place, and in chronological order for our attorneys but HashFast heard from our attorneys yesterday and we have an official support ticket in the system, FWIW. It's also been a drain on the co-op's energy to have to fight this in the middle of the move/expansion.
We're doing our best to get full BTC refunds for everyone that bought into R1-4 with Bitcoin (except for R2, which was orig. bought via Wire Transfer by someone else so it will be in USD; the upgrade R2B was paid in BTC).
To fight to get this full BTC refunds for us and to make sure we were represented by a battle tested legal team, we plan on deducting the legal costs among the 4 rounds. We estimate this cost to be about $250-300 at this time (could go up if we go to arbitration).
That would work out to about $2.50-$3 per R1-4 share (which includes upgrades for R1-2). The upside is: for those that bought GB shares with bitcoin, if we get our full BTC back from HashFast, even with this small deduction for legal expenses you'd be refunded 6-9x your USD value back from your original BTC purchase amount(s) depending on when you bought your GB shares.
If you paid in USD, these refund terms and legal fees don't apply, and we will send back the original USD amount(s) sent when our full refund arrives.
Hi DZ,
I must say I am disappointed in a refund in USD. I paid via eBay/Paypal for 2 shares - and paid for 1 upgrade via BTC. But what I paid for (and paid overprice for vs BTC rate at the time) was DZ services to convert the $165 into 1.55 BTC at the time. The group-buy documents says and I quote "I (DZ) do not intend to make a profit on it - I am doing this as a service". But taking the 6+? shares sold via Paypal and "confiscate" currency gains in the period for own the the rest of the Group Buy's profit - goes against the general line of agreement when it was done. Taking 6 shares x 1.55 BTC = 10 BTC from some GB owners - and distribute to ONE person or the rest of the group - would give those persons a comparable PROFIT on the transaction.
I think to be fair - any refunds should be refunded in the % of what we own of the GB. Not what we initially paid. We have ALL taken the EXACT VALUE same risk for the exact same time. If we get USD back - I'm happy getting refund in USD for my shares on equal footing with other owners even if that means a loss for me. If the GB gets BTC back - everyone has gotten the BTC currency gain - and everyone should be rewarded equally. Anything else would not be fair - and that refund policy would be in line with the language and intent used in the GB.