I have to admit, I've always been pretty amused by the butthurtness against BFL... but I'll explain why:
I came across a guy on ebay selling pre-orders for jalapenos at $600 bucks as early as July 2012... after doing a bit of research on the new "ASIC" devices that were being imagined, I looked up BFL's site directly and saw they were selling pre-orders for $150. I thought, "this is as big of a gamble as the $400 I spent on buying bitcoin at $6 and now its at $10, so what the hell."
Sure, I saw they were supposed to ship in October and it was August 2012 at the time, but I had just sold a bunch of crap on ebay and had some paypal money sitting around. So I went for it.
Since I was/am a believer in the future value of Bitcoins, there was no way I was going to spend (and potentially lose) 15 bitcoins on it, but $150? Sure, that's essentially nothing since it won't be worth $150 if spent later.
October came and went..... and I'd almost forgotten about the purchase. Then came the beginning of the great mania of early 2013 when the price started climbing....$20, $30, $40, $65.... that's when I started looking at what happened to that $150 I'd spent.... and that was when I first found the people FREAKING OUT that they'd sunk bitcoins into their pre-orders and those little devices were now costing them $1000.
"Huh," I thought, "...well, at least I'm only out $150 in play-money from paypal."
Then towards the end of May, I got an email from BFL asking me if I wanted to upgrade my device to 7.5gh/s for an extra $100... I quickly wrote back asking if it would change my place in the shipping cue.... to which they responded, "No, you are still scheduled to ship at the end of May." So another $100 of paypal money went to BFL. So along with shipping, I was in for a grand total of $265.
Just as promised, my box arrived about a week later.... 10 months after I gambled on a preorder.... and now 8 months later, it has mined me about 11 bitcoins. Of course, it doesn't generate that much now... but if one is long on bitcoin, then even .002 a day is something.
I've remained silent about my positive experience with BFL since there are still people who are pretty butthurt about their unsuccessful gambling, but I figure now is as good of a time as any to say: THANKS BFL!
I don't understand this logic at all. If there's no way you were going to spend (and potentially lose) 15 Bitcoins on it, then why did you not simply buy 15 Bitcoins with that $150? Obviously that was the most valuable option, since in your mind, the Bitcoins were worth more than the miner, and the miner was worth more than the $150.
As for people who feel they got "screwed" by BFL, I have no sympathy. They are a largely unregulated company, and you pre-ordered from them. It was a risk, a bet that you lost. Sorry, but that is no fault except your own.
Full disclosure: I had a first-day preorder for 60GH/s units from BFL. I spent 450 BTC on them, and made maybe 100 BTC back at this point. I would have been far better off simply holding the BTC I had, but that is a lesson learned, and I don't hold anyone but myself responsible for it. People who are butthurt about it should learn from their mistakes and stop pre-ordering miners.