***UPDATE***
Just received BTC (USD equivalent) at 10:33PST, 15 minutes ago. THANK YOU!
I think USD equivalent is fair (though I'm out 20%) *IF* my btc was converted when I sent it to USD. I'll concede that's fair, and I don't want more than what's just and fair. (Never mind that I unwittingly provided an interest free loan - or rather, a negative interest loan!)
BUT, if my BTC wasn't converted to USD then it's only fair I get the exact amount of BTC I sent, yeah? Can cablepair or Dave confirm that you were having bitpay convert BTC into USD? I'll take your word for it, and if the answer is "yes", then I'll agree we're all square. But if you didn't convert my BTC, please do the right thing and send the remainder of my coins back (~54BTC).
Apart from this - thank you Dave and Tom and I sincerely wish you best of luck with the project. I would only suggest you implement your transparency policy as promised, this would do a lot to get people like me back one day.
Michael - I'd just like to jump in on the side of people against your stance, and hope you'll consider this.
I believe it was reasonably obvious that the purchase was *denominated* in USD - and as such any exchange fluctuation is purely at the pre-payer's risk.
As I see it, this is utterly independent of whether your particular funds were converted from BTC or not.
A BTC enterprise might dynamically adjust their various currency holdings based on their own risk strategies - and so long as they hold reasonable ratios to cover obligations and are 'solvent' - you shouldn't really have a leg to stand on regarding receiving the original BTC amount back.
FWIW - I have been on the 'beneficiary' side of this equation when dealing with a community member here before. I paid $1000 USD worth of BTC to Casascius - and in the meantime the BTC price fell. When the deal fell through - I received slightly more BTC than I originally sent. I would have been perfectly happy to receive less if the BTC price had risen - because Casascius had the foresight to make it clear from the beginning that the holding was denominated in USD.
This is where I think Tom could have done better, and indeed Bitcoin businesses in general: they should explicitly explain the situation around refunds & returns - clearly stating what currency a particular deal is denominated in and perhaps going as far as to spell out the possible effects of currency fluctuations.