got my chargeback today too.
Until BTC has more protection for buyers, I don't see myself ever buying any big-ticket items with them in the future. It seems scams are just too easy.
Ah, the lost art of due diligence... You don't need "more protection" - you can protect yourself by treating bitcoins much like you treat cash. You wouldn't just go to a strange neighborhood and hand a couple of thousands of dollars to a hand sticking out from a hole in the wall, the wall having a spray-painted advertisement "will build and deliver advanced, customized, integrated circuits"...? Or would you?
Paying cash to the likes of Sony and Tom - even ngzhang and friedcat, who so far appear much more credible - based solely on the promise to develop and deliver a rather complex product.
The best way to protect yourself when paying cash and cash-like bitcoins is to
do research. Get to know the project, get to know the people. Are they trustworthy? Are they competent? Are there any red flags? Alternatively, just pay a nanny (credit card company) to take care of you: she will gladly do it for a fee. If you are smart, you won't even be paying the fee - they'll find less-then-smart customers to cover it for you.
THIS.
It's amazing how people are so willing to throw money at a company with a yet-to-be-created product
and yet be unwilling to accept the risk of doing so.I have a preorder with BFL. If BFL were to go defunct, then that would suck. I'd be out $2,600. But I wouldn't be making rants about how Bitcoin needs more consumer protection, or that people shouldn't be preordering from companies who haven't yet produced a product. I have accepted the risk that BFL might not deliver a product based on my due diligence (I found the risk of this to be very low). If I am wrong? I will accept the loss and move on. It would be an investing mistake on my part. Oops. I'd view it the same as picking the wrong stock to invest in, or going long on Bitcoin when I should have gone short.
Because I preordered, I am willing to accept the risk that I do not get a product. No one should preorder without being willing to accept the same risk. Likewise, I took that risk (instead of waiting until a company actually had a product to show) because of the potential for large profit for the first few who receive the miners. I weighed the potential for the company to go under vs the potential gain if the company didn't go under, and I decided it was a worthwhile investment.
Bitcoin doesn't need any consumer protections. Consumers need to be willing to do due diligence research on products and companies, and accept the risk of doing business online. Bitcoin is like cash, and consumers need to put themselves in a new mindset to understand how to properly use it without losing their money.
Now, certainly I am not trying to say that scammers should get away with it, or that we shouldn't be trying to throw them in jail (they all deserve to rot for a lifetime there); I am only saying that I think it is absurd that people didn't think things through when they first preordered from a company who didn't have anything to show for it, and are unwilling to take that risk accordingly.