Um, did this happen to anyone else?
I tried to get in on yesterday's "lottery" and like (almost) everyone else I wasn't able to snag one. So today I was ready, or so I thought:
I was on that website, ready to go -- 30 minutes in advance -- so I am *certain* I read the description over and over (because I kept going back and forth to the main/product page so I could add the items to my shopping cart and submit the order ASAP). I am *certain* the site described the units as "Limited units sales. Open sales on Feb 16th 11:00 pm BeiJing time, GMT +8. Ships 48 hours after payment is confirmed."
Finally after a half an hour refreshing and clicking and refreshing and clicking, I was "lucky enough" to snag two. NOTHING had changed -- I looked at that site so many stupid times I know I would have noticed, because I definitely noticed when things *did* change an hour later!
But anyway, long story short -- the site said "Ships 48 hours after payment is confirmed." Then my order went through (the email from Bitmain literally says I ordered at GMT 05:01:52, so they hadn't even been open for business for 2 minutes when I ordered, lol) and I quickly sent in my payment and it was confirmed in the next 10-20 minutes.
Okay, time to relax for a bit, take a shower, and spend the rest of the morning power supply shopping online, right? Well...then I noticed the Bitmain site had changed the description slightly: instead of saying "Ships in 48 hours" (which is very specific) it had changed to "Ships after Feb 28." So not only had it changed to +1 week longer, but it's also somewhat ambiguous -- "your item will ship within 48 hours of receiving payment" is a hell of a lot more specific than "your item will be among the items that are shipped 'at some point, depending on where you are in line, after the 28th.'"
I checked my order and (sure enough) there is no mention of a new shipping date anywhere. The product is listed as "Antminer S1." However, fast forward another hour or so and I see that the site has changed again -- now it says "Shipment will be started on Feb 28th. Limited units sale," and the item is listed as "AntMiner S1-Shipment starting from Feb 28th." Just to check, I added one to my shopping cart -- and sure enough, the item listed in my shopping cart (this time) is "AntMiner S1-Shipment starting from Feb 28th." So I'm *hoping* this is a hint that maybe they *did* have some stock today, and sold that BEFORE they began preselling...but I can't really be sure of anything. I emailed Bitmain but didn't get a reply, but that's understandable if it's 11pm where they are. (I promise I'm not trying to be difficult -- but I certainly didn't expect the terms of the shipping agreement to change while I was in mid-purchase!)
So here is my question -- and I guess it's for Bitmain (or if anyone can point me to any official statement on the forum as to what happened): Did I purchase 2 Antminers, which are scheduled to ship (as advertised) 48 hours after my payment was confirmed, aka within 2 days from now? (If so, then I'm happy and I apologize for making a fuss over nothing!) Or did I try to purchase 2 Antminers, but then somehow (via an ill-timed website update or act of god or whatever you want to call it) I ended up preordering 2 Antminers (at today's BTC price) that won't ship until the end of the month (approximately 2 difficulty increases later)?
If it's the former, then I say again: please do nothing, I am a happy panda, and I apologize for the trouble.
If it's the latter, then ... I hate to sound like a dick, but ... I never would have paid 1.45 BTC (x2) for 180GH/s in March. I was willing to pay that for a product that was shipping in 48 hours, because I think it still has a reasonable chance of hitting a positive ROI -- but more importantly, even if it is just a week away, I had no interest in preordering anything. (Even if the vendor is reputable, which I freely admit Bitmain seems to be.) I just (respectfully) don't believe the S1 will be worth 1.45 BTC on March 3-5, or whenever I would expect to receive the thing...and even if I did, I would have been more cautious and only purchased one...etc, etc, you get the point.
So if it's not shipping until March, then I would respectfully request a refund of the full amount paid, since I'm not really getting what I paid for. (Bitmain, you can find my order details in the email I sent you; or PM me if that was somehow lost in transit.) Please note that I am not suggesting any bait-and-switch occurred here; I assume (worst case scenario) that in the rush to reopen sales, the description on the website was updated in piecemeal fashion -- more than a few times -- so I don't think anyone intentionally mislead anyone. However I also don't think it's inappropriate to request some clarification, and if necessary a refund, considering that people (or just me?) were misled through no fault of our own.
Note: I still haven't had time to grab my morning caffeine so *please* if something in this post sounds like I'm whining or complaining or yelling/screaming/Hulk Smash/Hulk Angry I assure you I'm not. I just had a late night and a (relatively) early morning trying to "win" one of these and ... well you understand. I *promise* I am not asking for special treatment, just a quick reply (email or PM works okay too) so I can know what is going on. (I would have just canceled the order at the website -- but I see no method for doing that; the "edit" link next to my confirmed order just allows me to change my shipping address and phone number, nothing else.)
Hopefully nothing has to be canceled/refunded at all, and I am misunderstanding/misinterpreting something. I definitely want to buy the 2 Antminers (at the current price) if they ship in 48 hours; but I very likely do NOT want to buy them (at the current price) if they ship in 288+ hours. :)
Sorry for the longwinded post to say something relatively simple; like I mentioned, not enough caffeine yet -- a problem which I will remedy right now.