Basically what this thread tells me is that to get your refund you must kick and scream very loudly to get noticed and your refund processed. Anyone remaining silent and relying on Cointerra's "goodwill" is going to be burned as evidenced by the people who have been waiting much longer than you for a refund (and probably had their request in before yours). Also how many days past the 4 week window did it take for you to receive your money?
howthefuq et al,
The 'kick and scream' method has been marginally effective for a small percentage of Cointerra customers; however, I would not recommend the use of that method.
By the by, I'm not an attorney, but I played one in a college drama class. Therefore, the information provided does not constitute legal advice and moreover, I recommend that readers seek legal advice from an attorney, especially for those that are not knowledgeable in business/consumer protection laws, or no experience in the litigation process.
First of all, this posted message is mainly for readers that fall into May and June batches who have received the email from CoinTerra Support with the subject, "TerraMiner Early Shipping Notification."
If you have received that email, than you have received clear supporting evidence of Cointerra's breach of contract and may possibly support misrepresentation as well. Final specs of 1.6 GH/s hashing performance using 2100 watts power consumption versus advertised specs of 2.0 GH/S using 1600 watts are clear breach of contract. Furthermore, the change in product warranty from 3 months to only 1 month provide additional supporting evidence for breach of contract. The changes clearly relieves Cointerra from potentially significant liabilities/costs while the customers' liabilities/costs become increasingly onerous. No need to even expand on the things they did that may be considered misrepresentation. Any customers who encountered the above have the right to a full refund within a reasonable time
with a caveat. A reasonable time means seven working days from the day that the customer makes a formal request to Cointerra for cancellation and refund of the customer's paid order.
Secondly, customers may receive a reply email regarding their refund request in which the company stipulates that the refund process may take 4 weeks (this may also mean that the process can take 6, 7, 8, or possibly 20 weeks since there's no set maximum date to complete the refund payment) and it is absolutely critical to clearly convey in your formal refund request that anything over seven workings days is "unacceptable." Those in the past who did not immediately respond to their +4 weeks refund processing stipulation with your strong/clear objection may be giving up your right to a quick refund since your silence may constitute as your assent/acceptance to their lengthy refund process.
Thirdly, U.S. Federal Consumer Laws trump all of the states' consumer laws. Check the FTC link listed below concerning refunds, "If the customer paid by cash, check, or money order, you must refund the correct amount by first class mail within seven working days after the order is cancelled." If your order has been fully paid, then you either paid by wire transfer which is the equivalent to cash, or you paid with bitcoins which means that you paid by check because you used Bitpay as a middleman to convert your BTCs to US dollars and then on your behalf, Bitpay sent Cointerra a check via electronic ACH. It would be helpful to include one or two paraphrase sentence(s) regarding the Federal Law that are apropos to your situation in addition to some verbiage about legal options/remedies through standard civil litigation if the refund is not sent in a reasonable time (i.e., 7 working days).
FTC's site:
http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus02-business-guide-mail-and-telephone-order-merchandise-rule Lastly, you need to incorporate the above details into your formal cancellation and refund request (refund payment via wire transfer is highly recommended to avoid a bounced/non sufficient funds refund check). The cancellation and refund request must be a hardcopy written letter sent via US Postal Service Certified Mail and your emails to Cointerra simply supplements the mandatory Certified Mail hardcopy letters. If the above done correctly, your refund payment should be completed in under 7 working days, assuming that the company is still solvent of course. However, the more refunds they quickly process going forward, it increases the risk (e.g., the possibility of insolvency) for the remaining customers not yet paid as they continue to patiently wait for their refund.
For non U.S. customers, I recommend that you search on Craigslist for an inexpensive low level general business attorney located in the Austin, TX, area in order to draft a strong request/demand letter for you. This shouldn't cost you more than a few hundred dollars.
