My current thoughts revolve around the points below
all of which don't require I am a consumer! Of course I would still argue that I am a consumer and provide evidence for it (tax returns, full-time employment contract).
However, I believe most points below are not clear cut. There's no guarantee a judge would rule in our favor, as KnC's T&C were written by weasels. Point 1. is excluded by their T&C, Point 2. has changed over time and may not be part of the contract, and point 3. is something a business may have to deal with to some degree.
1. Late Delivery
1.1 shipping may not have begun in Q2/Q3
Their order page said "will be shipping in Q2/Q3" and "shipping begins Q2/Q3". KnC ships now to fulfill this promise. However, the product they ship is unfinished and does not work as promised.According to their T&C "KnCMiner warrants that the Products, will perform according to the at all times published specification for a period of twelve (12) months from delivery [...]". I would argue KnC has not shipped the product yet and hence
has not fulfilled their contract yet! See 2. for details.
1.2 Q2 was not achievable
KnC implicitly admits it themselves. It's great! KnC stated in their news that the Titan was
"progressing as expected and we plan to ship in Q3" and "we see no delays in the production process so far" (June 30, 2014) and that they
"see no delays in production so far and expect to start shipping well before the end of Q3" (July 28, 2014). The first time they have admitted to a possible delay was
"fab yield is not as good as we hoped for" (September 11, 2014).
2. Below/Different Specification
"KnCMiner warrants that the Products, will perform according to the
at all times published specification [...]". To my understanding it implies that my miner should perform at 300MH/s and 800-1000W
no matter when I have ordered. Is this a correct interpretation of "at all times" or do they mean "at the time the contract was concluded"? These specifications have been published in official news updates of KnC. KnC has also stated that of course all customers get the benefit of the performance increase.
2.1 power requirements are
1160W not 800W
2.2
Does not run on an
800-1000W PSUIt should be possible to get compensation for this. After all, we are considered businesses by KnC!
2.3 The Titan struggles to run at 300MH/s
According to customer experience the Titan requires constant reboots and does not achieve 300MH/s. This may be fixed with the new firmware. It would be best if I had written evidence that the miner did not work as expected in Q2/Q3.
Please contact me if you happen to have an early Titan that doesn't work as expected.2.4 Changed casing from Jupiter form factor to Neptune
Probably not important enough to go for a refund. However, did the Jupiter suffer the fire hazard problem? If not then this may be relevant.
3. Electrical setup is complex
3.1 A Standard ATX PSU may not be sufficient
The PSU PCIe-connector required is a 45750 Mini-Fit® Plus HCS Crimp Terminal Crimped to 16 AWG wire.I am not an electricial and I am not able to deal with this.
3.2 Not CE certified (etc.)
From their
FAQ: "We want to ship as fast as possible. If we included a power supply, the certification process would be a longer and we'd have a lot of variations to design that would take precious time from your mining opportunity". This should have been made clear at the time of the order, not hidden in some FAQ.
3.3. Sold as a Developer Kit (not sure where it said this)
I'm NOT a developer even if I am a business. KnC has a duty to make this clear at the time of the order.
Legal rightsI've read up on the relevant Swedish Law as much as possible using google/bing translate.
1. Swedish
distance selling regulationsDefinitions:
'consumer' means any natural person who is acting primarily for purposes which are outside business activities,
"trader" means any natural or legal person who is acting for purposes relating to their economic activities.
4§ says that contract terms that are to the disadvantage of the consumer are void. This may apply to KnC's "business purposes" clause.
10§ gives you a right to cancel within 14 days of receiving the order.
2. Swedish
consumer actGives you a right to get a refund before the order has been delivered/shipped.
3. Swedish
Sale of Goods Act (contract law)
Lots of interesting clauses here as well.