…just kidding, the t-shirt is actually nice.
TL;DR Bitmain mailed me two broken miners in January. I sent them in for repairs 3 times, which took over a month. I lost out on ROI, asked for compensation, was send 20 mBTC, some stickers and a t-shirt.
Basic Narrative:I received the miners on schedule. One wouldn’t turn on at all. The other turned on, but I was having a hard time finding the IP address to be able to log in and change settings (which was just my lack of familiarity with Antminers). I emailed Bitmain informing them of both problems. I was in contact with a technician in China which was a slow process (about 1 email a day).
After a few days and getting put in touch with Yoshi (locally, in the States), I was directed to mail in the controller board of Unit #1. I sent it in. While Unit #1 was getting replaced, I noticed that Unit #2 had been hashing at about ½ speed, implying that one of the chips wasn’t working. I checked in with Yoshi, who assured me that nothing was wrong. While we were still going back and forth as to whether Unit #2 was functioning properly, Unit #1’s control board arrived.
Unfortunately, Unit #1’s control board arrived still broken (not being able to turn on). I asked Yoshi if I could just send both miners in. He said yes, again assuring me that nothing was wrong with Unit #2. I respectfully disagreed and asked for compensation for all the downtime/lost ROI. He agreed that he would consider it. I sent both in. Just over a week later, both units arrived along with 2x 10 mBTC paper wallets and some stickers.
Unit #1 was working and the control board was replaced. Unit #2, however, was still hashing at ½ speed. I called in this time and spoke with Billy. I asked if he would cover shipping costs this time and he agreed (I had paid for shipping the previous two times). I asked Billy about “more” appropriate compensation for all the issues and he agreed to look into it.
About a week and a half later Unit #2 arrived in working condition, along with a couple more stickers and a Bitmain black t-shirt. I spoke with Billy and Yoshi multiple times since and I have been declined further compensation.
Timeline:12.27.2014 Placed order for 2x Bitmain Antminer S5s; scheduled ship date for 01.04.2015
01.04.2015 Units arrived
01.09.2015 Emailed Bitmain in China asking how to change settings
01.10.2015 Informed Bitmain that one miner was DOA; broken controller board
01.14.2015 Transferred to Yoshi
01.15.2015 Unit #1 controller board shipped to Bitmain; ~$25 shipping cost
01.20.2015 Unit #1 arrived at Bitmain
01.21.2015 Recognized unit #2 was hashing at ~600 Gh/s; emailed Yoshi
01.22.2015 Unit #1 controller board shipped from Bitmain
01.23.2015 Unit #1 controller board arrived; it still does not work; email Yoshi
01.26.2015 Units #1 and #2 shipped to Bitmain (not just controller board); ~$25 shipping cost
01.30.2015 Unit #1 and #2 arrived at Bitmain
02.XX.2015 Units #1 and #2 shipped from Bitmain
02.04.2015 Units #1 and #2 arrive; Unit #1 is fixed; Unit #2 is still hashing at ~600 Gh/s; Bitmain included 2x 10 mBTC paper wallets and stickers; emailed Yoshi
02.05.2015 Unit #2 shipped to Bitmain; $0 (shipping covered by Bitmain)
02.11.2015 Unit #2 arrives at Bitmain
02.12.2015 Unit #2 shipped from Bitmain
02.16.2015 Unit #2 arrives from Bitmain; Unit #2 is fixed; Bitmain included stickers and a Bitmain t-shirt
02.17.2015 Began proper compensation request emails; multiple dropped emails by Bitmain and follow ups by myself
03.12.2015 Yoshi confirmed that no further compensation will be offered.
Narrative Part II:When I received these in working condition, I began posting them for sale. I sold them in two separate sales, both to PokeyJones. He was made aware of everything above, in real time. He just received Unit #2 and has noticed that when comparing it to Unit #1 and an additional S5 he purchased, it is not running up to par. Issue can be found in this thread:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.10794078He is currently emailing with Bitmain. We are also discussing where to go from here. I have offered him a full refund. However, we would both like to find proper resolution from Bitmain, so I can keep the sale and he can keep the miner.
Personal Debrief:Obviously, I’m disappointed. I mined ~
BTC.15 from the day I received the miners to the last day they were returned to me. By my estimation I would have generated ~
BTC.86. Granted ~
BTC.3 would have gone to electricity costs. But I also incurred ~$50 in shipping charges, which is more than I mined. And, no disrespect to PokeyJones, the circumstances pushed me into a position of having to sell the miners at a loss, which I did not plan on doing.
I’ve never heard of Antminers having such issues. Maybe it’s a fluke that both of these arrived defective. I have no idea. I hope that if anyone else has experienced any similar issues, they post about it. If I had seen anyone post anything similar, I would have started writing about this earlier. Even now I’m hesitant posting this, because it is far from my intention to post some victimization piece on my experience and I wouldn’t be happy for it to come off that way.
I tried working with Bitmain to sort this out as best I could. So now I’m turning it over to the forum. Thoughts and suggestions welcomed.
Cheers!
BLC
See thread for update