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Facility Credits FAQ

Tyler Cohoon
  • Updated

When mining with Compass Mining you may come across Compass Credits for various reasons. Compass credits are an internal payment method for customers that can be applied to cover invoices from Compass. Customers can apply Compass Credits to hosting invoices, bundle installments, and hardware purchases. 

When the situation allows, Credits are used to refund/reimburse customers for hosting and hardware orders. When miners experience downtime and power isn’t being supplied, Compass will reimburse customers with facility credits to cover hosting invoices (which are prepaid for the upcoming month of hosting). 

Please note that Compass only reimburses customers for hosting costs owed to Compass and customers will not receive compensation/reimbursement for lost mining rewards. 

Contents:

How is downtime monitored and tracked?

  1. We use automated tools to monitor all miners.
  2. If their miner is offline we recommend waiting two hours for the miner to get back to full hashrate before submitting a support ticket.
  3. Downtime is tracked and reported at status.compassmining.io. 

Monitoring

The Monitoring Team is responsible for scanning the networks and performing soft reboots remotely on machines that need reboots. If we cannot perform the soft reboot they'll contact the on-site technicians to do a hard reboot on the devices. On-site Technicians will remove the power from the miner for 20-30 seconds and plug the unit back in. This fixes the vast majority of the issues that these ASICs face but in cases where there is a pattern or the reboot does not resolve the issue, then we will submit the unit for a diagnostic test. After the diagnostic is performed and we confirm the issue with the on-site team, the customer will be notified if the miner needs to be repaired and if it is still under warranty. At this time the RMA or Repair Process can begin.

 

Downtime Tracking

Our monitoring system alerts our team when issues arise in the mining facilities. These alerts are reflected on our Facility Status Page. Our partnered facilities also use their own internal monitoring systems to ensure the facilities are operating optimally. The Facility Status Page is updated live and should be the first destination when checking the status of your machines. Miners will return to full hashrate once scheduled facility maintenance is completed. If a unit is offline outside of scheduled maintenance we recommend to wait at least two hours before submitting a support ticket. 

Downtime is tracked at a facility level. Sometimes there will be a partial outage and in these cases, the time is tracked per pod or rack. When a facility-wide outage occurs, the time will be logged into the Facility Status Page. You will automatically receive credits to your account once per month.

Read more about how downtime credits are calculated and applied here.

 

What systems are used for monitoring units and tracking?

For Compass, downtime is tracked at a facility level using miner monitoring software. Facilities will often have their own internal systems for measuring downtime as well.

 

What events/occurrences are covered for reimbursement with facility credits?

  1. Facility Maintenance - Maintenance performance on facility.
  2. Unexpected Outage - Outage caused by failure of infrastructure, such as PDUs, transformers, etc.
  3. Curtailment - Downtime caused by increased demand from the grid.
  4. CLR Programs - Controlled load response programs that facilities are enrolled in.
  5. RMA/Out for Repair - Customer has given approval for repair, and machine is sent for repair/RMA. These credits will be issued once the repair is completed. 
  6. Customer Hardware Failure - If a machine is offline due to hardware failure and the customer authorizes repairs, the downtime credit will be set on the date of the approval.

 

What events/occurrences are not covered for reimbursement with facility credits?

  1. Customer Hardware Failure - If a machine is offline due to hardware failure and the customer doesn’t authorize repairs.
  2. Force Majeure - Downtime caused by political/government action, war, terrorism, natural disaster, etc.
  3. Preventative Maintenance on machines - Maintenance performed on machines, with advance notice from the facility ideally. Advance time varies by facility.
  4. Loss of IP / quick manual reboot of machine - If miner goes offline because it needs a quick reboot.
  5. Underhashing - If a machine is underhashing due to machine failure, the customer must give approval to fix and then downtime will apply. If customer is ok with machine underhashing, then no credit is applied.
  6. Pool Issues (not hashing b/c of pool misconfiguration, etc.) - Downtime caused by incorrect pool configuration provided by the customer, or issues with the pool itself.
  7. Overheating or Intermittent downtime - When machines are turned off to prevent overheating, to protect the machine.

 

How are facility hosting credits calculated and applied?

Hosting Credits

Compass Mining's Service Level Agreement ensures 95% facility uptime. For reference, 5% downtime equates about 36 hours in a 30 day month. Downtime is defined as an unexpected interruption in your hosting service and is calculated by ping, not hashrate. Hashrate, like cryptocurrency rewards, is not guaranteed and therefore cannot be reimbursed. Compass Mining must operate business using US Dollars to provide the services we offer. Compass Mining uses a third-party service to accept cryptocurrency as payment and cannot refund customers with cryptocurrency or the value of mining rewards.

Facility credits do not include regularly scheduled facility maintenance or prescheduled network maintenance with a scheduled beginning and end time. Also not included are brief periods when a machine IP is lost on the network and needs a manual reboot or some other intervention to bring it back to a hashing state. There is a possibility of voluntary or involuntary downtime, curtailment by Compass, the Hosting Facility or the Hosting Facility’s energy provider, or outages or shortages of power. Please check your Compass Hosting Agreement for more information. 

Facility credits will automatically be applied to your dashboard on a monthly basis. These credits will be applied to your dashboard and can be used for your hosting invoice or for purchasing new hardware. 

 

Hosting Credits for repairs

You are also entitled to credits based on the time your machine is out for repairs or RMA with the warranty provider. We aren't able to precisely estimate the time required for various repairs so you will be billed for the normal hosting costs until the repairs are complete. At that time an invoice will display on your Compass Dashboard for you to pay the shipping cost and/or repair costs, and downtime credits will be provided through your Compass Dashboard as well.

Compass Mining has a great relationship with several authorized warranty service providers and we'll take complete care of the process for you once customer approval is provided. Once the approval is provided for the shipping and/or repair costs we'll log the date the approval was given and proceed with the work order. This will close your support ticket until the miner is returned. You'll be credited for that downtime once your miner is returned to the shelf and the issue is confirmed to be resolved. Read more about the RMA and repair process here.

 

When can I expect to receive credits?

Credits for a respective month are issued 1-2 months after month end for covered downtime events. These credits can be applied by customers to their hardware and hosting invoices.

If your unit experienced downtime due to repairs or RMA, you will receive credits once your miner is online and total amount of time offline is fully known. You will continue to be invoiced during the RMA/repair period.

 

Where is my credit balance located?

When customers log into their Compass dashboard, credits can be found using the navigation pane on the left side

General > Billing > Payment History & Credits

 

How can I use my credits?

Compass credits can be used by selecting invoices/orders that you desire to pay. Once invoices are selected, go to checkout and you should see your current available credit balance. Enter the value of credits that you wish to apply to your invoice from your balance hit confirm/apply. The credit will be reflected in the adjusted invoice amount due. If your available credit balance is enough to cover your invoices, you are all paid and set to go! Customers can also apply credits to partially pay an invoice. The remaining balance due can be settled using one of our accepted payment methods.

 

Can I convert credits to a local currency?

No, Compass credits are non-transferable and only usable for invoices/costs on the Compass platform. Under special circumstances, refunds to customers may be offered as credits or paid out in a local currency. These occasions are rare and we will inform customers explicitly via email communication when local currency payouts are possible.

Please note that if you are receiving a payout, law requires customers to undergo KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures for verification and identification purposes. Customers can initiate the KYC process from their dashboard and if you wish to expedite the payout process, please complete KYC in advance and beforehand.

 

Can I use my credits on any type of invoice I receive from Compass?

Credits can be used towards any invoice, however there are limitations as described below:

  • Hardware
    • New Purchase - $500/machine
    • Bundle Payment/Hardware Installment - Unlimited
  • Hosting
    • Monthly Hosting Invoices - Unlimited

 

My machine is getting relocated during my hosting term. How am I going to be invoiced and reimbursed?

Unfortunately, situations can arise that result in miners being relocated during the hosting term. Customers will be issued credits to cover the amount of downtime experienced while being relocated. You can expect invoices during or at the end of the relocation. Customers are expected to use credits to pay for hosting invoices. 

 

When will my facility credits be applied to my account?

If you have a miner which qualifies for facility credits it will be applied to your account 1-2 months later. September facility credits will be applied sometime in October or November.

 

For more information check out Payments and Invoice FAQs – Compass