Yes. The first down payments were meant to fund the project, resources, bills, sourced components, development, tests, corrections to the prototypes. No progress could be done without spending part or all of this initial funding. The Neo900 website still claims that refunds will be done if the project fails before all funds are depleted, but so far the project is not considered a failure since it's still doable (overdue, that is right) and the funds are not depleted (yet we don't know what is left). I still prefer to remain cautious and not count too much on a refund because I expect Joerg and the team to have used some of the money, probably more than the 2% monthly interest, and because I would prefer project progress over a simple reset. But technically, you're right, these down payments should still be refundable, just don't expect a 100% refund because that would mean that the investment remained dormant, we know it wasn't and the team has worked.

The crowdfunding step, however, is just meant to order the actual product (sourced and produced parts, assembling, shipping) when all development is done but set a minimal threshold to the number of orders so that the production is possible. It's like a backorder with a minimal unit number prerequisite. There is no uncertainty anymore at this stage, since development is considered completed. The money will not be spent unless the goal is achieved and the unit is produced, so I don't see why these people wouldn't get their money back if the crowdfunding goal is not reached. If it is not reached, Joerg would not even see the money in the Neo900 bank account.