As a Blu2 owner, I can empathize with you. As an early adopter, I have had to pay this early adopter tax many times and it is never a good feeling. Fortunately, I have a 2nd listening room that is in desperate need of its own M-scaler and so at least my Blu2 will continue to have great purpose.
As for the obligations that a producer has to its consumers, you may wish to more closely examine Chord's unique situation. I am not trying to make excuses for them but trying to put myself in their shoes, here is how I see it:
1. As we know, Rob is on a path of his own making. There is no precedent for anything like M-scaler, DX amps, DAVINA, etc., anywhere in the market and while Rob has been talking about these products for some time now, out of 3 products, only 1 has made it to market thus far and it's not because Rob has been busy sunning in Saint-Tropez. On several occasions, I have asked Rob when this or that will finally be ready and his typical answer these days is "it will be ready when it's ready" because I don't think he knows. Rob has been very up front that he is in uncharted waters and so who really knows if his next release will be in 6 months or 6 years.
2. If you recall, when Blu2 was first announced by Chord at CES in Las Vegas in January of 2017, there was considerable hoopla and many of us eagerly fell in line expecting to receive our units "within 2 months" of the announcement. As you know, Chord encountered delays and many of us didn't receive our Blu2s for 6-8 months (it took 8 months for me to get mine). Not surprisingly, Chord took quite a bit of flack for this and so I'm sure they're leery of making premature announcements about the release timeline for any future products.
3. If Chord leaked info 3 months ago that a less expensive standalone M-scaler would be available at this time, I'm sure there will be customers who received their Blu2s 4 months ago that would cry foul just as you're doing. There will always be individuals who will find themselves having bought something at the wrong time. To be fair to Chord, what would you suggest is their obligation in this situation? If they deem they are ready to officially launch a product on a certain date and they invite the press to cover such an event, why would it make sense to prematurely leak this information? Now if your dealer promised you that a less expensive M-scaler would definitely not be released this year and this influenced your decision to purchase a Blu2, I believe that dealer should be obligated to purchase your Blu2 back.