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by wp381640 2382 days ago
> who is scraping together their life on one hand and buying $800 gifts?

Having grown up poor I know it's not uncommon for parents to save during the year for that one big annual gift. This customer of Unicorn is one example:

> “I am upset he basically robbed everyone of his customers and is closing without delivering any scooters,” Rebecca Buchholtz wrote in an email to The Verge. “This was my daughters Christmas gift and now I cannot get her any gift.”

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/7/21000094/unicorn-electric...

> if you're really doing the above, why would you take a gamble instead of buying something currently available?

It wasn't sold as a gamble or a risk, it was sold as a product on an online store from a company founder who was reputable.

I have no idea why HN users tend to degenerate into victim blaming in these situations - the bad party here is the company and the founders

1 comments

I was 50-50 on the victim blaming comment to show up since this was HN and not reddit, lost that bet :)

As much as blaming is wrong, I do believe in personal responsibility as well. I do not agree with the broad brush that's being used widely around victim blaming being 100% bad. I think it is a spectrum and in this case it definitely tilts towards the buyer.

And no - pre-order from this site is not the same as PS4 pre order. There is a huge difference between a big company that has something to lose and will stand behind its product Vs a random company that goes bust after a facebook spend - that's what makes it a gamble.

When I ordered in September, it was not being advertised as a pre order. I fully expected my scooters to be shipped immediately.