[sgentle]

"Just so we're perfectly aligned, I want you to understand the relationship that Robocoin has with our manufacturer. We are actually just a reseller of their kiosks with our software."

I've heard this from smaller retailers of all kinds of products and, as pointed out in Andrew's reply, it's complete bullshit. The company that took your money is the company you formed a contract with. Any nonsense about "yeah, but the manufacturer..." is a smokescreen designed to dodge responsibility.

(Wimpy disclaimer: this isn't legal advice and maybe it's not true if you live in Yemen or something, I dunno)

[nols]

I really think that it's not even a smokescreen as much as it's really what they think. "Why should I assume any risk when I'm just a reseller?" is a common thought among many new companies. They don't really see themselves as a business with its own risk as much as a subsidiary of the company.

It's just a sign of naiveté among many new entrepreneurs.

[spacemanmatt]

A necessary question: What value am I providing?

In their case, they dodged providing any at all.