Another Kickstarter Disaster: The Coolest Cooler

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
I guess I'd be pretty upset too if I was a backer of this Kickstarter. Nothing sucks worse than seeing the product you've been waiting a year for show up for sale to the public on Amazon. :(

Last August, one of the most financially successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time concluded. It was a cooler called the Coolest, which was pricey but promised to contain most of what you need for a beach party. $300 backers were supposed to receive the Coolest, which would retail for $500. Then backers noticed that the product was available on Amazon’s crowdfunded products section… even though original backers from over a year ago hadn’t received theirs yet.
 
Kinda wish I would have never backed this thing.
 
These guys must've been laughing all the way to the bank and back.
 
To me this seems worse than outright stealing...or at the least more despicable.
 
Classic con-man stuff by Ryan Grepper. Why would anyone be excited about this item anyway, it's a cooler with shitty China-sourced parts. What happens when the blender dies? Will there be replacement parts available? It's just more fodder for our landfills.
 
If those commenting would've read they would've noticed that it was being sold in order to receive money for the blender motor which the company who was supposed to provide them shut down because of a strike. I don't agree with what the people who are behind "the Coolest" did because it undermines legitimate projects on crowdfunded sites like kickstarter.
 
Those coolers weigh 40 fucking pounds? Are they made of concrete? Who spends $300 on this unproven shit so they can have the joy of hauling that cinder block around?
 
This is why I don't back things on Kickstarter that cost more than $100. They always have problems and then you're on the hook for enough money that I'd actually care about it.
 
When this launched, I assumed one of two things would happen either it would fall flat and turn a huge number of normies is off crowd funding or Kickstarter would bend over backwards to make sure this went off well.
 
Posted today

Hey Coolest Backers,

I appreciate all the supportive emails that came in yesterday, but also want to address what seems to be a lot of confusion about two of the things in the last update video.

The first is the motor factory strike. Just to be clear again we are seeking out new motors for our new coolers. The ones that have been delivered are fine, however we ran into some trouble where the factory that manufactures our motor has gone on strike and we need to find another supplier. We are fully engaged in that process and we’ll keep you updated on the testing as results come in so we can resume production as soon as possible.

The second confusion was that a lot of people were upset that the Coolest is available for purchase for $500 on Amazon Launchpad right now. These Amazon orders are available right now because back this summer when the Launchpad team reached out we had no idea that this strike would impact us, nor were able to see the other incremental production delays. As a startup business, Launchpad was a huge opportunity for us and it was an honor for them to select us for this program, but clearly the timing was not ideal.

We fulfilled a purchase order for a limited quantity that they placed, but please remember the people on Amazon are paying $500 for this, where you’ll receive yours for the $185 or so you backed on Kickstarter. Kickstarter rewards will still be shipping out to backers in the coming weeks as new containers of Coolest arrive in port.

I sure wish that we could have fulfilled all of our backer rewards first, but these are two different situations. It seems that some people were upset when I said we are doing this to keep the lights on, but please understand that the online profits from people who are ordering this at $500 are helping to subsidize the huge upgrade costs that brought us from prototype to this world class cooler.
Click to expand...
 
Kickstarter is only for freaking idiots.


Keep handing your money away.
 
Ryan posted a wall of text today (kind of long and I'll format a bit better than he did):
Hey Coolest Backers,

I appreciate all the supportive emails that came in yesterday, but also want to address what seems to be a lot of confusion about two of the things in the last update video.
The first is the motor factory strike. Just to be clear again we are seeking out new motors for our new coolers. The ones that have been delivered are fine, however we ran into some trouble where the factory that manufactures our motor has gone on strike and we need to find another supplier. We are fully engaged in that process and we’ll keep you updated on the testing as results come in so we can resume production as soon as possible.

The second confusion was that a lot of people were upset that the Coolest is available for purchase for $500 on Amazon Launchpad right now. These Amazon orders are available right now because back this summer when the Launchpad team reached out we had no idea that this strike would impact us, nor were able to see the other incremental production delays. As a startup business, Launchpad was a huge opportunity for us and it was an honor for them to select us for this program, but clearly the timing was not ideal.

We fulfilled a purchase order for a limited quantity that they placed, but please remember the people on Amazon are paying $500 for this, where you’ll receive yours for the $185 or so you backed on Kickstarter. Kickstarter rewards will still be shipping out to backers in the coming weeks as new containers of Coolest arrive in port.

I sure wish that we could have fulfilled all of our backer rewards first, but these are two different situations. It seems that some people were upset when I said we are doing this to keep the lights on, but please understand that the online profits from people who are ordering this at $500 are helping to subsidize the huge upgrade costs that brought us from prototype to this world class cooler.

What you backed... What you'll get
Other people, I just have to say personally, are kind of giving up on the Kickstarter process here. In their hurry to get their Coolest, they’ve forgotten about the size and scale of what we’ve accomplished, and they are making comments about the funding we received from this Kickstarter. This is very hurtful and frustrating because, believe me, I’m not gallivanting off on trips around the world...other than to visit our suppliers in China. My time is spent away from my family, working late nights and weekends to get everyone’s Coolest to them as quickly as I possible can.

If you’ve ever opened up your own company, ever paid taxes, ever paid consultant fees, ever designed a product from scratch for a few hundred people and then had to scale it for mass production for more than 60,000 people, ever had every decision you make scrutinized by the masses, or ever offered something that ended up being more expensive to make than you sold it for, you can understand that we are not spending your money frivolously.
When you look at the quality we’ve built into this, hear the feedback from those who have touched and used it, and factor in the extensive design and engineering and testing we’ve done, this reality is very clear: the total cost for your Coolest will be a lot more than you paid for it. Because of that, there were delays, there was a decision to take pre-orders, and a decision to commit to online sales. None of this is ideal.

We’d all like to receive our Coolest the week after we backed for it, and, my God, we wish that would have happened too…except that’s not what Kickstarter is about.

Kickstarter is about supporting an idea that needs to go be developed and created, and the understanding has always been that it’s a process. Lots of projects have been delayed. We see in the comments that some of our folks backed the previous #1 Funded Pebble Watch campaign, and were able to buy it at Best Buy before they received it as backers. Pebble didn’t mean to do that, and neither did we.

The delays in production, or problems like we’re having with our strike, are challenging the delivery timeline. But the good news is we’ve already succeeded in creating something that didn’t exist before. You’re going to see all these people who are happy with their Coolest, who love it. And when you actually see the incredible detail, the level of quality of the components and materials, then you’ll realize it was worth it.

I wish this process went faster. I wish I could shout that from every rooftop “I’M SORRY THIS DIDN’T GET DONE FASTER!” But I’ve never had to manage a strike in China before.

One thing I’m incredibly proud of is our ability to keep you informed about the journey and efforts, the successes and setbacks, and the entire complicated process involved in bringing the Coolest Cooler to life, and we’ve done that in the last 35 Kickstarter updates and 20+ Coolest/Countdown blogs, and personally responded to over 50,000 emails. Some people who are angry have never fully appreciated the journey. They don’t know the story of me, my company, the Coolest manufacturing process, or Kickstarter, and those are the ones that bother me the most.

I’m ok that some backers are upset with my decisions or how I’ve managed this process, and I side with them, and I agree with them, and I openly receive their criticism as much as it hurts me and my team personally. It’s the people who have forgotten, or never bothered to recognize how hard we’ve worked for them, that sting.

We will continue to deal with this strike situation and find the best possible replacement motor. We won’t hurry through that, because while we are all in a rush, no one wants us to hurry through that process. You want the same level of world-class motor that we’ve been delivering, and we will find that replacement. It takes time because we have to test so thoroughly, but as soon as we have information to share, we’ll keep you updated appropriately, just like we always have.

There is no nonsense or shenanigans here. Every backer will have their Coolest fulfilled, and I’ve said that from day one.

In all of this, especially this latest round of feedback from people who haven’t followed the process, or who are unfamiliar with the challenges of long lead times for sales and for manufacturing, or problems that happen with supply chains that you can’t control, I thank the people who have been understanding and who still believe in me, my team and this product.

Looking forward to giving you an amazing motor update soon, and thanks again for all the support from the believers in this Kickstarter process.
Click to expand...
 
Actually they can control their own supply chain. It is quite common to source a part from multiple vendors to cover any shortages or other unforeseen issues. When you are charging hundreds of dollars for a cooler, they can afford to do better due diligence. Proper planning, vendor selection, and safer lead times reduces risks as well. Also they could have gone with a more common part type to allow for more easy user replacement and part sourcing. They are talking about an electric motor for a blender, not a four dimensional unicorn horn.
 
i remember seeing a youtube video promoting this, i thought it was a joke at first then i realized they were serious. i knew with that price theres no way this was going to take off.
 
NickJames said:
TL;DR The amazon buyers paid more money so they get it faster.
Click to expand...

And that Amazon selected them for the Launchpad program which required they filled a PO. Supposedly they had planned to be able to fill that PO while also shipping backer orders.

$500 for a cooler is insane.
 
Sounds like a necessary evil to keep the business going. They should have communicated about what they were doing with the backers though.

Its certainly better than shipping to some backers and going under.
 
Ocellaris said:
Those coolers weigh 40 fucking pounds? Are they made of concrete? Who spends $300 on this unproven shit so they can have the joy of hauling that cinder block around?
Click to expand...
All you gotta do is drag it though sand! Super easy.
 
my neighbor got one of these. Tried to talk me into backing. I was scared away by the 40lb weight. I instead backed Fizzics. Well, my Fizzics is sitting on my counter as of this week. I won the delivery race it seems.
 
Same thing is happening with the Ghostbusters Board Game. Backed it a while ago...played it at GenCon....and saw the board game in my local comic store the other day...but none of the kickstarter people received theirs.
 
But does it cool my desktop while powering it? Then maybe it's worth 500 dollar :p
 
I got mine about a month ago and I love it. It was a bit of a gamble I suppose but if $200 is going to break you then you shouldn't back stuff like this. I for one am glad I took the chance.
 
Ocellaris said:
Those coolers weigh 40 fucking pounds? Are they made of concrete? Who spends $300 on this unproven shit so they can have the joy of hauling that cinder block around?
Click to expand...

They'll sell to customers the "How the Egyptians Did It" kit for $600.00. :D
 
Can someone explain to me why anyone would want a beach cooler with a built in blender? It's hard enough dealing with pre made food and drinks at the beach without getting sand in everything. I imagine using a blender at the beach is just going to be messy and annoying. I could maybe see using it for camping in the mountains, maybe. Just seems like it adds unnecessary weight and expense.

Also, I hate anything that's meant for the beach that includes speakers, because I hate douche bags that blast their shitty music out in public, especially where people are trying to relax.
 
I have "funded" a few projects on Kickstarter. I regret it. I spent a couple hundred on consumer goods that didn't live up to expectations. I should have blown the money in Vegas - would have had more fun.

The problem with Kickstarter is you are not making an actual investment in a company - you are preordering a consumer good that you may or may not get. It's a bad idea to take out a loan for a nondurable consumer good and it is probably even worse to give a unsecured loan (preorder) for a nondurable consumer good.

It's gambling where you don't actually win anything - just the value of your money that you gambled back.
 
Not sure why this was called "The Pebble Watch all over again". The Pebble did go on sale at Best Buy, but it was different colors. You couldn't buy the backer colors at Best Buy. So the backers did get some exclusiveness.
 
You mean I can pre-order a game that won't work until weeks after release AND pay someone else for a product before it's made? Oh boy where's my wallet !!
 
i960 said:
Can someone explain to me why anyone would want a beach cooler with a built in blender? It's hard enough dealing with pre made food and drinks at the beach without getting sand in everything. I imagine using a blender at the beach is just going to be messy and annoying. I could maybe see using it for camping in the mountains, maybe. Just seems like it adds unnecessary weight and expense.

Also, I hate anything that's meant for the beach that includes speakers, because I hate douche bags that blast their shitty music out in public, especially where people are trying to relax.
Click to expand...

Its not just limited to the beach. Camping, tailgates, really any outdoor gathering where food, drink and music is needed. I'm an original backer and I'm furious with how the entire campaign has been handled. Ryan Grepper, the founder, appears to be a used car salesman of the highest order. He refuses to share shipment tracking notifications and to date I've not seen a list of the original backers who've actually received their product. His reluctance to share the information only adds to his suspect reputation.
 
deadlift1 said:
I'm an original backer and I'm furious with how the entire campaign has been handled.
Click to expand...

When dealing with crowdfunding, always ask yourself what would happen if you received absolutely nothing from your donated money. You are throwing money at a the dream of a product and not actually buying something outright.
 
deadlift1 said:
Its not just limited to the beach. Camping, tailgates, really any outdoor gathering where food, drink and music is needed. I'm an original backer and I'm furious with how the entire campaign has been handled. Ryan Grepper, the founder, appears to be a used car salesman of the highest order. He refuses to share shipment tracking notifications and to date I've not seen a list of the original backers who've actually received their product. His reluctance to share the information only adds to his suspect reputation.
Click to expand...

I've highlighted the problem I have, lol. But I will admit, it's just my opinion. :D
 
MrTryfe said:
At least it wasn't vapor ware...that's a win right?
Click to expand...

I was thinking this was vapor ware with the article heading. At least the product exist, compared to all the other scams that burn through the cash and vanish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top