- Report: #1293522
Complaint Review: Coolest Cooler - Portland Oregon
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Coolest Cooler
Portland, Oregon, USA
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http://coolest.com/
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Kickstarter fund raising, COOLEST COOLER LLC,- Ryan Grepper Largest crowd fund raising failure ever Portland Oregon
In July of 2014, I pledged $185 to the KickStarter crowd fundraiser "Coolest Cooler" project. I loved the idea of the Coolest Cooler and wanted to help get the project going. Ryan Grepper was asking for $50,000 to back the project and by the time the fund raising project timeframe closed, he raised $13.2 million dollars.
Shortly after the fund raising closed, I got a notice that I needed to paid an additional $15 to cover the shipping charge, which I did. Then, a short time later, I got another message telling me about adding additional batteries and wireless speakers to my order, which, again I did. The extra speaker and battery cost me an attition $134 dollars. So now I am into this fundraiser and accessories to the tune of $334.
The original promise date to begin shipping the coolers was in February of 2015. Ryan Grepper has sent out no less than 41 blog updates; with each one adding a new twist and to shipping delays of the project. His latest communication was in February of 2016 via a 'Hangout' call which a backer could call in and listen to him give another 'upbeat' marketing ploy, then, he dropped the bombshell that he was out of money and he had shut down production. He claims he has shipped 20,000 coolers, but there is no way to verify that. For example, I am backer #15,654 and have not received my cooler, extra speaker ot battery. Don’t know what algorithm he used to ship the coolers, but it couldn't have been FIFO method. Maybe he is counting the ones he sold and shipped on Amazon (see below)!!! My point is; Grepper has lied and deceived the backers so much over the past two years, it hard to believe anything he says.
In addition, Ryan Grepper starter offering and shipping, via Amazon, Coolest Cooler in November of 2015 to non-backers at a retail price of $499. Mind you that he started selling and shipping these coolers to non-backers before he had met his commitment to ship orders to his original backers. The reasoning he gave, was to “keep the lights on”. Or in other words, bring in more money, to met the orders of original backers. What does that sound like to you?
Now, he has shut down production (because he does not have the money to ship to the backers), but you can still order one on Amazon Prime and get it in two days, and he wants to raise another $15 million dollars to complete shipments to the original backers and “take the company to the next level”.
As a original backer, I have no way to verify anything that Ryan Grepper says, other than taking his word for it. Grepper claims that he needs an additional $5 million dollars to complete the shipments to the original backers. And he is in the process of trying to find investor who will dump $15 million into this project. Who in their right mind would invest $15 million dollars into this project, that has already blown the original $13 million of back money. Whom ever would invest, would not make anything on the first $5 million as that would ‘supposedly’ go to backorders.
This project was the largest ever KickStater fund raiser that was funded. It is also the largest ever KickStarter fund raiser failure ever!
I officially requested a refund of my $334 investment. According to the refund web page, they will give me my refund two weeks before my ship date…. WTF! If they have shut down production, how does one get a refund?
This project has been full of lies and deceit for the get go. It is my opionion that Ryan Grepper has used Kickstarter to scam 10's of thousands of people out of thier money, including me! Even though KickStarter claims no responsibility for failed projects, it should be illegal for Ryan Grepper and KickStarter to get away with no consequences for thier actions.
