Meanwhile: Dorian Nakamoto - alleged Bitcoin founder - is trying to raise a fund because this whole Bitcoin entourage and goldrush has destroyed his personal life. Hopefully if Andrew gets a refund he will be so nice to donate a bit to The Dorian Nakamoto Legal Defense Fund.
The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
71–80 of 136 posts
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#72That is a really sad story...
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#73Absolutely terrible. I have the feeling that Jordan knows exactly what he's doing. The amount of $20,000 is a lot but it's not that much once you start to hire lawyers and file a suit or go into arbitration. Sounds like he's stringing them along waiting to see how much more cash they're willing to invest to recoup that $20,000. Even worse Jordan might be setting himself up for a settlement of less than $20,000 where…
I wouldn't say Jordan has the upper hand. Managing the reputation of the company is critical for the survival of a startup. Andrew may lose, at worst, $20k, but Jordan can lose everything (unless its a scam or they already made a substantial profit from these machines).
Managing the reputation is important, but not nearly as much as shipping a product that actually functions and owning up to your shortcomings.
When customers are treated unfairly and dicked around, they post stories on HN and Reddit. Good luck trying to manage your reputation from there.
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#74Meanwhile: Dorian Nakamoto - alleged Bitcoin founder - is trying to raise a fund because this whole Bitcoin entourage and goldrush has destroyed his personal life. Hopefully if Andrew gets a refund he will be so nice to donate a bit to The Dorian Nakamoto Legal Defense Fund. http://www.newsweeklied.com/
Kinda seems like more of an "attack fund" than a "defense fund." Also doesn't really seem to say how Dorian was harmed.
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#75Absolutely terrible. I have the feeling that Jordan knows exactly what he's doing. The amount of $20,000 is a lot but it's not that much once you start to hire lawyers and file a suit or go into arbitration. Sounds like he's stringing them along waiting to see how much more cash they're willing to invest to recoup that $20,000. Even worse Jordan might be setting himself up for a settlement of less than $20,000 where…
I wouldn't say Jordan has the upper hand. Managing the reputation of the company is critical for the survival of a startup. Andrew may lose, at worst, $20k, but Jordan can lose everything (unless its a scam or they already made a substantial profit from these machines).
Let's recap the situation:
Andrew: has no money
Jordan: has all the money
Which side were you saying is losing again?
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#76wow that sounds like a horrible experience! it is unfortunate that you got stung like that. out of interest, what was the expected ROI? I mean, you sunk $25K into it. even if you were charging 5% fees - you would need half a million in transactions to break even, and that isn't including the monthly rental fee for the location. is there really that big of a demand for BTC in a pub?
In Canada we can't get Bitcoin as easily as in the US and getting cash from Bitcoin isn't easy either. There's a big demand for BTC, the pub has probably not much to do with the choice (but it could easily become a way to attract customers).
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's quite common for ATM's to be running Windows XP, so maybe that is why this one is doing it as well. And ATM's and POS machines running XP do still receive security updates.
It's common for ATMs to be built on XP, there's no denying that. But the reason is because they were built on it initially, when it was still okay to do so. To using Windows XP for the base of an ATM (especially one that -- by design -- must be connected to the Internet) in 2014 is more than irresponsible. I can't imagine the kind of cargo cult thinking required to make that decision.
I am pretty sure that manufacturer of ATM used XP as a base and Robocoin did not really have a choice. They could have chosen different ATM company, but it's not like manufactures are fallen over themselves to sell 70 ATM machines to new start up.
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I get that we are on the Internet and everyone gets a voice, but they should have let their lawyers do the talking. Both companies are run by adults I assume, but both are throwing sand in each other's faces running across the playground, in this case reddit, Twitter and HN. Either party can use this as slander I suppose. If Robocoin is still making money, this bad PR might go against them for just a bit, but their "…
Disregarding the legal issues, warning other customers of such behavior is pretty much a moral duty - keeping mum, as you propose, would be a shameful behavior and if everyone did that way then we'd have a worse society.
Maybe. But 9/10, we get a hate mob fueled by a one-sided story by someone who feels "offended".
There isn't enough punishment when it's all based on false information. In fact, there's none. If I was the target, I would be personally ruining the lives of the people that started it. It would be my moral imperative.
look at what happened with notch and minecraft. Silly children that couldn't get their own way decided to get the masses sending him shitty and hateful messages, which eventually led to his quitting/selling to microsoft.
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Incidentally, the retail price for an ordinary ATM machine is $2,000 to $4,500" But, but.... those banks know nothing about bitcoin, it's the future... And of course, the markup is moot, because you didn't get the product.
That's the dumbest argument ever. You are comparing one of the most expensive bitcoin ATMs with the cheapest traditional ATMs. "But, but" is the core of your argument.
Even granting Poe's Law, when somebody says something so dumb you can't believe it, it's often worth actually not believing it.
Re: The Great Robocoin Rip-off: How We Lost $25,000 Buying a Robocoin ATM
#80This wouldn't be the only company selling Bitcoin related hardware that probably should not be in business:
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/09/ftcs-r...
(Butterfly Labs)