Today in Christmas Miracles: a Failed Electric Scooter Company is Getting Bailed Out
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for SoyCow1337:
Today in Christmas miracles: a failed electric scooter company is getting bailed out:
It's a Christmas micromobility miracle!
Failed scooter business Unicorn is getting bailed out by rival company Unagi, after Unicorn had to shut down recently without any money leftover for refunds. David Hyman, CEO of Unagi, told The Verge that he can offer a $1,000 Unagi electric scooter to any of the 350 people who bought Unicorn scooters. Nick Evans, CEO of Unicorn and co-creator of gadget tracker Tile, confirmed the deal, and said he will offer refunds to anyone who doesn't want the Unagi scooter and just wants their money back.
"We put together a creative solution," Evans said. "I'll be paying out of pocket personally to get this done, and it's been pretty challenging, but I definitely want to do right by everyone."
"It will cost us some money," Hyman said, "but it's some Christmas good will too."
[...] Hyman thought maybe he would buy Unicorn's domain name and then reroute customers to Unagi's website. But after further discussion they arrived at a different arrangement. First, Evans would wire an undisclosed sum into Hyman's account. (Neither Hyman nor Evans would say how much.) Then, customers who bought a Unicorn scooter can choose one of two options: a free Unagi scooter or a full refund.
"I want this to end up with people better off than if they'd got a Unicorn scooter," Evans said.
Hyman says he risks pissing off the several thousand people who bought an Unagi scooter at full price, but it was worth to spread a little holiday cheer.
"Here comes Hanukkah Harry on the electric scooter," he said.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.