这是关于水上运动的兴衰的故事,以及它们与蓬勃发展的水实验室的失误,这使人们对整个美国和国外的零售商店做出了空虚的承诺。
那是一个寒冷的早晨,杰夫(Jeff)登录该网站以查看水上运动行业的每日新闻。除了一篇文章引起了他的注意,这一天似乎没有什么不同。Thrive Aquatics,这家迅速增长的补品公司将发布他们的蓬勃发展的水实验室and as Jeff read it could revolutionize the local fish store-testing scene.
The principal of the unit was simple: Customers could come to a local fish store to have their aquarium water tested professionally and automatically by a machine that would give exact and accurate results then, once complete, the customer could shop the local goods of the pet store based off the results. It all made very good business sense as hobbyists struggle with water quality testing—often having to use testing kits that can be messy and very prone to user error.
Initially the concept was extremely popular among local fish store owners and more importantly hobbyists who did not mind spending $2 a test to receive accurate results. Fish store owners were told to put down a sizable deposit for the machine as it was fairly complicated piece of software and hardware. A few stores balked at the price while the vast majority did send the funds off to Thrive Aquatics and were told in the late summer of 2013 they would start to receive their machines.
In early 2014 it was noticed the Water Labs were not shipped to the stores who pre ordered the device and stores begin to question the status of the project. The stores received communication regarding the status of their machine: it was delayed and would begin shipping in late 2014. Fast forward to 2016 and the machines still have not shipped to the stores.
Interestingly, the company was noticeably absent at aquarium conference shows for the past several years. The company would spend large sums of money on social events with entertainment and catered meals to woo stores and consumers with their wares.
Jeff who cobbled together the initial deposit for the machine was worried—he could not afford to have his $5K investment outstanding forever. While Jeff was worried about his deposit he was not alone, several stores have reached out to us regarding the silence of Thrive Aquatics and they promised to deliver the water lab very soon.
The same story was told to Daniel Feig owner of Fishy Bizness a well knownTucson,亚利桑那鱼类商店,为机器支付了10万美元的押金。即使有多个退款或实际机器的承诺,他仍然没有收到Waterlab或退款10,000美元的退款。
输入David D'Aquin,他是Coral Vue的首席执行官,这是美国各地当地鱼类商店的流行水上设备和用品分销商。Thrive Aquatics已与他接触,将他们的Coral RX品牌出售给他,以巨额资金。Thrive一直在与公司进行沟通,它将利用这些资金退还存储水实验室的存款并向其他公司支付出色的发票。实际上,Thrive Aquatics与我们联系,我们被告知一个类似的故事,其他商店所有者已经确认情况是如此。
但是,我们在Coral Vue的David D'Aquin首席执行官接触我们,并被告知其余的故事。
我们对Thrive Aquatics进行了尽职调查,并决定提取他们对他们的Coral RX品牌的报价。
礁石建筑商了解到尽职调查包括发现Blue Ocean Corals,LLC提起的诉讼是Thrive Aquatics和Coral RX的法律公司。该诉讼是针对Phoenix Kiosk的一家公司,由Thrive Aquatics签约,以帮助建造其水实验室。显然,他们的协议并不是那么好,公司的关系恶化到诉讼的地步。即使原始诉讼被技术驳回forum non conveniens战术显示了两家公司之间一个更高的问题。
有趣的是,繁荣游泳的确很大urce of their revenue from their core product line of additives and refill kits for a large portion of fish stores in North America. Several stores we have visited and interviewed have stopped selling Thrive products and have made deals to clear the remaining inventory from their shelves. These stores in turn have turned their attention to other additives to offer their customers. With the dwindling cash flow for Thrive Aquatics a major fund infusion would be necessary to keep the company able to pay off their mounting debts.
由于没有公司购买Coral RX品牌,Thrive Aquatics有一个重大的现金流问题,而且似乎零售店和其他公司应有的资金将留给自己。
We reached out to Thrive Aquatics directly and received this response.
我们目前正在与其他买家达成协议。如果并且何时关闭,我们的计划是相同的。我们将使每个人整体制造,并开始制造沃特拉布。我们仍然有几家商店使他们的预订完好无损,并准备好接收其供水行。我们致力于实现这一目标,并感谢社区向我们展示的支持。
We can not independently confirm that another deal is in the works as none of our sources can verify the comment made by Thrive Aquatics. For now the consensus of our investigation concludes with the facts: the odds of stores receiving a refund are very slim and stores owners will be out the funds they put down for a deposit.
Lawsuit against Kiosk Company dismissed:
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flsdce/0:2014cv61550/444762/23/