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The Great Robocoin Rip-off

Posted by Soulskill on from the expectation-versus-reality dept.

FhnuZoag writes: Last year, Andrew Wilkinson, founder of MetaLab, bought a Robocoin Bitcoin ATM, figuring it would be a fun little side project and a good way to help move Bitcoin forward. It did not quite turn out that way. He has now written a timeline of the 10-month, $25,000(CAD) struggle. In short: there was a massive shipping delay, a $2,000 charge to clear customs, no knowledge base, unhelpful support, and the ATM itself flat out didn't work.

4 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Serveds him right for being a hipster twat by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think a general rule of thumb is that once you hit 5 digits of price, a test drive is never too much to ask.

  2. Lowest cost laundering by Overzeetop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One persons large spread on a conversion, is another persons bargain on laundering.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  3. Re:The inevitable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There will be two groups who will ridicule this guy the worst:
    1) People who think everyone who buys a magazine with the word "bitcoin" deserves to be scammed because free market durp
    2) Bitcoin uber-nerds who are shocked these n00bs didn't use a P2SH decentralized escrow service by manually copying and pasting the signatures

    Normal people in the middle will just shrug and say "sue 'em!"

  4. Re:Always a chuckle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Do you like it when libertarians chuckle at your "socialist paradise" when the government screws up? It's a straw man argument.