Quoted from fosaisu:Doesn't seem that simple to me. Why would JJP's "liability" be any different if an exclusive distributor folds than if it had allowed five distributors in Australia and one of them folded?
There could be something to the fact that JJP put consumers in harms way, by picking a single distributor and one that we now know was untrustworthy. What requirements did JJP have for someone to become a distributor?
Quoted from fosaisu:One solution, if you're going to do preorders at all, is to structure things the way PPS has, where distributors collect the payments but must send them immediately to PPS. That way if a distributor folds, PPS is holding the customer's money and can either make the machine or refund as appropriate (I would guess PPS considered this particular situation in creating that policy). Of course manufacturers can also go bankrupt, so it will always be a gamble to pre-order big expensive toys like these.
I am pretty sure any refund and/or product created would have to go back to the courts that are handling the bankruptcy in order to pay off the creditors. I think all payments would have to be direct to the manufacture, completely bypassing the distributor, to avoid this issue.
Pittsburgh, PA
