Coolest Cooler asks backers for more cash to get a product they’ve already paid for

If you’ve been following the clusterfuck of a Kickstarter that is Coolest Cooler, you know it’s gone from boom to bust while leaving backers in the lurch. Now, it’s asking those backers for even more money — to get the product they already paid for.

In an update post to backers on its Kickstarter campaign, Coolest LLC is asking those who haven’t yet received their cooler (which is about 66 percent of backers) to pay an extra $97. The upside: Coolest claims it can guarantee delivery by July 4.

The company is framing it as a discount, too. At the same time it asks for extra funds to deliver a product backers have already paid for, it notes the final price will still be 25-33 percent below retail.

Those that don’t want to pay the extra $97 don’t have to — there’s just no timeline for getting coolers shipped. Instead, Coolest will take earnings from retail sales and apply them to backers’ coolers. Of course, the company has a business plan for growth, so getting you cooler without paying $97 will likely suit its needs, not yours.

In closing, Coolest says “In a perfect world we wouldn’t rely on new sales to help fund the delivery of backer Rewards, but in a perfect world you’d already have your Coolest.” It just doesn’t acknowledge that it created this situation.