The San Diego, California-based manufacturer of Herbalizer vaporizers has gone out of business, leaving customers without any warranty coverage to protect their products.
The Herbalizer, a desktop vaporizer offering users the choice between a whip or balloon, was launched back in 2013 by Joshua Young and Bob Pratt. At the time of its release, it had a retail price tag of $730, making it the most expensive herbal vaporizer on the market at the time.
A couple of years after launch, Young made a post on a popular vaping forum under the username “Engineer” in which he claimed that he had been fired from the company that he had built “without severance.”
“…we had our annual shareholder meeting Aug 23rd, and without any advance softening of the blow, the board of directors was changed. 13 days later I was fired from the company that I built, without severance (note to entrepreneurs, protect yourself first! ..I did not).”
By Young’s account, while he was the company’s largest single shareholder with 38% ownership of the company, a hostile takeover of the company unfolded. The company’s board of directors was changed and Young was fired, leaving him “with no income, just personal debt” that he “used to float the company.”
“So there I was, suddenly without the company that I spent over four years building and with no income, just personal debt that I used to float the company.”
Again, by his account, he was then offered a $50,000 buyout for his stake in the company — an offer he claims he refused. Following his refusal, he claims that the company’s remaining assets were sold to a company called 1Ready, LLC, which effectively wiped out the value of his stock in the original company he helped start.
“I’m the largest shareholder, owning 38%. And after the hostile takeover, knowing my somewhat desperate financial situation at the time, I was offered $50,000 for a total buyout. Hmmm.. does that sound like a fair deal for creating Herbalizer?”
By Young’s account, as per his forum post, “the Herbalizer warranty will no longer be honored.”
Then, earlier this year in February, the German company behind the Volcano brand of desktop vaporizers, Storz & Bickel, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against 1Ready, LLC. Not long after, the Herbalizer website and its corresponding social media profiles went offline, as if to signify the end of the Herbalizer company.
A source recently confirmed to us by e-mail that the Herbalizer company is in fact no longer in business.
As for Young’s account of the company’s demise, Young made clear in his forum post that he believes there are “two sides” to the story he has told.
“Is there two sides to this story? Of course.”
What are your thoughts on the Herbalizer company shutting down?
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