Well, what is certain is that EA continued to take orders with full payment up front for many months (starting in the Fall of 2023) when they knew they were facing a financial crisis. They did this without warning their potential customers of the risks. How this reflects on the owner is inescapable.
You see at this point and long before people/customers forming opinions about the owner based on youtube videos, a couple of phone calls, a few emails and genuine satisfaction with their delivered equipment. None of these things give you any insight into the real character and/or business acumen/recklessness of the owner. It is a human trait to form essentially a relationship with people/businesses/brands on scant facts. How many times are people surprised to find out the truth about a celebrity, sports figure, business or even someone they actually knew well.
I would suggest that EA provides another example of why you should be circumspect about how much you really know about a person/business. You do not want to live your life assuming that everyone is out to cheat you, but you do want to act based on what you know (often very little) versus what you wish. There is nothing wrong with telling others of your positive experience with a business/individual, but it quite another thing to extrapolate knowledge of a business/individual’s true character. I remember reading many posts here from members extolling EA and its owner and attacking any doubters – essentially based on nothing more than maybe a good purchase experience (some of the posters had not even bought anything yet) and feelings conjured from their own minds.
I previously posted the above. My basic question is:
Why would anyone want to patronize a business, even if their products are good, that has behaved this way?
BTW, credit card refunds/charge backs are the responsibility of the credit card issuer/merchant processor; they in turn will seek to recoup the loss from the merchant. Did EA actually cover all of the refunds? I do not know; does anyone?