Lily drone: Celebrated company collapses amid angry customers and lawsuits

The company had one of the most celebrated products in tech

A drone company apparently made the most futuristic flying camera ever made – but has now been hit with disappointed customers and lawsuits.

Lily announced this month that it was winding itself down and would refund everyone who pre-ordered his drone in the middle of 2015.

It was the ignominious end of an 18 month period that saw the company soar to the top tech world with its stunning features. But it slowly dawned on many of its customers over the following months that it actually was.

Now its customers claim that it had duped them with the flashy and splashy video that introduced the technology.

A new lawsuit alleges that videos used to bring in the pre-orders – which saw tens of thousands of people pre-ordering the drone for as much as $899 – was actually filmed using far more expensive drones that were being manually flown. The video suggested that the drone would be able to follow people, go under water, and land on user’s hands; but all of those were shown as part of a video that the new case alleges were actually faked.

The case alleging such was filed in the wake of the news that the company would be shut down and all of the people who pre-ordered the drone – the only way to buy it, and which left people having invested hundreds of dollars without any guarantee of when it would arrive – would have their money refunded.

If the case, filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, is successful then the customers will receive perhaps much more cash from the company.

One customer, Richard Tatnell, told The Independent that he had initially been excited when he pre-ordered the drone in May 2015. But while he had still been hoping the drone would arrive, he was less excited as time passed and the technology in the drone became less new.

“Ultimately I'm just disappointed,” Mr Tatnell said. “Having followed the progress of the camera's development since pre-ordering in May 2015 and accepting the constant delays to shipping dates, it's disappointing to now not be getting the finished product.

“That said technology has come a long way since I ordered it and so while the Lily camera was cutting edge back then, it did slowly lose its appeal as other drones came on the market.”

Those who had pre-ordered received a message with the subject line "The End of our Journey". Inside that message, two members of the team explained that they are "planning to wind down the company and offer refunds to customers”, and gave details on how that it could be done.

It claimed that the company had gone under because of “ever-diminishing funds”, and that it didn’t have enough money to ship its first drones.

“In the past year, the Lily family has had many ups and downs,” the email read. |We have been delighted by the steady advancements in the quality of our product and have received great feedback from our Beta program.

“At the same time, we have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds. Over the past few months, we have tried to secure financing in order to unlock our manufacturing line and ship our first units - but have been unable to do this.”

The end of the email apologised and thanked pre-order customers for their support.

“After so much hard work, we are sad to see this adventure come to an end,” Antoine and Henry wrote. “We are very sorry and disappointed that we will not be able to deliver your flying camera, and are incredibly grateful for your support as a pre-order customer.

“Thank you for believing in our vision and giving us the opportunity to get this far. We hope our contribution will help pave the way for the exciting future of our industry.”