Communicating about it would defeat the entire purpose of the idea.
The way he did it allowed him to validate the idea in the exact same situation he would end up after building it, so it's a great way to take the (huge!) risk out of building a product.
Personally I wouldn't mind as a customer as you did know all the facts before you were actually spending the money.
I don't care. It's not my role as a customer to make it easy for you to experiment. You either tell me the truth, front up, or you don't try to make the sale.
The way he did it allowed him to validate the idea in the exact same situation he would end up after building it, so it's a great way to take the (huge!) risk out of building a product.
Personally I wouldn't mind as a customer as you did know all the facts before you were actually spending the money.