Scooter and bike share companies routinely parked (and still park) bikes and scooters directly in the path of pedestrians because they know that the more visible their devices are, the more likely someone will use them.
Additionally, as you point out the pricing these companies charge started out very low but have escalated quickly. But this isn't always true - micromobility can replace ownership if done right: Companies with presumably less VC funding, such as Donkey Republic or Forest have different pricing models that are still affordable. In Donkey Republic's case, you can sometimes sign up for a $10/month subscription with minimum three months (equivalent in local currency) where you can then reserve a bike and take it home with you or park it near your house but blocked from others renting it. You pay a discounted fee to ride it, and an even smaller fee to reserve it.
Cities are also to blame:
Better than no-parking-zones are cities like Paris where they created parking spaces specifically for bikes and scooters. You rarely see problems in these cities. Some places require designated parking areas without making the space in the roads for them - those are much more problematic because the parking spaces fill and spill over onto where people would prefer to walk or drive.
But users are indeed part of the problem:
The number of times I've seen unsafe drivers of any vehicle, or two people on one scooter, or scooters or bikes going the wrong way down a bike lane... the problems are actually endless.
But the problems aren't always with scooters or e-bikes themselves. Sometimes it's an ecosystem problem, and sometimes the rental companies are too short-sighted.
And regulation isn't always bad:
As a scooter rider myself, I look forward to the day when the 2027 E.U. law requiring removable batteries might take effect in the private scooter market. It's silly that so many high end scooter brands aren't making batteries removable simply because they don't want to have to deal with shipping batteries and user-replaceable parts and the inherent design costs of a removable battery.