https://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-com ... or-company
Since I can’t seem to upload my filled-in version of the California Attorney General’s Consumer Complaint form, I’m simply going to reference the sections (beyond personal information required) and include how I filled them in. The above link takes you to a web form that is designed to be filled in AND submitted online. If you have the date you were charged for this project and your backer number in hand, the form should take you less than 15 minutes to fill out and submit. I believe you should fill out and submit this form whether or not you are a resident of California. Comhear is located in California so it falls under the jurisdiction of the California AG. It does business nationwide and indeed around the world. Therefore I believe that wherever you are located, you have standing to file this complaint.
Section 1 your information – standard complainant identifier information … name, address etc.)
Section 2 Information about company –
Company name – Comhear Inc.
Mailing address – 4435 Eastgate Mall, Suite 400
City – San Diego
State – California
Zip – 92101
Comhear URL – www.comhear.com
Email address – unk
Phone – 858-242-7034
Fax – unk
Section 3: complaint information
Product – Yarra 3DX Soundbar
Date of Transaction – {the date your credit card was hit for your pledge)
Account # - kickstarter backer # xxx
Total amount paid (what you paid as a backer)
Amount in dispute – (what you paid as a backer)
How was payment made - (x inserted into appropriate box)
Did you sign a contract – (I checked the “no” box)
Where was the contract signed – n/a
Starting date – n/a
Expiration date – n/a
Did you complain to the company – (yes or no, and check box for “how”)
Person contacted – (name or position of individual contacted if you complained to company)he
His / her phone number - (if you know it, otherwise “unk”)
Results – (if any, insert. I got none and entered “no response”)
What result would you consider fair? – (I inserted “full refund”)
Have you contacted another (California) agency about this? – (I checked the “no” box)
Do you have an attorney in this case? – (I checked the “no” button)
Section 4 – information about the transaction
Multiple choice boxes – I checked “computer web or email”)
Section 5 – AG disclaimer (no entries necessary)
Section 6 – Details of complaint
(Feel free to insert your details as you understand them. I inserted as follows: “It has been a year since the promised delivery date of the product, and the company has yet to deliver. I believe the company has mislead and may have defrauded me in order to induce my participation in their fundraising effort and thereby secure funds for ultimately misappropriated by the company for other purposes. That belief is based upon the following: (1) the project was advertised as “ready for production” while later communication from the company via Kickstarter suggested that much R&D needed to be done prior to production; (2) the company claimed to own a portfolio of patents when in fact it has no patents of its own and was a licensee of the relied upon patent portfolio owned by UCSD ; (3) the company was apparently heavily in debt at the time of launching this project and it appears the Kickstarter money was spent, contrary to Kickstarter rules, on other ongoing operations and not on producing the promised product.”)
COMHEAR YARRA 3DX - NEWS & BACKGROUNDS
To make a statement to Kickstarter one can disable the option to show the 'Superbacker' badge I did as I feel that Kickstarter at this point does not backup our community and therefore does not deserve the hardcore backergroup to promote the organization. I choose not to be part of their promotion any longer. Call it the 'unbadging challenge'
It may be a small and symbolic gesture, however if all of us - not just the ones on this thread, I mean all backers who got burned, would do the same it should be very noticeable to Kickstarter and send out a clear message that their community backbone does not approve of the way Kickstarter looks away and no longer support them like they used to do.
To 'unbadge':
1. Sign in
2. Click your avatar (top right)
3. Click 'Profile' -> 'Settings' -> 'Account' -> 'Display Superbacker badge' ->
4. Click 'Turn off visibility of the Superbacker badge'
5. Done.
It may be a small and symbolic gesture, however if all of us - not just the ones on this thread, I mean all backers who got burned, would do the same it should be very noticeable to Kickstarter and send out a clear message that their community backbone does not approve of the way Kickstarter looks away and no longer support them like they used to do.
To 'unbadge':
1. Sign in
2. Click your avatar (top right)
3. Click 'Profile' -> 'Settings' -> 'Account' -> 'Display Superbacker badge' ->
4. Click 'Turn off visibility of the Superbacker badge'
5. Done.
REPOST OF COMMENT JUST POSTED IN COMMENT SECTION OF YARRA 3DX CAMPAIGN:
ATTENTION BACKERS - Update on how Cohear via their attorney responded to backer Attorney General complaints:
Instead of addressing the specific allegations that were raised by backers including misrepresentation of material information while raising funds and misappropriation of backer funds they assert it was INAPPROPRIATE FOR BACKERS TO FILE A COMPLAINT with the Attorney General because in soliciting funds via Kickstarter there was no sale of goods or services as evidenced by Kickstarter Terms of Service stating “a pledge is not a purchase of goods and services but rather a contribution to the Company’s efforts”. This certainly sounds like Comhear doesn’t believe they are legally obligated to ship backers their Yarra 3DX sounders.
It is clear Comhear’s attorney was cherry picking because he failed to acknowledge that Kickstarter Terms of Service ALSO STATE:
1) In backing a project a CONTRACT is created between the project creator and backer
2) When a project is successfully funded the creator MUST COMPLETE THE PROJECT AND FULFILL EACH REWARD
3) Throughout the process, creators owe their backers a high standard of effort, HONEST COMMUNICATION, and dedication to bringing the project to life
4) If a creator is unable to complete their project and fulfill rewards, they’ve FAILED TO LIVE UP TO THE BASIC OBLIGATION OF THEIR AGREEMENT
5) To right this they must make EVERY REASONABLE EFFORT TO FIND ANOTHER WAY of bringing the project to the BEST POSSIBLE CONCLUSION FOR BACKERS
6) A creator in this position has only remedied the situation and met their obligations to backers if:
- They post an update that explains what work has been done, HOW FUNDS WERE USED, and what prevents them from finishing the project as planned
- They work diligently and in good faith to bring the project to the best possible conclusion IN A TIMEFRAME THAT’S COMMUNICATED TO BACKERS
- They’re ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY’VE USED FUNDS APPROPRIATELY AND MADE EVERY REASONABLE EFFORT TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT AS PROMISED
- They’ve been HONEST AND HAVE MADE NO MATERIAL MISREPRESENTATION IN THEIR COMMUNICATION TO BACKERS
7) If the creator is unable to satisfy the terms of their agreement THEY MAY BE SUBJET TO LEGAL ACTION BY BACKERS
It is significant that Comhear’s attorney FAILED TO ADDRESS BACKERS SPECIFIC ALLEGATIONS central to their Attorney General complaints including:
1) Comhear FAILED TO DISCLOSE MATERIAL INFORMATION while raising backer funds which would impact their ability to manufacture and deliver Yarra 3DX soundbars including:
- They were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each month
- They had millions of dollars in long and short term debt
- They were incapable of funding ongoing operations from current sales
2) After raising sufficient funds from backers to manufacture and ship Yarra 3DX, Comhear MISAPPROPRIATED BACKER FUNDS in order to support their money losing ProAV business
It is also significant that Comhear’s attorney failed to acknowledge recent widely publicized cases where Attorney Generals SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED other Kickstarter campaigns who failed to deliver, omitted and/or misrepresented material facts, and misappropriated backer funds because THESE CASES SET A CLEAR PRECEDENT that it is APPROPRIATE for backers to file Attorney General crowd funding complaints when they believe project creators have acted in bad faith and failed to meet their contractual obligations.
In Comhear’s forthcoming conference call management needs to answer the following questions:
1) Why didn’t Comhear disclose to backers when it solicited funds that it was losing money and even if several times the funding goal had been raised the company wouldn’t have had sufficient resources to both continue operations and manufacture Yarra 3DX soundbars?
2) Why hasn’t Comhear provided a full accounting of how backer funds were spent as requested by backers and as required by Kickstarter terms of service after they failed to deliver Yarra 3DX in the timeframe they previously announced?
3) Why were backer funds used to fund non-Yarra 3DX company operations and manufacture ProAV soundbars rather than manufacture Yarra 3DX soundbars?
4) Why didn’t Comhear manufacture and ship Yarra 3DX to backers even though they had sufficient funds to recently complete a very large production run of ProAV soundbars?
5) Why is Comhear not willing to commit to manufacture Yarra 3DX soundbars until they raise an additional $4-5M in investor funds when only a small fraction of that amount would be needed to manufacture backer’s Yarra 3DX soundbars?
6) WHEN WILL COMHEAR COMPLY with Kickstarter Terms of Service to DOCUMENT HOW BACKER FUNDS WERE USED and COMMUNICATE A GOOD FAITH PLAN AND TIMEFRAME to meet their contractual obligation to backers?
ATTENTION BACKERS - Update on how Cohear via their attorney responded to backer Attorney General complaints:
Instead of addressing the specific allegations that were raised by backers including misrepresentation of material information while raising funds and misappropriation of backer funds they assert it was INAPPROPRIATE FOR BACKERS TO FILE A COMPLAINT with the Attorney General because in soliciting funds via Kickstarter there was no sale of goods or services as evidenced by Kickstarter Terms of Service stating “a pledge is not a purchase of goods and services but rather a contribution to the Company’s efforts”. This certainly sounds like Comhear doesn’t believe they are legally obligated to ship backers their Yarra 3DX sounders.
It is clear Comhear’s attorney was cherry picking because he failed to acknowledge that Kickstarter Terms of Service ALSO STATE:
1) In backing a project a CONTRACT is created between the project creator and backer
2) When a project is successfully funded the creator MUST COMPLETE THE PROJECT AND FULFILL EACH REWARD
3) Throughout the process, creators owe their backers a high standard of effort, HONEST COMMUNICATION, and dedication to bringing the project to life
4) If a creator is unable to complete their project and fulfill rewards, they’ve FAILED TO LIVE UP TO THE BASIC OBLIGATION OF THEIR AGREEMENT
5) To right this they must make EVERY REASONABLE EFFORT TO FIND ANOTHER WAY of bringing the project to the BEST POSSIBLE CONCLUSION FOR BACKERS
6) A creator in this position has only remedied the situation and met their obligations to backers if:
- They post an update that explains what work has been done, HOW FUNDS WERE USED, and what prevents them from finishing the project as planned
- They work diligently and in good faith to bring the project to the best possible conclusion IN A TIMEFRAME THAT’S COMMUNICATED TO BACKERS
- They’re ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY’VE USED FUNDS APPROPRIATELY AND MADE EVERY REASONABLE EFFORT TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT AS PROMISED
- They’ve been HONEST AND HAVE MADE NO MATERIAL MISREPRESENTATION IN THEIR COMMUNICATION TO BACKERS
7) If the creator is unable to satisfy the terms of their agreement THEY MAY BE SUBJET TO LEGAL ACTION BY BACKERS
It is significant that Comhear’s attorney FAILED TO ADDRESS BACKERS SPECIFIC ALLEGATIONS central to their Attorney General complaints including:
1) Comhear FAILED TO DISCLOSE MATERIAL INFORMATION while raising backer funds which would impact their ability to manufacture and deliver Yarra 3DX soundbars including:
- They were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars each month
- They had millions of dollars in long and short term debt
- They were incapable of funding ongoing operations from current sales
2) After raising sufficient funds from backers to manufacture and ship Yarra 3DX, Comhear MISAPPROPRIATED BACKER FUNDS in order to support their money losing ProAV business
It is also significant that Comhear’s attorney failed to acknowledge recent widely publicized cases where Attorney Generals SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED other Kickstarter campaigns who failed to deliver, omitted and/or misrepresented material facts, and misappropriated backer funds because THESE CASES SET A CLEAR PRECEDENT that it is APPROPRIATE for backers to file Attorney General crowd funding complaints when they believe project creators have acted in bad faith and failed to meet their contractual obligations.
In Comhear’s forthcoming conference call management needs to answer the following questions:
1) Why didn’t Comhear disclose to backers when it solicited funds that it was losing money and even if several times the funding goal had been raised the company wouldn’t have had sufficient resources to both continue operations and manufacture Yarra 3DX soundbars?
2) Why hasn’t Comhear provided a full accounting of how backer funds were spent as requested by backers and as required by Kickstarter terms of service after they failed to deliver Yarra 3DX in the timeframe they previously announced?
3) Why were backer funds used to fund non-Yarra 3DX company operations and manufacture ProAV soundbars rather than manufacture Yarra 3DX soundbars?
4) Why didn’t Comhear manufacture and ship Yarra 3DX to backers even though they had sufficient funds to recently complete a very large production run of ProAV soundbars?
5) Why is Comhear not willing to commit to manufacture Yarra 3DX soundbars until they raise an additional $4-5M in investor funds when only a small fraction of that amount would be needed to manufacture backer’s Yarra 3DX soundbars?
6) WHEN WILL COMHEAR COMPLY with Kickstarter Terms of Service to DOCUMENT HOW BACKER FUNDS WERE USED and COMMUNICATE A GOOD FAITH PLAN AND TIMEFRAME to meet their contractual obligation to backers?
I'll lay out what questions I had time to capture.
Sprint (my cell carrier), for whatever reason, did not allow my 3 way calling to work -- therefore no recording. Sorry folks.
I'll lay out what I could capture (traveling) in brief and leave the comment for when I have more time.
An agreement was made last week to manufacture in early April. Slow production ramp up, container ship, Comhear to do distribution. Delivery in Q2 with production to complete end of April.
Call was moderated (1 question at a time per person, all others on mute). First names are listed in terms of the question asked and I freely admit I may mangle names and don't have 100% of all questions. Here goes (not all in order):
1] Q: Devin - Seems to be a disconnect between the campaign ask and what is now being said. What happened?
A: Comhear was developing a new product and just the delivery component will run $750k. The ask amount is to determine backer interest and with the board redesign, out of pocket is a little over $2.6 million.
2] Q: Wants shipment handling communication.
A: Monthly written updates.
3] Q: Charles - Requested a refund.
A: Denied. These are pledges for a new product. Missed 2018 sales impacted cash flow. These are not sales of products.
4] Q: Roy - confirm addresses?
A: Yes. Survey.
5] Q: Cameron - confirmed production in mid-April. Are there functional changes? Commit to communicating with backers?
A: Product will remain "as is." Only communicating when there is something to say.
6] Q: Andy - Confusion between $50k ask, $1.1m raised, and $2.6 million needed. Please explain.
A: 60% of the 2.6m were direct engineering costs - $1.6m. $200k tooling, cert/license - $75k, $250k (didn't catch this piece). Gist: more expensive than planned.
7] Q: David - Monthly update.
A: Yes. Committed.
8] Q: Yagho - Any expected delays?
A: Quite confident an April manufacturing will happen. They have components. Application complete for both IOS and Android to control via phone devices. No delays expected at this time.
9] Q: Ed - ship for both IGG and KS?
A: Yes.
10] Q: Pier - Based on FAQ, tech already in production. Why are you saying otherwise?
A: On B2B platform, this was a reference design. B2B design had no HDMI, no remote, etc. Was meant only for a commercial environment. No beam steering on B2B design. Different chipset. An EMI problem in August required changes and circuit redesign. This delayed rollout.
Ammended that out of 1.1m, receeived $970k due to fees.
11] Q: Ed - Can app be downloaded now to suggest UI/UX changes?
A: No. Looking into this...
12] Q: Jerry - thank you for the call.
A: You're welcome.
13] Q: Joe - Current shipping date confirmation. Requesting demo.
A: Office in San Diego, willing to demo upon appointment.
14] Q: Eric - Status of licensing (University):
A: Exclusive multi-year - no impact whatsoever on product.
15] Q: Chris - commit to ongoing support (firmware)
A: FIrmware update is expected, phone # and/or email included in box for support.
16] Q: Pier - production in April? Has Zylux been paid?
A: Contract signed. 100% done.
17] Q: Brian - How do you get your ideas? Comhear: What ideas? Brian: To rip people off $1.1 m?
A: Don't understand question. We're delivering in Q2. No intent. Invalid question.
18] Q: Chris - letter sent July/Aug. 2018 indicating iminent delivery. Understanding challenges, what happened here?
A: Board respin due to EMI issues after letter sent. This caused failure to meet 2018 season sales. Had they shipped, items would have been recalled. Preferrable to not ship.
Conclusion: Two production runs. First in Apri ~$2.5-$3k. Backers. Ship in Q2. Another small run of 3k to anticpate demand for holiday season. Company, at this time to remain primarily B2B.
Sprint (my cell carrier), for whatever reason, did not allow my 3 way calling to work -- therefore no recording. Sorry folks.
I'll lay out what I could capture (traveling) in brief and leave the comment for when I have more time.
An agreement was made last week to manufacture in early April. Slow production ramp up, container ship, Comhear to do distribution. Delivery in Q2 with production to complete end of April.
Call was moderated (1 question at a time per person, all others on mute). First names are listed in terms of the question asked and I freely admit I may mangle names and don't have 100% of all questions. Here goes (not all in order):
1] Q: Devin - Seems to be a disconnect between the campaign ask and what is now being said. What happened?
A: Comhear was developing a new product and just the delivery component will run $750k. The ask amount is to determine backer interest and with the board redesign, out of pocket is a little over $2.6 million.
2] Q: Wants shipment handling communication.
A: Monthly written updates.
3] Q: Charles - Requested a refund.
A: Denied. These are pledges for a new product. Missed 2018 sales impacted cash flow. These are not sales of products.
4] Q: Roy - confirm addresses?
A: Yes. Survey.
5] Q: Cameron - confirmed production in mid-April. Are there functional changes? Commit to communicating with backers?
A: Product will remain "as is." Only communicating when there is something to say.
6] Q: Andy - Confusion between $50k ask, $1.1m raised, and $2.6 million needed. Please explain.
A: 60% of the 2.6m were direct engineering costs - $1.6m. $200k tooling, cert/license - $75k, $250k (didn't catch this piece). Gist: more expensive than planned.
7] Q: David - Monthly update.
A: Yes. Committed.
8] Q: Yagho - Any expected delays?
A: Quite confident an April manufacturing will happen. They have components. Application complete for both IOS and Android to control via phone devices. No delays expected at this time.
9] Q: Ed - ship for both IGG and KS?
A: Yes.
10] Q: Pier - Based on FAQ, tech already in production. Why are you saying otherwise?
A: On B2B platform, this was a reference design. B2B design had no HDMI, no remote, etc. Was meant only for a commercial environment. No beam steering on B2B design. Different chipset. An EMI problem in August required changes and circuit redesign. This delayed rollout.
Ammended that out of 1.1m, receeived $970k due to fees.
11] Q: Ed - Can app be downloaded now to suggest UI/UX changes?
A: No. Looking into this...
12] Q: Jerry - thank you for the call.
A: You're welcome.
13] Q: Joe - Current shipping date confirmation. Requesting demo.
A: Office in San Diego, willing to demo upon appointment.
14] Q: Eric - Status of licensing (University):
A: Exclusive multi-year - no impact whatsoever on product.
15] Q: Chris - commit to ongoing support (firmware)
A: FIrmware update is expected, phone # and/or email included in box for support.
16] Q: Pier - production in April? Has Zylux been paid?
A: Contract signed. 100% done.
17] Q: Brian - How do you get your ideas? Comhear: What ideas? Brian: To rip people off $1.1 m?
A: Don't understand question. We're delivering in Q2. No intent. Invalid question.
18] Q: Chris - letter sent July/Aug. 2018 indicating iminent delivery. Understanding challenges, what happened here?
A: Board respin due to EMI issues after letter sent. This caused failure to meet 2018 season sales. Had they shipped, items would have been recalled. Preferrable to not ship.
Conclusion: Two production runs. First in Apri ~$2.5-$3k. Backers. Ship in Q2. Another small run of 3k to anticpate demand for holiday season. Company, at this time to remain primarily B2B.
Trogdor, Edwin and the many others who have put in so much time and effort to mobilize the backer community, I want to express my sincere gratitude for your efforts. And to the many backers who did more than just complain, but actually did something, thank you as well. I'm a great believer in self help, and I think some progress has been made.
While I realize it is too early to declare success, and I still have real reservations whether we will ever receive our products, I am quite sure the CC and detailing by Comhear of steps they have made to move production forward may not have happened had we stood idly by. Thank you for mobilizing the backer community. It has had an impact, in my opinion. And if we actually receive our product, then that too in my opinion will have been in no small measure made possible by the efforts of the backers who stepped up and did something beyond just complaining.
Looking forward to what the next few months will reveal.
While I realize it is too early to declare success, and I still have real reservations whether we will ever receive our products, I am quite sure the CC and detailing by Comhear of steps they have made to move production forward may not have happened had we stood idly by. Thank you for mobilizing the backer community. It has had an impact, in my opinion. And if we actually receive our product, then that too in my opinion will have been in no small measure made possible by the efforts of the backers who stepped up and did something beyond just complaining.
Looking forward to what the next few months will reveal.
Hi Edwin
I’ve been trying for days to post on Kickstarter to thank you for everything you have done and vote for the Windows app (especially if you need it) but was not able to do so.
I though it was a glitch but then today I noticed that my pledge on Kickstarter is marked as ‘dropped’ (have attached a screenshot) and I also noticed that I have not been getting any updates recently.
Im really concerned and I’ve written to Kickstarter (still waiting for them to get back) and also to comhear (expect nothing from them) but I don’t know what else I can do which is why I’m asking you, if you know what might have caused it and what I can do.
I feel like I’ve been left in limbo and might not get a sound bar even though it was all ok until a few days ago.
Any ideas on what I can do would be really appreciated
Thank you again for everything
Aresh
I’ve been trying for days to post on Kickstarter to thank you for everything you have done and vote for the Windows app (especially if you need it) but was not able to do so.
I though it was a glitch but then today I noticed that my pledge on Kickstarter is marked as ‘dropped’ (have attached a screenshot) and I also noticed that I have not been getting any updates recently.
Im really concerned and I’ve written to Kickstarter (still waiting for them to get back) and also to comhear (expect nothing from them) but I don’t know what else I can do which is why I’m asking you, if you know what might have caused it and what I can do.
I feel like I’ve been left in limbo and might not get a sound bar even though it was all ok until a few days ago.
Any ideas on what I can do would be really appreciated
Thank you again for everything
Aresh
- Attachments
-
Hello guys, I too got screwed and would like to get involved...
I've emailed Indiegogo several times to no avail.
To me this issue is bigger than just our pledge... how can we trust ANY of these crowdfunding campaigns if Indiegogo and Kickstarter just lift their arms in the air and don't do anything?
Anyway, let me know what I can do to help!
I've emailed Indiegogo several times to no avail.
To me this issue is bigger than just our pledge... how can we trust ANY of these crowdfunding campaigns if Indiegogo and Kickstarter just lift their arms in the air and don't do anything?
Anyway, let me know what I can do to help!
My understanding is "Dropped Pledge" means the pledge was never collected (ie, the credit card charge was declined when Kickstarter tried to collect it when the campaign ended). Are you sure the charge went through when the campaign closed and it hasn't been refunded? I don't think Dropped Pledge has anything to do with Comhear. Pull your credit card statement that shows the charge went through and send it to Kickstarter. You could also get a letter from you credit card company stating that charge went through and it has not been refunded.