Kickstarter FAILs

[Diedre]

Dear Fellow SUPERBackers,

Has anyone else had an experience where the Creator never delivered the Reward and did not respond to attempts to contact them?

I backed the "Seedling Gift Kit" by Paper, Seed & Tree. The Creator announced on January 7 by email that all backers would receive their UPS number and his personal cell phone number that same day in a subsequent email. That's the last I've heard from him. About a week ago, I wrote to him via the Contact button on the Project page but he never responded.

I've opened a support ticket with Kickstarter. I hope they will resolve the issue with either a shipment or a refund.

I've backed 51 Projects and this is the first time I've ever had any problem with a Kickstarter Project (beyond the sometimes lengthy delays and poor packaging choices). How rare is this phenomenon?

Thanks,
Diedre (a brand new member to BackerClub - what a cool place! )

[Rhonda T]

Hi Diedre

I have backed 55 projects so far and have had a mixture of experiences. The first project I ever backed is a FAIL, the Flux Rlap iPad case, now referred to as the Flux Flop by its backers. Several backers have reported to Kickstarter, but I don't expect to ever see the product or my money ever again. there a couple others that I am wary of whether they will deliver, due to delays combined with lack of reliable communication but haven't given up hope yet. I have also seen comments to some projects that I am backing that refer to other failures that seem to be known among the backers who commonly back design and tech projects. I think a few FAILS are inevitable, andThat risk is involved in every pledge, I just wish Kickstarter was more active around the failures. (On a side note, I also wished they did a better job of policing the joke /fake projects ... I will make a pizza with a $25 funding requirement., etc ... KS seemed inundated with those for a few months, in mid 2014. )

There are many that have delivered late, that I generally don't have any problem with, as long as they communicate on a regular basis and update honestly on issues and delays.

However, there are several great, well-run projects and others where I have truly loved the rewards, that keep me coming back again and again. It is fun to help people out with their dreams and ideas and fun to be included in the process. Ledr, Cravar, Undiscovered America,, and Liquid Designs were great at keeping their backers involved with updates, stories and pictures. I would back another project by any of those creators without a second thought. Viveltre is also a favorite, because I love the product so much.

Rhonda

[numbat1]

Diedre,
Thanks for the reminder. I need to follow up with that same project.

In general I have had some good results with projects. Some have been really late, some have been not up to what they promised, some have been both. That I accept as part of the risk. I have slowly become better at reading the warning signs for these possible outcomes.

I am hoping that the seedling project is just out of contact (bad enough) while working on a fix, rather than having taken our money and left us in the lurch.

[TashaTurner]

I believe of the over 350 projects I've backed only one has failed to deliever. A few I'm not sure will deliver. Some have surprised me. I figure it's a gamble. If a project is overwhelmed with backers asking questions I'll wait a week or two before contacting so they can get caught up. Longest delayed projects if you don't count medical devices is 8-9 months. Some have been great at contact. Others not. Others get ahead of themselves claiming shipping when they've printed shipping labels based on expectation of supplier/manufacturing which then has a delay and they don't update backers.

Good luck getting an update and your perk.

[MechanisticMoth]

I don't mind when projects are super late as long as they keep me informed with semi-regular updates. Most of the projects I back end up getting vastly overfunded and the creators clearly get overwhelmed (especially if they're a one-person show). I like projects that are open with process pictures/videos/written reports, and I like when they are open for communication.

On the flip side, some creators can get really whiny and talk about offering refunds all of the time, so it doesn't really show much confidence in their product. Continuing the flip side, there's one project in particular that I'm not too happy with because they focused on getting more into their game rather than improving the physical quality of it (the card stock is terrible!).

[IsrealNahsohn]

Great insight all. I'm going to start a thread for warning signs to look out for unless you would like to Tasha?

[TashaTurner]

Go for it IsraelNation. I'm not in charge here. I'm just the most talkative.

[Rhonda T]

Great idea Isreal Nahsohn!

[IsrealNahsohn]

Auto correct is killing me

My name is Isreal Nahsohn.

[togepreee]

I've had a number of terrible Kickstarter experiences. Probably the foremost being the translation of Osamu Tekuza's "The Crater." That project made $52,800 from its goal of $3,500, and never delivered. The last update was July of last year.

After that would be Truss Titanium Bottle Opener. That project shipped very late, and when it arrived it looked as if it were made by a two year old. When the backers took to his KS page to complain, he replied that he would be sending out a new batch and blamed his equipment. He then created a new Kickstarter project for some sort of key holder, and never responded to us again. I visited the key holder project and it seems that half of the people that backed it didn't get their rewards, and half got rewards of terrible quality.

6thfinger advertised an item that will keep your phone from being locked out while you have a game open. When we received our rewards, we discovered that it is not compatible with many games, chief among them being Clash of Clans specifically for iPhone. It also has very mixed results with functionality in any program. These issues should have been addressed prior to reward fulfillment, but the creator just said that it isn't compatible and never offered to fix it for us. As far as I could see, he never even offered an apology.

That said, I've had many wonderful experiences on Kickstarter. I just wish there were some way to protect ourselves.