Review Time
My initial forays into Kickstarter were good and I ended up with some innovative products I get a lot of use from. More recently it feels like Kickstarter has become a scammers' charter. I (along with 400 others) invested $AUS 35000 in a bike product which has been a success.....is now commercially available....but has not been supplied to any of its backers. No-one (certainly not Kickstarter) seems to give a **** about holding these people to account. It now feels like too big a risk and I will not be using again.
I don’t know why I have gone for this. Pay up front for something that has no guarantee of delivery, let alone even made yet. You can often buy the product if it is even successful later and for not much more. My last stupid purchase has been made in America and will be shipped to us but has not been accredited for UK. Have been told you can wait for it to be accredited for here but there are no refunds. They sold this as being international delivery. I am not going near Kickstarter again. They over promise and underdeliver every time.
Scammed for over $150: no delivery; no activity on the maker's account for months, despite 300-odd complaints. I read multiple reports of this kind of thing and the platform seems to take no responsibility: clearly this will catch up with them in the long run, in terms of reputation or the law. But never again for me; I feel stupid.
I have funded a number of projects and far too many are scams. They are scams because they have convinced KS to greenlight their project of which then unsuspecting backers fund under the understanding that KS has actually done the research on it properly. Quite often these are scams where there is a fake (usually US) company which isn't the case at all. When the project is funded, KS releases the money to the creator and you never hear from them again and will never get your money back. It is a shame as there is some great stuff being created by ethical people which is being obscured by pirates that KS cannot be bothered to do due diligence on. They SHOULD give backers much better and more visible information on the risk of the specific project and be GRADED ON RISK (ie rate based on whether the creator is based where they say they are (and provide social media links), how many successful projects have taken place, have they a good reputation on other crowdfunding sites, etc). In addition there should be an insurance doubling the threshold to greenlight a project so that if it is a scam then the backers can get some money back. The money can be released in phases to the creator to make sure the creator doesn't simply take the money and run. As KS is the payment gateway it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to get your credit card company to get your money back as usually its long after 30 days of the transaction you find out it is a rip off and KS will do nothing to chase after your money. All KS says is to ask for your money back directly from the backer. HOW LIKELY IS A SCAMMER GOING TO VOLUNTARILY REFUND YOU?! Scammers use KS as legitimate cover as they are too risky for payment processors to offer them accounts so KS is the happy conduit of fraud. KS need to provide much better information and safeguards and be MUCH MORE EXPLICIT IN HIGH RISK PROJECTS/SCAMS as there is very little accountability. It is a shame as there is some great stuff being created that needs crowdfunding being drowned out by scammers and KS' ineptitude
FULL OF SCAMS! DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE.I have invested in multiple campaigns over the last few years, all were huge funding success products on the page.Not one single product has met my expectations, a majority of them have never even arrived to me.The service is filled with scams, if you invest, expect your money to disappear.
While I'm sure there are some great projects and I'm sure that some people get what they have paid for, Kickstarter have absolutely no interest in helping you if the company takes the money and runs. Their Terms and Conditions are worded in a way that makes it near impossible to successfully chargeback the company. And even seemingly reputable companies can use this platform, take your money and not deliver without any punishment. Fairly recently, I backed a project from a fairly well-known company. I spent roughly £250-300. The project was backed and the project got my money. Over 2 years later and the project is unresponsive. They look to have taken the money and run. Most other backers are in the same boat. Upon reaching out to Kickstarter support, I have been ignored. I won't be using this platform, or others like it, again. If there is a risk that you can pay for something and it won't arrive, then what's the point? If there is zero negative impact on projects and companies when they don't provide goods, then where is the incentive for them to actually deliver?2 star review, as I'm sure some people haven't had a negative experience. But this is mine and I'd advise to AVOID.
Back projects at your own risk. Most succeed but a lot fail. Kickstarters only interest is their cut and nothing else.Kickstarter will not help or intervene, they are in it for their cut and that is all. As a whole, Kickstarter customer service it terrible. The moment you dispute the charge, they will quickly object! They are in it purely for the money and do not care about the users of the platform.
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