KickstarterReviews 206

Literally the worst software product. The pledge made was for $499. Someone from the company emailed me today after less than 2 years that I needed to renew my subscription. A series of email was sent back and forth to which the company CEO, I presume, told me that they are shutting down the platform. This is after being backed for more than $30,000. I'm curious to know where the money went. They over promise and under deliver. Absolutely make sure you want to pledge money for something before doing it.

They provide quite a bit of protection to ensure creators get their money and even help defend against chargebacks while at the same time sending form letters to backers that complain that the creator has disappeared with the money. Great concept but terrible implementation. Too bad they don't release the funds to the creator based on performance in intervals rather than all up front. I have had a few creators just flat take the money and run.

Noria project; small a/c: bought four units a year ago. Paid $2500. Promised delivery date March of 2017. Got an email last week saying, 'we are on schedule to ship your products in October of 2017.'Totally disingenuous. A transparent business would have said something like, sorry, there has been a delay. The implicit lie in the email is what, more than the delay itself, has made me lose confidence in this 'start-up'. To that end I would like an honest discussion of what is going on, whether the a/c is no longer a viable project (in which case I will have central air installed for next year) or why there is a delay, f. Please be realistic and honest, not patronizing and vague and 'hopeful'. I sent an email asking the reason for the delay and have received no reply. I looked up Noria online and found that they are still selling the a/c's to 'investors' but for far less money than I have paid them. Please reply. It is common courtesy and a good business strategy.

I see a lot of bad stories on here from the backer size but really that's a shame on the makers and not the platform itself. We were recently funded several months ago and came through on our promise to deliver for our backers. The Kickstarter support team was thorough in their vetting of our campaign and were pretty quick to respond to any questions or concerns we had. No real problems and we'll probably launch our next product with them again soon.

I had bad experiences trying to run a campaign (twice) on kickstarter. No customer service or way to contact them to ask questions. I mean there was no support at all. I tried creativejump.org and was assigned a personal consultant that worked with me throughout my campaign... even helped me promote. Where I barely raised $1000 with kickstarter I was successfully funded with Creative Jump.
Like most people I'm not a professional crowd funded and help setting page $#*! well as the ability to ask questions that get answered is more important that they imagine I guess. For that I'll never used kickstarter again I recommend creativejump.org

I have backed three projects on Kickstarter in the past year, but will not do so again. The first project was well organized and progress was well communicated. For both the second and the third the creators had no business sense or understanding of expectation management.

You pay well upfront for the opportunity to be one of the first to receive the product. Well, if you are not in the United States that can be a real problem. I received one of the products last week after shipping was promised in September 2016. Actual shipping was at the end of November and the cheapest route was taken. Almost three months to ship a small package. The software is full of bugs and the creators are now asking for additional pledge to put in a feature that should have been included from the start.

The other project has been ongoing for quite some time too and I received notice today that it was finally shipping. Estimated shipping was November 2016 and the notice is that it will be shipped this week. Will not hold on to see how long it takes to arrive. This backer sent out updates, but again used those updates to solicit for other projects when they had not delivered on their first.

Mostly, the problem is non-response on the Kickstarter site or a very delayed response. The backers just do not seem to understand how important maintaining good communications is with the backers.

Also, Kickstarter serves as a flow through only. If the project is significantly delayed and you want a refund, that will not happen. Kickstarter plays no part in this aspect of customer service.

Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice shame on you Kickstarter.

I was dumb enough to participate in one Kickstarter funding venture. The company was GlobellColor producing a hardware/software screen calibration device for early supporters at $139.
They charged my VISA on 8-16-16, emailed a followup note that I would receive my product in November 2016. Never got any product or followup. Kickstarter refused any responsibility and other than filing a Federal Internet Fraud Complaint I am out $139. My advice is to block Kickstarter from you email site.

Followup Report:
In November 2017, over a year later, I received the GlobellColor Suite. I immediately posted it on eBay to get rid of it and it sold quickly for $75. I was relieved, until I learned from my buyer that the license number was missing from the box and the company never emailed it to me. It took more than a dozen notes to three different emails including KickStarter before the company finally sent it. I sent it to my buyer and the nightmare was over. Here's a tip, go to Kickscammer.com and see all the scams that have occurred or are in process now. The number of frauds is big and no one is paying attention in Washington.

As you can see in the reviews, Kickstarter is nothing but fraud although I only lost $100 for the Lumen - Eternal Flashlight, lots lost more and total scam could be in the hundreds of millions or billions. Not sure why the FTC is not cracking down on this company. There is no repercussion if the company ends up being fraud. I would say if you want lots of money fast and get rich quick use this site and take peoples money for paying for "unbelievable technology"