Kickstarter

I have supported a friends art project and paid with my credit card. Instead of securing the amount, they withdrew $1 from my account and saved all my credit card information. While I was on vacation, they tried to charge my card, when it didn't go through they informed my friend that I withdrew my support from her project. Now she's pissed at me and won't accept the support. Kickstarter doesn't care about the problem and I'm not sure if they still keep my credit card details and if they will attempt to withdraw from my account in the future.

I've backed up my first project on Kickstarter. It appeared to be a scam. Money gone, but even worse, Kickstarter still allows that project for new backers. Of course Kickstarter gets a little money from each backer. Although that project has been reported multiple times, nobody at Kickstarter closes the project, or even responds from a human perspective (all you get is auto-replies).

This site itself is really bad. It is unregulated and all it provides is a platform for projects to collect money.

The first project I backed never gave any updates and was supposed to give the "reward" 1.5 years ago. To date, I have not heard anything from the creator.

I considered contacting Kickstarter, but didn't, as it states in its terms of use that the project creator is completely responsible for delivering results and Kickstarter will not be liable for any poor results. The backer also has the responsibility to chase the creator if no results are shown.

If you're lucky to get your "reward", it's not because of any miracle that Kickstarter has worked. The success can only be attributed to responsible and upright project creators.

Today I was trying to buy a card box from a Kickstarter campaign. I opened the page as soon as I got the email, about 4 minutes after the campaign started, in order to try get the limited edition version. When I got to the payment page, Kickstarter froze and would not accept any form of payment. I tried multiple credit cards, including ones I have used succesfully on Kickstarter before, and after an hour of attempts on several computers, Kickstarter informs me that the (limited-edition) pledge is no longer available. This is embarrassing performance from a website which has been online for around a decade.

Although I think the idea of Kickstarter is great, but they are of zero help and non-responsive when a project you've backed has failed to deliver or even communicate. They don't seem to care that people are getting ripped off on their website. Per their terms, "Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill." But they do not enforce it. I have lost confidence with Kickstarter and even though there may be some great projects out there, I will NEVER back a project again.

You contribute and are told you will get the product at a certain time frame... but then there are issues... months go by. Communications are lacking... nothing. Contact kickstarter to complain about the product being late, no comm and then you find out the product is being sold online for the same price you contributed. Promised incentives of being a contributor is zilch. Except the waste of time of writing and waiting to get your promised product. Kickstarter responded with an email for me to rate the service... yep. That is all i got from them. They don't care. Another product i got broke when i tried to use, and promised a replacement... never came. And the final one i contributed, has not shipped yet although others have the product. Communications are poor. I feel why bother with this, the incentives are not worth it. Save your money, purchase the item when it is really available.

I have backed 4 projects not one has been on time or even close. I am currently waiting on an item that was supposed to ship in November of last year. They just shipped a few hundred. I am backer 1255 I might see mine in a year or never! Anyway your getting a break for backing the new product. I paid $89 for a hub from satachi that was to retail for $149 guess what it sells for now! Let somebody else be the guinea pig and front the money. Really Kickstarter should set better guidelines with realistic goals from project creators. Waste of time and aggravating. Wait for the finished product and the real life review of it. You will be happier and probably won't pay any more.

This company does nothing but crush people's hopes and allow scammers to take their money. Terrible company/website. This site couldn't be worse and nobody should ever back any project advertised on Kickstarter.

I pledged 30 projects within a short time. A few have already provided what I pledged for, so that's good. I'm still waiting for the rest. One project, Maple Syrup Infusions, completely did not provide $59 of stuff, then they deleted their website and email. Kickstarter now says they will not help me at all... but Kickstarter takes 10% of my pledges as its fee... I am disgusted by Kickstarter, their business model depends on allowing innocent people like me to be scammed by fraudulent projects. Kickstarter is not operating in good faith. I will not pledge anymore, and I discourage others from pledging.

Assists with raising money for misinformation campaigns regarding COVID-19. They are aware of these shows that are raising money on here although refuse to take any action. They are indirectly responsible for the people who view these projects and either die or have chronic health problems from COVID-19. Terrible terrible organisation, do not support. I also have heard they skim money off the top and keep a large portion of the money from fundraising. Use facebook or alternative sources. While working here management was abusive and HR laughed at me and belittled me when I brought it to there attention, they also lied in the interview about pay ad extent of job, left very quickly.

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.

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.