I backed a Kickstarter campaign for a Smart Parka for $315 plus $19 shipping, total $334CAD on 16th March 2016, for promised delivery in August 2016.

The coat was supposed to be manufactured in Canada, with down filling amongst other features. The campaign then made numerous design and fabrication changes including manufacturing in China rather than Canada, and changing to synthetic filling. Several campaign promises have been broken and the reviews of the product from people who have received theirs seem to indicate that it is likely to be inferior to that which was promised and paid for.

The delivery did not take place in August or September 2016. I eventually received an update on Kickstarter on 22 December 2016 and an email with a tracking number that did not work on 23rd December 2016, stating that the coat was in transit.

On 12th January 2017 I emailed requesting further information regarding the tracking number that did not work and non-receipt of my coat.

On 12th January 2017 I received a reply from a rep telling me that DHL had not collected the coat yet

On 23rd January 2017 I emailed asking for an update as I had still not received my coat, the tracking number did not work and DHL knew nothing about the package when I contacted them and said it was not recognised by their system (e.g. Fake).

On January 23rd I received an email from a different rep saying my package was stuck in German Customs.

On 28th January I received a reply from yet another rep saying my coat had been stuck in German Customs but would be processed and with me within a week.

I replied with a thank you for the update.

On 31st January I received an email asking for proof of payment from ZSK in Germany, the shipping agents - the coats had apparently come from China and had an incorrect/fraudulent cost attached to them of $22 which had made German customs suspicious so the packages were opened for investigation.

On 31st January I replied to ZSK and North Aware with Proof of Payment.

On 10th Feb I sent yet another request to both North Aware and ZSK asking where my coat was, and received a reply from ZSK telling me North Aware would update me.

North Aware then sent me spam email instead asking me to spend more money with them on a "Valentines Special" - I replied asking them to send me my coat I had already paid for nearly a year ago. I got a smarmy reply from Brendan Panikkar - apparently the Vice President - saying that he would love to be able to help but my coat was stuck in Customs along with 147 others and that I needed to reply to the email from ZSK in Germany, which I had already done two weeks before that and he had been copied in on that email.

On 13th February I requested a refund for non-receipt of goods. I did not get a reply

On 18th February I requested a refund for non-receipt of goods. I did not get a reply

On 21st February I again requested a refund for non-receipt of goods. On 22nd February I received an email from yet another rep saying they had a problem with the credit card machine and that the refunds would be processed that week.

On 27th February I emailed requesting my refund which I had still not received.

On 28th February I received an email from the last rep iI had dealt with stating my refund was being prioritised and would by processed by 1st March, to which I replied thanking her.

On 2nd March I emailed North Aware asking for evidence that the refund had been processed as I still had not received it and my Kickstarter pledge remains unchanged from backed to refunded

I have also requested a refund numerous times on the kickstarter comments page, contacted them on Twitter (to which they eventually replied asking me to contact them on facebook) and left messages on Facebook also asking for my refund (these facebook messages were deleted).

Its now 2nd March nearly a year since the campaign ended, and I still have no coat, no refund and no honesty from the people behind North Aware.

If anyone is interested, you can read the comments on the kickstarter page and see how many people have been let down with the wrong coats, non-delivery and apparently someone tried to dry clean their coat, as directed, and the dye ran.