NorthAware

You can always buy coats out there but I'm telling you, this one is different. I just got mine and it's totally keeping me warm.

I bought mine and I'm starting to like this coat. Awesome customer service in assisting me get my coat. What a bright way to make coats.

The jacket didn't look like the one in the ad, nor did it fit me very well. The torso area was ok but the shoulders were huge. I returned it for a smaller size and had the same issue, giant shoulders. So I asked for a refund. This would have been in April 2017 about. I had to email them to make sure they got my coat and would refund it soon. (Actually both times I sent in the coat, I had to send an email to make sure they dealt with it.) I get an email from Brendan saying this:

I apologize for the inconvenience. I looked into your account and it looks like your return shipment has not been processed yet. We did our best to process as many shipments as possible, due to the huge volume of Kickstarter orders, not all shipments were processed. Our warehouse is closed for this season. I have put you on priority for processing as soon as our warehouse open for next season. Our warehouse goes fully operational in Oct but we will process your shipment during our prep period in September.

Sigh... ok, so I will wait till the fall.

I waited till fall. I waited till October to bug them because I might as well give them an extra month. Here is what they said:

Thanks you for writing in. We are in the process of issuing refunds to our kick-starter backers on a first come first serve basis. We expect to process all remaining refund requests by the end of September 2018. Thank you for your patience we will let you know as soon as your refund is processed.

So... I replied back saying that this was unacceptable and quoted Brendan's words in the spring back to him. No response.

Don't lose your hard earned money to these scammers!

And if you're planning on posting a response, North Aware, that I should be getting my refund soon and that I'm lying by calling you a scam and that I must be imagining this problem... How can you prove to me that you're not going to keep dodging me until I give up and you get to keep my $300?

The jacket itself is well made,
But they did not fulfill their promise in kickstarter.
WHAT IS WORSE? THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE!
1. It started with me requesting my jacket to be made with real fur (backers who support before certain date gets this option) - email them asking for the certainty, they said yes, they shipped us faux fur
2. Asked if we can exchange - no response
3. Asked for a refund - they emailed back they will give the money back within 10-15 days and no news.
4. Finally reaching out to them again asking about the status of the refund and this is their response:

Our warehouse has now closed for the season so we cannot process the refund at this point in time. However, once our warehouse opens back up in October, we will then process your refund assuming your products are in good shape.

Between now and October, if you decide that you wish to be booked in for Smart Parka 1.0 for next winter at no additional cost, here is some information on it:
http://preorder.northaware.com

Thanks so much for understanding.

Have a great day!
Brendan Panikkar
Vice-President, Customer Service
North Aware
-----------------------------
I was livid?!?!?!?!
I read another people's experience and they said the company stated they did not received the package or the tracking number does not work.
How can i trust them they will give their money back in october without any other nonsense reason?! I expressed my concern to them and this is their response:

This is not another nonsense reason. We do need a warehouse to process the refund. Why? All returns were sent to our warehouse. The streamlined process was to inspect the returned parcels and approve them for refunds based on the shape of them. Now that our warehouse has closed, the remaining 50-60 parcels will be inspected by our warehouse staff when it's open again. You will be refunded, so we have not frauded anyone.

Have a great day!
Brendan Panikkar
Vice-President, Customer Service
North Aware
---------------------------
Now - do you feel frauded when you read this?

Complete Lack of communication with project backers and hide and seek tactics
As stated in KS page FAQ
¿What is your refund policy?:
You can cancel your order anytime before the delivery of the coat for a 100% refund (minus S&H).
After the products are shipped, we have a 30 day return policy. Click here to see how to return your products
WE DO QUALIFY FOR A REFUND there is nothing that stops you from sending me my refund unless you blocking it: See your FAQ ('You can cancel your order anytime before delivery') and the Terms of Use of Kickstarter (You [creator] can refund individual pledges if you want. After your project has been funded, you can cancel and refund a backers pledge at any time. If you do, you have no further obligation to that specific backer, and no agreement exists between you.
So then why cant you refund us the 150+ people that didnt receive any products at all?
Youre not being faithful to your word
In other words Scamming people and hoping that they forget about the bad experience and desist fighting to get their money back

Like so many others here, I was promised my Smart Parka in August. Didn't receive it till the end of January. Now, I get it. It's a start-up, unexpected delays arise, I'm a reasonable guy. Nevermind that I was counting on that coat for winter and didn't get it until it was already warming up again. Like I said, I get it. These guys bit off more than they could chew, and I didn't want to dog pile on them when I was sure they were probably getting a LOT of flak from other backers over this issue.

MY issue is that when I finally DID get my Smart Parka, it was defective. So I asked them to exchange it for a non-defective item. They said sure thing, but then I was expected to pay for the return shipping. Now, considering all the problems they'd already had, I saw the future: another defective coat, another $20-$30 out of pocket to ship them another defective coat, so on and so forth. So I emailed them to say I'd like to return my coat instead. The rep immediately forwards my complaint to Brendan Panikkar, who others on here have noted is a very poor choice for CUSTOMER SERVICE VP, who tells me that the 30-day window for returns has closed. No offer to make it right, no other communication. Just a good old "womp womp better luck next time," from their VP OF CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Now let's think about that 30-day window. Go to their returns page, it's 30 days from when you place the order. Just take a moment and think about that. The campaign closed in late March of 2016, meaning all orders that were placed on Kickstarter were placed at that time. So... that 30 day window is closed by late April 2016. Then, 9 months after the return window has closed, I receive my (defective) product. Guess I needed to be able to see the future in order to return my product huh? But then, if I could see the future, I guarantee I never would've wasted my money on the Smart Parka.