Indiegogo Kreyos Smart Watch Disaster

Last year, I wrote a blog post entitled, “Kickstarter Buyer Beware,” and I talked about the delays with two projects I backed on crowdfunding platforms – The iExpander and the the Kreyos smartwatch.  I won’t go into detail here on the iExpander, but a year after the post and 2 years since the Kickstarter campaign… I still don’t have an iExpander. I thought I’d give you an update on the Kreyos smartwatch I tried funding via Indiegogo.

Much like other campaigns, it started with the announcement of a few delays… and then a few more. However, the folks at Kreyos were pretty good about showing video of their prototypes in action. So, my confidence in it was building… until it came completely crashing down when they finally announced they were shipping the device.

The creators of the device posted a long blog post about how it all came crashing down, but here’s how I managed to narrowly avoid an $175 loss:

There were not signs of issues with the smartwatch when it started shipping – other than the fact that the shipping was extremely disorganized (but that was no surprise for a startup).  I was disappointed, because I moved this summer, and they shipped it to my old address. I was told by their terrible customer service (again, I thought this wasn’t too big of a deal, since they were a startup) that I’d have to wait for the watch to get declined by the new owners of my home, returned to Kreyos, and then it could be shipped to my new address.

At first, there seemed to be a lot of complaints about people not receiving the correct items. Again, I thought this wasn’t too big a deal, since the startup was using incompetent Chinese labor. Then, people began complaining about how the watch was taking on water simply from showering (it was supposed to be completely waterproof, which they revised to say it would be waterproof to 10 meters). Then everything came completely crashing down and the company completely folded up with the blog post I referenced earlier.

It appeared that Indiegogo immediately backed away from the problem, stating that they were essentially just an intermediary. It made me want to boycott Indiegogo completely. I still hadn’t received my Kreyos, so I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge from Indiegogo. Since I never received the item, my credit card company removed the charge (except for the PayPal surcharge – but being out $5, is better than being out $175).

Again, I urge you to avoid these sites. No matter what kind of discount I might receive for funding something on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, it simply isn’t worth the risk of the item coming out late, faulty, or never at all. I think there’s a place in the market for a crowdfunding site that has more oversight and insurance from such issues… and hope one comes out soon. As for me, from now on, I’m going to wait until a product hits the open market and is tested before I buy.

Kickstarter Buyer Beware

Kickstarter is a cool concept – contribute to a project or idea that might not otherwise get off the ground. In appreciation for your support, developers offer rewards.  I’m not sure if it was intentional when they started it, but it’s spawned a new type of startup company. One that, if a company can entice enough consumers to “buy into” their idea, they should have enough money to make that idea happen. Your reward then becomes the finished product.

I was very intrigued by this new business model, and was very impressed with the creativity and innovation of many of the ideas. One that caught my eye last year was the “iExpander.” It promised an extra battery, much better camera flash, and an expandable memory slot for a microUSB, solving the major issues I was having with my iPhone 4S – bad battery life, bad pictures in low light, and not enough memory. The video they showed was impressive, and the fact that they already had several working prototypes built (and language on the site) lead me to believe I’d be receiving mine less than a month and a half after the campaign ended – ready for Christmas 2012.

More than a year later, I’m still waiting for my iExpander, and it’s not going to function nearly as I thought it would. They’ve hit snags with Apple, engineering, and manufacturing. The battery doesn’t tie in nearly as seamlessly as it was supposed to and the expandable memory is now a proprietary removable module. In the meantime, I’ve also upgraded to an iPhone 5S, which now has a better flash than was planned. Technology moves fast, and while iExpander has been working out it’s issues for more than a year, my need for the product has disappeared (I also upgraded to a 64GB memory in my new phone).

What I didn’t realize, was how common this is. CNN published a list of Kickstarter’s top 50 projects, and when they shipped. So, I share my story, just to say “buyer beware” if you choose to look at Kickstarter (or Indiegogo, or any other crowdsourced sites) as a way to buy some cutting edge new projects.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re not all bad. In fact, one of the most successful campaigns, the Pebble smartwatch, encouraged me to try it again. This time, I was very impressed with the prototype videos of the Kreyos Meteor smartwatch. It appears to be way more advanced than the Pebble, and does more of what I want a smartwatch to do. I took a chance as an “early adopter” and signed up for one.

Again, the Kreyos smartwatch prototypes looked so promising, and they appeared to have it all together, also promising to have them completed within a couple months of the campaign ending. Well, the Kreyos Meteor smartwatch was supposed to be shipped at the end of November, and that date has obviously come and gone. The most recent update said they hope to have it finished by mid-February. This is exactly how the  iExpander started out and I’m still waiting for that one over a year later.  I’m not going to hold my breath.