Kickstarter

Creator Charles Ayala on April 20

LISTEN PEOPLE. I backed a lot of projects on Kickstarter and got screwed on a lot too. I'm tired of losing money on these jackasses.

I want to print the D&D and TMNT shirts for my own t-shirt biz. I would love to give every person a free shirt that got screwed on this project too, but I don't have the money for that. but what I can do is offer these shirts at cost for you people. which full color printing usually is about $9.25 a piece. They won't be full bleed printing like in the pictures, but the graphic will be about 12"x14" anyone interested let me know. I'm on facebook, I got a FB page for my shirts too Steelbath graphix. feel free to contact me....I won't disappear.

Creator Charles Ayala on April 20

I got my own little t-shirt company. Jokes on him, fuck'em. I'm stealing his D&D and TMNT designs and putting it on my own shirt.

Creator Calvin Vercoe on April 11

Could this be the same guy that runs Hauntedbritain.net ? I've got his address and phone number. Also matches the address for a URL of threadordead.com

Creator Heather Disco on March 29

I have backed almost 300 projects so I I got a little lost in what stuff hasn't been shipped, so I just came across this comment thread after realizing I never got what I pledged for. Have people already taken to contacting Kickstarter about what to do to try and find the guy to get our money back? Can I do anything to help?

Thanks

Creator Carnivalius on March 22

I've also just come across all the follow ups since I remembered I hadn't received any shirts. Thank you all for trying to get our money/t-shirts. It's appreciated.

Creator Carnivalius on March 22

Are his designs protected? Ie could we produce our own similar zombie esque versions of the t-shirts? I like the designs and if we can still get them one way or another.

Creator Carnivalius on March 22

I think it's safe to say they've fallen through. Their website doesn't exist (despite them saying they'd make a webstore) and no ones had a reply since around September. Any suggestions on who we can follow up about this?

Creator Quarex on March 7

I understand that people do strange things, but he did not make nearly enough money out of this scam for it to be worth potentially ruining his reputation forever--particularly since, by all rights, he actually had pretty stellar designs, and really could have probably made far more money than this if he had actually started making them.

Creator Darklord on March 5

He co-occupied with Gemma Bradley-Stevenson at his previous address.

Creator Darklord on March 5

Based on his previous address his name is Paul R Keene, and it looks like his address may be available on 192.com, it has a new address for the electoral roll for 2013.

Creator Darklord on March 5

@Ben Hanson, I can't see a PM option. It was the Who is info,

I have him down as Wigston in Leicestershire.

Creator Jason Hayes on February 27

@Kristofer - Apparently that's not the guy. Someone else raised the possibility a while ago. Apparently he's living in a specific town in Leicester. They are trying to locate his exact address so they can have him serve with legal papers.

Creator kristofer giot on February 25

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-20813685

Could this be related?

Creator Neil Young on February 20

It's sad to see it come to this, I really liked the sample "designs". Any further updates on this fraud of a project?

Creator Damien Wilde on February 15

This is indeed depressing. It seemed like a great project, and I was looking forward to seeing how things turned out. Obviously the lure of defrauding people out of money was too much for Paul Keene in the end.

Creator Jason Hayes on February 4

Richard, Kickstarter as with any business model, comes with it's risks. I've backed 22 projects (only one failed to fund) and out of the 8-10 that were done by companies/ people who I didn't recognise this is the only one to run off cash in hand. Everyone else has delivered (some outstandingly) or is communicating with progress reports.

I think if you're unsure of a future project, do your research. There has been past projects exposed as frauds before funding because a few people took a little time to research it. Either that or only back projects that are done by people/ companies you recognise or who have an established reputation at stake.

Creator shane cresswell on February 2

just logged in to see what was happening with regards to these tees cant believe whats happend im all for a refund as it seems fairly obvious that hes dupped alot of people

Creator Richard Darrell James Webb on February 2

What a depressing turn of events and has inspired me to never fund a KS project again. Shame, not the least of which I like the shirts. Thanks to Ben and Darklord for pursuing this personally I'm happy with any kind of recourse offered.

Creator Ben Hanson on February 1

Darklord, can you let me know by private message what street address you have for Paul, so I can see whether it matches up with either his old town (I have that address in full) or his new one, which I only have to the town and county level.

Creator Ben Hanson on February 1

I have managed to track Paul down to a specific town in Leicester (he's moved since the WHOIS information for his website was registered) and I have a mobile telephone number for him, as well as Facebook details and information about his current employer.

What I don't have yet is a current address, which we'd need in order to serve any Small Claims Court summons / documents on him.

I can say, though, that this isn't a misunderstanding, and all evidence suggests that Paul Keene is alive and well, and has simply absconded with the Kickstarter money and left no forwarding address.

As soon as we can obtain a correct street address (beyond just the village level), the backers as a collective will need to decide how to pursue Paul for either the refund or reward, as per Kickstarter's terms and conditions. It may be that one person can submit a claim for the full amount, but only if they're designated as the official representative of all the backers.

I'll keep everybody posted. I don't have a tonne of time to dedicate to this, but I dislike the idea of Paul getting away with defrauding us all.

Creator Julie Frost on January 30

Thanks to all in trying to get some kind of response. I just hope that we get an update, some tshirts or our cash back soon!

Creator Joao Gabriel Pereira Schutze on January 29

Thank you all who is trying to solve it!

Creator Darklord on January 29

@Matt H Moulton, Exactly, we require either the reward or a refund.

Creator Matt H Moulton on January 28

Just in case someone hasn't mentioned this.

Kickstarter does not offer refunds. A Project Creator is not required to grant a Backer’s request for a refund unless the Project Creator is unable or unwilling to fulfill the reward.

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.

Project Creators may cancel or refund a Backer’s pledge at any time and for any reason, and if they do so, are not required to fulfill the reward.

Creator Darklord on January 24

I meant to say phone number and street address.

Creator Darklord on January 24

I've got his contact details now, (email and street address) should anyone else require them.

Creator Lisa Tonkinson on January 23

Well this is disappointing to say the least, I thought maybe I just missed updates via email. Glad to see people are looking into this!

Creator Quarex on January 22

I am glad I suddenly remembered that this should have happened by now and checked up! Aww, Leicester, why do you have to disappoint me again?

Creator Jason Hayes on January 21

Has anyone contacted one of the projects he personally backed and see whether they'll share his details. He backed Zombie Playground & Double Fine Adventure, theoretically he's given them personal details address etc. It's worth a shot.

Creator aaron mccormick on January 18

I respectfully consider Tom Keene a con-man...

Creator Jeffrey Lee on January 17

Hi, I have only just read of what is going on. I am very thankful to everyone on here and hope we can all get our t shirts. I will check back more regularly now.

Thank you

Creator Ryan Jenkins on January 16

thanks guys for all your detective work, This has been a real disappointment... I've Wasted $80 on this project and he cant even have the decency to give us a reason... hopefully we all get refunds

Creator Sean Evans on January 14

I've done all this before with various emails to Paul with no such luck... A reply would be a miracle

Creator Darklord on January 13

Nice work Ben!

Creator Brianb_ie on January 9

Thanks guys for your work on this. As all of you I was looking forward to a cool t-shirt but will hopefully get the refund instead.
Sadly from my initial burst of investing in other projects on kickstarter this has been an all too familiar theme.

Creator Julian Bertozzi on January 6

Nice work, shame that it has all transpired this way. Really wanted some of those t-shirts but a refund better than nothing.

Creator Jason Hayes on January 4

Bravo guys, I applaud your efforts. I'll check back regularly. I was looking forward to a couple of nifty t-shirts, but now tshirts or a refund would be satisfactory. Keep up the good work.

Creator Ben Hanson on January 4

I've reproduced my message to Paul's email address below. I've also filed his contact details and, assuming everybody is in agreement and we do not hear back from him, I'll weigh up our options for legal action:

"Dear Paul.

I am the unofficially-designated representative of the backers of your Kickstarter project, Thread or Dead. I'm also a backer myself, so I speak as both an investor in your project and in the interests of the ninety-one other backers who together enabled the project to reach its funding goal last summer.

I am contacting you on this address after much detective work by the backer collective, during which we were able to uncover your home address, phone number, business name and email address, as well as evidence that you have been active on the internet (using the "keeno79" moniker and as Keeno Design) after abandoning your Thread or Dead project. I have chosen to contact you by email about this in the first instance, as it is the least intrusive and informal avenue of communication we have for you; more intrusive will be formal letters from an appointed legal representative, which is obviously something we would rather not resort to but something we are ready and able to do at short notice should this email not elicit a response.

As Kickstarter have explained to us, though, by reaching your funding goal and accepting project funds, you have entered into a legal obligation to either provide the promised products or refund backers should you be unable to deliver them, materially or otherwise. Today, you have been silent on the status of the project since September 2012, despite a promised completion date of November. You have also ignored numerous attempts to contact you through Kickstarter, which is why we were left with no alternative but to find you directly.

I hope this impresses on you the importance of either fulfilling your obligation or, at the very least, updating your backers as to the progress (or otherwise) of the project. If we do not hear from you by 31st January 2013, we will have no choice other than to appoint a legal representative from the retinue of solicitors and accountants available to us, who will then be given your home address, business name, telephone number and other pertinent details in order to try and obtain a refund of the project monies from you.

As a professional writer, I am also personally in a position to publicise the way this project has gone, and your personal behaviour in taking project funds and absconding without completion is something I'm sure your freelance clients would not like to hear. As with legal action, I have held off doing this in the hope of reaching an amicable resolution to this issue. As I previously explained, however, this email represents the last step in mine and the backers' attempts to resolve this amicably.

I hope to hear from you and I hope that there is a simple explanation for what has happened. You can contact me at this email address or by telephone ahead of 31st January.

[Contact details redacted]"

Creator Ben Hanson on January 4

Nice work, Christopher. There's an email address and phone number on record for him there, too (although his own website www.keenodesign.co.uk is currently empty) so I'm happy to try and contact him on behalf of the backers.

Creator Christopher Lewis on December 24

I might have a contact address for Paul as there is a Paul Keene who has registered threadordead.com (just look it up on whois.com)

Creator Darklord on December 23

Nice one Ben. :-)

Creator Ben Hanson on December 21

Yeah, I'm afraid I've already done that - to no avail.

I'll have to contact them in the new year to see whether they have any of his financial records (even PayPal will do) on file so we can pursue this another way.

Creator Darklord on December 20

Here's there response,

Hi Daniel,
If you’re interested in getting refunded for a project that you’ve backed, you’ll need to take that up directly with the project creator. Kickstarter doesn’t issue refunds as transactions are between you and the creator. Kickstarter itself doesn’t have the funds — the creator does.
We’d suggest sending the creator a polite note letting them know of your request, and the reasons why.
Best,
Ian

Creator Darklord on December 20

@Ben Hanson, Kickstarter just said you should send him a message. I explained that I had, but there were little help.

Creator Douglas Ortiz on December 16

Good to know, at least it's some progress. Thanks Ben!

Creator Ben Hanson on December 16

Douglas's find is not the same guy, but this is: http://redditgifts.com/profiles/view/keeno79/

He was also active on the AppleScript help forums, YouTube and a miniatures forum as recently as late October, so he's not completely disappeared: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4474726 and http://www.youtube.com/user/keeno79 and http://www.wyrd-games.net/member.php…

I'm in the UK and will be happy to try and pursue the money or the project, but we need a direct way to contact the guy first, and none of those links really help in that regard.

Darklord, did Kickstarter mention whether they'd divulge his contact details to backers? I think we have some reasonably solid evidence that he's alive and active, and it seems as though he has a legal obligation to fulfil his promise or refund backers. All we really need is a way to get hold of him.