Just to close out my earlier comment, I did finally receive my kit as I was coincidentally in SF this week and Joshua kindly made some time to meet with me and pass it on in person. Thanks for your extraordinary effort here guys, it's greatly appreciated.
German customs wrote me an angrygram about the package complaining about the plug and lack of CE marking among other things, and told me it would either be destroyed or returned as it wasn't fit to enter the country. I gave up at this point, this kickstarter is a mess.
Got mine.
Paid extra for customs duty- pissed off.
Only has a US plug fitted- pissed off.
Trying to register the device with its 'code', however the code it speaks is not the one it shows on its screen. So far, a miserable experience.
On the plus side, the user exp can't get much worse.
Also was charged £27 a couple of weeks ago, as customs, to be able to recieve my Mycroft in the UK. Product is pretty poor too. So all round the worst Kickstarter I have backed, when you take into account the lack of communication from the creator.
Raj, this is one reason I'm very reluctant to pay the additional shipping cost they're trying to charge. In effect, I'll be paying around £50 ($65) on top of the £100 ($130) I've already paid (currency conversion fees sucked). That's if Royal Mail charge for the import, if another courier gets it, which is possible, it could be even more!
I paid $99.99 for the item & $20.00 for UK shipping within days of the Kickstarter going live. I was assured that this covered all future costs, including shipping to the UK (which was a specific item on the bill).
All I can say is that this project has severely burned me & I won't be using Kickstarter again. I'm going to be £100 out of pocket but that's better than paying extra & potentially not receiving anything or getting an item with minimal or no future support.
In the UK and just received a Royal Mail 'fee2pay' slip asking for £26.64 (inc £8) to cover customs charge. I presume this is the Mycroft unit. I paid the extra shipping charge. Why didnt this cover the customs charges?
@Jeshua Montgomery, I have the same concern that @Stuart Nairn and others have. You didn't even send us an acknowledge of our refund request. This is the professional behavior that led me to ask for a refund and you keep disappointing us again and again. I can't imagine the quality of your product, but I'm so sure that the support will be so bad that I don't want it at all. Please, let us know how you plan to refund us.
Backers, check out our update we just posted on our blog, https://mycroft.ai/production-update/. For those of you who have reached out to us, either here or through other channels, we are working to contact you directly via email. We can’t thank you enough for your continued patience. Your Mycroft Mark 1's will be arriving soon!
What is happening with refunds, I requested one quite a while ago and have not even had acknowledgement that I requested it let alone an actual refund. Please respond ASAP.
still haven't received mine or even a tracking number this was the first project I backed and I have received my pledges from 25 other projects in the mean time. until I receive mine I won't believe that anyone has gotten theirs. I have lost all confidence.
I also received my Mycroft today. The build quality looks amazing. I haven't had a chance to even dig into the documentation, let alone tinker w/ the device itself, but I hope I can this weekend and ultimately get involved with the development community as much as possible. It was definitely wise to include an advanced prototype disclaimer, although it would seem some people may ignore it. Anyway, glad to see these units are making their way to backers! The future looks bright :)
got my Mycroft Today. Seems to be working as well as I would expect. pretty nicely put together the feet come out of the holes a bit easy but thats not a big deal they are nice and grippy so I dont expect this thing to go sliding anywhere. the lights and the display are pretty cool.
only real complaint is that no matter how much I change my location it responds to the question "Where are we" to: currently you are at location "main, digital ocean, NYC NY United States" This is not the case since I am in Daytona Beach, Fl and have set my location to this everywhere I can.
but overall this actually came through and is pretty cool. If I can get it to work as well as a home or echo it weill be better than both for my purposes. the thing that makes it that much better is that my Wife thinks this is what she thought robots of the future would be like and she things it is "really cool"
I was reading about your advance to the next round at xprize. Congrats. Also I was visiting my daughter at the megacon here in Orlando and whom did she introduce me to but a gentleman named Rubin who was a big part of android I am told, anyway he told me that he is also interested in a my rift like unit but after seeing what I showed him on Kickstarter about you he said he would not back you. Now I hear he is a judge on xprize for the 3 m award. Good luck you will not get it and I doubt you will ever get a backer in Silicon Valley,karma has a way of coming back to bite you. Treat your backers like trash and sooner or later you will find out that someone knows someone that wreck your dreams.
@Deborah, @Mihail
Interestingly enough, I just received another email from backerkit reminding me of the survey :) I thought the deadline was May 31?
@Mihail
Ouch. I just read up on Tiko a bit. I remember when it first came out and thought, I'm not touching that. Seems too good to be true :) $55 Extra?! Yikes. This is why I'm so wary of giving them MORE money, especially with the communication, or lack there of, they've provided.
I was hoping they would just say, oops, that was a mistake on our part configuring backerkit, let us fix it. And then we'd be on our merry way. Instead. Silence. I repeat ... Sigh.
@Kinezo, @Deborah Also did not filled in the survey, but for a different reason.
I was burned by Tiko (search on Kickstarter and read some comments). Before I give extra money from my pocket for shipping I want to see that people who filled the survey start receving the goods. I don't want to throw good money after the one I already sent.
@kinezo I'm in the same boat as you. Also in Canada, also not filled in the survey, also asked for a refund with no response. At this point I've pretty much given up on this project. It sounded like a great idea, but the utter lack of answers and respect for the backers has put me right off. If anyone would have just talked to us and properly explained the situation, I would have sucked it up and paid the extra money, but at this point it's both the principle of the matter and the fact I feel like it's just throwing good money away.
Anyone else NOT fill in their survey? I just couldn't do it on principle. (I was very disappointed in Joshua's canned responses and not even reading the comments). As I stated (as well as a couple of others), I'm from Canada. And according to THEIR policy, shipping was supposed to be $10 flat for USA/Can. I paid $20 above pledge. So technically, I should have been refunded $10! I would have been more than happy to just call it even, keep my extra $10 as good faith towards delivering product. But when the survey came out and asked me for ANOTHER $26USD (You have to also realize, the CAD has dropped vs the USD the last 1-2 years, so $26USD == $35! So that's $20USD from whenever the campaign started PLUS another $35CAD.) That's just non-nonsensical.
So I've emailed for the refund option (before the survey deadline) but never got a response. I also haven't filled in my survey.
Carlos, it was NOT originally stated that $20 shipping was insufficient, as I have pointed out several times. What kind of company charges less than they know the shipping will cost? I'll tell you what kind of company - one that is incompetent or intentionally trying to mislead.
Still, my main problem has been the truly terrible communication. Good luck with your Mycroft - I have my doubts that you'll ever receive it, and if you do, I fully expect that support will collapse within a very short time. These people show no signs of being competent.
Any updates on how things are coming along with production/shipments/fulfillment? Getting quite excited to start tinkering with the Mycroft. Regarding international buyers getting upset about additional charges... frankly if it was originally stated that $20 shipping was insufficient for international shipments, I'm not sure you'd have anyone to blame but yourself for not performing your due diligence. To to be fair, $20 for international shipping is unreasonably low, so that should have been your first indication to read up on their policies.
Having to submit payment card details to Backerkit is wholly unacceptable. Provide a different option. I have no relationship with them. I want no relationship with them. Use one of the established payment platforms. Reluctantly I suggest Paypal.
The massive hike in delivery charges is almost equally unacceptable. This whole project has been one long disappointing clusterf*ck. I wanted the project to succeed. I wanted to receive the end product. But I contributed what I felt able to afford that was reasonable, including the (now apparently mythical $20 dollars) international shipping component.
Great ideas come at a cost, but yours are proving too slow to materialise, at too high a cost, and with questionable competence.
I have also decided to go ahead and (reluctantly) pay extra (26 USD) for the shipping. I was the 896th person to complete the backerkit survey... So, many people seem to have gone ahead and paid the extra money. I think it is because most people believe in their product, I do too and hope I do not get too disappointed....
I have also decided to share the feedback I received from MyCroft. Maybe it can "clear up" some things for some people. I have removed the name of the person who emailed me.
Hey Stefano. Thanks for your questions! My name is (redacted), and I am one of Joshua's assistants here at Mycroft. I have asked around the office and gotten some answers for you.
Our Mycroft software is completed, and we are making sure to have our development team ready to push out updates whenever needed. However - Our hardware supply chain has fallen. The company that was supposed to be providing us with the boards and face-plates has fallen through numerous times, so we have had severe delays. It's a "hurry up and wait" situation in our office. Our production team has reached out numerous times to the company to try to get refunds, new products, etc. We are working day-and-night to get this sorted ASAP.
To answer your second question - it's a little confusing. Our $99 bundle received almost no interest and with the difficulties we have been having from our supply companies we couldn't feasibly have two separate products. Our shipments would come in at different times, or mixed up together. With this being said, we upgraded a very small amount of $99 customers to the $129, and that has become our base price. Please keep in mind that this is still significantly less than what the Mycroft unit will retail for.
We understand that it is inconvenient right now to be seemingly paying more to just wait, but as a startup we are working hard to establish a relationship with successful suppliers so we can accelerate Mycroft to retail manufacturers. We appreciate your support for Mycroft. Hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any other questions!"
I don't understand how a Backerkit deadline can be left as is without any of the project's supporters getting answers to their (very reasonable) queries. I'm going to pay the extra shipping costs now, but I expect to get a resolution to the issue of there now only being one model and so I've effectively paid more already. I may be wrong to be annoyed by that, but some form of communication would go a long way to appeasing me and many others.
Not heard anything. I would be very, very surprised if it included customs charges, or they would have seized upon that as a positive bit of news.
All we know for sure, as Joshua has indicated several times, is that they knew the shipping would cost more than $20 right from the start, and that's why they charged $20. You know, like you wouldn't do, because it makes absolutely no sense.
Has anyone heard back officially 1) if the shipping charges will cover customs charges or not 2) if refund option taken, what percentage is reduced to cover kickstarter charges. I emailed 18th May, however no reply.
I sincerely hope it works out, Kenneth. I am short on money, and Joshua's amazing attitude was the final straw for me, so I requested the (partial) refund. I've no idea if they intend on ever fulfilling the promises of refunds, but we'll see. Such a shame, I really thought these guys were legit, but in my opinion their recent behavior truly calls that into question.
@everyone For the record, I paid the extra $20 for shipping today. I am thoroughly disgusted with @creator Joshua Montgomery and all of the Mycroft AI Team's antics as of late but I decided to proceed regardless for these reasons:
- The delay has been longer than any kickstarter I've been involved with and it has been frustrating, but I believe, perhaps naively and foolishly, that they are almost ready to ship.
- I believed in Mycroft enough two years ago to back the project, and I felt a $20 increase in the overall price wasn't enough to make me pull out.
- I kind of see this as the most damage/disgruntled option in a way. If I did ask for a refund, they'd only give it when they sold my unit at a greater profit. I'm out of pocket one way or the other, I might as well pick the option that hurts them the most.
- Apollobox doesn't ship to Australia. Oh yes Josh, I checked, I was very curious what their shipping would have been. Oh and I will be very curious what my shipping invoice says. Don't think I'm not going to scrutinize every goddamn piece of paper DHL gives me to sign to prove you're gouging me on the shipping.
I almost asked for a refund out of principle. You have handled this campaign terribly Joshua, especially here at the 11th hour. Perhaps you have already built a significant enough community in the makerspace that you felt like you didn't need your Kickstarter backers' support any more. Perhaps you're as tired of this project as we are. But you have behaved very unprofessionally, and quite honestly, it was *cowardly* that you did not face us in this forum. I am utterly disappointed in you.
I do hope Mycroft is awesome. It will need to be so friggin awesome out of the box to prevent me from using it for target practice at this point.
@Joshua Montgomery - When you won't answer any questions, and brush everyone off with a single repeat statement, you both fuel your critics as and alienate your supporters in one go.
Anyone can see that the lack of communication is eroding what confidence your backers have left in you, and I'm surprised that you don't address this as it's obviously bad for business.
As an experienced backer the silence after the sudden 350% increase in shipping to Norway is not just a warning sign, but a big, red flashing NOPE, so while I expect it will prove costly for me to ask for a refund, I will rather cut my losses than risk losing more.
Well said, Deborah. Being asked for more money wouldn't have been the end of the world for me, if only they'd been polite about it and explained it. Instead, their attitude is atrocious, they delete Facebook comments and absolutely refuse to adopt a decent attitude to their backers.
What really puzzles me is; why? What possible reason would you have to be so rude to your backers? Why ignore the valid questions about the 'extended' units? What business principle is at work here? Perhaps there's more going on than meets the eye.
Put it this way, I very much doubt we'll get our partial refunds.
The issue with their current refund policy is that a) you don't get a refund until they 'sell' your unit and b) you lose out on Kickstarter fees. Which is interesting, since I paid for an early bird unit ($149) and they will sell my unit for $179, so they will make a nice profit on my 'refund' and I'll be paying for the privilege of them holding onto my money for almost 2 years now.
Not to mention, the lack of answer for those of us who paid extra to back an extendable unit, only to all receive the same model... I've had a lot of wins and losses on Kickstarter, and frankly, I think I'd be less bitter if they just never completed the project. But to have them finally finish after all these delays and then expect me to pay even more, with no explanation and such a poor attitude, contemptuous of their original backers... it just has really stuck in my caw.
@Creator, if you always knew shipping was going to cost more, then you should have charged more up front. Poor planning on your part isn't really my problem and you are being rude and dismissive of backers with legitimate questions and concerns.
Suffice to say, you aren't getting any more money out of me and I have zero interest in the Mycroft platform anymore. Bad business, NOT open and transparent, like you promised to be in your campaign.
I would, however, dearly love to know what logistics company you are using that charges $46 to ship a small box to Canada, so that I can avoid them forever as well.
Actually, just forget about it, I'll apply for the refund. I've been wavering, but my faith has now diminished to zero. If your reply had shown the slightest contrition I'd have paid the extra, but I've had enough.
Again, another rude and inaccurate reply. The small-print line you quote doesn't imply that standard international shipping will be more than $20, any normal person would assume that meant it may cost more to certain remote destinations. If you knew it would be more, why did you only charge $20?
Your customer service (and your attitude) are terrible. Is there someone else at your company we can talk to? You know, someone who has a good attitude to customer service? Because you're terrible at it mate, and if I was you, trying to run a small upcoming business, I'd be trying to build a good reputation, rather than a reputation for treating customers like dirt. All that's needed here is politeness and a proper explanation (perhaps even an apology for underestimating shipping), and you seem incapable.
Thank you for your comments; however, our shipping policy for Mycroft has always been: "We ship Mycroft units anywhere in the world. Any costs associated with international shipments over $20 will be billed to the supporter before shipment". If you are not interested in paying for the shipping, please refer to our cancellation policy. https://mycroft.ai/crowdfunding-promises-and-pitfalls/
I left a comment on their Facebook page, and they deleted it without responding, which is pretty much the mark of a terrible company. I would advise against giving them any more money.
Use this space to cheer the creator along, and talk to your fellow backers.
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Show older commentsStewart Nolan on October 27
Just to close out my earlier comment, I did finally receive my kit as I was coincidentally in SF this week and Joshua kindly made some time to meet with me and pass it on in person. Thanks for your extraordinary effort here guys, it's greatly appreciated.
Joshua Montgomery Creator on September 26
Shipping has been completed. If you still have an issue please email us at hello@mycroft.ai
Stewart Nolan on September 20
German customs wrote me an angrygram about the package complaining about the plug and lack of CE marking among other things, and told me it would either be destroyed or returned as it wasn't fit to enter the country. I gave up at this point, this kickstarter is a mess.
Ian Parr on August 24
For those in the UK that paid the extra charges for delivery and the customs tax. Was the customs tax VAT based on purchase price?
Thanks
LH on August 24
Got mine.
Paid extra for customs duty- pissed off.
Only has a US plug fitted- pissed off.
Trying to register the device with its 'code', however the code it speaks is not the one it shows on its screen. So far, a miserable experience.
On the plus side, the user exp can't get much worse.
Pedro Henrique Lopes on August 17
I haven't had any acknowledgement for my refund request too! ...
Rod Little on July 25
Also was charged £27 a couple of weeks ago, as customs, to be able to recieve my Mycroft in the UK. Product is pretty poor too. So all round the worst Kickstarter I have backed, when you take into account the lack of communication from the creator.
Daniel Grey on July 17
Raj, this is one reason I'm very reluctant to pay the additional shipping cost they're trying to charge. In effect, I'll be paying around £50 ($65) on top of the £100 ($130) I've already paid (currency conversion fees sucked). That's if Royal Mail charge for the import, if another courier gets it, which is possible, it could be even more!
I paid $99.99 for the item & $20.00 for UK shipping within days of the Kickstarter going live. I was assured that this covered all future costs, including shipping to the UK (which was a specific item on the bill).
All I can say is that this project has severely burned me & I won't be using Kickstarter again. I'm going to be £100 out of pocket but that's better than paying extra & potentially not receiving anything or getting an item with minimal or no future support.
Disgraceful.
Kean
Superbacker
on July 13
Oh my goodness, it finally arrived!
Raj Burgul on July 13
In the UK and just received a Royal Mail 'fee2pay' slip asking for £26.64 (inc £8) to cover customs charge. I presume this is the Mycroft unit. I paid the extra shipping charge. Why didnt this cover the customs charges?
Amarpreet on July 13
I haven't had any acknowledgement for my refund request either... And I requested my refund in January.
Javier Montes Carrera
Superbacker
on July 9
@Jeshua Montgomery, I have the same concern that @Stuart Nairn and others have. You didn't even send us an acknowledge of our refund request. This is the professional behavior that led me to ask for a refund and you keep disappointing us again and again. I can't imagine the quality of your product, but I'm so sure that the support will be so bad that I don't want it at all. Please, let us know how you plan to refund us.
Joshua Montgomery Creator on June 28, 2017
Backers, check out our update we just posted on our blog, https://mycroft.ai/production-update/. For those of you who have reached out to us, either here or through other channels, we are working to contact you directly via email. We can’t thank you enough for your continued patience. Your Mycroft Mark 1's will be arriving soon!
Stuart Nairn on June 27, 2017
What is happening with refunds, I requested one quite a while ago and have not even had acknowledgement that I requested it let alone an actual refund. Please respond ASAP.
Todd McGee on June 23, 2017
Mine showed up yesterday. They are delivering as promised. It is worth the wait!!!!
B. Ray
Superbacker
on June 16, 2017
still haven't received mine or even a tracking number this was the first project I backed and I have received my pledges from 25 other projects in the mean time. until I receive mine I won't believe that anyone has gotten theirs. I have lost all confidence.
Faiz on June 14, 2017
The code doesn't work
Carlos Rodrigues on June 14, 2017
Welp, can't connect to my wifi, and ethernet isn't working either :(
Looks like I'll need to wait for the weekend to start digging into documentation and troubleshooting.
Carlos Rodrigues on June 13, 2017
I also received my Mycroft today. The build quality looks amazing. I haven't had a chance to even dig into the documentation, let alone tinker w/ the device itself, but I hope I can this weekend and ultimately get involved with the development community as much as possible. It was definitely wise to include an advanced prototype disclaimer, although it would seem some people may ignore it. Anyway, glad to see these units are making their way to backers! The future looks bright :)
Don Newell on June 12, 2017
got my Mycroft Today. Seems to be working as well as I would expect. pretty nicely put together the feet come out of the holes a bit easy but thats not a big deal they are nice and grippy so I dont expect this thing to go sliding anywhere. the lights and the display are pretty cool.
only real complaint is that no matter how much I change my location it responds to the question "Where are we" to: currently you are at location "main, digital ocean, NYC NY United States" This is not the case since I am in Daytona Beach, Fl and have set my location to this everywhere I can.
but overall this actually came through and is pretty cool. If I can get it to work as well as a home or echo it weill be better than both for my purposes. the thing that makes it that much better is that my Wife thinks this is what she thought robots of the future would be like and she things it is "really cool"
B. Ray
Superbacker
on June 12, 2017
I was reading about your advance to the next round at xprize. Congrats. Also I was visiting my daughter at the megacon here in Orlando and whom did she introduce me to but a gentleman named Rubin who was a big part of android I am told, anyway he told me that he is also interested in a my rift like unit but after seeing what I showed him on Kickstarter about you he said he would not back you. Now I hear he is a judge on xprize for the 3 m award. Good luck you will not get it and I doubt you will ever get a backer in Silicon Valley,karma has a way of coming back to bite you. Treat your backers like trash and sooner or later you will find out that someone knows someone that wreck your dreams.
kinezo on June 8, 2017
@Deborah, @Mihail
Interestingly enough, I just received another email from backerkit reminding me of the survey :) I thought the deadline was May 31?
@Mihail
Ouch. I just read up on Tiko a bit. I remember when it first came out and thought, I'm not touching that. Seems too good to be true :) $55 Extra?! Yikes. This is why I'm so wary of giving them MORE money, especially with the communication, or lack there of, they've provided.
I was hoping they would just say, oops, that was a mistake on our part configuring backerkit, let us fix it. And then we'd be on our merry way. Instead. Silence. I repeat ... Sigh.
Mihail
Superbacker
on June 7, 2017
@Kinezo, @Deborah Also did not filled in the survey, but for a different reason.
I was burned by Tiko (search on Kickstarter and read some comments). Before I give extra money from my pocket for shipping I want to see that people who filled the survey start receving the goods. I don't want to throw good money after the one I already sent.
Deborah P
Superbacker
on June 7, 2017
@kinezo I'm in the same boat as you. Also in Canada, also not filled in the survey, also asked for a refund with no response. At this point I've pretty much given up on this project. It sounded like a great idea, but the utter lack of answers and respect for the backers has put me right off. If anyone would have just talked to us and properly explained the situation, I would have sucked it up and paid the extra money, but at this point it's both the principle of the matter and the fact I feel like it's just throwing good money away.
kinezo on June 6, 2017
Anyone else NOT fill in their survey? I just couldn't do it on principle. (I was very disappointed in Joshua's canned responses and not even reading the comments). As I stated (as well as a couple of others), I'm from Canada. And according to THEIR policy, shipping was supposed to be $10 flat for USA/Can. I paid $20 above pledge. So technically, I should have been refunded $10! I would have been more than happy to just call it even, keep my extra $10 as good faith towards delivering product. But when the survey came out and asked me for ANOTHER $26USD (You have to also realize, the CAD has dropped vs the USD the last 1-2 years, so $26USD == $35! So that's $20USD from whenever the campaign started PLUS another $35CAD.) That's just non-nonsensical.
So I've emailed for the refund option (before the survey deadline) but never got a response. I also haven't filled in my survey.
Sigh.
PWC on June 4, 2017
With that said: I am willing to be proven wrong. Mycroft can still come through at the last minute, if they have the will.
PWC on June 4, 2017
Carlos, it was NOT originally stated that $20 shipping was insufficient, as I have pointed out several times. What kind of company charges less than they know the shipping will cost? I'll tell you what kind of company - one that is incompetent or intentionally trying to mislead.
Still, my main problem has been the truly terrible communication. Good luck with your Mycroft - I have my doubts that you'll ever receive it, and if you do, I fully expect that support will collapse within a very short time. These people show no signs of being competent.
Carlos Rodrigues on June 3, 2017
Any updates on how things are coming along with production/shipments/fulfillment? Getting quite excited to start tinkering with the Mycroft. Regarding international buyers getting upset about additional charges... frankly if it was originally stated that $20 shipping was insufficient for international shipments, I'm not sure you'd have anyone to blame but yourself for not performing your due diligence. To to be fair, $20 for international shipping is unreasonably low, so that should have been your first indication to read up on their policies.
Bwired.nl on June 3, 2017
below the answer from mycroft
i did this and reply for refund but no reaction at all :-( Mycroft is stalling
PLEASE REFUND NOW!!
Thank you for your comments and message. If you are not interested in paying for the shipping, please refer to our cancellation policy. https://mycroft.ai/crowdfunding-promises-and-pitfalls/
Todd McGee on June 3, 2017
Just curious if any backer had received even one unit?
Gulraj Rijhwani on June 1, 2017
Having to submit payment card details to Backerkit is wholly unacceptable. Provide a different option. I have no relationship with them. I want no relationship with them. Use one of the established payment platforms. Reluctantly I suggest Paypal.
The massive hike in delivery charges is almost equally unacceptable. This whole project has been one long disappointing clusterf*ck. I wanted the project to succeed. I wanted to receive the end product. But I contributed what I felt able to afford that was reasonable, including the (now apparently mythical $20 dollars) international shipping component.
Great ideas come at a cost, but yours are proving too slow to materialise, at too high a cost, and with questionable competence.
Bwired.nl on June 1, 2017
I now mail kickstarter, i followed the kickstater refund rules and still no reply!
Comply to the rules and refund asap!
PWC on June 1, 2017
Weird that they can write you an email like that, but can't be bothered to post a comment along those lines here.
Stefano Figura on June 1, 2017
I have also decided to go ahead and (reluctantly) pay extra (26 USD) for the shipping. I was the 896th person to complete the backerkit survey... So, many people seem to have gone ahead and paid the extra money. I think it is because most people believe in their product, I do too and hope I do not get too disappointed....
I have also decided to share the feedback I received from MyCroft. Maybe it can "clear up" some things for some people. I have removed the name of the person who emailed me.
Hey Stefano. Thanks for your questions! My name is (redacted), and I am one of Joshua's assistants here at Mycroft. I have asked around the office and gotten some answers for you.
Our Mycroft software is completed, and we are making sure to have our development team ready to push out updates whenever needed. However - Our hardware supply chain has fallen. The company that was supposed to be providing us with the boards and face-plates has fallen through numerous times, so we have had severe delays. It's a "hurry up and wait" situation in our office. Our production team has reached out numerous times to the company to try to get refunds, new products, etc. We are working day-and-night to get this sorted ASAP.
To answer your second question - it's a little confusing. Our $99 bundle received almost no interest and with the difficulties we have been having from our supply companies we couldn't feasibly have two separate products. Our shipments would come in at different times, or mixed up together. With this being said, we upgraded a very small amount of $99 customers to the $129, and that has become our base price. Please keep in mind that this is still significantly less than what the Mycroft unit will retail for.
We understand that it is inconvenient right now to be seemingly paying more to just wait, but as a startup we are working hard to establish a relationship with successful suppliers so we can accelerate Mycroft to retail manufacturers. We appreciate your support for Mycroft. Hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any other questions!"
Paul Bunkham on May 31, 2017
I don't understand how a Backerkit deadline can be left as is without any of the project's supporters getting answers to their (very reasonable) queries. I'm going to pay the extra shipping costs now, but I expect to get a resolution to the issue of there now only being one model and so I've effectively paid more already. I may be wrong to be annoyed by that, but some form of communication would go a long way to appeasing me and many others.
PWC on May 31, 2017
Not heard anything. I would be very, very surprised if it included customs charges, or they would have seized upon that as a positive bit of news.
All we know for sure, as Joshua has indicated several times, is that they knew the shipping would cost more than $20 right from the start, and that's why they charged $20. You know, like you wouldn't do, because it makes absolutely no sense.
Rod Little on May 31, 2017
Has anyone heard back officially 1) if the shipping charges will cover customs charges or not 2) if refund option taken, what percentage is reduced to cover kickstarter charges. I emailed 18th May, however no reply.
PWC on May 30, 2017
I sincerely hope it works out, Kenneth. I am short on money, and Joshua's amazing attitude was the final straw for me, so I requested the (partial) refund. I've no idea if they intend on ever fulfilling the promises of refunds, but we'll see. Such a shame, I really thought these guys were legit, but in my opinion their recent behavior truly calls that into question.
Kenneth Scott Huntley
Superbacker
on May 30, 2017
@everyone For the record, I paid the extra $20 for shipping today. I am thoroughly disgusted with @creator Joshua Montgomery and all of the Mycroft AI Team's antics as of late but I decided to proceed regardless for these reasons:
- The delay has been longer than any kickstarter I've been involved with and it has been frustrating, but I believe, perhaps naively and foolishly, that they are almost ready to ship.
- I believed in Mycroft enough two years ago to back the project, and I felt a $20 increase in the overall price wasn't enough to make me pull out.
- I kind of see this as the most damage/disgruntled option in a way. If I did ask for a refund, they'd only give it when they sold my unit at a greater profit. I'm out of pocket one way or the other, I might as well pick the option that hurts them the most.
- Apollobox doesn't ship to Australia. Oh yes Josh, I checked, I was very curious what their shipping would have been. Oh and I will be very curious what my shipping invoice says. Don't think I'm not going to scrutinize every goddamn piece of paper DHL gives me to sign to prove you're gouging me on the shipping.
I almost asked for a refund out of principle. You have handled this campaign terribly Joshua, especially here at the 11th hour. Perhaps you have already built a significant enough community in the makerspace that you felt like you didn't need your Kickstarter backers' support any more. Perhaps you're as tired of this project as we are. But you have behaved very unprofessionally, and quite honestly, it was *cowardly* that you did not face us in this forum. I am utterly disappointed in you.
I do hope Mycroft is awesome. It will need to be so friggin awesome out of the box to prevent me from using it for target practice at this point.
Lars Klaeboe
Superbacker
on May 28, 2017
@Joshua Montgomery - When you won't answer any questions, and brush everyone off with a single repeat statement, you both fuel your critics as and alienate your supporters in one go.
Anyone can see that the lack of communication is eroding what confidence your backers have left in you, and I'm surprised that you don't address this as it's obviously bad for business.
As an experienced backer the silence after the sudden 350% increase in shipping to Norway is not just a warning sign, but a big, red flashing NOPE, so while I expect it will prove costly for me to ask for a refund, I will rather cut my losses than risk losing more.
PWC on May 28, 2017
Well said, Deborah. Being asked for more money wouldn't have been the end of the world for me, if only they'd been polite about it and explained it. Instead, their attitude is atrocious, they delete Facebook comments and absolutely refuse to adopt a decent attitude to their backers.
What really puzzles me is; why? What possible reason would you have to be so rude to your backers? Why ignore the valid questions about the 'extended' units? What business principle is at work here? Perhaps there's more going on than meets the eye.
Put it this way, I very much doubt we'll get our partial refunds.
Deborah P
Superbacker
on May 27, 2017
The issue with their current refund policy is that a) you don't get a refund until they 'sell' your unit and b) you lose out on Kickstarter fees. Which is interesting, since I paid for an early bird unit ($149) and they will sell my unit for $179, so they will make a nice profit on my 'refund' and I'll be paying for the privilege of them holding onto my money for almost 2 years now.
Not to mention, the lack of answer for those of us who paid extra to back an extendable unit, only to all receive the same model... I've had a lot of wins and losses on Kickstarter, and frankly, I think I'd be less bitter if they just never completed the project. But to have them finally finish after all these delays and then expect me to pay even more, with no explanation and such a poor attitude, contemptuous of their original backers... it just has really stuck in my caw.
@Creator, if you always knew shipping was going to cost more, then you should have charged more up front. Poor planning on your part isn't really my problem and you are being rude and dismissive of backers with legitimate questions and concerns.
Suffice to say, you aren't getting any more money out of me and I have zero interest in the Mycroft platform anymore. Bad business, NOT open and transparent, like you promised to be in your campaign.
I would, however, dearly love to know what logistics company you are using that charges $46 to ship a small box to Canada, so that I can avoid them forever as well.
PWC on May 26, 2017
Actually, just forget about it, I'll apply for the refund. I've been wavering, but my faith has now diminished to zero. If your reply had shown the slightest contrition I'd have paid the extra, but I've had enough.
Deborah P
Superbacker
on May 26, 2017
It also states shipping to Canada is a flat $10 rate, so technically, I'm owed a ten dollar refund.
PWC on May 26, 2017
Again, another rude and inaccurate reply. The small-print line you quote doesn't imply that standard international shipping will be more than $20, any normal person would assume that meant it may cost more to certain remote destinations. If you knew it would be more, why did you only charge $20?
Your customer service (and your attitude) are terrible. Is there someone else at your company we can talk to? You know, someone who has a good attitude to customer service? Because you're terrible at it mate, and if I was you, trying to run a small upcoming business, I'd be trying to build a good reputation, rather than a reputation for treating customers like dirt. All that's needed here is politeness and a proper explanation (perhaps even an apology for underestimating shipping), and you seem incapable.
Joshua Montgomery Creator on May 26, 2017
Thank you for your comments; however, our shipping policy for Mycroft has always been: "We ship Mycroft units anywhere in the world. Any costs associated with international shipments over $20 will be billed to the supporter before shipment". If you are not interested in paying for the shipping, please refer to our cancellation policy. https://mycroft.ai/crowdfunding-promises-and-pitfalls/
Kenneth Scott Huntley
Superbacker
on May 26, 2017
What are the consequences of not completing the backerkit survey by their deadline. I'm not eager to complete without hearing from @joshua.
Jennifer on May 25, 2017
Got a response in regards to the Transfer Backing (refund) debacle. They told me that they'd issue a refund when they sell my unit.
PWC on May 25, 2017
This is their forum page: https://community.mycroft.ai
This is their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/aiforeveryone/
This is their Twitter: https://twitter.com/mycroft_ai
Pile in and ask them on these different platforms. We deserve answers to our questions. Be polite, of course.
PWC on May 25, 2017
I left a comment on their Facebook page, and they deleted it without responding, which is pretty much the mark of a terrible company. I would advise against giving them any more money.