 Editor in Chief Bill   | 04 Jun 2015 7:23 p.m. PST |
Their website is gone, so I assume they've shut down… They ran the Mini Ice Age Mammal Kickstarter, funded, and I don't know what happened after that… |
 miniMo  | 04 Jun 2015 7:40 p.m. PST |
Gone into hiding, that's for sure. It was a complete scam operation! Dina Andrews Walker has a track record of running scams which has come to light since the KS. The 239 backers have a forum all to our own in the KS comments to pool information and research. She probably won't use KS again for her next scam. The KS backers were incidental targets, the primary scam was using the KS to lure in bigger financial backers.
If you have some time for entertaining reading: link My credit card company gave me a full chargeback, and Kickstarter did not dispute the chargeback. |
| ced1106 | 04 Jun 2015 10:55 p.m. PST |
When did you file and get the chargeback? How late into the campaign did you get it? Good to hear you got it! |
| miniMo | 05 Jun 2015 7:34 a.m. PST |
I was one of the fortunate ones who's credit card company did the chargeback. Some others did not, saying the refund timeline since the billing date had run past.
I filed as soon as the estimated shipping date had been missed. Was supposed to ship in September, I filed on October 2. A missed shipping deadline isn't typically a big deal, but backers' suspicions had been raised by August and by the end of September a compelling amount of evidence had been gathered in the comments. And throughout September the surrealism level of the updates was beginning to seriously rise, but that had only just begun! It was also clear at that point that KS was not dealing with the problem directly, so I went straight to the credit card company. They provisionally refunded my money immediately and filed a dispute on my behalf with Kickstarter. On Nov 27, the refund was finalised when KS had not refuted the chargeback in the time allotted to them.
If you scroll back through the KS Updates and start clicking on them starting in late August 2014, an amazingly stunning trainwreck will unfold ^,^ |
| 45thdiv | 05 Jun 2015 7:53 a.m. PST |
Wow. What a train wreck. The photos of the figures on the home page look good. I then saw the updated post showing a blurry photo of figures sculpted in play do. What happened to the master sculpts shown at the beginning? |
| miniMo | 05 Jun 2015 8:07 a.m. PST |
ADW never had possession of the original sculpts, and had never paid the sculptor for the work! The sculptor, was not a partner in the scam, started another company So those minis are now actually available here: link |
| KenofYork | 05 Jun 2015 10:02 a.m. PST |
I would like to find a web site with a listing of all the scam kick starters that have been run through the gaming hobby. Including ones that were not intended as scams, but wound up resolving themselves in that manner. In other words, how much money has passed through kick starter and vanished? |
| miniMo | 05 Jun 2015 10:18 a.m. PST |
Kickstarter has no guarantee of success.
A failed project is not a scam.
ADW however engaged in outright intent to defraud. Also note that the Kickstarter money was small change and the backers were mere collateral damage. The intended marks for the scam were potential bigger financial backers for the company. The success of the KS was meant to show them a supposed viable start-up. |
| KenofYork | 05 Jun 2015 11:58 a.m. PST |
While a failed project might not be a scam, the end result is the same to the person who is out money with nothing to show for it. Most kick starters do not present themselves as simply donating money to a start up. There is usually a complex menu of tangible rewards promised to the backers. With out this incentive there might be less money being spent on projects. The whole thing has always struck me as being odd. Once I figure out if I like it or not I might participate more as a creator and backer. As of now it just seems a very peculiar way to shop or to create a business. |
