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Posts Tagged ‘backers’

Meyer Optik Görlitz’s parent company is insolvent, backers won’t get lenses or money returned

18 Oct

In August Net SE, the company behind Meyer Optik Görlitz, Emil Busch, C.P. Goerz, Ihagee, Oprema Jena, and A. Schacht products, was removed from the German stock exchange and subsequently filed for insolvency.

Now, the fears of Kickstarter backers of the Meyer Optik Görlitz products who have not received their lenses yet have turned into a reality: The reward will not arrive and you won’t get your money back either. Net SE is completely dead. This was first reported by German photo publication Photoscala after an official notice was published, asking to direct claims to a law firm.

Insolvency proceedings have been opened which means all hopes for backers to receive rewards or their money back have evaporated. Net SE’s lack of assets means nothing can be expected from the company and Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms reject all responsibility in such cases.

This isn’t the first crowdfunding project ending up in a mess but given we are dealing with several campaigns here the number of affected photographers is likely higher than usual. It’s a reminder that backing a crowdfunding project isn’t the same thing as pre-ordering and there’s always some risk of losing your money.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Panono’s new owner offers camera to original backers at production cost

23 Dec

Despite raising about $ 1.25 million in a crowdfunding campaign, now-defunct company Panono GmbH went bankrupt after failing to deliver its 360-degree camera to many of the people who had backed the product. The company was bought by the Swiss-based private equity investor Bryanston Group, which acquired most of its assets but none of its obligation to Indiegogo backers.

Bryanston Group AG has brought back the Panono camera under a new holding company called Professional GmbH. Despite stressing that it doesn’t have any “liability or obligation” resulting from its assets acquisition, the company has said that it feels it has “a moral obligation to compensate the project’s early supporters.” For that reason, the company is offering the project’s original backers the opportunity to purchase the resurrected Panono camera at production cost.

The production cost is about half-off
the camera’s retail price

About 2,000 Indiegogo backers who received neither refund or camera have been sent this offer, according to the company, which says the production cost is about half-off the camera’s retail price. In addition, these former backers are also offered unrestricted access to Panono’s cloud features, which is said to have about a $ 600 value.

According to the Verge, this discounted rate means backers who take up the offer will pay around $ 1,120 to $ 1,240 for the production-cost camera bundles available. This is on top of the $ 500 or more these backers already spent on the camera (they never received) as a pledge during the original Indiegogo campaign.

Professional GmbH is limiting discounted Panono camera sales to 50 units per month; customers are limited to one discounted camera each. The Panono website lists the Panono camera set, which includes a case, stick, tripod adapter, and messenger bag, at 1899€ / $ 2,250. Cheaper alternatives exist, though not necessarily with comparable specs, such as the Ricoh Theta V.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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F-Stop abandons KitSentry Kickstarter, doesn’t offer backers refunds

09 Aug

F-Stop Gear has announced that KitSentry, the bag it sought (and successfully raised) funding for on Kickstarter, will not be brought to market. The notice, which was posted as the final update for Kickstarter backers on Sunday, details various production issues and expenses that ultimately made KitSentry less than ‘economically viable.’ The company’s explanation is at odds with a report published in a recent investigative article by Resource Magazine, however, where an insider claims the Kickstarter campaign ‘was a sham from the beginning.’

The Kickstarter campaign launched on February 23, 2015 and sought funds for KitSentry, a product F-Stop described as ‘the next generation smart bag.’ The campaign was reached its goal on March 3, 2015 and ultimately raised $ 27,039 by its end. The first sign of trouble arose with an August 2015 update in which F-Stop said it would be pushing back all of its deadlines by three or four months. By the time its April 2016 update was posted, backers were agitated and many were demanding refunds.

In the final update posted yesterday, F-Stop cited ‘two big problems’ it couldn’t overcome: trouble getting around existing patents and higher than anticipated production costs. ‘While we may have been able to overcome one of the obstacles,’ the post explains, ‘the two combined have proven to be too much at this time. Even after the additional investment of time and money, it has become obvious that KitSentry is not economically viable.’

It doesn’t appear backers will be refunded, with F-Stop instead offering ‘a goodwill credit toward any f-stop product, equal to the amount pledged on Kickstarter.’

Earlier this month, however, Resource Magazine published an article detailing the troubled campaign and a conversation the piece’s author Jaron Schneider had with a contact he said he ‘greatly’ trusts. That source claimed, in part, that F-Stop’s CEO has been hemorrhaging company money with a lavish personal lifestyle, unsustainable projects, premature promises and mismanagement. 

Among other things, the source stated:

In regards to the KitSentry Kickstarter, it was a sham from the beginning. A former colleague of the CEO apparently ‘stole’ an idea the CEO had and was trying to execute KitSentry in some form or another. Once that former colleague started creating public info about that product, the CEO got spooked and forced his now-former marketing team to create a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding for a half-baked product. Once the funding was raised, he transferred all the funds to himself, leaving nothing to the actual development team to spend on creating KitSentry itself.

Via: Kickstarter

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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As Triggertrap pulls plug on Ada kickstarter, CEO Haje Jan Kamps responds to comments from unhappy backers

04 Mar

Despite a successful round of funding through Kickstarter, Triggertrap has run into difficulties developing its Ada prototype and has announced that it will not be continuing with the project. As of November last year the company had raised nearly £300,000 in crowdfunding for its latest innovation, Ada – a high-speed shutter and flash trigger. Triggertrap CEO Haje Jan Kamps spoke with us about the response he’s heard from disappointed project backers. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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