Hi @rdomain, I’ve seen your writing in a lot of places and finally feel the need to say something
You say they’re good at taking money and not delivering but as far as I’ve seen they have delivered every device from the €150 deal which is pretty simple because they only make the deal available when there is a device in stock ready to ship
You backed the project on kickstarter and elected to receive your reward later which was very generous of you but then you act like they haven’t given any devices to the backers but they have given well over half of them already so that’s at least like 800-900 backers I guess
You’re annoyed that they would give a device to a YouTuber instead of you but you need to think about how a business works. Firstly most of the time when a small tech company gives a device to YouTuber its usually only a lone. If they really give it to them for free, they must be a channel with a lot of reach and that’s a marketing expense. The device is given as a payment for the advertising of product which generates sales. That marketing could generate the money needed to manufacture many more devices for the original backers, whereas giving that device to you would be an expense that doesn’t help any of the other backers and if that continues then could lead to the collapse of the company leaving you with a device that will not be supported into the future
Is that what you want? For just you to get a device and let the company die? So the other backers miss out?
That’s basically the path the MOD was on before and that lead them to insolvency. Even when they were under financial stress they continued to ship devices to backers week after week. That didn’t work so something had to change!
They seem to have a plan now that is focussed on getting them to profitability which is a big challenge for all start-ups. They have been very open about their plan and how they are committed to fulfilling the backer rewards though it will take some time. If you don’t like their plan then maybe you can suggest how they can generate the money to manufacture a device for you some other way
Meanwhile you are all over their social media slandering them at every opportunity. Whenever they post something new that can help to grow the company to get to the point where they can make devices for the backers like yourself, you are actively making that more difficult by trying to tarnish the companies public image which really hurts the growth and essentially shooting yourself in the foot. You tag kickstarter in your comments saying they didn’t deliver the device you “bought” from them even though kickstarter themselves have articles explaining the Kickstarter is not a store
Maybe you think that MOD is some greedy corporation with a bank roll that can pay for your device at any time but they don’t simply because they “don’t care” about you. The reality is the MOD is just a few guys who are musicians and creators much like yourself who are just trying to make the dream work and they really do care about the backers like you. I’ve seen it in person. I know you’re annoyed by everything that has happened but it would be much more helpful for MOD, your fellow backers and yourself if you would be more supportive especially in public forums
I understand what you’re trying to say but if the company can’t afford to send backers their units, a refund should be given. It’s not the customers issue to know the inner workings of a company. I know a refund isn’t going to happen because that’s not how this company rolls. I do understand how Kickstarter works as I’ve supported many start ups in the past. All have delivered. The huge difference here is that the product DID go to market and they’re selling them to other people because the company wants more money while there’s at least 800-900 backers who forked over their hard earned money and have been kicked in the guts.
Yes I did elect to receive my reward later as I wanted to help further so I was promised some fancy collectors founders edition for my patience after already waiting for years. And now this hasn’t eventuated so an even bigger kick in the guts. I still waited but yet there’s still nothing except to give them more money for something that is essentially obsolete to me now. Even if I wanted to pay extra for it, I simply don’t trust this company any more.
Seeing there’s been still no announcement for people getting their units and I’ve been patient and polite for years now, I now have to get their attention via social media that they need to deliver or give people their money back. Future buyers should know the workings of this company. You say they’ve been transparent yet they want to hide the fact that this has happened. I’m not shooting myself in the foot, this company shot themselves and so many potential users in the foot.
How about an end date to this? When are these 800-900 people who paid for this device going to receive it or a refund of their money?
I would love to be supportive in public forums etc but that’s impossible with the experience I’ve had. I do post positive experiences with lots of gear I use. Maybe if I eventually get my ModDwarf, I might be able to but until that happens, that simply is never going to happen.
May everyone receive their ModDwarf or money one day. Now I must get back to making music with all the lovely gear I do actually have.
Legally they have no reason to do so and from what I can see they are truly trying everything to make all backers get their dwarf instead of refunding just a fraction of the backers and closing up shop, which would be worst for almost everyone involved. I really understand the frustration but it seems it just comes down to not understanding the risks when backing on kickstarter.
Legal obligations aside (there are none), just use a bit of logic. If they can’t afford the €150 per backer to make everyone’s device how do you expect them to afford refunding €350 per backer?
It’s not “the way they roll” it’s what is possible and not possible.
No the 800-900 figure is the number of backers who already received the device. There were like 1,100ish backers total so that leaves only 200-300 left
Nothing yet for you. You have the option to get the device immediately if you choose to and still have it at a lower price than retail
What your asking for is not possible or helpful. You’re shouting into the wind at this point. It’s been explained over and over but you still don’t get it. You won’t achieve anything by continuing to complain. That won’t magically put money into their bank account so they can refund you
Future buyers should know what? That the Kickstarter rewards are being fulfilled slower than expected due to the hardest 3 years tech startups have seen in decades? I backed a project that launched at the same time as the dwarf that hasn’t shipped a single unit yet let alone 800-900. There are no new Kickstarters running and new buyers get a device shipped when they pay for it. Future buyers have nothing to be warned about? What are they hiding?
As the expression goes “if you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all”
I also want to chime in to say that there isn’t a single person involved in this project that doesn’t want to get the dwarf into peoples hands.
It has been an absolutely destructive few years for small businesses, and even worse for those business that rely on manufacturing partners.
I absolutely understand your frustration, but these guys are trying as hard as they can with the resources they have, and they are stretched to the point of ripping.
Kickstarter is a platform that helps make an idea a reality, and the kicker is generally a discounted device for some seed money. I guarantee that there was full intent to satisfy that arrangement, and at the time the process began, there was no way to know that the world would grind to a halt.
As James mentioned, this is a passion project by a group of musicians. They don’t have Behringer money to throw about when things go sideways.
I have a little something to add here. For all users who want to go out in the wild badmouthing MOD:
Your frustration is understandable, but it’s not grounds for repayment. A cheating wife doesn’t deserve to be killed, you can simply leave her. But going in public saying the wife is a whore can land you in jail.
Kickstarter and all other startup crowdfunding venues are absolutely not secured businesses in any way. Their terms and conditions stipulate that. There is no expectation of repayment of any kind. I used to work for a bank that had a stake at PledgeMusic, and we lost everything. Every single pound invested went to hell.
MOD, for all their sins, is still working to deliver, and you can still get you Dwarf at less than retail price. If you don’t want or like it, you are entitled to your opinion. You can actually sue them for that, but it will fail because of the above: you never bought a product, you bought a tentative product with zero securities behind it.
However, going public to thrash the company and make statements to the effect that they took money and ran away, well bad news: that is actually enforceable by law. You’d be required to prove they misused funds, and the burden of guilt is over you here.
So my friendly advice, in light of “freedom of speech” practices and legislation, is to not go out and about saying someone stole your money unless you can prove it. Just a friendly advice, you do whatever you want.
I can only agree with this: Crowd-funding investments are risk capital. It can go well, but the money can also be gone. That must be clear to everyone who participates. Crowd-funding does not mean buying cheap, but taking a risk and “betting” that the product will be a success. If it’s not a success in the end, the money is gone, it’s as simple as that.
At least the product was saved, which is more than can be expected.
I would only take issues with the “cheating wife” and “for all their sins” analogies. The shutdown slammed everyone. Some more than others, but it hit small businesses and startups really hard.
I thought I had completed the opt-in form months ago, and if memory serves (it’s old, so forgive me if it isn’t 100% reliable) thought I received a confirmation. Can someone check to see if my opt in was successful, please?
you might be interested by the last update sent by M. Gianfranco Ceccolini:
<< Last Founder Edition Production Batch for 2023 :
We’re planning a production batch for Founder edition units later in November. This is going to be the last batch of Founders Edition units still in 2023. If you’re interested in securing one of these units, please fill out the form provided below. We will notify when units are ready to ship so that you can proceed with the payment. If you already filled the form in the past, but for some reason did not manage to get a unit, please fill in again so that we can dimension the production.
Here is the link to the form:
unfortunately, the forum rules don’t allow me to post the links to the news or to the form
This also happened with the expression pedal for those of us who supported the initial DUO project. I also discussed it a lot with the team and will give my advice: STOP.
The people who defend the company’s conduct don’t seem to care about money, unlike us. I sold my entire analogue pedal setup at the time to be able to buy the Kit and I waited years to have the DUO, then years to have the Footswitch, then years to know that I won’t have the expression pedal or the money back (and If I want to buy it I will have to buy it again at a different price etc.)
In the end, Duo was discontinued, soon it will no longer be updated and I was unable to fully take advantage of the package I purchased. At the time Dwarf came out, my complaint was: “How can they be investing in another product if they didn’t even deliver on the initial promise?” … anyway, I see that there is a vicious cycle in the company.
I’m sorry for you… but if it’s any consolation, I also never managed to fully use my equipment, I invested time, money and now I fiddle around with MIDI pedals to try to use this… I’ll never be able to sell the DUO here in Brazil for the price which I paid at the time… So, as a friend, give up… invest in something else… don’t waste any more time.
That’s a 100% true, but maybe not a very soothing remark to someone who lost a not unsubstantial amount of money. And to be fair, there are people who actually did buy the “Expression Pedal” directly via the website, and not via crowdfunding. As one of them I made my peace with the situation and I think MOD learned from this and won’t repeat it.
I still got myself a Dwarf after the reboot and it was delivered to me without any problems.
With AIDA-X and all the other plugins it’s a very good package, and if there is a chance to get a hand on the expression pedal I would consider paying a voucher to get it.
As for future products, I think MOD has to rebuilt a lot of trust before another crowdfunding round can be successful.
Looks like buying MDX as a retail unit was a much more satisfying experience than Kickstarter backing.
Only was depressed by insolvency story for several months, and still have much worse perspectives on getting new features compared to Dwarf users.
I can’t wait more than a week for a delivery without frustration, so I probably would be a ball of hate and fury if I had to wait literally years for something expensive without a clear timeline.
That’s why I am not backing anything on Kickstarter. That’s for a very calm people who do not mind betting and losing that money with no regrets.
