Final Refunds to be Sent by Next Week
almost 9 years ago – Thu, Dec 03, 2015 at 09:26:12 PM

Hi,

This should be the last important group update regarding refunds. If you have received your refund in full, you can skip to the end of this message. Here's where we're at:

Paypal Refunds

These have all been processed, including any stragglers that came in over the last week or so. Most appear to be good to go, but there were just a few issues and most have been resolved. If your email looks like any of the following and you have not received your refund, it means that you do not have an active Paypal account with that address and the funds were returned to me in the last couple of weeks:

s*****[email protected]
k*****[email protected]
i*****[email protected]
d*****[email protected]
s*****[email protected]

If your email is above, please contact Paypal to confirm your email has an active account associated with it, then send me a private message thru Kickstarter with the correct Paypal email address and I'll try again.

Checks

There are about 75 people who requested checks. Long story short, the last of the checks should go out by the end of next week. Some international checks might take a few days longer to go out if I need to get special stamps. The biggest part of the delay on checks was ordering blanks which took a while to arrive, then window envelopes (and I ordered the wrong size at first & had to reorder), and then creating a template for printing. Now I'm just cutting & pasting addresses, printing, signing, scanning, stuffing & mailing.

Backerkit & Any Other Reported Issues

I'll handle any reported issues on refunds that were issued hopefully within 2 weeks of sending out the last of the checks (above) and will send private messages to people accordingly.

Missing Refund Surveys

If you have not received your refund and the initials on your Kickstarter profile look like any of the following, then it means that your refund survey through Kickstarter did not go through:

• AME
• AB
• BS
• CDGU
• CB
• CS
• C
• DI
• ED
• EM
• FH
• GS
• HRN
• JH
• JM
• NC
• PAR
• PS
• RG
• SA
• ST
• SB
• TWO
• TB

If you are on the list above and would like a refund, please kindly resubmit the survey to me and check for confirmation - 1 or 2 people reported that the system wouldn't accept their unusual email addresses, for example.

Suggested Uses For Refunds

If you've received your refund in full, you can do any number of things. You can obviously keep it or use it to back someone else's project. You can also consider some of my products:

Steampunk Playing Cards - use coupon KICKS2015 for 10% off your order thru 12/31/15. It works for goggles, too. I've still got a number of cases in stock, and decks ship out generally within 1-2 business days of your order.

Personalized Baby Blankets - use coupon KICKS2015 to get a blanket for 55% off, at $8.95 + shipping. Add personalization for a few bucks more. Note that you must click thru that page & select one of the 3 items on the page for it to work. Note that we're backed up on personalization for the holidays so I cannot guarantee arrival before Christmas if you have your item customized. If it's blank then it'll most likely go out within 1-2 business days.

If you're feeling charitable, you can also use your refund for your favorite cause. My most recent donation was last month, to the emergency fund at the World Food Program.

Best Wishes

Have a wonderful holiday season and best of luck starting the new year!

Dennis

Status of Refunds, Final Call For Refund Surveys
about 9 years ago – Sun, Nov 01, 2015 at 12:43:35 AM

Hello,

I have now processed all of the Paypal refunds that I can, based on the survey responses. If you are one of the 34 +/- people who has not submitted a survey, please look for it in the system and fill it out ASAP (even if you wish to waive the entire amount), so I can get you your money and close out this project.

All that remains to be refunded is as follows:

• A few Non-personal Paypal accounts - if you have requested a refund through Paypal, but have not received it then please check for a message from me through the system requesting a new email address. It means that there was some kind of error processing your request. In most cases this is because you can't accept personal payments on your account. If I refund you as requested, you'll pay a small fee to Paypal. I need a response to let me know if this is ok, or if you have another Paypal account I can use. If I don't receive a reply in the next week then I'll assume that you're ok with paying the small fee and will post the funds to the account listed.
• Approximately 76 people have requested checks, totaling approximately $4452. I have checks on order and expect to receive them in about 2 weeks. Once I receive the blank checks I will begin printing and sending them. I am hoping that the entire process of sending refunds by check will take about 1 month to complete, but it's possible it may take longer. The checks will have a 60 day expiration on them, so please cash them as soon as they are received, as I will be closing the bank account and dissolving the company when this is done.
• Approximately 34 people who pledged more than $7 have not submitted surveys. Total funds are approximately $2,055. If you have not submitted your survey, please send it immediately. Otherwise I will make a reasonable attempt to get you your money, but there is no guarantee. I really need those surveys filled out, please. If you are waiving your refund, please still submit the survey and list the amount waived. I'm sorry for the hassle but this is the best way I know to get this done efficiently.
• A handful of people who pledged $7 or less have not submitted surveys. As everyone has received the PnP version of the game, I feel that it's safe to assume that I can close out those pledges without sending a refund. Thank you very much if this is the case. If it is not the case then please submit your survey.
• I hope to go through any Backerkit refund issues that were reported over the next 2-3 weeks

Long story short, everything has been refunded with the exception of about $7,000 outstanding, as outlined above, which I hope to have completed by the end of November.

Thanks & best wishes

Status of Refunds
about 9 years ago – Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 05:16:58 PM

Hi, just a quick update. I processed approximately 170 Paypal refunds this weekend, totaling around $8,000. 

All of the Paypal refunds should have been processed for these:

• International Jack of All Trades A
• International Jack of All Trades B

I also processed about 2/3 of the Mechanically Gifted refunds through Paypal. I'm hoping to finish all of the remaining Paypal refunds that have surveys submitted by 11/2, which include the following:

• 1/3 of Mechanically Gifted
• Jack of all Trades
• Inventor (no surveys have been submitted - please send them in)
• Picker
• Spectator

After that, the next step will be to send out checks to those who requested them, followed by figuring out how to refund those people who haven't sent in surveys.

There were quite a few people at the Mechanically Gifted level and some at the other levels who waived funds. Thank you so much, it helps a lot. 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to wrapping this up soon.

-D.

$11,000 / 150 Refunds Have Been Processed This Weekend
about 9 years ago – Sat, Oct 17, 2015 at 09:07:29 PM

I have processed approximately 150 refunds totaling around $11,000 this weekend. The Paypal account is more or less empty until my most recent deposit clears, probably early next week. I should be able to process the next batch of refunds next weekend.

Refunds Processed to Date

If you are in one of the following pledge levels and requested a Paypal refund, please check your Paypal account as those funds should now show as posted:

• early bird mechanically gifted A
• early bird mechanically gifted B
• amateur builder  
• early bird jack of all trades A
• early bird jack of all trades B
• painted jack of all trades  
• international painted jack of all trades
• early bird inventor
• collector

The amount of the deposit you received in your Paypal account should total up to your full pledge amount through Kickstarter, less any amount you may have waived. I'm pretty sure I made no mistakes other than one refund that was split into two separate deposits to someone. However if I have made any other mistakes, please message me through Kickstarter with a very brief summary of the amount you should have received, and the amount you see in your account and I'll correct it. Feel free to post to the project comments if you've received your full refund, but there is no need to send me personal messages to that effect, as this is very time consuming and while I appreciate the support, it will only lengthen the process.

Checks

If you have requested a refund by check (currently 20 out of ~170 accounts reviewed so far), then please stay tuned for news after I have finished processing Paypal transactions in a few weeks.

Stripe/Backerkit

After I finish Paypal and probably after checks have been sent, I will go back and review all of the Stripe transactions that have been reported as incomplete. They debited my account for all of those funds, so I have a feeling that missing refunds fall into one of 3 categories: a) refunded to a different card than expected, b) no stripe pledge was actually made (confusion can arise since Kickstarter pledges for add-ons are imported into Backerkit), or c) an expired card. I'll follow up in a few weeks. 

Remaining Kickstarter Refunds to be Processed Through PayPal

If you have requested a refund by check, or if you are in one of the following pledge levels, then your refund has not been processed yet, but it is in the queue and I am working as fast as I can to get it done:

• mechanically gifted (10% of the surveys were not returned in this category, so it will probably be processed close to the end, right before the people who requested refunds in the $2 and $5 levels get theirs processed, in the hopes that more surveys trickle in)
• international mechanically gifted A
• jack of all trades (10 people need to return surveys at this level)
• international jack of all trades A
• international jack of all trades B
• inventor (no surveys have been returned at this level)

The above categories will be processed during one of the next batches, most likely next weekend or the weekend following.

After everything's processed, I'll make one more attempt to contact people who haven't submitted their surveys yet.

Shout Outs

Bang Wee Games - they have refunded a little more than half of my ~$15,000 deposit, which helped knock down my total losses on this project from around $35-40,000 to around $28-33,000 (in my last estimate I forgot to include some marketing costs such as video reviews and other paid advertising). BW did a great job of making the masters and the moulds for the miniatures, and for following up consistently during this whole process. They are a class act and if you're thinking of doing a Kickstarter project, you should absolutely put them on top of your list. Their pricing is very good compared to many other companies, they do quality work, and they're a great business partner through thick and thin.

Backerkit - they're a great system, and they batched out the Stripe refunds, which helped many people get those funds back faster, and helped me to save a lot of time. 

Backers Who Waived Funds - a handful of people have waived anywhere from $3 to $250 and I appreciate it very much. My estimate that half of the backers waived something was off. It looks to be more like 20% now. Kickstarter won't refund any of the fees to me, so I'm very grateful to those of you who pitched in. I think all said and done, the waivers will help cover about half of the fees paid to Kickstarter and Amazon, which for me, is very significant. Thank you very much for this.

Halloween Goggles

If you've received your refund, and are interested in some steampunk goggles for Halloween, please consider a purchase from my other company: https://www.steampunkgoggles.com/ You can use coupon KSBACKER for 10% off thru Friday 10/23. If you're in the US, there shouldn't be any problems receiving them before Halloween.

Thanks, I should have more news in about a week.

D

Still Need Refund Surveys From 1/3 of People
about 9 years ago – Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 10:57:43 PM

Hi,

About 2/3 of everyone has returned refund surveys - thank you for that. 

I still need responses from 1/3 of everyone. If you haven't responded to the refund survey yet, please send it today or tomorrow. I have initiated the first of several funds transfers from the bank account to PayPal last week (I'm nervous about transferring so much money at once, so I'm splitting it across several smaller deposits over the next 2 weeks in case anything goes wrong). I also have to keep tabs on what % of refunds need to be by check so that I can keep those funds in the bank. Thankfully that percentage is small so far.

I think today's a bank holiday (Columbus Day) so I'm hoping those funds post tomorrow or the next day but I'm pretty sure it'll be good to go by the weekend. Once they appear, I'll initiate the next transfer from the bank to Paypal, and so-on.

I hope to complete around $10,000 in refunds through Paypal this coming weekend. Once the process starts, there will be a delay for anyone who hasn't already submitted their survey, because I'll basically be going down the list by pledge category. By the following weekend I expect to get through another $10-20k, and so forth. 

After I've gotten through the Paypal refunds, I'll cut checks to those who requested them and I'll mail them out. Those checks will probably have a 60 day expiration on them, so please cash them as soon as you receive them. I will most likely dissolve Galliant Games completely, and close the bank account shortly after the last check goes out.

After I've gone through the list, the plan that makes the most sense right now is for me to go back through whoever submitted their surveys late and issue refunds, then I'll make another attempt to contact anyone who has not returned the survey. If I get no reply from those people then I will use my best judgment to attempt to refund whoever's left.

Again though, for anyone who sent me messages with payment info, please just respond to the survey with that information. It is the best way that I know of to keep everything organized.

To those of you who have been kind, positive and understanding, thank you for your continued patience. We are almost there.

AG Filings & Chargebacks

To the 3 or 4 of you who have Attorney General filings in place, and/or have initiated chargebacks, I would greatly appreciate it if you would kindly cancel whatever you have in process. I realize that some of you are still upset by the delays and want to continue to punish me for letting you down. 

You certainly have every right to continue with any legal activities, but these things require my time to address when they come in, and will delay everyone else's refunds. I'm hoping that you can see my good intent and just let it go.

I feel that the Backerkit refunds I sent out last week, while a small percentage of the overall amount I'm giving back, were enough of a good-faith gesture that I plan to finish this promptly. 

The last time I had to deal with AG filings, it took about 2 hours per state to prepare, have phone calls / send letters / emails. I do not have another 4-6 hours to go through that process again in my very tight schedule so the reality is that this time would take away from time spent processing refunds, and speaking as a human being, psychologically it won't motivate me - it will only make me feel more depressed and will not produce a more positive outcome than the process I have initiated and explained.

My attorney advised me that I should have cancelled the project a couple of months ago and refunded everyone as soon as the first AG contact came in, rather than waiting until now in my failed attempt to save the project. At this point, it is absolutely the right decision to terminate - for you and for me. I don't know how else I can explain that I am looking forward to closing this out - with urgency - as best as I can. 

I would appreciate this small token of kindness on your part if you can remove this added stressor from my life and cancel your AG filings/chargebacks now rather than later.

Funds Waivers

About half of you waived a small portion of your refund, and some of you waived a large portion, or the entire amount, and have left kind messages in your survey responses - I've read them all. Thank you very, very much for your kindness in staying with me through this journey, even in failure. It all helps, both with my finances, and with my mental health. I have been depressed lately because of this project and a few other things that I am dealing with in my personal life, so this glimmer of humanity keeps me going. 

You are the people who understand that Kickstarter isn't a store - it's a platform for people who have a dream and want to share that dream with others, and the journey is a risk both for the project creator and the backers. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Thank you again. You are amazing.

For those of you who want 100% refunds, I am not upset whatsoever at that choice, and will refund you in full. Money isn't easy to come by and I'm sure that a fair share of you need every penny these days. I get it, and I appreciate that you have backed me for as long as you have. Some of you are still upset with me, or see Kickstarter differently than I do, and I get that too, and I appreciate that you've got a bit more patience to last through this final hurdle. I know one or two people felt that they owed me an explanation as to why they chose not to help out - no explanation is needed. I will certainly refund the whole amount to you so that we can move forward.

I will send a brief update after the first round of Kickstarter refunds have been issued.

Best wishes,

Dennis