Kickstarter review: Aerionn forma titanium suitcase creator violated tos kickstarter did nothing

Just as the title states, a creator called Aerionn was developing a titanium suitcase (called Forma) for its backers, raising over 1 million dollars for the project.

After the campaign closed, Aerionn significantly altered the design of its product and changed the description to follow suit.

Once the campaign ended, Aerionn directed its backers to an external site called PledgeBox.com (Otalee.com shows up as the charging business). Pledgebox requested backers shipping data and collects fees, which totaled $270 for myself, an American resident. Those fees are paid directly to Aerionn.

Aerionn stopped communicating with its backers at the beginning of April. Aerionn stated shipments would be distributed in July.

All of my attempts to reach out to Aerionn directly remain unresponded to. They have not attempted any communication via their website, via pledgebox, nor via Kickstarter. I did dispute the original $499 Kickstarter pledge with my credit card company, and the dispute was decided in my favor, at the beginning of July. Pledgebox sent me an additional invoice on behalf of Aerionn for unpaid backer fees of $499 in August. USAA FSB denied my disputed shipping fees paid through Pledgebox. They also denied my appeal. I have since filed a complaint against USAA, Aerionn, Pledgebox/Otalee, and Kickstarter with the CFPB and FTC.

In addition, [protected]@aerionn.com, which is listed on Kickstarter and on Aerionn’s website, isn’t even a working email address.

According to the rules stated on Kickstarter.com’s “Creators Rules” page, “Making substantial edits or additions that change the core of a project after submission may result in the project being canceled”, “Creators and their Collaborators must not use Kickstarter as a method to funnel engagement to external websites or platforms.”, and “ If failure occurs, creators should be proactive about communicating this to backers.”

Aerionn has violated these three rules, and Kickstarter has not responded to my complaint.