Crowdfunding is definitely a trend of the times, as it is increasingly popular among technology enthusiasts, who do not hesitate to financially support promising technological projects. Indeed, through this process, some remarkable high-tech gadgets have been released from time to time ( with the most successful example being the Pebble smartwatch ).
However, there is also a dark side to the history of crowdfunding, as there are several cases where supporters of an effort fell victim to… fraud! One of these cases concerns the Kreyos Meteor smartwatch…
When the Kreyos Meteor “smart watch” made its appearance on IndieGoGo in 2013 , it was presented as the only smartwatch that would support voice and gesture controls. Its unknown creator and his rather inexperienced team asked the public to support them with the initial amount of $100,000. At the sight of the first concept photos of the Kreyos Meteor, there were not a few who were convinced and rushed to finance this particular effort, thus raising the not inconsiderable sum of $1.5 million.
Initially, the initiator of the effort, Steve Tan, assured that the watch would be ready within 3 months, stating that backers would have it in their hands in October 2013. However, things did not go so well afterwards, as the project went from postponement to postponement, until the first Kreyos smartwatches reached the hands of the "lucky" backers of the project just a few days ago!
The result turned out to be more than disappointing, bordering on fraud , as the final image of the device had nothing to do with what its creators had promised. The angry backers of the Kreyos Meteor report in their posts that although the watch claims to be waterproof ( up to 5 meters deep ), in reality, as soon as it comes into contact with even the slightest bit of water… it breaks ! Furthermore, the quality of the device's speaker is unacceptable ( worse than a walkie-talkie ), while the pedometer is completely useless.
Furthermore, life doesn't last more than a day, even though its creators claimed it would last for at least 7 days without charging. Finally, gesture controls are conspicuous by their absence, while the user interface is abysmal. Simply put, the money spent by the backers of this particular effort was essentially wasted, as the final product had nothing to do with what they had initially promised!
As if the above were not enough, the company that manufactured the Kreyos Meteor changed the terms and conditions of the campaign, specifically stating that after the delivery of the product there is no possibility of replacement and compensation! As you can understand, this move caused the wrath of the Kreyos Meteor supporters, who demanded that IndieGoGo take a stand. However, the people in charge of the crowdfunding site acted like new Pontius Pilates, washing their hands and blaming the supporters, who should have understood the scheme from the beginning.
The worst thing of all, of course, is that while the backers are trying (in vain) to find their way, the atheist Steve Tan does not hesitate to pose on social media with his shiny Ferrari!
The unfortunate story of the Kreyos Meteor project should teach us that while enthusiasm for any crowdfunded project is good, before anyone deposits money one must first conduct a careful check of which company will develop the specific project, so that unfortunate cases like Kreyos Meteor are avoided.
Source: digitallife.gr
