SINGAPORE: In December 2017, Singaporean Ms Shreya Bhat forked out S$55 for a wallet that separates coins from notes for her boyfriend as a Christmas present.
But 10 months later, the order for the grey KIN wallet she placed still had not arrived.
“The order was never fulfilled. I’ve yet to receive a refund as well. My boyfriend and I have both complained through various channels … but it was all in vain,” said Ms Bhat.
The wallet, which sorts out the coins into a separate compartment with a shake of the hand, was designed by three students from the National University of Singapore in 2016.
The industrial design students – Ms Lim Li Xue, Ms Cheryl Ho, and Ms Ng Ai Ling – were in their final, third and second years respectively in the industrial design course when they created the product two years ago.
One of the modules required them to launch a product on Kickstarter.
Their company, KINstudio, was responsible for producing and shipping the wallets. The innovative design was a resounding success on global crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, when the trio garnered S$280,468 – more than 70 times their S$4,000 target.
The project attracted positive news coverage both locally and internationally, but the company have struggled to deliver their orders on time.
From December 2017, KIN Studio posted updates on its Facebook page, apologising to customers for the delays due to quality and delivery issues of the shipments.
In the first update, KIN Studio urged their backers to “continue to be patient” as the team was “very small and inexperienced”, but added that it had delivered 992 wallets to its backers and 146 to its online customers.
However in March 2018, KINStudio said it received feedback on the quality of the wallets, and they had to spend a month in the factory to “re-fix the production line”.
In the company’s last update in May 2018, it said it was working to get more clarity from its manufacturer, but they have been not able to provide any concrete information, and hence, KINStudio was unable to inform backers when exactly the wallets will be delivered.
Some of the project’s backers affected are from overseas, including Thai national Sutthisak Wimolrat, who purchased the KIN wallet in March 2017 and has been waiting almost 20 months for his delivery.
Mr Wimolrat, who purchased the kepler black model for S$55 through Kickstarter, said: “I do not know how to move on from this. The KIN wallet developers have deceived us and are not responsible for what happened. We do not know what to do.”
NUS REACHES OUT TO KIN STUDIO
In response to queries from Channel NewsAsia, NUS confirmed that the product was developed by three of its undergraduates but said that two of them have since graduated.
NUS added that following the end of the module, the intellectual property in the product was licensed from NUS to KIN Studio, a private entity, to commercialise the wallet.
It added that the Division of Industrial Design at the NUS School of Design and Environment is aware of the current issues encountered by KIN Studio.
“We have been informed that there has been a delay in the delivery of the orders as KIN Studio is resolving some technical and quality issues with the manufacturer. The Division has reached out to KIN Studio to offer help on the issues,” NUS said.
Another backer from Thailand, Ms Tawan Anantachin, told Channel NewsAsia she paid for the ultramarine KIN wallet in May 2017 and have yet to receive her shipment.
Ms Anantachin added that she made several refund requests through Facebook messenger and emails, but instead received auto-reply messages on what caused the delay of the shipments.
“I wanted my S$55 back but instead the replies were about manufacturing issues, about them going abroad (to fix the problem) and the high volume of messages,” she said.
Mr Anantachin last heard from KIN Studio in July 2018 when the company eventually asked for her bank account details but has yet to receive a refund.
According to Mr Tejas Ewing, Ms Bhat’s boyfriend who was supposed to receive the KIN Wallet as a Christmas present last year, the pair are not expecting the delivery or the refund to arrive anytime soon.
“CASE (Consumers Association of Singapore) can’t really force the company to do anything, and when we made a police report, we were told to file a claim at the Small Claims Tribunal. But we weren’t going to do that, not for 50 dollars,” said Mr Ewing.
“Our best bet is to file a complain with our credit card company to cancel the order,” he added.
KICKSTARTER BACKERS MAY NOT GET THEIR MONEY BACK: CASE
CASE told Channel NewsAsia that as of Friday, Oct 19, it had not received any complaints against KIN Studio.
The consumer watchdog added that crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter, are usually not involved in the development of the project and transactions occur between the backers and creators directly.
“If the project is not accomplished, the backers can try requesting for a refund from the creator. However, a refund is not guaranteed,” CASE said.
“Backers with unresolved disputes against the company may wish to contact CASE for further assistance. Alternatively, they may wish to seek legal advice against the company,” it added.
CASE also wished to remind backers of such projects to do background research on the developer’s know-how to deliver the project, and the viability of the estimated delivery timeline, before making any purchases.
“They should enquire if there is a way to contact the creator in the event of any problems. Backers should also be mindful that there is always a risk that the Kickstarter project will fail and they may not be able to get their money or product in the end,” CASE said.
Channel NewsAsia reached out to KIN Studio and the three creators of the wallet – Ms Lim, Ms Ho, and Ms Ng – last week to find out how many orders remained undelivered and what they intend to do to make good on their promises to their backers and customers.
They were also asked why there has been no update on the KIN Studio Facebook page for five months. The three creators and KIN Studio, have not responded to the queries.
