KS scams, worst campaigns

[walrus]

Hey, It has been great seeing so many nice KS projects run by decent, honest artists lately. Many of us are wary of KS for good reason. What do you feel was the worst KS scam. My vote goes to the VORTEX DECK. Full disclosure, I did receive my VORTEX DECK. The reason I vote Alex Yusupov worst KS scam is the number of friends, including a few I recommend back the VORTEX DECK, who Alex scammed. One friend he got for over 500 dollars. I know I go on about Alex and the VORTEX DECK reason being I am stilled pissed about how he blatantly stole from so many people and has the nerve to run a playing card forum where he chastised many people who recently ran KS scams. Because of that, the VORTEX scam tops my list.
So, what say you.

[Eoghann]

For me it's the Type Deck. I'm rather new to Kickstarter but I'm quickly becoming disillusioned by it and more wary of the projects. This one has made me quite resentful. He swears the deck is getting printed, but the kid only replies when the backers get riled up or threaten to pull their pledges away. Otherwise he can go weeks without replying to anyone's questions. Not that it will be of much use considering our credit cards have already been charged. So for all we know the money has been burned on hooch and hoochies. The only solace I get out of all this was that I turned down my multi deck pledge to a single deck, so the loss isn't that great.

[samwisethegray]

Two words: Asylum Deck.

[Bikefanatic]

I would've pledged for the Asylum deck too if I joined KS earlier. So far, I haven't been burned. Many people were worried about the Emperor deck but the lady responded to people's questions so hopefully it'll run smoothly and I get both decks at or before January.

[charlie81dbz]

I'm glad I am fairly new to kickstarter and collecting playing cards, or I probably would have been burned on the Vortex, Army Men and Asylum decks. That said, the Founders deck was my first ever pledge for cards, same day as the Steampunk Cthulhu. At least backing Nat was a good call. I also backed the Type deck, hadn't checked on it recently so I wasn't aware that it was already in questionable status. A bit disappointing really. I do tend to back very low on decks like those where there isn't an established history like Uusi, Encarded, 4PM or a few other designers have. I am still hoping for the Founders deck though; it just seems like so much work and planning went into it for it to just be a scam in the end. :\

charlie

[Paul Middleton]

For me it's the Type Deck. I'm rather new to Kickstarter but I'm quickly becoming disillusioned by it and more wary of the projects. This one has made me quite resentful. He swears the deck is getting printed, but the kid only replies when the backers get riled up or threaten to pull their pledges away. Otherwise he can go weeks without replying to anyone's questions. Not that it will be of much use considering our credit cards have already been charged. So for all we know the money has been burned on hooch and hoochies. The only solace I get out of all this was that I turned down my multi deck pledge to a single deck, so the loss isn't that great.

Whilst I can't condone anything, and I have no knowledge of what you're referring to. My gut tells me this one will get printed, albeit it maybe with a delay. He doesn't seem like a bad guy from my dealings with him , but it's important to note i'm not a backer.

[CBJ]

Hey, It has been great seeing so many nice KS projects run by decent, honest artists lately. Many of us are wary of KS for good reason. What do you feel was the worst KS scam. My vote goes to the VORTEX DECK. Full disclosure, I did receive my VORTEX DECK. The reason I vote Alex Yusupov worst KS scam is the number of friends, including a few I recommend back the VORTEX DECK, who Alex scammed. One friend he got for over 500 dollars. I know I go on about Alex and the VORTEX DECK reason being I am stilled pissed about how he blatantly stole from so many people and has the nerve to run a playing card forum where he chastised many people who recently ran KS scams. Because of that, the VORTEX scam tops my list.
So, what say you.

since you've brought up Alex...

I see that Aether has DRAMATICALLY inflated its members counts by keeping the flood of bot accounts..

On June 10th Aether had 1684 Members, gaining about 1 a day.

Now, 71 days later.. they have 18,356 members! Nearly a 1100% increase.

If you go look at the members list... it's a joke. Most of the names are just random letters

Whatever makes Alex feel better at night I guess

[CBJ]

Sorry for the double post.. but in case anyone is wondering...I keep track of some of the numbers from both sites





L.P.T.P = Last Person To Post thread

[Paul Middleton]

This thread's gone a little off-topic maybe?

From what I have personally seen (i didn't back it) the Founders is a pretty big scam, the guy isn't hiding - still has a site, Twitter handle, etc but just refuses to reply to anyone.

[CBJ]

Yeah sorry about that

[Eoghann]

Whilst I can't condone anything, and I have no knowledge of what you're referring to. My gut tells me this one will get printed, albeit it maybe with a delay. He doesn't seem like a bad guy from my dealings with him , but it's important to note i'm not a backer.

I sincerely hope you're right.

[walrus]

Yeah sorry about that

Well, it was interesting, I always wondered about those numbers.

[Mike Ratledge]

The "Core" deck comes to mind, but I didn't back it. Did anyone ever see those delivered other than by ebay?

As far as worst campaigns, I think we're onto a new low with the "Vampire and Zombies Deck" from the guy with "The Vampyre Society". I'm sure everybody's in the that one! LMAO...

[badpete69]

Yeah I got my core decks and my beta17 ultraviolet decks. The only ones I never got were the Founder's and Asylum decks. The core guy had almost completed his shipments recently even though they were at least 1 year late

[DukeBoy]

Yeah I got my core decks and my beta17 ultraviolet decks. The only ones I never got were the Founder's and Asylum decks. The core guy had almost completed his shipments recently even though they were at least 1 year late

did you back Army men and get a refund? I still hve not gotten mine.

[badpete69]

yep got my refund from army men

[cosmicsecret]

i´ve got a refund for the Army Men Deck Pledge. it was below $20 so i guess i felt into the lucky ones.

[BMPokerworld]

Yeah I got my core decks and my beta17 ultraviolet decks. The only ones I never got were the Founder's and Asylum decks. The core guy had almost completed his shipments recently even though they were at least 1 year late

did you back Army men and get a refund? I still hve not gotten mine.

Don't hold your breath. It looks like he only gave refunds to the people who had the most juice and were complaining the loudest. After that, he just sent out what ever he had left to the unimportant backers (In his mind). I offered to help salvage this protect for him before he started issuing refunds. If he took me up on it, he still would have turned a profit. By issuing refunds, it guaranteed he would have a loss. The minute he said no, I knew some people were going to get nothing.

Thanks!

[rousselle]

The minute he said no, I knew some people were going to get nothing.

Yeah, so far, I'm one of those in the "got nothing" camp. Grrr.

[samwisethegray]

Yeah I got my core decks and my beta17 ultraviolet decks. The only ones I never got were the Founder's and Asylum decks. The core guy had almost completed his shipments recently even though they were at least 1 year late

did you back Army men and get a refund? I still hve not gotten mine.

Don't hold your breath. It looks like he only gave refunds to the people who had the most juice and were complaining the loudest. After that, he just sent out what ever he had left to the unimportant backers (In his mind). I offered to help salvage this protect for him before he started issuing refunds. If he took me up on it, he still would have turned a profit. By issuing refunds, it guaranteed he would have a loss. The minute he said no, I knew some people were going to get nothing.

Thanks!

Mike, thanks for adding that. I did not know that at all, if you offered to help produce the decks, why didn't he? What an idiot. That is crazy, I would of liked to see the decks come a year and a half late than a refund. Im guessing he hoped that many people wouldn't opt in for the refund, and he could just keep some pledges from the sympathetic people.

[BMPokerworld]

Yeah I got my core decks and my beta17 ultraviolet decks. The only ones I never got were the Founder's and Asylum decks. The core guy had almost completed his shipments recently even though they were at least 1 year late

did you back Army men and get a refund? I still hve not gotten mine.

Don't hold your breath. It looks like he only gave refunds to the people who had the most juice and were complaining the loudest. After that, he just sent out what ever he had left to the unimportant backers (In his mind). I offered to help salvage this protect for him before he started issuing refunds. If he took me up on it, he still would have turned a profit. By issuing refunds, it guaranteed he would have a loss. The minute he said no, I knew some people were going to get nothing.

Thanks!

Mike, thanks for adding that. I did not know that at all, if you offered to help produce the decks, why didn't he? What an idiot. That is crazy, I would of liked to see the decks come a year and a half late than a refund. Im guessing he hoped that many people wouldn't opt in for the refund, and he could just keep some pledges from the sympathetic people.

No, I think the problem was he spent too much of the money and couldn't come up with the rest that I needed to make it happen. It wasn't going to be shared, but since he clearly is not going to refund everyone, I thought I should let everyone know what was offered by me to help everyone out.

Thanks!

Thanks!

[samurai007]

My vote is the Founder's deck. I think it was a scam all along, with no intention of ever even trying to produce the cards.

[vmagic]

There's too many to list but I have to say Ultraviolet because these guys are sitting on stacks of decks they don't intend to ship out!

[phantom1412]

Vote on founder too.
I backed it on the last day. I shouldn't have made it in time...

Another is ultraviolet.

These stop me from backing a lot of projects.

[see_squared]

Absolutely, the Founders deck is probably the worst scam one out there. Took $37,000 of everyone's money, had the artwork completed and once the money rolled in, he just disappeared without a trace.

[Sharpie]

Absolutely, the Founders deck is probably the worst scam one out there. Took $37,000 of everyone's money, had the artwork completed and once the money rolled in, he just disappeared without a trace.

I almost unleashed my research skills on this one. Really wanted it to happen.

[doobybrain]

The Founders deck. The Founders deck Kickstarter has turned me off of ALL kickstarter playing card projects forever. Honestly, I'd rather pay a premium via eBay than deal with the influx of Kickstarter projects that may just take my money and run.

[dcell59]

The ones that really bug me are Vortex, Spectrum, QuickSilver, Ultraviolet, Core, and Revision1. Of these, QuickSilver actually bothers me the most, but mostly because Russell went from being a good businessman to going into hiding. Core is in second place for me because Tim just flat out lied to me. Spectrum and Revision1 did ship, and I got mine early, but I know that some people waited for over a year to get their decks. I got my Vortex and most of my Ultraviolet decks.

I don't feel that any of these people started out with the intention of scamming people (and that includes Alex), but they ended up just not having the business acumen to deliver the goods and keep good communications. Sadly, that seems to be the way of Kickstarter. Creators seem to think that it's easier to hide from their backers when things go wrong rather than just tell us what's going on. After not backing any projects for over a year, I did back a project that promises to deliver before Christmas, but I'll be buying backup gifts for the intended recipients if I don't see the rewards in a timely fashion.

[Bikefanatic]

The question now should be which project has the potential to be another disaster? That Bicycle Kingdoms deck, the goal was too low for 3 decks plus the creator didn't know that USPCC prints the cards, not Bicycle. A nice deck but we'll see.

[BMPokerworld]

The question now should be which project has the potential to be another disaster? That Bicycle Kingdoms deck, the goal was too low for 3 decks plus the creator didn't know that USPCC prints the cards, not Bicycle. A nice deck but we'll see.

Yes those are major warning signs, so it basically is not worth it, IMO.

Thanks!