Final Reminder for Refunds
over 7 years ago – Tue, Dec 18, 2018 at 12:25:51 AM

Dear Backers

Update #33 Refund Update
over 7 years ago – Mon, Nov 12, 2018 at 02:09:14 PM

Dear Backers

Update relating to the refunds process  

In our last update on the 9th July 2018, we set out the structures and processes involved in refunding over 3,000 pledges. 

After several months we are now nearly at the end of this tough process for both you guys and ourselves.  

There are still of a number of backers though who have not completed the online form we sent on 10th July 2018 so we have not been able to process their refund.  

If you have not received your refund yet, please contact us via the email below so we can resend you the link to the online form.  

[email protected] 

In our previous update, we described the refund process and below is a reminder.

The Refund Process  

We will outline below what you will need to do in order to receive your refund as quickly as possible.  

1/ We have created an online form that you will need to complete in order for you to receive your refund.  

2/ All Kickstarter and Backerkit backers have already been sent an email with a link to complete the online form. (If you have not received the link to the form then please contact us at [email protected] so we can resend you the link)  

3/ All Kickstarter backers will need to have a Paypal account and provide us with your Paypal email address to receive your refund. All Backerkit backers will need to confirm their payment details.  

4/ We will also need the following information on the form:  

 • Your email address used to pledge on Kickstarter/Backerkit  

 • Your backer/pledge number  

 • Your username on Kickstarter/Backerkit  

5/ Refunds will be processed on a rolling basis once we receive your completed form. This may take up to 3-4 weeks but we will try our hardest to get this done as quickly as possible.  

6/ To ensure all backers don’t miss out on receiving a refund we will keep the refund process open until 31st December 2018 but we strongly advise that you complete the form immediately so we can refund you as quickly as possible. Completed forms received after this date will not be processed.

7/ Important Note: During the refund process, if you dispute the charges on your card through your bank or credit card company, it will delay your refund. Disputes trigger a review process involving your bank and Kickstarter that can take many weeks to resolve. If a dispute case is opened, we, unfortunately, cannot process your refund until it is resolved.  

8/ Please be patient with as each refund has to be done manually one at a time.  

Refund FAQ:  

Q. How do I find my backer number on Kickstarter?  

A. Click your profile at the top of the right side of the page on Kickstarter. Then click ‘Backed Projects’ underneath ‘MY STUFF’. Then click on ‘The Worlds Smallest Phone Project’ This will open the page and then click on the blue ‘view pledge’ button. You can find your backer number by scrolling all the way to the bottom of the pop-up.  

Q. How do I find my Username on Kickstarter?  

A. Click your profile at the top of the right side of the page on Kickstarter. Under ‘SETTINGS’ click ‘edit profile’ and you will see your username.  

Q. How do I find my email address used on Kickstarter?  

A. Click your profile at the top of the right side of the page on Kickstarter. Under ‘SETTINGS’ click ‘account’ and you will see your email address.  

Q. What if I don’t have a Paypal account.  

A. Please message us via [email protected] to discuss an alternative refund method.  

Thank you for your continued support and patience through what has been testing times for everyone involved.  

Kind regards,  

Clubit New Media 

We love to give other Kickstarter projects, credit, where credit is due. 

Here are some extremely popular up and coming campaigns we love:  

SoundWave - Illuminate Your Music  

Experience your music like never before. Bring your playlist to life with a spectacular synchronised light show and soul-shaking sound.  

The Zelo Journal

Clear Your Mind & Reach Your Goals - A flexible daily journal that helps you turn your goals into realities. 

The Refund Process
over 7 years ago – Tue, Jul 10, 2018 at 01:27:13 AM

Dear Backers 

Important information regarding refunds - Please read carefully.  

Overview of the Refund Process  

As promised we now have a strategy in place to begin the refund process. Sorry it has taken a while, you would think that there would be an easy way to refund all backers but this is not the case. 

We have been in communication with Kickstarter and they have strongly recommended that we do not process refunds via the Kickstarter platform due to limitations of their system, as the platform is not designed to handle this many refunds at once.

We will therefore be processing refunds via Paypal.

Partial Refund

Unfortunately we are unable to provide a full refund to backers, however, we will be offering an 85% refund to all backers. See the table below for example refund amounts.

The Refund Process

We will outline below what you will need to do in order to receive your refund as quickly as possible.

1/ We have created an online form that you will need to complete in order for you to receive your refund.

2/ All Kickstarter and Backerkit backers will shortly receive an email with a link to complete the online form. (If you have not received the link to the form by Friday 13th July 2018 then please contact us at [email protected] so we can resend you the link) 

3/ You will need to have a Paypal account and provide us with your Paypal email address to receive your refund. 

4/ We will also need the following information on the form: 

• Your email address used to pledge on Kickstarter 
• Your backer / pledge number
• Your username on Kickstarter

5/ Refunds will be processed on a rolling basis once we receive your completed form. This may take up to 3-4 weeks but we will try our hardest to get this done as quickly as possible. 

6/ To ensure all backers don’t miss out on receiving a refund we will keep the refund process open until 31st December 2018 but we strongly advise that you complete the form immediately so we can refund you as quickly as possible. 

7/ Important Note: During the refund process, if you dispute the charges on your card through your bank or credit card company, it will delay your refund. Disputes trigger a review process involving your bank and Kickstarter that can take many weeks to resolve. If a dispute case is opened, we unfortunately cannot process your refund until it is resolved. 

8/ Please be patient with us as there are almost 3500 backers to refund and each refund has to be done manually one at a time. 

Breakdown of Costs 

As mentioned above we will be offering 85% refunds. The remaining 15% is made up of non-refundable costs including Kickstarter fees, Backerkit fees, Stripe fees and the legal, accountancy and advisory costs that were incurred in directly dealing with the dispute to either recover the phones or receive a refund from Zini Mobiles Ltd. 

We would like to point out that the legal, accountancy and advisory fees have been heavily discounted to minimise the loss to backers. 

We know that a refund is a poor consolation but many of you will be aware of Kickstarter campaigns that have failed where backers have not received a reward or a refund. We hope you appreciate that we have done everything possible to maximise the amount you will be refunded. 

We would also like to make it clear to everyone that we (Clubit New Media Ltd) have not taken any payment or profit whatsoever from the backers funds but instead have incurred sizeable losses during our involvement in this Kickstarter project over the last 12 months. 

What is evident is that Zini Mobiles Ltd has had the total benefit of the marketing impact of a campaign organised and run by Clubit New Media, the entire marketing cost being borne by Clubit New Media.

What went wrong? 

What started off as a super exciting collaborative project driven by passion has ended in a nightmare situation both for you the backers and ourselves. 

The short version of why the project could not move forward and why the rewards could not be delivered to backers. 

1/ We fulfilled our part of the collaboration agreement between ourselves and Zini Mobiles Ltd by creating and managing a marketing plan that would lead to a successful Kickstarter project. 

2/ We paid Zini Mobiles Ltd for the agreed cost to produce the phones over two installments - First payment on 23rd February 2018 and second payment 18th April 2018.

3/ After receipt of the second payment we were informed the phones had gone in to production and we were also sent a production phone for quality control. 

4/ We then encountered a series of increasing demands and obstacles but continued to try and work with Zini Mobiles to ensure we could deliver the phones on time to the backers as promised. 

5/ To our horror (on 22nd May 2018) we discovered via a backer that the phones were available for retail purchase on a Chinese marketplace called Taobao. We believe that had these phones been sent to us (as originally agreed) then we would have been in a position to deliver the phones to all backers by end of May / early June and complete our obligation. 

6/ After continued negotiations we had no option but to seek legal advice. It soon became clear that there would be no easy resolution. 

7/ The reason we finally insisted on a refund was that we were unable to comply with the ongoing, unreasonable demands and conditions that we were legally unable to meet, which made fulfilling the campaign impossible. 

We believe that we created and marketed an excellent Kickstarter and marketing campaign (all at our cost and expense) and have not done anything intentionally wrong for this project to have failed in the way it has. We have worked extremely hard at all times to honour our obligation to the backers to the best of our ability. 

Contrary to the misleading information shared by Zini Mobiles Ltd via @NickMartin we would like to stress that we (Clubit New Media) are not to blame for the reason this campaign has failed and you the backers have not received your phones. 

Although many of you backers are understandably bitter towards us at the moment we hope over time you will regain some trust in us and our brand. We are not 'scammers or thieves ' as portrayed by some but hardworking and honest individuals. 

As we have explained previously, we had always intended to deliver the phones to the backers once we had received them from Zini Mobiles Ltd. At no point did we halt production of the phones, refuse delivery of the phones or spend the money on bbqs or a trip to the Bahamas. 

Once we have completed the refund process and had a chance to breathe we will update you with some of the key facts and lessons learned from this project. 

Finally we would also like to say an extra special Thank You and show our appreciation to a large list of people who have helped and have been amazingly supportive from the beginning of this project (Too many to list but you know who you are). 

Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter. If you do have any questions in regards to refunds please do not hesitate to message us and we will do our best to respond as quickly as possible. 

Once again, we apologise for the inconvenience caused by the unfortunate outcome of this project.

Best Regards

Clubit New Media

Refund FAQ:

Q. How do I find my backer number on Kickstarter? 

A. Click your profile at the top of the right side of the page in Kickstarter. Then click ‘Backed Projects’ underneath ‘MY STUFF’. Then click on ‘The Worlds Smallest Phone Project’ This will open the page and then click on the blue ‘view pledge’ button. You can find your backer number by scrolling all the way to the bottom of the pop-up.

Q. How do I find my Username on Kickstarter? 

A. Click your profile at the top of the right side of the page in Kickstarter. Under ‘SETTINGS’ click ‘edit profile’ and you will see your username. 

Q. How do I find my email address used on Kickstarter? 

A. Click your profile at the top of the right side of the page in Kickstarter. Under ‘SETTINGS’ click ‘account’ and you will see your email address. 

Q. What if I don’t have a Paypal account. 

A. Please message us via [email protected] to discuss an alternative refund method.

Refund Received from Zini Mobiles Ltd
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Jun 29, 2018 at 05:53:34 PM

Refund Update
almost 8 years ago – Tue, Jun 26, 2018 at 01:42:27 AM

Dear Backers

It is with great regret that we (Clubit New Media Ltd) have now got to a point in time where we can no longer continue with this Kickstarter campaign.

After months of negotiation with continuous delays and obstacles, we feel as though in the best interest of the backers and ourselves we have no alternative but to offer backers a refund.

On Friday 22nd June 2018 we sent an email to Shazad Talib (Zini Mobiles Ltd) requesting a full refund of the $99,726.16 (backers funds) so we can begin the process of refunding the backers.

Today we have resent this refund request with the exact amount $99,726.16 along with our bank details and have allowed 72 hours to send us confirmation that the refund has been made.

As we had already informed Shazad Talib last Friday of our decision to refund the backers it is very confusing that he told one of the backers to post a comment today saying that he was going to start production as soon as possible.

We apologise to all backers for the way this has ended but we have simply lost all faith and trust in the whole process.

We will update you in more detail once we have received your money back with more information on how we will be processing refunds.

Best Regards

Clubit New Media