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A Cautionary Kickstarter tale : The “Field & Crew” watch

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“Field & Crew” Then … and … “Field & Crew” Now

Yes, you have seen this “Field & Crew” Kickstarter Watch Project before.

Just over a year ago, a Kickstarter project was launched with what appeared to be blatantly photoshopped images of a form•function•form button stud watchband on a J. Crew Timex Andros. The logo on the dial had been changed, the Horween markings on the interior of the band were swapped out, and… that was about it. It didn’t take that keen of an eye, or nose, to see and smell how fishy the project was:

FFFandFAC

The guys at form•function•form were understandably pissed, notified Kickstarter, and the project was suspended. Done, right?

Oddly enough, no.

Six months after the first kickstarter campaign was suspended, a second campaign by the same creator was launched and it somehow slipped past anyone who had watched the previous campaign capsize. This time, it looked like he had an actual(?) functioning prototype. Perhaps. The estimated date of delivery was September 2013, a mere two months after the project was funded on July 29th.

FandC potential prototypeStills from the 2nd campaign’s video. Was there a real prototype this time?

With most individual contributions hitting the $199 or $299 mark, over $25,000 came in via Kickstarter. That’s almost 3x the amount originally set as the goal for funding. The creator, “Chris,” was interacting with backers and sending out updates. He even managed to dodge a question about why his first project was shut down. Then, in mid September, he disappeared. After a few weeks without any updates, the backers started to get restless:

FandC comments

Backers began contacting their credit card companies to dispute the charges. Some commented that they considered their contributions lost and gone. But what about Kickstarter? Couldn’t the powers-that-be help out? Turns out Kickstarter isn’t obligated to help out in any way. Their Terms & Conditions state:

Kickstarter is not liable for any damages or loss incurred related to rewards or any other use of the Service. Kickstarter is under no obligation to become involved in disputes between any Users, or between Users and any third party arising in connection with the use of the Service. This includes, but is not limited to, delivery of goods and services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties, or representations associated with campaigns on the Site.

Five months have passed since the creator estimated the rewards would be shipped.

The Field & Crew website is dead.

Their Facebook and Instagram appear to have been abandoned.

Backers continue to update the comments section on Kickstarter with how their credit card dispute claims are going, and/or with any information they can dig up about the creator.

Did this guy set out to rip people off from the start? Or was he a design-loving dreamer who hadn’t the foggiest idea on how to actually execute the production of wristwatches, then gave up and pocketed the money when it all turned to dust?

It’s all speculation at this point, and finding out the facts would be quite the task.

Maybe we should launch a kickstarter to fund an investigation.

Postscript: Shawn from form•function•form (who had his photos plagiarized in the first “Field & Crew” campaign, complained to Kickstarter, and got it shut down) wants to offer those who were ripped off some consolation. If you ended up getting screwed by this campaign, and you can prove you were one of the backers, send the proof to shawn@formfunctionform.com w/ the subject: “KickInTheAssStarter”. If you can prove you got screwed, he’ll send along some honest to goodness FFF product. At least a button stud watch band for your troubles.

Comments

  1. It’s a shame someone was willing to take advantage of people willing to support individual-driven creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation. He/she probably made getting funded on Kickstarter a whole lot harder due to trust issues.

  2. WHOA… the dude (chris) lives in my town and I’m FB friends with already… (not sure on dappered’s policy on posting a FB link here so i didn’t) but his FB is still active. he started a sunglass business called Horizon sunglasses as well.

  3. You really need to share that info. This dirtbag will continue to scam people until someone steps up.

  4. I always wondered why this hasn’t happened more? What is stopping anyone from starting a campaign and then running off with the money? This won’t be the last time it happens, that’s for sure.

  9. All I can say is that you better be damn sure it’s the right guy if you’re putting him out there like that. I’ve got no sympathy for him, but it would be the mother of all screw ups if it turns out to be someone else.

  11. i’d need to know more about the kickstarter situation, he certainly doesn’t seem to be “hiding”. i mean if you just took 30k from backers, don’t you think you’d shut you’re personal FB down?

  12. Nothing, really.

    Kickstarter is probably capable of going after fraudulent campaign starters, but they’re desperate to avoid that since it would set a precedent by which they could be compelled to go after any/all future campaigns that didn’t deliver.

    At some point, especially with vast amounts of money going into some campaigns, they’re going to have to face facts and take some responsibility. If nothing else their payment processor (Amazon-related somehow isn’t it?) is going to get mighty pissed about volume of disputes.

  13. Kickstarter really should be more proactive about getting fundraisers to follow through. If they punish the scammer, they lose one customer that they didn’t want in the first place. If they don’t they lose potentially hundreds of customers that are quite important to the vitality of the site.

    FFF is the bomb. I will probably be showing them some added business to help offset their very admirable (and let’s be honest, business-savvy) generosity.

  14. Uh, there’s nothing there now. I wonder if people started messaging him and he took down his profile. This is getting pretty ridiculous…

  15. There should be a term for when Kickstarters screw over people. I had the same thing happen a couple years ago: The engineers who made those popular Flip video recorders were going to make glasses with a camera in them (this is before Google glass was ever announced) and being a spy nut I thought they would be cool. Delays and slowing communication eventually lead to nothing and I was out the money. Kickstarter won’t help and it had been so long that my bank couldn’t do anything. I won’t fund any projects because of that now… I’d rather keep my money and pay full price than tie it up in something I might get screwed on.

  17. You can’t see downvotes on Disqus anymore, but I downvoted you anyway. If it was a joke, it was out of line given the tone of the discussion and the gravity of the situation.

  18. Do you think DMX gives a f@#$, son!? No, seriously, though, the dude deserves to have his ass beat; it’s not out of line at all. The guy is a dbag, he deserves whatever he gets. Feel free to disagree.

  19. Kudos to Shawn for his reaction and offer of consolation for these folks. Smart and appropriate, I’d say.

  26. This operation was clearly a scam to begin with. From the stolen pictures to the false claims (“I don’t know why the first project was pulled…” “I have been as transparent as possible…”). Deliberately using someone else’s copyrighted images and designs for your own financial gain isn’t an innocent mistake, and it isn’t just wrong. It’s illegal. Kickstarter should have a policy that anyone using their website to intentionally break the law is permanently banned. Kickstarter should have shut this guy out completely and forever.

    Instead Kickstarter gave him a second chance because it wanted its piece of his profit. Now he is laughing all the way to the bank with $26k of other people’s money and all Kickstarter can do is shrug.

  27. Sorry dig deeper into matters. Looks like Chris was using New York, New York on Kickstarter. When looking at Places on Facebook he has never checked into anywhere near the North, and was born and lives in Jacksonville.

  28. I find it very surprising that Kickstarter has been so wildly successful without having a way of protecting against this type of thing.

  30. Not only do they think they have no obligation, but it seems like they get paid either way. Kickstarter takes 5% of the raised funds on any successful campaign. That is money they take from the seller in exchange for giving the seller a platform to raise money in the first place. So I’m willing to bet Kickstarter is sure as heck not going to voluntarily give that money back to the buyers. “Our contractual relationship is with the seller to provide a platform to raise money, and we fulfilled our obligations to the seller. It’s not our fault if the seller breaches his independent obligations to the buyers.” Etc.

    FWIW Kickstarter evidently has an F from the Better Business Bureau due to its failure to respond to complaints.

  31. I also just realized that his Sunglass brand is a direct copy of Knockarounds– this guy is seriously doing the exact same thing as them (Limited sunglasses and all).

  32. presumably if you can find this guy you can charge him with something, independent of kickstarter’s help

  33. Charge him? No. Law enforcement agencies can charge him with a crime if they decide it’s worth their time and effort to do so. Private individuals can file a lawsuit against him, but I don’t know why anyone would do that when the cost just to hire a lawyer and file a complaint is probably 2-3 times more than any given individual has actually lost on the project.

    The most any individual can really do is file a complaint with the FTC or with another law enforcement agency with jurisdiction.

  34. sure. the police would have to charge him with something. but first you’d have to file a police report. if someone committed fraud and stole 30k i think it’d be worth their time.

    a civil suit would be class action with multiple plaintiffs splitting the bill. I’m not a lawyer but the case doesn’t look that hard to argue as clearly there is a paper trail to follow, and you’re likely to get the legal fees owed from the defendant if you win.

    i’m not involved in this, but just because fraud happens on kickstarter on the internet doesn’t mean you don’t have options. this isn’t like ebay investigating a package that never showed up.

  35. Wow. Shawn is a generous man. I didn’t back the deadbeat campaign, nor have I ever ordere from FFF, but he can be sure that next time I have a few extra dollars, they’ll be going his way out of respect. Thanks, Shawn!

  38. An award of attorney’s fees is never a given. It depends entirely on the applicable federal or state law, the cause of action, etc. For example, where I practice, for a breach of contract claim (easier to prove under these facts than a tort like fraud or negligent misrepresentation), the prevailing party only wins fees and costs if they are provided for in the contract.

    I’m not saying these folks couldn’t win a lawsuit against this guy. I’m sure they could, assuming they could track him down. I’m just not sure it’s likely to happen, or that it makes economic sense for them to do so. First, you will need to find at least one of these folks who is angry enough over losing $200-300 to hire a lawyer and get the class action started. This person or small group of people will still have to foot the bill for the attorney, because frankly, there aren’t that many attorneys interested in taking a $26k “class action” claim on a contingency fee basis.

    Getting this thing to trial will take over a year and probably cost somewhere between $5-10k. Only if the plaintiffs win (never a given) do they even have a chance of recovering something from the defendant’s assets (never a given). If they’re lucky they might get attorney’s fees and costs to reimburse them for the thousands they’ll have already spent prosecuting the case. If they’re REALLY lucky they will settle early with the guy and avoid some cost and expense, though the settlement payout will probably be modest.

    How many people do you really think are willing to spend over a year of their lives and energy, and risk thousands of dollars of their own money, to pursue the mere possibility they will get $200 or 300 back?

    Most will grudgingly swallow their $200-300 loss instead.

  39. “Maybe we should launch a kickstarter to fund an investigation.” Great, now Chris McDermott will read this, launch it and run away with our money again.

  42. (just wanted to toss in a little interesting tidbit on economics here to back up what @BenR is saying…feel free to ignore if econ geekery isn’t your thing)

    In economics, we call this “concentrated benefits/diffuse costs”, and it explains why a lot of protectionist legislation gets pushed through: Industries have an incentive to seek rents through governing bodies (and an easy way of making that happen through trade associations/lobbyists), while consumers financially harmed by the regulations have no consolidated means of challenging the regulations, so it’s rational for the consumer to just eat the few dollars, e.g., US sugar tariffs, which allow a handful of inefficient US sugar producers to stay in business, and make sugar ~2x as expensive in the US vs. the world…and is also why soft drinks are flavored with HFCS here in the states (arguably worse for you than pure sugar).

    Sugar manufacturers get to stay in business (the almost literal handful of them that still exist in Louisiana and Florida) making profits selling very inefficiently produced sugar, and we as consumers pay a few dollars more/year for sugar. For a few dollars, it’s just not worth it for us to organize and strike down the ridiculous tariffs on sugar. There are LOADS of similarly muddle-headed things that go on like this, and this sad Kickstarter affair is just another unfortunate example.

  43. You should include random explanation pamphlets with your watches: “Form Function Form: awesoming your wrist and your brain”.

  46. Yet another reason why Shawn and FFF are completely awesome. That kickstarter has been so hands off is absolutely ridiculous but man, they must have some great PR people keeping the news down.

  47. I dont really get why people order anything on kick starter. Way too much risk unless its an established individual. Then a lot of the things I would like to support are so ambitious that who knows if it will ever work out.

  50. Shawn is amazing. I have bought several bands from him and his customer service is ridiculous. Just amazing. Great company. Great guy.

  51. From Chris’ kickstarter profile: ” I think outside the box”

    The fact that he lives in NY, NY is also an eye roller.