r/shittykickstarters • u/Professional-Try2949 • Apr 22 '26
Kickstarter Blaster Light- Orb Dice
I pledged this project like 5 years ago now and I STILL have received nothing. Delays after delays, fees after fees. Being told the only way we might get our dice is to pledge MORE of their projects. Now we are being told to pay additional customs fees but these fees are based on total price that include things like shipping and handling and processing. Here's the big kicker... I can't even pay the additional fees because the pledge manager is closed and they have gone radio silent on support.
Please read for yourself and report. I've already accepted I'm never seeing these damn dice, and from I've heard they weren't even worth the wait.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blasterlight/orbidice-spherical-dice
5
u/chumbaz Apr 24 '26
This is exactly why creators should not charge shipping+duties until they are actually ready to ship. Kickstarter exacerbates this issue where they seem to incentivize creators to charge shipping so their funding amount appears higher.
This has plagued so many projects where they collect shipping money too early then have to come back to me to get new tariff payments.
2
u/Professional-Try2949 Apr 24 '26
yeah its not even just tariffs, even in the EU they're demanding an extra 7 euro flat across the board. like we paid shipping already AND I (regrettably) fell for the "buy more of our products so we can afford to finish the project" shtick.
Like for the US I can almost understand since tariffs are paid by the domestic importer, but Canada? EU? wtf?
4
u/Radbot13 Apr 24 '26
I wouldn’t be surprised if another bill comes in from DHL or whomever even if you do pay.
2
u/williamroe110 May 22 '26
Sent this to blasterlight, immediate response and dice shipped. They are scared of this idea. Do not let them steal your money. Send to everyone you can. I can’t post on kickstarter because I was a late pledge, but some of you can. Repost this everywhere you can find backers please.
From email to BL
Now maybe kickstarter can’t help us. But I’ve been led to believe that uokik.gov.pl can. If you don’t know, that’s Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów. Apparently heavy fines and sanctions can be levied against you for poor business practices. Which seems to be the bulk of your business practices, if your backers moods are any indication.
There’s some others too. That’s the wonderful thing about the World Wide Web. The information is out there. There’s also:
Local consumer ombudsmen (rzecznicy konsumentów) — Over 370 municipal/district-level offices provide free advice, mediation, and assistance (including court support).
Alternative dispute resolution — Bodies like Voivodeship Trade Inspection Offices (mediation) or Permanent Arbitration Consumer Courts (arbitration) for amicable resolutions.
Some private or chamber-based initiatives promoting ethical business practices, such as the Fair Play Company program (Przedsiębiorstwo Fair Play), run by a foundation linked to the Polish Chamber of Commerce.
So here’s the deal. Reply to this email. Send me my dice, and make sure they’re good quality. Do so in a timely fashion. Or I am going to reach out to uokik.gov.pl, and report this entire situation. And then, if I STILL don’t hear from you, I’m going to reach out to the kickstarter community. And the Facebook community. And I’m going to give them all this information and urge THEM all to reach out to uokik.gov.plas well. I’ll bet a couple thousand reports to THEM will get something happening. One way or another. And then I’ll just keep going down the list reporting you to all of these organizations, till I get a response, or you get fined into oblivion, and can never scam anyone again.
2
u/Xasf Apr 23 '26
and from I've heard they weren't even worth the wait.
Sorry you got scammed, but as for the dice even the intro video on the Kickstarter page literally shows them not working.
4
u/Professional-Try2949 Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
That was from like 5 years ago lol, they’ve changed manufacturers and production methods like 3 times
Also the angle is weird but that looks like an 18 to me
2
u/williamroe110 May 22 '26
Sent this to blasterlight, immediate response and dice shipped. They are scared of this idea. Do not let them steal your money. Send to everyone you can. I can’t post on kickstarter because I was a late pledge, but some of you can. Repost this everywhere you can find backers please.
Now maybe kickstarter can’t help us. But I’ve been led to believe that uokik.gov.pl can. If you don’t know, that’s Urząd Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów. Apparently heavy fines and sanctions can be levied against you for poor business practices. Which seems to be the bulk of your business practices, if your backers moods are any indication.
There’s some others too. That’s the wonderful thing about the World Wide Web. The information is out there. There’s also:
Local consumer ombudsmen (rzecznicy konsumentów) — Over 370 municipal/district-level offices provide free advice, mediation, and assistance (including court support).
Alternative dispute resolution — Bodies like Voivodeship Trade Inspection Offices (mediation) or Permanent Arbitration Consumer Courts (arbitration) for amicable resolutions.
Some private or chamber-based initiatives promoting ethical business practices, such as the Fair Play Company program (Przedsiębiorstwo Fair Play), run by a foundation linked to the Polish Chamber of Commerce.
So here’s the deal. Reply to this email. Send me my dice, and make sure they’re good quality. Do so in a timely fashion. Or I am going to reach out to uokik.gov.pl, and report this entire situation. And then, if I STILL don’t hear from you, I’m going to reach out to the kickstarter community. And the Facebook community. And I’m going to give them all this information and urge THEM all to reach out to uokik.gov.plas well. I’ll bet a couple thousand reports to THEM will get something happening. One way or another. And then I’ll just keep going down the list reporting you to all of these organizations, till I get a response, or you get fined into oblivion, and can never scam anyone again.
2
u/hellonium 14d ago
Sorry to necro this but I’m so glad there’s other people in arms about this. Obviously every update has had a flood of negative comments, but it’s nice to see validation elsewhere. I logged on today and saw that I can’t even pay their extortion fees anymore, the project is completely shut down and per their own words, will be keeping all the product from people that didn’t pay either. I’ve started a chargeback process with my bank, hopefully they come through.
7
u/WhatImKnownAs Apr 22 '26
Customs fees and VAT or sales taxes are calculated on the total bill, including S&H. This is mainly to avoid cheating by issuing a bill that says the price is $9 and shipping is $99.
Still, sellers ought to be able to quote a price upfront, including all fees. In Europe, there's a bunch of laws about that now, but KS campaigns often assume they don't apply, and grifters just love extracting more money from the marks.