Kickfurther

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: Kickfurther leadership, It's hard to believe that you are still trying to justify those items. Can't you just take responsibilities and start making appropriate changes?No matter how you came up with this 40% advertized annualized profit, it is wrong from every perspective (truth in advertising, ethic and morally).Can I ask you why you are finally removing this 40% advertized annualized profit from your website advertising if you think it is just fine?An advertised profit rate should represent an average expectation for an average investor. It should be a realistic and conservative expectation. it should not be the result of a hand picked convenient time frame or/and all sort of data manipulation to arrive at the highest profit rate possible.Many active investors have lost money or would be happy to break even in the past couple of years.You have deceived me and many investors by falsely advertising a 40% annualized profit rate. You have also deceived me and many investors (and keep on doing so) by not warning investors of the very high estimated default rate.The overall default rate ( troubled and canceled coops) as calculated by users is now 25%.And I do not believe it includes the identity fraud that you have passed on to your investors.And you still do not document the specific risks of this investment type, including the fairly high likelihood of scams, businesses on their last legs, identity theft and the like that investors are paying for.You are not answering my questions regarding your leadership employees involved in completing 5 stars reviews and making false and very misleading statements without identifying themselves. Just to get more investors giving you money.Do you believe this behavior is OK?Also why are you blaming users and businesses at every opportunity you have? Why are you labeling my request as "extremely disingenuous"?  You obviously have not read my request and do not care enough to understand it. You deceived me. I did not deceive you. Very simple. I will be happy to get 80% of my money when back it is all said and done.And please stop bringing up your TOS that you keep on updating as it suits you.At the end, all surveys out there are giving you a poor rating. [redacted] (verified users): 4.7 out of 10. (61.6% dissatisfied users at the time of this writing).Your very own [redacted] page has twice more "1 star" reviews than "5 stars" and yet some of the "5 Star" are from your employees.Again, please take responsibilities and start making appropriate changes. But above all I am asking you to respect the truth in advertising, stop advertizing a 40% annualized profit rate, identify yourselves when completing surveys and clearly highlight the specific risks of this type of investments.   
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We have addressed this concern privately with the user.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: Thats a lie. Kickfurther claims to vet out their companies but failed to provide any evidence that this was a legitimate company. refer to this site https://www.kickfurther.com/screening-process The company had absolutely no proof of production and manufacturing history. We were provided a partial refund cause you guys screwed up this offer and not the backers.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We are not withholding any funds from users. Users on Kickfurther purchase inventory for product companies on consignment and earn money when the inventory sells. In the case of Mulberry Silk, the company could not sell their inventory and in such a case, Kickfurther collects the inventory to...

distribute to our users because the users still own the consigned inventory. We label these businesses "cancelled" and call these situations "cancellations."Users collectively voted to have the inventory collected by Kickfurther and then individually decided whether or not they wanted to have their inventory delivered to them. The inventory being delivered would supply the users total amount owed to them and this has always existed with no problems. Many users chose this. Users to this day are welcome to have their inventory delivered to them, meaning we are not withholding any funds. In the situation of a cancellation, users can also choose to have Kickfurther sell the inventory on behalf of our users instead of getting their money back in the form of the inventory they own immediately.In the payout process there was a problem in distributing funds for a cancelled business that delayed payouts for people that chose not receive inventory as a form of payment. Before delving further, it is important to state that today we are not withholding any funds from users due to this problem. As the inventory sells we have been making payouts to the users proportional to what has sold.Furthermore, while the problem persisted, the user could at any time ask for their purchased inventory, recouping any funds they deemed being withheld as this is how consignment and Kickfurther works. We started to sell inventory on behalf of our users and cancelled businesses as this is something we want to do to improve our service. However, our service works to help people purchase consigned inventory and in the event of a cancelled business to procure the cancelled inventory and deliver it to its owners (the users). This was never a problem.We continually pay for our learning, but this is not a case where there was anything to pay for. We are happy to refund the user his outstanding money in the inventory he owns, which totals to $556.92. We have ensured to this user and all others that this option is available and always has been available. All monies that have been collected via sales of their inventory have been distributed.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I have not received a resolution.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Kickfurther is not withholding any funds from users. All funds received from [redacted], and [redacted] were promptly distributed to the users. Kickfurther does not represent its consignment opportunities as being free of risk.   Instead, Kickfurther specifically states there are...

risks involved. Kickfurther obviously cannot have total control over how companies on our platform behave, how well products sell, or how easily our businesses are able to collect accounts receivable from other businesses. There are no "late payments" as this is not a loan and there are no regularly scheduled payment amounts.  We tell all users not to rely upon Kickfurther's due diligence and, in fact, all users are expected to do their own due diligence when selecting Co-Op(s) in which to participate."Regarding reviews left by an employee, the mere fact that an employee, who has experience with the platform, left a reviews does not make these reviews fraudulent.We attempt to answer all emails sent to [redacted] . Regarding [redacted]: Kickfurther obtained a judgment against this company in January and is exploring enforcement options. Regarding [redacted]: This business was cancelled by users after facing manufacturing delays. Partial inventory was returned and Kickfurther has been openly communicating with the company at issue. Regarding [redacted]:  We have filed a lawsuit against this company and have been actively, but unsuccessfully, trying to gain service on the owner.

We answer all emails sent to [email protected] users are expected to do their own due diligence and Kickfurther never states that any Co-Op on the site is risk free. Instead, Kickfurther specifically states their are risk involved.  Kickfurther obviously cannot have total control over...

how companies on our platform behave, how well products sell, or how easily our businesses are able to collect accounts receivable from other businesses.  As this is not a loan and there are no regularly scheduled payment amounts, there are no "late payments". Kickfurther is not required to provide refunds to users, nor to file lawsuits against businesses who raised funds on our platform. Because risk is involved, prior to users using our site users are required to agree to certain affirmations. One affirmation is: "I understand that there is no guarantee of profit for any Co-Op and there are risks involved with purchasing inventory through Co-Ops."  Another affirmation is: "...the is no promise of regular monthly payments."  Further, we tell all users not to rely upon Kickfurther's due diligence and, in fact, all users affirm that they  "will do [their] own due diligence when selecting Co-Op(s) in which to participate."

As stated before, there was no intentional withholding of funds and we attempted to respond promptly to [redacted] when he emailed us in order to fix the identity link issue. This is our history of our communication:From [redacted], 10/10/2017:"This is a mistake.... I have withdrawn from the same account the entire time."From Kickfurther, 10/11/2017:"Hey [redacted],Can you please re upload your ID under "bank settings" ? Then please hit the "check for an update" button after 2 minutes - this should resolve the problem.Please let me know if it does not. I am sorry for this inconvenience and thank you for your time.Best,Melissa"From [redacted], 12/05/2017 7:42am: "I've uploaded a passport and a drivers license. Please check your system and complete my withdraw."From Kickfurther, 12/05/2017 at 12:14pm :"Hi [redacted],I’m sorry you are having issues with the account verification. We use a 3rd party service to do verifications, and they are returning an error saying the ID you uploaded is too small. Could you try uploading a higher quality photo of your license?The same 3rd party service is the one that handles our banking transactions, so your current request will fail on their side.After you upload a higher quality image, let me know and I’ll take a look at everything to ensure that your account is verified with them so we can process the withdraw request ASAP.. hopefully today so that you see the funds within a few business days.Let me know if you have any other questions or issues"From [redacted], 12/05/2017 at 8:37pm:“I’ve filed a Revdex.com complaint.”From Kickfurther, 12/06/2017 at 9:19am “Hi [redacted],We really aren’t trying to keep you from getting your funds...I want to get them to you ASAP as I mentioned in the email yesterday. To give you some background, I started at Kickfurther in August as CTO in order to fix the technical issues you hinted at in your review. Many of those are surrounding the bank linking process and the 3rd party provider we currently use. My goal is to switch away from them in the future in order to prevent verification issues like you were experiencing. I looked at your account again this morning, and it looks like the 3rd party service did a manual verification of your ID, which was triggered because of the ACH request for your funds. That request is now processing on their side, so you should see the funds hit your account in a day or two.I value any additional feedback you might have as we work towards improving the Kickfurther product. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me in the future. Thanks“ Based on the above communication history:- We responded promptly to try and get the issue resolved- After the communication on Oct 11, we did not hear back from [redacted] until Dec 5th. - The complaint submitted on Revdex.com had nothing to do with us getting the issue resolved, as we were trying to help him get things fixed ASAP before he told us he submitted a complaint.- Our 3rd party identity provider did a manual verification of the uploaded ID because there was an ACH request. I was not aware that they would do this, which is why we told [redacted] the request would most likely fail. Thankfully it went through fine so he received the requested funds and the identity link issue is now fixed on his account for good. I regret that there was a linkage issue to begin with and it's something we have actively been working on fixing. [redacted]'s complaint was that he was unable to receive his funds but he did in fact receive them the day after he submitted the complaint, which should resolve this complaint.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:The Co-Op failed to hit marks back in August 2016. We're in 2018 now and it only got sent to collections a few months ago. We are still not getting regular updates. You mention and/or "legal action."  I think 100% of the backers would love for you to immediately press for legal action. I don't expect 1 penny from collections. If collections is proving to be successful, please update us as such. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

While we have told users on some occasions we are pursuing or will pursue legal action against failed Co-Ops, Kickfurther is not required or obligated to do so for every Co-Op. In the [redacted] Luxury Co-Op specifically, we did pursue legal action and told users the same.  In...

fact, a case was filed in [redacted] District Court and assigned case number [redacted].  Just yesterday, 2/23/2017, Kickfurther received a judgment against this business for the full amount owed plus interest.

Kickfurther cannot completely prevent businesses from acting fraudulently. Unfortunately, that is why risk is involved. However, Kickfurther will continue to try to pursue this failed Co-Op to recoup user funds.

All users are expected to do their own due diligence and Kickfurther never states that any Co-Op on the site is risk free. Instead, Kickfurther specifically states there are risks involved. Further, we tell all users not to rely upon Kickfurther's due diligence and, in fact, all users are expected...

to do their own due diligence when selecting Co-Op(s) in which to participate.Kickfurther obviously cannot have total control over how companies on our platform behave, how well products sell, or how easily our businesses are able to collect accounts receivable from other businesses. There are no "late payments" as this is not a loan and there are no regularly scheduled payment amounts.  Kickfurther is not withholding any funds from users. We attempt to answer all emails sent to [redacted]  Regarding [redacted]: In response to the cancelation in January, we have filed a lawsuit against this company and are working to gain service on the owner.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I am rejecting this response because: First, "this user was banned from commenting for violating our policies" - though they don't state what policy I violated or exactly what I said that was so wrong (said I felt scammed and referred others to the Revdex.com - hmmm). I now have no ability to communicate with the companies. Thus, I have no way to get information about the recovery of my investment. And yes it's an investment in the companies - their Kickfurther "store" where co-op investors can supposedly sell the product they have purchased is a joke, with probably minimal sales (if they'd ever even disclose that). The product is in the hands of the companies I invested in, I don't have any of the inventory myself. Refer to https://www.kickfurther.com/learn-buyers and it shows these companies are supposedly selling the inventory you've helped them purchase. But both of my co-ops seem to have not even purchased the inventory - it is truly unclear based on the extreme lack of communication. So what was done with my money??? Kickfurther is doing a good job of having their attorney cover themselves. It's interesting to note that I can see their lack of action via their postings on the Kickfurther website and can read other members' frustration with lack of payments and information as well. With one of my co-ops ([redacted]), they wrote that their recovery agency has recommended no litigation against the company; so what is the plan to actually recovery the inventory or money then? They don't share that. Today I received an email basically encouraging investors to vote no-confidence on [redacted], even though they have at least made small payments and far more updates than [redacted], a company we haven't heard from in months. Revdex.com visitors should use extreme caution if they decide to use Kickfurther. I can't even get my paltry $5.42 out of my account because they require a minimum of $10 in your account to withdraw funds. Kickfurther is legally most likely fine, but I would argue they are lacking in integrity - how much of my money did Kickfurther keep already? What incentive is there for Kickfurther to really get the co-ops to pay back? I will never do business via Kickfurther again and would advise anyone thinking of doing so to watch out. You won't be able to read all the similar customers instances of dissastifaction and Kickfuther's lack of response within existing co-ops because you can only see the forums for the companies that you invest in.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Kickfurther does not represent its consignment opportunities as being free of risk.  Instead, Kickfurther specifically states there are risks involved.Prior to users using our site, buyers/users are required to agree to certain affirmations. One affirmation is: "...the is no promise of regular...

monthly payments." Another affirmation is: "I understand that there is no guarantee of profit for any Co-Op and there are risks involved with purchasing inventory through Co-Ops." Further, we tell all users not to rely upon Kickfurther's due diligence and, in fact, all users affirm that they "will do [their] own due diligence when selecting Co-Op(s) in which to participate." Kickfurther obviously cannot have total control over how companies on our platform behave. Kickfurther requested immediate return of the inventory in the possession of [redacted] when buyers decided, by vote, to cancel the Co-Op.  When inventory is not returned within 10 days of a cancellation, the default balance owed for the inventory becomes due.  At this time, the balance for the [redacted] Co-Op has been placed with a professional recovery service. Kickfurther may also litigate, or pursue criminal charges against this business owner in the future should this matter not be resolved.