This entry is simply documentation of a phenomenon that might be of interest to future or past historians.

You’d think after years of collective experience, companies relying on crowd funding would get better at their shipping claims. The KANOA earphones I ordered in May were promised around July, then pushed to August, then September, and now October or November. I hoped to have them before the San Francisco Marathon and then before the Burning Man 50K. Now Apple’s launching the AirPods and will probably ship them before I get the KANOA set. Also I ordered a laser projector on Indiegogo, but it was canceled altogether apparently due to issues shipping to the United States. At least I supposedly got a refund on that!

KANOA

Ordered May 29, 2016, apparently at the start of “batch 2”. Paid $162.04 after tax and $10 discount code. Received email confirmation:

Congratulations!

You are one of the first people to order a pair of KANOA Earphones! Batch1 orders (placed before 2/27/16) begin shipping soon, between June and July 2016. All subsequent orders are considered Batch2 and will ship only a few weeks after all Batch1 orders are out the door! We’re excited to have you onboard and will keep you posted on the development and schedule.

Have a great day and thank you for being part of KANOA!

Order #: 31810157 KANOA EARPHONES 1 x $159.00 USD Subtotal: $149.00 USD Discount: -$10.00 USD Tax: $13.04 USD Shipping: $0.00 USD Total: $162.04 USD

Purchase Date 29 May 2016

Since then it’s been mostly hype on their Facebook page, many buyers concerned they were scammed, and shipping delays not mentioned unless you log into the site and observe the FAQ changed.

WHEN will my order ship?

All units will ship by Spring 2017.
With any preorder campaign, we understand that the ship date is hugely important to all of our customers. While we hold this to be true, we believe it is second in importance to the creation of a truly great product.

Once we’ve finalized a product that meets our high standard, we will email you to confirm your shipping address or allow you to update it properly. It’s then that you will be able to establish your desired shipping speed, rate, and receive your tracking number.

Remember that you can keep up to date with all updates and even edit you shipping info via our Customer Portal. Simply follow the instructions at the link below:

https://www.getkanoa.com/referral/

If at anytime you feel that a preorder campaign is not for you and you would like to cancel your order for a full refund - please feel free to reach out to us and we will work with you.

kanoa_delay.png

Update: December 2, 2016

Kanoa seems to have ditched their customer portal website they touted earlier as such a wonderful service for customers, by email and on social media.

Or perhaps they forgot how to log in and update it, or the person who made it was never paid and took it offline. Who knows.

On another note, I should have known Kanoa is just a BS marketing scam due to their absurd use of hashtags. The above Instagram post was appended with the comment:

getkanoa .
.
.
.
.
 .

getkanoa #wireless #earphones #headphones #wirelessearbuds #wirelessearphones #bluetooth #bluetoothearphones #city #macro #bluepentagon #blue #pentagon #skate #surf #surfing #skating #snowboard #running #swimming #biking #cycling #endurance #triathlon #triathlons #ironman

Anyway, now I have no way to check my order’s estimated ship date. All we have is the FAQ, which is mostly unchanged since last time, except it now says “spring 2017” instead of “by spring 2017”. Receding goal posts… I’m canceling.

[SPOILER=WHEN will my order ship?]

All units will ship Spring 2017.
With any preorder campaign, we understand that the ship date is hugely important to all of our customers. While we hold this to be true, we believe it is second in importance to the creation of a truly great product.

Once we’ve finalized a product that meets our high standard, we will email you to confirm your shipping address or allow you to update it properly. It’s then that you will be able to establish your desired shipping speed, rate, and receive your tracking number.

Remember that you can keep up to date with all updates and even edit your shipping info via our Customer Portal. Simply follow the instructions at the link below:

https://www.getkanoa.com/referral/

If at anytime you feel that a preorder campaign is not for you and you would like to cancel your order for a full refund - please feel free to reach out to us and we will work with you.

[/SPOILER]

A post on Reddit, Batch1 buyer, I’m out, by user yo_rick_brown basically sums up my thoughts:

I’m done waiting and asked for a refund on this vaporware. The customer portal still shows I would get it shipped by June 2016. Kaona should have hired engineers instead of more hipsters to email me pictures of themselves doing nothing.

Update: April 10, 2017

Shipping dates removed since last check.

Pre-orders will begin to ship this June.

Once we’ve finalized a product that meets our high standards, we will email you to confirm the shipping address you would like KANOA to be delivered to.

LaserDock Home Laser Show System

I placed an order August 2, 2016. Since then I’ve got production updates by email, which have seemed on schedule, till I received this email today:

Unfortunately, we are unable to meet the FDA’s requirements for shipping our laser projector to the United States. It will take at least 6 more months for our product and US customers to get approved.

As promised, US-backers will receive a full refund. We’ve been in touch with Indiegogo and initially requested them to refund only US-backers. However, Indiegogo has only given us an option to fully refund all backers. We’ve chosen this route as the majority of customers are from the US.

The LaserDock will be in stock and shipping on WickedLasers.com early next week. All backers of the campaign will be eligible for a discount on the LaserDock, and will receive an email with a promo code.

So it sounds like a 6 or more month delay, but the company said on Reddit it may be never, and it sounds like the coupon won’t work by the time this is available for U.S. orders.

Will this ever be available in the US?

To be honest, 6 months is best case scenario, worst case scenario is never, as there are lots of issues with the FDA pending. So I wouldn’t keep your hopes up. The discount code will be valid for one week. To answer your question about a discount after FDA approval, the answer is a very unsure: Maybe.