Ossic: Pros and Cons of giving money to a VR Related Hardware Startup

[Brightonuk]

Pros > The opportunity to experience new products and help a young company succeed  

Cons > Having to deal with people who take your money then go dark 

 

Case in point 

Oassic looked like a great product for VR I was looking for a set of headphones that would enhance my experience, so I backed them on Indiegogo to the tune of $319.00 to be one of the one of the first to receive their headphones.
This transaction was on February 2nd

On February 14th I cancelled my order (as per there cancellation policy of within a 30 day time frame) I decided to wait on the HTC headset release.

I emailed them repeatedly after the 14th andreceived automated responses for each email I sent asking for an update on my refund

"Your request (2964) has been received and is being reviewed by OSSIC support staff"

This went on for the next month with me sending email after email when finally Joshua replied saying "

"Hello Steve, I can handle that refund request. You'll hear from our accounting by end of day tomorrow"

Tomorrow never came nor did any more emails so I turned to Facebook messenger (Not the most professional way to communicate with customers) 

On March 24th a response from Ossic on Facebook 

"Hi Steve, I'm here for you and Sorry that Kristen has not responded. She is not a part of the support team so we will follow up with her to check up on the emails.
In the meantime have you sent your request to info@ossic.com? The support team should be able to answer your request directly".


So back to trying to get a response via email 

Nothing 

So back to Facebook when on March 30th 

"Ah ok. Sorry to hear about your desire to refund. We're so close to shipping the product! Either way, I will follow up with Josh right now."

Yer right 

March 31st 

"Just sent you an email ! You'll have a refund by the end of the week".

March 31st No email.

April 1st till today no refund 


I have all the emails I sent (and there were a lot of them) in-between the dates I have noted here, All I wanted was someone to tell me when they would be refunding my money instead I got were lies or silence. 
So one can draw ones own conclusions from my experience with Ossic.

Now I have to go to my lawyer to send them a demand letter including his costs.

It would have been so much simpler for them to do the right thing and at the least have to courtesy to reply to a customer’s emails and without false promises.

 

[Brightonuk]

Update:

It is now May 4th Ossic has not responded to any emails I sent them since March, it looks like they pissed off a few others on their Facebook page with people that paid them $$ and got ripped off.

This has left a real sour taste in my mouth and I for one will be very wary about funding a startup in the future.

I spoke to a lawyer but it would seem I am SOL as to go after them for $319 is not something a lawyer can make money on so I have been told to put it down to a lesson learned.:mansad:

[MartinMarty]

Did you make your contribution via credit card? You can always file a complaint with them that you did not get what you paid for.

[Brightonuk]

Tried that but as this went through a third party (kickstarter) the CC company cant help 

But just got a reply to my post on FB:

OSSIC Steve Gregory Webb Hey! We don't provide full refunds, but we're happy to talk with you directly in more depth about why this is. I'll shoot you an email to contact directly!

 

Which is a joke as I have been trying to get my money back for 6 months just read my OP

Of course this clown should of have known that as well as reading their refund policy posted on thier site

 

"30-Day Pre-Order Cancellation Window You have 30 days from date of purchase to cancel and refund your pre-order"  

 

Maybe there is small print saying "Hey we dont give full refunds"