After almost 6 months, and repeated delays, I finally reached out to Karstyle and asked for my deposit back. I was told, after emailing them three times (with no response to one or two of them), that they are overdrawn and unable to issue refunds (their site said it was refundable up to 30 days after delivery as long as fitment seals were not broken, which thankfully, I printed). In any event, lest I be accused of libel, here is their response to my request for a refund, copied and pasted in its entirety:
All of resources are going into the development of the bumper, and our plan didn't allow for refunds. We expected everyone to wait for the bumper to be developed. I understand and apologise the annoyance frustration caused; however, we have severe financial difficulties. A mass-produced bumper is a complex product that is very expensive to make and cannot be hurried. The cost of developing the product kept on increasing and we ran out of money. The project is heavily in debt, and we are overdrawn at the bank, therefore, we cannot ourselves refund reservation fees when an order is cancelled. You could however, ask your bank to make a chargeback. This will likely result in you quickly getting a refund of your money.
Thanks to a key supplier awarding credit to us, we can continue to develop the bumper. If you wish to continue with your order, you still have $500 USD credit toward the purchase of a bumper. We are hoping to have a product ready to ship as soon as possible in the New Year.
Kind regards,
Karstyle
So, while I'm certainly sympathetic to a new venture trying to get off the ground, a "customer deposit" is a liability to the vendor until they deliver a product and, in this case, refundable on demand. So, to all the other deposit holders, I thought you'd like to know that the factory in China has spent our money well, and the 8 year olds making the bumpers are appreciative of our generosity (a joke, of course).
All of resources are going into the development of the bumper, and our plan didn't allow for refunds. We expected everyone to wait for the bumper to be developed. I understand and apologise the annoyance frustration caused; however, we have severe financial difficulties. A mass-produced bumper is a complex product that is very expensive to make and cannot be hurried. The cost of developing the product kept on increasing and we ran out of money. The project is heavily in debt, and we are overdrawn at the bank, therefore, we cannot ourselves refund reservation fees when an order is cancelled. You could however, ask your bank to make a chargeback. This will likely result in you quickly getting a refund of your money.
Thanks to a key supplier awarding credit to us, we can continue to develop the bumper. If you wish to continue with your order, you still have $500 USD credit toward the purchase of a bumper. We are hoping to have a product ready to ship as soon as possible in the New Year.
Kind regards,
Karstyle
So, while I'm certainly sympathetic to a new venture trying to get off the ground, a "customer deposit" is a liability to the vendor until they deliver a product and, in this case, refundable on demand. So, to all the other deposit holders, I thought you'd like to know that the factory in China has spent our money well, and the 8 year olds making the bumpers are appreciative of our generosity (a joke, of course).
