Remember the Air Umbrella? It’s not going to happen

Promotional image from the Air Umbrella Kickstarter, which started crowdfunding in October 2014.

When a gadget called Air Umbrella hit Kickstarter in October last year, it left a lot of things unanswered. Would this really work? Would it spray passers-by with rainwater? Why was there no video of the actual gizmo in action?

Toward the end of December, weeks after the China-based creators promised to ship the Air Umbrella to its campaign’s early backers, people began asking different questions – like, who are the creators? Why has the startup not logged in to Kickstarter for over a year? Was this whole thing a scam all along?

Was this yet another Kickstarter disaster? The project raised US$102,240 from 842 backers, so a lot of people have money at stake.

Backers were left in limbo with no updates from the shadowy Air Umbrella team.

Waiting

“I pledged $99,” explains Jeffrey Lovelidge to Tech in Asia. For that money, he should have received an Air Umbrella and a charger by now. He’s not optimistic about the gadget being delivered and feels like his money has gone down the drain. “It is a fraud.”

The team behind it have “just dropped off the face of the Earth,” he says.

With no word from the startup, he reached out to Kickstarter. “I did contact Kickstarter, through their usual useless procedure,” he adds.

Another image from the Air Umbrella Kickstarter.

Other backers of the Air Umbrella also got impatient, venting in the project’s comments section.

“Hope the creator rots in hell,” exclaims one buyer in the comments section. “Kickstarter is a fucking fraud.”

Unlike most startups that go to Kickstarter or Indiegogo with a new gadget, the Air Umbrella team did not talk to the media.

Another commenter addressed the two project creators who have not revealed what they look like or spoken to the media since the Air Umbrella was unveiled. “Devon L Robinson and Chuan Wang! You have some explaining to do! Haven’t logged into Kickstarter in OVER A YEAR! WHAT THE HELL!”

Crowdfunding cock-ups

Air Umbrella cancelled