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Angry Indiegogo backers of bike security system iTrakit still waiting for finished product more than 2 years later

Frustrated supporters of the anti-theft GPS tracker crowdfunder say they have been waiting for two and a half years with little progress

Investors in iTrakit's Indiegogo crowdfunder expressed anger at having still not received the finished anti-theft GPS tracker more than two years after backing the product. 

The long battery life device, designed to sit in bike frames, was touted as a solution to thefts, and proved popular on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, attracting £99,109 of investment from 993 backers.

However, no product has been delivered, leading some to question the legitimacy of the campaign. One backer told us, "After nearly two and a half years of vague statements on Indiegogo — only updated when people prod them into action — patience has worn really thin.

"I along with many others backed this project in June 2019 as it was associated with Condor Cycles and they apparently had a working model. Since then, yes we have had Covid, but it seems there were problems with the original iTrakit that was touted as working at the start of the campaign.

"I can afford to lose the money I have put into this — I don't know why but I had a feeling this would happen — others I suspect cannot and were hoping to use this to get their bikes back when they get nicked."

When we contacted iTrakit for comment, the team behind the crowdfunder blamed a "combination of critical technical issues" with their main chip supplier, as well as the pandemic for slowing progress, but insisted they remain "committed to getting iTrakit to market."

Due to a combination of critical technical issues with our main chip supplier from the beginning of 2020, the pandemic and a reduced team, the business roadmap was severely impacted.

The business is currently running on a skeleton team, and has over the last 12 months been developing an alternative prototype to potentially replace the original prototype, due to the ongoing issues with the chip and network integration.

This replacement device will potentially offer a stronger networked device than the original one, however we are still going through pre-manufacturing tests which will take at least another four months before we can look to take this to market. This second device will add no extra cost to the original backers.

Please understand, we are still committed to getting iTrakit to market, however we are running a severely reduced team and doing all we can to ensure we can get a working device to market. 

iTrakit also confirmed there is no official partnership with Condor Cycles and have removed the Condor logo from the list of partners on its website. "Our current issues with the last 2 years should not have any negative reflection on them [Condor] in any way," iTrakit said.

In a statement provided to road.cc, Condor Cycles distanced itself from the crowdfunder, saying it is in "no way affiliated or associated" with iTrakit.

We are so disappointed to hear that iTrakit has not supplied the product to backers. We are no way affiliated or associated with iTrakit, we received no payment from them or share of funds raised.

The founder came to us with the tracker, and we know how high bicycle theft is in London and how frustrating it is. The tracker appeared to be part of a solution to mitigate the issues and we were told they were working with the police to create a better database alongside iTrakit.

We put the unit in a Condor bike and tested how easy it was to fit, this is as much involvement we had in the product. The article was written to tell our customers about this new potential product as we felt it was newsworthy and could bring some relief to riders.

We have just unpublished the news article because we think it is misleading to anyone who reads it, from what you have told us. Secondly, we have seen on the iTrakit website our logo is displayed under partners, this is unauthorised use of our logo and we have contacted them to have it removed.

We are saddened to read your comments about those who backed the crowd funding project. As part of our communication with the company we have asked them to contact their investors, apologise and ask them to find a resolution as a matter of urgency.  

iTrakit remains available to purchase on Indiegogo, where the comments section is full of frustrated investors asking for refunds and saying they have been scammed.

One backer wrote: "I think we all need refund, been 2 years now, nothing but b*******."

Another said: "Time to shut it down, guys. You missed your window."

One comment posted seven days ago said: "You know what kills me the most is that you guys are still advertising to sell to people that you 'only got three left' when you don’t even have a product."

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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13 comments

Avatar
Eton Rifle | 2 years ago
4 likes

Kickstarters aren't investments at all. They are speculations.

I signed up to this one - £80 I think it was. It became clear after six months that it wasn't going to happen. It's a lovely idea.

“But, my dear Sebastian, you can’t seriously believe it all.”
“Can’t I?”
“I mean about Christmas and the star and the three Kings and the ox and the ass.”
“Oh yes, I believe that. It’s a lovely idea.”
“But you can’t BELIEVE things because they’re a lovely idea.”
“But I DO. That’s how I believe.”

Avatar
RoubaixCube | 2 years ago
5 likes

If any readers backed this on IndieGoGo. Better request a refund while the campaign is STILL OPEN. Thats the only guarantee you have of getting any money back otherwise you'll have to direct your request to the guy who started the campaign, and im willing to bet once all the money has parted hands from Indiegogo to his pockets. You wont be seeing a single cent or penny that you invested.

https://support.indiegogo.com/hc/en-us/articles/526876-Refunds-Can-I-get...

Thats why I never back crowdfunded stuff like this... Either the product recieved never lives up to the original description or the people who are working on it leave a message that they failed so they are calling it a day and shutting down their crowdfunder. which is pretty much doing a runner with your money because there is no way to get it back once its all passed hands.

People being scammed by crowdfunding campaigns for stuff isnt an isolated occurance. It happens quite regularly and thats why i stay away from it.

Avatar
tomascjenkins | 2 years ago
1 like

Apple Air Tags have a battery life of more than a year. No subscription, cost a lot less, smaller too.

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Sriracha replied to tomascjenkins | 2 years ago
3 likes

Air tags are specifically designed not to work as covert trackers, but only to locate misplaced or lost items. And the pressure to further reduce their suitability as covert trackers only increases.

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Bishop0151 | 2 years ago
6 likes

2 years! Is that all.

I was one of the hopefull fools who backed the iQ Squared pedal power meter on Kickstarter back in early 2018.

Still no sign of that seeing the light of day. I pop by occasionally to see what the latest excuses are. Covid buggering up supply chains was a real boon to Mr Klant et al.

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capedcrusader replied to Bishop0151 | 2 years ago
1 like

In terms of magnitude IQ2 raised closed to $1,000,000 so that particular fiasco is 10x bigger and the 'creators' have been winding up their backers with stunt after stunt, including a complete redesign of the powermeter and then a ficticious small factory set up which was like watchig Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice. 

To give you an idea about what the backers think of Mr Klant here is a recent post;

'Keesjan Klant Kunt'

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IanGlasgow | 2 years ago
7 likes

I invested in this.
I'm not angry.
Note even surprised.
If you're investing in a product that doesn't exist, there's a significant risk that it'll never appear. It's certainly likely that it'll be late, may not be as good as originally promised and may end up costing more than the initial estimate.
That's why it's an investment; you didn't buy a product, you invested in an idea.

It's not my first disappointing investment - I also invested in the See.Sense Icon2 at a similar stage. The product arrived but had a much shorter battery life than originally promised, fell off repeatedly, the crash alert feature didn't work and the Android app was so flaky it was useless. Customer service consisted of "Nobody else has ever complained about our lights falling off" (that turned out to be a lie - there's a dozen reviews on their wesbite complaining about it) and "here's some videos we made of our lights not falling off". Am I bitter? Well, yes, a little. But it was the lies that annoyed me, not the disappointing product.

If you're putting money into a product on Indiegogo or Kickstarter then surely you know it's not the same as buying a finished product from a retailer. If not, you shouldn't be allowed unsupervised access to the internet.

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fenix replied to IanGlasgow | 2 years ago
0 likes

Really ? I've had the icon2 since they came out. Never had an issue with it coming off - once it's clicked in correctly it's there. Mines done thousands of miles with no bother.

I agree the app wasn't much use to begin with - I think it's far better now but I wasn't bothered about the connectivity.

It's a good light - I use it for every ride and it's not let me down.

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Sriracha replied to fenix | 2 years ago
0 likes

I've got the Icon 2. The mounting system is a fiddle. I can imagine it's possible to mount the light without fully engaging the pegs in their slots, so the light probably stays in place until the first bump in the road. I've read the reviews so I take care to get a positive click and then give the thing a good wobble - I've not lost it yet, but I mate of mine lost his off the back.

On the plus side, the aero seat post insert is great for mounting on a carbon fork (last resort mounting option as bar bag takes up all the handlebar space).

I'd buy a rear one too, but they are "sold out" since forever (whilst the front one remains on discount, go figure).

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Sriracha | 2 years ago
1 like
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hawkinspeter replied to Sriracha | 2 years ago
4 likes

Sriracha wrote:

If anyone would like a second punt: https://seesense.cc/collections/shop/products/see-sense-air-pre-order

I backed their KickStarter campaign (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seesense/seesense-air/description) back in 2019 and am still waiting. However they are a real company selling real things (I bought some lights from them recently), so I'll just wait for them to work through their delays.

I've come to the conclusion that electronic products are fiendishly complex to produce for anyone that doesn't already have experience and relationships with the manufacturers, so I only back electronic KickStarters if they're from an existing company. Otherwise, it's best to wait for them to sort out all the issues and then just purchase one when they're on general sale.

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TheBillder replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
7 likes
hawkinspeter wrote:

I've come to the conclusion that electronic products are fiendishly complex to produce for anyone that doesn't already have experience and relationships with the manufacturers, so I only back electronic KickStarters if they're from an existing company. Otherwise, it's best to wait for them to sort out all the issues and then just purchase one when they're on general sale.

This is wisdom. Electronics is hard: it can be quite difficult to make a prototype that works in the lab*. Once you've done that, making your product reliable, safe from its environment (eg waterproofing), viable on batteries, easy to use, light, and cheap enough to sell with a reasonable margin, is all hard. And you really need a lot of different skills to do that, which crowd-funded start ups seldom have.

*Citation: the foetal heart rate monitor prototype I built which was not great at its core function but could pick up Radio Moscow late at night better than most radios... I got a different job after that.

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NPlus1Bikelights replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

This is why See Sense abandoned one light for the Beam Kickstarter totally as the Chinese manufacturer was giving quality issues resulting in too much heat, took a Magicshine light and added in their sensors, bluetooth and accelerometer plus various other chips. Got to market. Decent smart light.

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