Alex S.
Scammers!
Cheerble are brilliant Kickstarter scammers. They raised over $380,000 for an innovatively-designed cat water bowl in September of 2021. At the time, estimated shipping date was January 2022. It's now August 2022, and they are still asking people to pay $25 extra just to ship a product they've already paid a premium for (the "super early bird" price was $99, which is a LOT for a water bowl, especially if you're low-income) that they STILL have no estimated shipping date for, almost a year later. They're also asking you to pay extra for things that should be included, like water filters, which are $12 each. Many backers have lost hope that this project will ever come to fruition, and the company even acknowledged this fact in its latest backer update. They are refusing refunds, even to customers who have waited so long for this that their pets have passed away. Of course we understand that Kickstarter is not a store, but that does not mean that there should be no consequences for defrauding people and stealing their money. I would not do business with this company in the future and would warn others to avoid them as well.
Response from CheerbleAug 21, 2022
Hi Alex, Thank you so much for backing the project for us on Kickstarter. We would like to reiterate that we've never said Drinkie is going to be a FAIL even though it truly has been delayed for over half a year. Over the past few months, around the durability issues that we found in the pre-production, there have been three rounds of solutions including the 2 versions of ceramic valve design, tipping dish design, silicone plug design, etc. Fortunately, these problems are now well resolved and there won't be burdens ahead the mass production. Regarding the shipping charge, it was clearly stated on the campaign page that the pledge did not include the shipping fee which depended on where your location was and would be charged in the fulfillment survey. As for the water filter, actually, you don't need a filter to use Drinkie because it was a clean & waste water separate design. The add-on filter is only for softening hard water, which some backers really need but others else don't. Again, we completely understand your frustration as you really can't blame anyone else but us for the fulfillment delay. Drinkie is our first project of exploring a new way to keep our pets, though we have successfully fulfilled four projects since 2018, which made us unduly confident in formulating the original timeline. Still, Drinkie won't be a dead project to Cheerble, and there will be monthly updates one after another till everyone receives his/her reward. Thanks again, Sam