these recent comments on BB defunct kickstarter page reveal a lot...
a customer Dan is trying to take BB to court over a problem with paying for oculus light goods but not receiving them...
what a laugh and cry at same time
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/barrybeams/the-future-of-bike-lighting-by-barry-beams/comments
----snips----(there is more to read, this is the latest update)
Whew, what a day! tldr; Barry was forcibly thrown out of court for an angry outburst.
Barry showed up in court and immediately started yelling at me in the courtroom. After getting reprimanded by the clerk of court, he defended his actions by yelling "if murder were legal, I'd have killed him" -- in open court.
When the judge came in, he ordered Barry to keep it civil or else face contempt of court. Barry immediately accused me of perjury, in advance, before I said a word. The judge was not impressed.
Since this was a motion to vacate the prior judgement, and Barry was a no-show at that trial, the judge asked him why he didn't show up, and why he didn't ask for a postponement sooner than 10 days before trial. Barry stumbled through a series of excuses, blaming everyone from the clerk of court to the district commissioner for not getting his request in in time.
I don't think the judge bought it, but since we were both there and Barry agreed to proceed, he granted him a new trial on the spot.
I laid out my case. Once I explained what Kickstarter was, it was straightforward. I gave Barry Beams money. Barry Beams promised to give me a light in return. He never did, nor did he give me a refund. I don't think Barry really disputed any of the basic facts, and the judge didn't seem to think so either.
Barry kept interrupting and kept trying to correct the judge. At one point, the judge called Barry the most condescending person he'd ever encountered in his judicial career!
Barry spouted out his usual nonsense defences: KickStarter is not a store; there was no purchase; creators have the unilateral right to cancel orders without refund. He even accused me of doctoring the Terms of Use which I presented in court. None of it stuck.
Eventually, Barry lost it and start yelling at the judge about how I was trying to destroy his business. That's when the judge cut him off and ejected him from the courtroom. Unfortunately, that meant the trial was rescheduled for 3 weeks later.
Those are the facts. This all happened in open court.
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another user:
I never got my light either, but after my small claims judgement I got a *nasty* phone message from Barry, threatening to sue me for libel among other things. Never happened. I do have a return date with Barry in court tomorrow, so once again wish me luck.
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Dan update
An update on my small claims case:
First, Barry refused to sign for the court papers sent via certified mail. I had to hire a process server to track him down and serve him.
Then, Barry filed a motion with the court trying to dismiss the case on technicalities. Regardless, the trial date is still set for August 23rd.
Once again, Barry is going out of his way to weasel out of any responsibility rather than do the right thing and refund our money. And to what end? To rub it in our faces that he tricked us into giving him money for nothing? That's he's unscrupulous enough to get away with it?
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127.0.0.1 update: this is why it isn't worth my time anymore with this thing. 20 bucks will get you this thing, but you haveta review it here please !