Samara Smart Luggage His Controversy
Last June we reported how a smart luggage Kickstarter had stormed through its fundraising. In it, the Samsara Smart Suitcase managed to achieve just over 10 times it’s $15,000 target. Nine months later, however, it seems that not all backers are happy as key changes to the design have been made. Changes which some people feel destroys the purpose of the product altogether.
The product in brief
The intention of the Samsara was to provide a luggage solution with some smart technology built in. These included LED lighting, motion sensor, alarm system and a charging station capable of providing 10 hours charge to your products. While these features do seem to have remained there are a number of others which have changed and in some cases quite obviously.
Two signficant design changes have had some users criticising the company for bait and switch. We’ll, therefore, give you the before and after and see if you can tell the difference.
Within the image, there are two key design changes which have been made. Firstly (and this is one which seems to have really annoyed some of the backers) the inset wheel design has been removed. This has particularly vexed the community as Samsara originally specifically made this a feature of their product. Additionally, you will notice that the nice sleek locks have been replaced with something that wouldn’t look out of place on a shed door (that’s my opinion, not the complainants).
it would also seem, although not obvious within any images, that the handle has been changed into something far bulkier.
Bait and Switch by Samsara?
Some of the backers are clearly unhappy at what they see as design changes outside the remit of the original design. Additional, they report feeling that Samsara has made these changes with zero consultation with the backing community and have done it in a seemingly underhand manner hoping that no one will care or notice. You can check out the Facebook group here for further details as to why they are dissatisfied with Samsara.
We have not been able to confirm that these changes have been implemented by Samara directly although we see no reason why those complaining would have manufactured such imagery. Their website and all marketing do still seem to promote the original design. We attempted to contact Samsara for comment regarding this, however, at present they have not responded.
We’ll keep you up to date with any developments. At present, however, this is looking like a big case (no pun intended) of bait and switch for the Samsara Smart Suitcase.
What do you think? Were you aware of this product? Did you back it? How do you feel about it now? – Let us know in the comments!
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Samsara have still not delivered on their Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaigns. They have made design modifications that make this look like any other case. Now it is a sham. Many many disgruntled backers. Look at this FB Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1873332392958429/ and read the many comments on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo.
Unfortunately it looks like Samsara have and are continuing to pull a fast one, initially (and again more recently on different platforms) offering to bring new designs to market, but then defaulting to cheap existing designs that can be incorporated to supply a product that bares no relation to what was sold and from the looks of things not of a standard that would support the pricing the suitcases are being sold for. The Samsara team are side stepping certain legal issues by supplying a product, but it’s not a product that a lot of people have said they would have bought knowingly.
Almost everything about the case has changed. Here are 9 MAJOR differences. There are many more. Can you spot them? https://www.facebook.com/groups/1873332392958429/permalink/1873903432901325/
I backed a stylish innovative sleek case I would be proud to drag around the world behalf of me.
I am now being offered a cheap bulky unimaginative product that in no way resembles what I signed up for. And on top of it all they are months late!
I too am very disappointed by the tremendous design changes! It looks so cheap now and does not justify the big price tag by any means. It appears the majority of backers do not want the ugly looking suitcase that Samsara is now offering. Shame on Kickstarter too, there is no backer protection whatsoever! They cash in their commission and after that they do not reply to any backer enquiries! I am done with Kickstarter as well.
Absolutely nothing wrong with this suitcase. It still looks good, sleek, and durable. This is not a scam. None of you were promised a specific design. You paid for a product that was still in the design stage. You knew what you were getting into. And the changes aren’t even bad. It looks better now with the exception of the wheels which don’t look better, but they won’t break after one or two uses. If you want a shit product that looks marginally better, then I strongly question your intelligence.
Very unfortunately, Samsara seems to be unble to deliver. After numerous unanswered e mails requestig for a refund as their product does not correspond to the original design and a delivery date that is still unknown, I have only received an automatically generated e mail stating that “once the production will be going on, we will look at refund options ” This looks like a big scale scam, and does cast a shadow on anyone that would be looking for crowd funding capital in order to start a business.
I agree with Michael Ulmann, Kickstarter here is not credible anymore.
By the way, I have still not received any funds back.
I have repeatedly asked for a refund only to be completely ignored. Therefor I am pursuing a class action against Samsara. Anyone wishing to join the class can email me at slopescenes@gmail.com.