@all the Kickstarter backers, have you all tried contacting Kickstarter/has anyone gotten a reply yet? Doesn't seem like Lee will give us an update anytime soon (or at all, for that matter) so you guys might as well get your money back, at least?
i received a response from support:
Hi,
I’m sorry to hear that this has not been a better experience for you and other backers of this project.
Our Community Support and Trust & Safety teams monitor Kickstarter's system and review reports received from backers when reward fulfillment does not go as expected. We take these instances seriously and, if there is sufficient evidence of abuse against our system or trust of others, we revoke or suspend account privileges. This includes the ability to run another campaign on Kickstarter until rewards have been fulfilled or an update has been posted for backers — which we have done in this case.
Ultimately, however, creators are responsible for their own behavior — from communication to fulfillment and refunds — and while we can and do enforce our terms of use, we can’t force anyone to complete their project idea or even issue a refund. In light of this, it is up to each creator to determine whether, when, and how they offer refunds. It is worth keeping in mind that if the creator is in the middle of the production process, it's possible that the funds have already gone towards producing or shipping rewards and that a refund may not be possible at this time.
We will continue to monitor the situation with this project and its creator. I hope this matter is resolved soon for you.
Best,
Ivan
Kickstarter Support Team
tl;dr agashi cannot run another kickstarter until she fulfills her obligations to us, either in the form of the game or a refund (or apparently providing a status update). in terms of getting a refund, we are SOL unless agashi decides to provide that.
Good lord, so you guys won't even get a refund unless Agashi decides to get back to us?? That's terrifying?? (And concerning what they can do, namely suspending their account...couldn't they just make up a new account under another name? Seems really flaky to me, but I digress-) Do they at least have means to contact the creator?? This is terrible, I really hope that Agashi at least has the decency to issue the refunds..god lord.
In any case, thank you so much for keeping us updated! I hope you guys get your money back asap...:/
Re: suspending their account and them just remaking- yes, what you speculated does indeed happen. People/companies have been caught doing that and basically they either vanish or have to be hunted down and hounded for refunds. It's behavior like this which makes indie kickstarters fail more often nowadays.
Backers don't really have a safety net, so they're super careful which projects they fund now. Agashi's seemed so promising because she was so into it and active, even the more cautious types probably gave it a try...I hope she understands that her actions have harmed not only the trust her backers have in her, but the trust all kickstarter backers have to any future projects.
As to Kickstarter contacting the creator...not really. Not beyond what info the creator themselves gave, and perhaps a bank account (that could be defunct by the time people ask for refunds).