The Goji Smart Lock was fully-funded on Indiegogo in August of 2013, having raised over $313,000 on a $120,000 goal. Now the campaign is experiencing delays in shipping and some backers are not happy.
According to the campaign page, Goji smart locks were originally slated for a January 2014 delivery date. That was pushed back to March 2014 in a previous backer update, and now the company has announced a delay that estimates delivery for June. Goji cites manufacturing challenges as the main factor in the delays…
Hello backers – as you know, we had to push our ship date from December to March due to adding additional Goji features requested by many of you, most notably strengthening the lock’s outer housing to better resist the elements. As we moved into manufacturing at the beginning of the year we have been closely monitoring the prototype builds, and with the updated designs we’ve had to adjust our manufacturing processes to ensure the highest quality build possible.
As some of you may know, when heading into manufacturing we must first develop production processes that allow us to efficiently and reliably build large numbers of Gojis. Even the most rigorously thought-out processes must be tested to ensure that we can scale production to meet demand, and that each and every build meets our high standards of quality.
It is because of these adjustments that we’ve had to make the decision to push the ship date to June 2014. We are 100% committed to sending you a top quality product – the best possible smart lock for the home – and the team was unanimous that ensuring quality is our top priority.
Multiple delivery delays would explain some of the comments coming from backers alluding to refunds being requested – and denied – with the last shipping update…
CNET is calling it “the curse of the crowdfunded lock,” which is a bit of a dig at Apigy. Apigy has yet to fully deliver rewards to backers of their crowdfunding campaign for the Lockitron after raising over $2 million. They also launched the Selfstarter crazy after open-sourcing the platform they used to fundraise on their own domain.
Despite the delivery challenges, Goji has actually enjoyed some positive press recently. Their smart lock was recently featured in a USA Today piece highlighting exciting products at CES 2014. They also recently cemented a deal with Staples to have the Goji lock integrated with Staples’ “internet of things” hub play…
… The Goji Smart Lock has been selected as a partner for Staples Connect™ from Staples, joining its ecosystem of connected devices that can be controlled through the Staples Connect Hub and App with any smartphone, tablet or PC. We’re joining a roster of top brands in the Staples Connect lineup, including Lutron, Philips, GE, Honeywell, Yale and First Alert, among others. We’re thrilled to be in such good company.
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