How many of you chipped in to thingCHARGER’s Indiegogo or pre-ordered one via their Facebook promotion? I know I did, and a quick search of my email shows that I placed my pre-order back on January 5th. I was thinking it would make a nice Valentine’s gift.
Well, as is typical with new electronics products, getting FCC regulatory approval took them longer than expected. With the resulting delays, I forgot what it was called. I remembered I ordered this “cool wall outlet that I could use to charge my things,” but since I didn’t remember the name of it, I had no way of checking on its status. That changed today when thingCHARGER gave me a follow on Twitter. That got me searching for a status update, and here’s what I found:
Apparently, they’ve been keeping everyone updated via their Google Hangouts live updates on Fridays. The only problem with this is it took me a good bit of hunting before I found this info. It seems it would be nice if they included a link to NEWS on that nifty one-page scroller they have setup here: http://www.thingcharger.com/.
12/31/2015 (11:20) – UPDATE
I’ve received word that my thingCHARGERs are shipping. See my comment below for details.
01/08/2016 (09:29) – UPDATE
My thingCHARGERs have arrived. If you’re an early backer, emailing supporters@thingcharger.com was key for me (see my comments below).
01/18/2016 (15:18) – UPDATE
The folks at thingCHARGER sent me their updated shipping timeline:
05/30/2016 (09:03) – UPDATE
While I was away on holiday, Kristin at thingCHARGER sent me the following message to post for you guys:
Hello, this is Kristin with the thingCHARGER team, and I wanted to reach out to anyone who is still waiting on their order. If you have still not received your order, or an email with a link to finalize from us, please contact me personally at hello@thingCHARGER.com Attention: Kristin, and I will help to get your package on the way as soon as possible. You can also reach out to our phone team who is available to return telephone messages Monday through Friday. They can be reached at (855) 345-8446.
Mark Needle
When you get tired of waiting, they will process your refund pretty quickly. It is the only thing they do well.
@mwender
@Mark – Ha! I’m still holding out hope I’ll receive mine soon. Their most recent update mentions they are receiving shipments from their manufacturer, and they are now shipping them out. Perhaps I’ll receive mine by Christmas? Fingers crossed…
Bill
I too am waitng. Is Chritmas doable. Wish they’d give you a date rather than the general ‘SOON’
Elizabeth
I have tried to contact them for an update and gotten no reply. Glad I found this page at least.
Beth Wilson
I too have been a “victim” of thingCharger – BTW the “inventors” Amy and Seymour Segrin(Amy.and.Seymour@thingCharger.com) also run a company at the same address called “Change your mind right now” which sells “stuff’ for dealing with phobias. Their “crowdfunding” (I have another name for it) source, Indiegogo (started in 2013 – has raised close to $1million for thingCharger)- has over 1000 complaints against them and the BBB in New York has several complaints filed against them for thingCharger failure for delivery or refund. I’ve been blocked my their Facebook employee, Chris, from leaving comments. Has anyone see anything about filing a class-action suit against them? There would certainly be enough people to have one?
Did you know you can purchase thingCharger at Sam’s Club and on Amazon – for triple the price of our “donation”
LLem
OK so its good to know that someone else did not receive a reply when I sent the company an inquiry. Was beginning to think it was a scam or that they went under.
@mwender
@everyone – if you check thingCHARGER’s Facebook, they’re posting screengrabs of other people’s tweets and FB posts about receiving them. So, I’m hopeful I’ll receive mine soon. I’ll be sure to post an update here.
One crowdfunder who recently received his unit:
https://twitter.com/Lex_Lai/status/672212720481992704
Beth Wilson
Do you work for thingCharger or are you just an eternal optimist? Check out their latest “recap” of shipping on Facebook where the “co-inventor” Seymour calls the competition a piece of sh–! And then introduces his two employees, one of who got the job because they attend the same church. Very unprofessional group!
@mwender
Ha! Your comment literally made me LOL. Up to this point I’ve been an eternal optimist. However, as the evidence mounts in the comments on this post, I think I’ll be changing my tune soon. I agree with you that their team does seem very unprofessional. My comments in the post above about it being so hard to find updates about their shipping dates makes me think the same thing about their professionalism. I may need to take Mark Needle’s advice in his comment above:
Victoria Morgan
I ordered one in November and received it fairly quickly. My complaint is that it does not fit GFI outlets, something that is MENTIONED NOWHERE on their website. I bought it for my kitchen where I have nothing but GFI outlets. To return it would cost me a 10% restocking fee for something that is their fault. This is one crappy company.
Penny
How many GFIs outlets are we talking about? Call your electrician to swap out one of those GFI plugs! You only need ONE to cover all lines that connect to a single breaker.
@mwender
+1 on Penny’s comment. Didn’t know that (i.e. ONE GFI outlet covers all lines that connect to a single breaker)!
John
The National Electric Code requires a minimum of two 20 ampere circuits for kitchen counter receptacles so you still may not be able to use the thingchargers anyway. They are overpriced and have a flawed design.
I am trying to get my money back.
@mwender
Big update: My thingCHARGER(s) are shipping! Actually getting that to happen required an email on my part. Read on as this may help you if you were an early contributor:
So I ended up sending an email to supporters@thingcharger.com where I mentioned the date I backed the project (01/05/2015) and the email I used with my registration. About 30 minutes after that I got the following reply:
After that, I received an email directing me to go to their website where I entered in my final shipping details to complete the process. According to the confirmation I received, my thingCHARGERs should be arriving via FedEx next week or so.
xvoltn
Ordered in August and have been “upgraded” to a surge protector version…..still waiting. Used to work in the manufacturing industry and can tell you that they must be going with the cheapest manufacturer. They are talking on the BLOG about how air is so expensive from Asia to USA but ocean is not that slow. They seem to do nothing but come up with excuses.
@mwender
My thingCHARGERs arrived yesterday:
West Loreatta
You SERIOUSLY RECEIVED YOUR THING CHARGER? What do you think of it, was it worth the wait?
@mwender
We love ours. The build quality is great. The only drawback is I wish I had upgraded the power output so it would charge my devices faster.
Rene
What does “upgrade the power output” mean? I don’t remember that being an option. I ordered in November ’15, looks like they’ll take 6-7 months to ship? Is it true they won’t fit into GFI kitchen outlets? Also wondering, what is the “surge protector” model (mentioned by xvoltn as an upgrade)? Thanks for sharing this info
@mwender
Re: “What does ‘upgrade the power output’ mean?” — Now that I look at it, the back of my thingCHARGER shows it as 2.1A. That’s equal to the output of an iPad charger. So, disregard my comment. I was thinking its output was 1A which is equal to the charger that ships with an iPhone. (A 2.1 amp charger will charge an iPhone faster than a 1 amp charger.)
Combine the above with me thinking I’d seen an option to upgrade the output during my final checkout, and that’s what led to my comment.
Re: “Is it true they won’t fit into GFI kitchen outlets?” That’s what someone has said on this comment thread.
@mwender
The folks at thingCHARGER sent me their updated shipping timeline:
Kathy little
I ordered mine months ago and again I have heard NOTHING!! I really like the product so I really want them but
Please let me know when they will ship please!
It is not right that I hear nothing especially when I ordered almost 200.00 dollars worth
Please contact me back PLEASE?
Scott Wilkins
Thanks for this information. I ordered mine last month, and was wondering why I hadn’t heard anything. I find it hard to believe that I apparently have to wait until summer for mine to come in. Yikes. I’ll have to decide if I want to wait that long or just get a refund.
Louisa Murray
Well, according to the shipping chart, perhaps these will be a 2016 Xmas gift instead of 2015, as originally intended. I ordered in late Nov. If I had known it would take this long, I would have thought twice.
Melanie
Louisa! Your words are exactly mine! I used Christmas money my mom gave my daughters to buy the thingCharger and it looks as if it will be 2016 Christmas gifts at this rate! I too would have thought twice of I’d know that!
Pam Gulseth
The last time I looked it was suppose to ship in June and now it is July. Most places do not charge your credit card until it is shipped and I think that is the way it should be.
@mwender
Everyone: Kristin at thingCHARGER sent me the following message:
Roberta Kriegsman
this is a scam! I want a refund. I never received my thing charger.
@mwender
@Roberta – I’d recommend contacting the thingCHARGER folks via the comment directly before yours.
Chris
I am still waiting. This is ridiculous
Mr M wrad
I’m sick of waiting for mine.phone charging and ipad charging will be will be totally different by the time I get it.been waiting nearly 3 years for it to come and still nothing.
DebraJoy Greenburg
Hello, I ordered 5 Thing Chargers back in 2015 and never received anything. Please let me know how to get a refund for the $200.00 I paid. Thank you, DebraJoy
@mwender
@all – I’m closing out comments on this thread as I’m not thingCHARGER support. If you’ve come here because you haven’t received your thingCHARGERs yet, I do recommend that you look back through this thread. In particular, refer to this comment I made which included a support email and # at thingCHARGER for anyone who still hasn’t received his/her order.