Indiegogo Sends Debt Collectors to Retrieve Money over Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega Plus Debacle

Crowdfunding campaigns are supposed to be straightforward. People set up a page with a goal, supporters send money, and the goal is achieved. If not, the money should be sent back to refund backers. For those behind the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega Plus gaming console, however, it seems the latter option is not even worth the thought. As such, debt collectors are now being sent after them.

It’s never a pleasant experience to have agents hounding at one’s heels with the sole purpose of retrieving money owed to someone else. For the creators of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega Plus, though, things might be entirely justified as they simply refuse to refund their backers. This was after raising 513,000 pounds ($624,000), which was three times the original goal.

In a recent update to supporters, the crowdfunding site writes that this latest move is simply a means of taking care of the ones who dealt with the Retro Computers Ltd (RCL) team in good faith. The platform also added that if RCL decides to actually give backers their money back, the whole fiasco would be over and dealt with.

“This week, we will be working with a collections agency to attempt to recoup funds disbursed, in an effort to be able to refund backers. Please note that, while we are pursuing collections, this process can take considerable time and the Vega+ team still has the opportunity to fulfill on their obligation of shipping the consoles to backers. We refer you to the Vega+ team for any updates on shipping. The campaign is still open to the Vega+ team, and they continue to have the ability to update you all via our platform,” the update reads.

As Eurogamer notes, this is just the latest development in what has been a sad, regretful saga that has left supporters angry and a company losing all credibility. At this point, the details regarding the reason for the failure to deliver on the product are still murky.