Those comments on Startengine seem pretty consistent with here. It's time to stop holding out hope and try to get your money back asap if you haven't already.

 

Yep, Megalopolis is clearly a sinking ship. All their excuses and double talk are catching up to them.

Although I DID receive a blast email about their damn exclusives yesterday which I had already unsubscribed to so that is interesting...

 

Same I reported as spam...

Also:
Are people really buying their merch/branded toys?...yikes

 

That was a staggering read. (In case anyone else wants to read it... Megalopolis: City of Collectibles | StartEngine)
One dude received a crumpled certificate. Crumpled.

They admittedly didn't file with the SEC and blamed it on Covid. Startengine is working with the investors, especially on perks, and this looks AWFUL.

This is either the dumbest Ponzi Scheme in recent years, or they're a level of fraudster we've yet to see before. The thing I don't get? Their end game. It's clear that the ship is sinking and people are trying to get off of it before drowning, but they have one or two people with a cup still scooping water out and saying "Nothing to see here!".

I can't help but wonder if they used the money to fund something else (perhaps offshore) and they're going to take the money and run. I think they'll make enough "legit" transactions to keep the wolves at bay, but when those dry up... Don't be anywhere near Utah when they implode, it'll create a small black hole.

EDIT: Check this out... This is from the Startengine listing...

Didn't they just come on here and tell us the exact opposite? That they *ARE* hiring 3rd party companies to handle this specific issue? WTF are they on?

 

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1720886/000166516020000812/form_car.pdf

 

Well there's all kinds of stink all over those P&L and Balance Sheet numbers...

 

Oh, my gosh... Look at this quoted part:

Are you kidding me?! They literally are robbing Peter to pay Paul. How do you end the year with $20,000.00 and tell people your valuation is many, many more times that??

Dang.

 

You cam see their debt too. Also, fun fact, United Debt Settlement is a company that helps people settle and manage financial debt and not a Creditor. If I didn't already have misgivings about this company that would be a huge red flag.

 

Those interest rates too. Holy shit.

Reading through the latest episodes of this saga, it's pretty clear: they were a nascent company a few years ago that got in over its head, and now it's some kind of weird ponzi scheme that has debts it'll never pay off. If anyone has outstanding orders with them, I'd get your bank or credit cart company involved now. You're likely never going to see them. They probably don't even have the cash to build inventory.

I feel guilty for even starting this thread. When I did, there was no Hasbro Pulse. Amazon and Target weren't doing exclusives like they are now yet. And BBTS's service was at its nadir. It looked like a good alternative and promising business. Now it's a cautionary tale: stick to Amazon, Walmart, Target, Pulse, BBTS, ShowZ and TCP. Go elsewhere? Overpay (lookin at you TFSource) or get ready to never see what you buy.

 

That's two years ago and usually inventory-based businesses don't keep a lot of cash on hand, it goes back into purchasing inventory and is existing inventory - the inventory and assets is a better picture.

As far as their debt goes, growing companies, or companies that want to grow quickly will take on debt...don't think anybody should ding them for this. They spent a lot on advertising and building a brand, building out their facilities, etc. Good investments for a business planning for the long haul, and will probably need to refinance that debt which is coming due in 2021...pretty typical for a growing business.

I think the main concern is that the same comments the "investors" are making are the same ones customers are making - late shipments, broken promises, poor communication - once they have your money, they stop interacting. The responses that do come are largely the same over and over: "will send it soon", "next couple of weeks", "we're making improvements", without action. Even in this thread there were some promises that things would get better even this week, but I don't know if anyone here got there items this week...just refunds and chargebacks.

 

I would agree with your comments about their debt if one of those companies wasn't a debt settlement/consolidation company. As someone who worked for one for a couple of years, I can say that you don't get involved with a debt settlement/consolidation company for fun and a lark. They take you on as a client because you are having financial difficulties and are either unable to or having trouble making your monthly payments to your actual creditors. That's never a good sign when that happens with a business. Especially when you combine that with all the other issues that we're seeing with the company.

 

if you ask for refund they minus 15%. restocking fee an say it will take 1-2 billing cycles i had to call my credit card company i ordered items the said “in stock” an 7weeks layer they still never shipped when I emailed them I got three different response one they were shortstaffed Tuesday were having issues with their computers three they tried to say with all the fires on the West Coast it was making shipping impossible all lies Anyways I explain to my credit card company what happened forwarded them the email showing the three different excuses and best thing I used this thread as an example showing other people having the same issues maybe just tried calling your credit card company and emailing and a link to this thread

 

That was a fascinating but familiar read so thank you for sharing. You can see the exact time where they ended all communication about 5 months ago and Start Engine people have had to start stepping in and responding to people. It truly is staggering that this sort of thing isn't being talked about in more places but Twitter barely has anything and any Reddit posts are brief and don't seem to gain much traction.

 

...Wow, so they are literally blaming the fires for not shipping. Fucking TCP can ship fine, TDJ can ship fine. Everyone can ship fine, but not Mega. Fuck your face Megalopolis.

 

This is pretty disappointing. I was looking forward to the Earthworm Jim figures they’ve been touting but now it looks like too much of a risk to actually purchase any when preorders go up.

 

Just got yet another blast email from Megalopolis about their Barnyard Commandos and Madballs bullshit even though I've unsubscribed multiple times, reported it as spam and blocked the original email address so that last one means they are using multiple accounts to send out their BS.

 

The worst part is that two people on this thread actually own the crappy store and site...yet they remain silent, no answer is also an answer...pathetic

 

And with the amount of debt, lack of cash, lack of in-flow, the fact that Mr. Westover makes $96,000.00 a year on this is disgusting.

Nearly six figures for doing nothing but using people? Balls, man. Balls.

 

It does seem like alot of money. It seems like that's the _only_ way to start a business that goes anywhere though. I tried to fund one to the tune of $10K every year for five years and it went absolutely nowhere. You can't even get the time of day from many suppliers, let alone inventory at rates that would allow you to turn a profit. I stopped ordering "wholsesale" almost three years ago and I'm _still_ paying for it.

Just thought this comment was also prescient. With the recent emphasis on these partner/exclusive products...I have to wonder if this was the plan from the start. I was going to bootstrap a new GoBots line with profits from selling Hasbro and Mattel's offerings and drop out of that once the real project was in motion. Obviously, that didn't work out like I expected. I've often wondered what would've happened if I'd taken on massive debt and used it to go straight to making those GoBots. Chances are I'd have a garage full of convertible Monte Carlo, Grand Prix, and Dakota robots instead of Mafex Catwomen and SHF Marios...

 

I just came here to complain about the same thing. Jesus Christ, I never even signed up for their shit or ordered anything from them.