The Wordrunner Kickstarter Saga: Anyone else getting the customer service runaround?
Hey everyone,
To recap the timeline of this Kickstarter campaign, the Wordrunner campaign wrapped up funding in June 2025 with a promised shipping window of January 2026. We are now more than six months past that deadline. Based on their recent updates, they are still stuck troubleshooting basic hardware prototypes, tooling modifications, and component tweaks. Their last update was regarding FCC certifications... I work in consumer electronics, so I have an understanding of the process, and if they are just now in June 2026 working on FCC certifications, they were no where near their original timeline outlined back in June 2025 when they estimated a December/January ship date. So they knowingly lied about the timeline to receive funding.
And I have been very transparent on the campaign messages. I would have been fine if the timeline was transparent in June 2025. The fraudulent behavior and the lack of communication is what has disgusted me.
With that all noted, I wanted to share the latest drama with Astrohaus on the Wordrunner Kickstarter situation. After I posted some comments on the campaign page, Annie (their marketing intern or something) explicitly asked me to reach out to their customer service team directly... Which I suppose is the best response from them so far as they had ignored all previous communication. I foolishly hoped this meant they were prepared to actually address backer concerns on an individual basis.
Instead, I received a completely generic, copy-pasted response. They did not even bother to sign off with an actual name.
Here is the exact email I received:
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I am struggling to understand why I was told to leave the public comment section OR even the Kickstart direct messaging system just to get a boilerplate refusal in my inbox.
A few things to note that I think people should be aware of:
- There are over 720 backers who pledged anywhere from $329 to $369 minimum (and much more for those who ordered multiple units). That is a staggering amount of money completely locked away.
- Telling people to email support feels like a strategy to clean up the Kickstarter comment section and hide the growing frustration.
- Kickstarter, as usual, is doing absolutely nothing to assist backers or enforce any kind of real accountability.
They claim the "good news" is that development is ongoing, but the complete lack of professional communication makes it hard to buy into the optimism.
Did anyone else get directed to customer service only to receive this exact same message? Where is everyone else at with this campaign?