Tag: Vega Plus

Crowdfunding Fraudsters Update: Retro Computers Ltd Sanctions Doxxing, Slandering Competition


(Update: MMO Fallout incorrectly stated that George Cropper and James Ball Duncan were involved in Retro Games Ltd. This has been corrected by Paul Andrews and is not the case.)

In the previous Crowdfunding Fraudsters, I talked about how Retro Computers Ltd had broken out the B-Team. As opposed to the likes of managing director Suzanne Martin who has gone completely silent, this group of people were allegedly not employed by RCL, but appeared on the Facebook page and social media to stoke the flames, acting more like unpaid thugs or bullies, riling up the diminishing list of remaining loyal followers and making unsubstantiated, unqualified remarks on the progress of the system, only to tell people to “get over it” when those claims didn’t come true. Their job also consists of blaming bad vibes from “haters” as what is causing the ZX Spectrum to go from a possible early launch to now 13 months past the original shipping date. As I joked, Retro Computers Ltd is the only company whose machinery is gummed up by Twitter trolls.

We’ve already gone over Lee Fogarty, a man who claims that he is not paid by RCL despite his company Creative Spectrum being hired to maintain their website, not to mention his name still being plastered as the author of every single news article that goes up on the website. Creative Spectrum, for those of you who follow the link above, is in the process of being striked as a company as its accounts due May 31, 2017 have still not been filed according to Companies House. There is an objection filed against this striking filed at this time.

But we’re here today to talk about the third wheel, Jan Saggiori. Saggiori, a hacker whose role in Murdoch’s Pirates is well worth a read, joins Lee Fogarty in slandering RCL’s competition in a way that is both sanctioned by Retro Computers Ltd in that it is allowed to propagate on their highly-curated and allegedly anti-negativity “Democracy” Facebook group, while also allowing the company to distance itself should any of the subjects decide to sue. Fogarty and Saggiori, through my time observing the channel, have made consistent remarks regarding former RCL directors Paul Andrews and Chris Smith, referring to both as scam artists and criminals, making predictions that the two would be in prison, and of course making prison rape jokes at their expense.

The slanderous comments have extended to Retro Games Ltd (Not to be confused with Retro Computers Ltd,) a company headed by Paul Andrews and involving George Cropper and James Ball Duncan (Update: It’s been clarified that neither of the two individuals are involved in Retro Games Ltd). Saggiori used the Democracy Facebook page to essentially dox several members of the group, posting their personal phone numbers and addresses, calling them scammers, and encouraging people to contact them demanding refunds. Saggiori also posted a link to a fake website for the Commodore 64 mini (an RGL product), which similarly reveals personal contact information for Andrews, Cropper, and Ball, while simultaneously slandering the company.

The website happens to be registered to Jan Saggiori. Viewers should be aware that the website’s registered information was not verified by Nominet (website registration service) with any third party and the possibility exists that it was fabricated by whoever registered the website. We can, confirm, however, that Saggiori himself was sharing links to the website so even if he isn’t its creator, he is supporting and disseminating personal details.

And while, again, neither Saggiori nor Fogarty are directly employed by Retro Computers Ltd, the company has not made any visible efforts to stop either party from using their social media pages to slander the company’s competition.

Tamara Thomas, who we pointed out made an odd comparison between releasing information on the Vega and someone dying for a kidney transplant, has been silent and, according to her husband, has not been present in the group for months and has nothing to do with this week’s unprofessional, and potentially illegal, display. For his own part, Preston has released a statement that posting the details was “disgusting” and condemned it. Thomas is no longer an admin of the Democracy page.

In addition, when I pointed out on Twitter that a new Crowdfunding Fraudsters was coming out, my access to the Facebook page was revoked.

Now for updates on the system itself. Back on August 9, RCL posted this promise to backers that the units would ship within the next 8 weeks.

We can also confirm we have secured rights to some of the biggest games in the Spectrum scene, and the final games list will exceed all expectations. We aim to begin shipping the Vega+ to backers within the next 8 weeks, and to follow this immediately with our first shipments to retail.

Incidentally today marks the 8 week point since this announcement was made, making yet another false release date in a growing list of unfulfilled promises tossed out by an increasingly silent company. The following photo was posted on Indiegogo on September 1:

In the month since this post, promising “regular updates” and “new images,” not a single new image or update has been posted to the Indiegogo page. RCL is now more than five months late on their roll of honor, thirteen months late on the system itself, and four weeks late on their promise for “regular updates” and “new images.” The Indiegogo page is still, despite RCL’s claim to have never refused a refund request, plastered with users complaining that their repeated refund requests have gone ignored for months on end.

The most up to date release schedule places the Vega+ launching “mid-October.” MMO Fallout has been made aware of some relevant past incidences revolving around certain RCL staff. That information will be expanded upon once we are able to more fully investigate its veracity.

[NM] ZX Spectrum Vega Plus Aims For Mid-October Launch


Vega+ Will Ship Within The Next 8 Weeks, RCL Threatens Critics


Retro Computers Ltd has broken a three month silence to announce that the long-delayed ZX Spectrum Vega Plus, a classic game system, is aiming for launch within the next eight weeks. In an update posted to backers today on Indiegogo, RCL noted that they have secured the rights to “some of the biggest games in the Spectrum scene,” and that following some delays related to technical issues and other factors, the console should be shipping later this year.

We can also confirm we have secured rights to some of the biggest games in the Spectrum scene, and the final games list will exceed all expectations. We aim to begin shipping the Vega+ to backers within the next 8 weeks, and to follow this immediately with our first shipments to retail.

RCL also took the time to call out parties posting abuse and spreading misinformation online, threatening to publicize the names of those involved. It should be noted that RCL has repeatedly referred to outlets like The Register and The BBC as “fake news” and has not posted any evidence to support their claims, in response to negative coverage of the Spectrum Plus and its repeated delays.

In time, we will be able to publicise in detail what is going on, including the names of those making up the above-mentioned group. But right now, on the advice of our lawyers and related authorities, we have to wait until all various investigations and legal actions have been completed.

Will Retro Computers Ltd meet its new shipping date? We’ll have to see.

(Source: Indiegogo)

Crowdfunding Fraudsters Redux: Return of the ZX Spectrum Vega+


If Retro Computers Limited wants to convince me that the Vega Plus is going to be released, they need to prove it. For those of you who haven’t seen the original Crowdfunding Fraudsters regarding the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus, you can read it here. Today we’re revisiting the ZX Spectrum Vega+, a handheld device slated for release in September 2016. It still hasn’t launched.

1. Retro Computers Ltd Breaks Out The B-Team

Where the previous Crowdfunding Fraudster article focused on figures like RCL Managing Director Suzanne Martin, founder David Levy, Chris Smith, and Paul Andrews, Darren Melbourne, and more, the follow up is going to focus on three people whose opinions are entirely present despite being exponentially more immature and irrelevant than people we’d actually like to hear from: Tamara Thomas, Lee Fogarty, and Jan Saggiori.

Thomas and Saggiori are volunteer administrators of the unironically named “Democracy” side of the  Retro Vega+ Facebook group, a title which gives superficial authority along with a ban hammer and delusions of respect. You also get gems like comparing waiting for photos of a video game console to a donated kidney and people dying:

Thomas and Saggiori’s unofficial job is to act as bullies on behalf of RCL, berating frustrated backers so when RCL pushes another delay, they can point to the people that Thomas and Saggiori have deliberately provoked and claim that the delays are due to complaining. Evidently RCL’s systems operate on juju, because people getting angry that Thomas showed up to tell them to “get over it” causes the internet to stop functioning and, thus, prevented RCL from posting photographs and video on Facebook for well over a week a few months ago, rather than RCL’s own incompetence at meeting deadlines. The group has mostly replaced Managing Director Suzanne Martin, whose primary job appeared to be selling photographs and video footage as a multi-million dollar effort.

Fogarty, meanwhile, is the web admin and definitely not the spokesman for Retro Computers Ltd, as despite his name appearing in the author box on what appears to be every news piece over at the RCL website, or constantly posting pictures with the test devices on the Facebook page, we can only assume that an actual spokesman wouldn’t be making jail rape jokes in regards to the other side of ongoing lawsuits.

Much like Thomas and Saggiori, Fogarty’s job appears to be primarily antagonizing the slowly dwindling number of backers from the relative safety of not being an employee, while simultaneously claiming complete ignorance on why anyone would be so hostile toward RCL when clearly all they are guilty of is providing a positive atmosphere with a channel where correspondence has completely died and no one posts due to the overanxious ban hammer.

Otherwise the team has pretty much moved on to the elementary school tactic of “I’m not touching you,” posting photos of beta testers and describing how much testers are enjoying their units, and then acting surprised when backers get frustrated. Why? We’re only eight months past deadline for a piece of hardware that was so much on track that it may have had the potential to launch early.

2. The Breach of Security, or, Lying to the Public

Late April, Retro Computers Ltd announced that a security breach had occurred on their domain names:

We have been made aware that late yesterday afternoon a security breach occurred on a number of domains belonging to Retro Computers Limited. This includes the zxvega.co.uk and retro-computers.co.uk URLs

Except there ultimately was no security breach, and this lie has been repeated numerous times from parties both within and outside of Retro Computers Ltd. What happened was that domains were released to the public and picked up and redirected to domains criticizing Retro Computers Ltd.

3. The Perpetual Victim Complex

It should be of no surprise that RCL’s habitual lying and perpetual status as victim often intermingle, either that or this is the first product in the history of Indiegogo to be derailed by people complaining in the comments section. After months of pointing fingers at the “hate mob,” a mostly non-existent entity that seems responsible for RCL’s self-inflicted PR wounds, was responsible for coercing developers into pulling their titles from the Vega Plus, an expose from The Register (with an increasingly immature response from RCL with each new article) shows that the reason actually may point to a dead beat dev. Turns out that, rather than by virtue of internet trolls, RCL hasn’t been paying royalties and rights holders are pulling out.

4. The Continued Refusal of Refunds

Last time we checked out Retro Computers Ltd, the company made a statement that they have never refused a refund, an idea that took all of ten minutes to disprove thanks to the dozens upon dozens of comments on the Indiegogo page claiming numerous refund requests with no response. Unsurprisingly, the Indiegogo page is still filled with complaints of unfulfilled refunds and users resorting to filing fraud claims via Paypal and through their credit card companies to force the refunds through.

5. Cooking Minute Rice In A Week

One big thing I pointed out in the last Crowdfunding Fraudster was that Retro Computers Ltd is completely incapable of performing even the most benign tasks within a reasonable time frame. The company has gone completely silent as of late, with its last announcement being on May 9.

The Roll of Honour email is coming at you this week Please log into your account to confirm all of your details are up to date as we cannot be responsible for wrong ones. And if you have chosen a ‘rude’ name, or you no longer go by a name previously chosen, give this some thought as once it is locked it is locked, and it’s very difficult to change.

Incidentally, I started writing this redux back in early June, and with it now being July and RCL still having not released the roll call list, we’ll be surpassing two months with the company unable to complete simple tasks like publishing a list of backers.

The Vega Plus is supposed to launch this Summer, but we still don’t have a game list (we don’t even have a roll of honour), and we don’t even know if the device has begun manufacturing. In standard RCL fashion, the company’s habitual lying has turned out a new low: The news announcement on May 9th ends with an apology and a promise to “update more regularly from now on.” In promising more updates, the company has gone completely silent.

6. In Plain English, But Not On This Website

I’ve received a few emails asking if I’d be doing an In Plain English in regards to the lawsuit(s) between RCL and its founders, and the answer to that is a tentative: Maybe. There hasn’t been an In Plain English piece about these lawsuits because right now all I have is information from the insanely biased sources of both sides, which contradict one another, and I don’t have the confidence to report on any of it as a result. The United States has Public Access to Court Electronic Records, allowing lawyers and press (like yours truly) to gain access to dockets. The UK doesn’t have that, to the best of my knowledge.

So it’s something I’m working on but can’t make too high of a priority because, as ridiculous as this project is, I’m hesitant to dedicate too many resources to something already outside MMO Fallout’s “scope.”

7. In Conclusion (again)

Barring sudden access to court records, this is the last that MMO Fallout will cover on the Retro Vega Plus. I had a few comments on the last piece about treating Retro Computers Ltd with kid gloves, but I stand by most of what I said. While I’d like to hold out some hope that the Vega Plus will be released, but right now RCL seems to be doing a live reenactment of the I Love Lucy candy factory scene, quickly losing whatever control they had on the situation as the conveyor belt just gets faster and faster.