Donor beware? Wait has some Imbibe backers rethinking support

A man uses a computer at a shop in central London on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

Eight months after a popular restaurant in downtown Kitchener closed its doors, the wait continues for the people who put money toward its new location.

More than $18,000 was raised through an Indiegogo campaign to help Imbibe proprietor Bill MacTavish find a new home for his venue.

Despite some early signs of encouragement, the forums MacTavish was using to communicate with his donors soon went quiet.

“I understand that it takes time for a bar or restaurant to come back up, so I appreciate that,” donor Saibal Chakraburtty said in an interview.

“I think the difficult part was not hearing from Bill.”

Last week, Imbibe’s Facebook page was updated for the first time in more than four months.

In the new posting, MacTavish said that he had thought “it was going to be easy” to find a new location, but soon realized that wouldn’t be the case.

“Nothing seemed to be appropriate,” he wrote.

“Either spaces were too big, too much work was needed, or too expensive. In most cases, all three applied.”

MacTavish closed his posting by saying he still hoped to find a new home for Imbibe “soon,” thanking donors, and saying he would return all donated money if he did not end up reopening the restaurant.

Two donors have already had their funds given back after asking for that to happen, MacTavish said.

Speaking with CTV News, one of those people said that it took some time for them to be refunded, but they are ultimately satisfied with the process.

Other donors say they may end up following their lead.

“There’s too much vagueness,” said Igor Grossman, who gave more than $200 to the campaign.

“He cannot provide concrete information about it. He cannot provide information when it will be open and if it will be open.”

According to Indiegogo’s terms of use, campaign owners are “legally bound” to keep their commitments, but the website itself has no role in disputes between the people running fundraisers and the people donating to them.

CTV technology analyst Carmi Levy says people donating to crowdfunding campaigns have “essentially no rights” after parting with their cash.

“You hand your money over, you hold your breath, and you hope it works out,” he said.