back to article ZX Spectrum reboot firm boss delays director vote date again

The ZX Spectrum reboot scandal will drag on for at least another month as Retro Computers Ltd’s embattled directors have again delayed a showdown that could lead to their dismissal. The company, as regular readers know all too well, raised £513,000 from nearly 5,000 members of the public via crowdfunding website Indiegogo to …

  1. Lee D Silver badge

    What better way to flog a dead horse than to flog it thousands of times to other people and not actually give anyone any kind of horse, dead or not?

    1. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge
      Trollface

      Do you think Monty Python will do a dead horse skit?

      1. phuzz Silver badge

        Do you think Monty Python will do a dead horse skit?

        Depends if any of them have a recent divorce they need to pay for.

      2. John Sanders
        Trollface

        Dramas like these...

        Are only possible on the UK.

        Where the "We're too busy following all the rules to pay attention to the fire" is 100% doable.

        1. Steve the Cynic

          Re: Dramas like these...

          Are only possible on the UK.

          Where the "We're too busy following all the rules to pay attention to the fire" is 100% doable.

          This made me think of an article I found a few years ago, when I was doing some local history research. It was in an issue of the local newspaper in Christchurch (Dorset), dated in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

          A dead dog had been floating in the river, stuck on something, for the previous *month* because everybody who could possibly be responsible for removing it denied that it was their job, and nobody was willing to step forward and do it anyway, lest it *become* their job in the future.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Leaks"

    Don't forget all the "leaks" prior to the meeting: http://retro-computers.co.uk/

    29 Jun: Levy Leaks - http://retro-computers.co.uk/levy-leaks/

    01 Jul: RCL break GDPR - http://retro-computers.co.uk/rcl-break-general-data-protection-regulations/

    02 Jul: RCL owe solicitors £300k - http://retro-computers.co.uk/levy-leaks/michelmores/

    03 Jul: Levy/RCL owe solicitors £17k - http://retro-computers.co.uk/levy-leaks/teacher-stern/

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: "Leaks"

      There's also the post where Levy pretty much accuses Clive of being a dribbling vegetable. As Clive has outlived his usefulness (or is getting tired of the whole thing and wants out of this nonsense), he's promptly thrown under a bus.

      And there's a new post about RCL failing to pay a new manufacturer, just like they failed to pay the old manufacturer.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "Leaks"

        "Levy pretty much accuses Clive of being a dribbling vegetable."

        That's almost hilarious, not just in how transparently it's trying to insult and smear him, but in how it doesn't seem to realise (and/or care) how far over the line of anything resembling professionalism it's gone.

  3. wolfetone Silver badge

    If they're shipping some of the units this week, and Sinclair Research has seem a working demo of the device, then for the love of God just share the bloody photos and a video of these units that have been completed and boxed. It's harder to take £10,000 a month out of RCL than it is to take a photo and stick it on a website.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      They won't share photos because they're going to send out different versions made from whatever crap sticks together in the office.

      They won't share a video (apart from that one where you never see more than five seconds before it disappears under an effect) because it runs like a dog.

      The few units they do send out will be to friends who they know won't kick up a fuss because they've fallen apart after five mins.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's harder to take £10,000 a month out of RCL than it is to take a photo and stick it on a website.

      Au contraire, if you're an RCL director I suggest it is MUCH easier to take another £10k out of the company than to do, well....anything.

      And if the "anything" includes taking a picture of a working product, it may be easier to farm unicorns than to take a photo and stick it on the webshite.

  4. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

    Debt collectors

    This is from memory, but in order to send in debt collectors, a process has to be followed which requires the complainant to file a claim in the court. There is then a period during which the defendant can respond to the claim.

    Depending on this response, the court can then issue a court order for the outstanding amount to be paid. This has another waiting period, and it is only after the defendant fails to pay in the time specified that the complaint can engage a court recognized agent (sheriff or debt collector) to attempt to enforce the debt or recover goods to cover the debt.

    If that is not possible, then the complainant can file to have the defendant bankrupted.

    All in all, the process takes months, not days, and this is probably what indigogo have found. It will be interesting to see whether the process has been started. If it has, the information should be in the publicly available court record. Anybody any idea which court they might be using?

    As I say, this is from memory, learned after a friend of mine returned a car to a car dealer as not fit for purpose, and attempted to get a refund of the money he paid for it.

    1. NobbyNobbs

      Re: Debt collectors

      And often ends up with something going wrong in procedure and you ending up with nothing.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Debt collectors

      This has another waiting period, and it is only after the defendant fails to pay in the time specified that the complaint can engage a court recognized agent (sheriff or debt collector) to attempt to enforce the debt or recover goods to cover the debt.

      A more effective alternative still requires a court order for payment, but rather than enforce that through bailiffs of sheriffs, you apply for a winding up order, requestiing liquidation of the company. I know from experience of working on the corporate equivalent of the Titanic that winding up orders are far more effective than other attempts to realise cash. The reason for this is that if the company is wound up, the directors can't continue to leech off of it, whilst for a bailiff's order there's still the opportunity to pillage.

    3. ss002

      Re: Debt collectors

      Debt Collectors can be sent without a court order as they are no more than door knockers to ask for payment and they have no legal powers. An enforcement agent is instructed under a county court writ or high court warrant following a CCJ and has legal powers to try and recover the monies.

      1. Captain Scarlet

        Re: Debt collectors

        We know who to expect on the next series of "Can't pay we'll take it away"

  5. NobbyNobbs

    Mean while the ZX Next team have shown the thr injection.mould.sample for.the case, shipped dev boards long ago and are working on sorting out the feel for the keybaord membrane.

  6. Charlie Stross

    I'd like to note that, while the Vega+ fiasco has been playing out, CTO Janko Mrsic-Flogel has successfully (albeit a few months later than originally promised) delivered the Gemini PDA, aka the Psion 5 reincarnation-running-Android-or-Linux. (The proof in the pudding is that there's one sitting on my desk next to me.)

    In the absence of other insights into WTF is going on with the Vega+ this suggests to me that at least RCL's CTO is competent, even if everyone else was out to lunch the whole time.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If it comes with that privacy app then I'm sold !

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Would be interesting to see where the funding came from for the Gemini project ?

      Just saying yunnerstand......

      :)

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Gemini has taken over $2.5 million on Indiegogo, 5 times more than the Speccy thing did.

        Janko joined the RCL board after the bust up that saw the project fall apart. I suspect he didn't do due diligence and he wishes he'd never heard about it. I believe he has put some effort into getting things moving but it's tough trying to stop an avalanche.

    3. pavel.petrman

      Re: Mrsic-Flogel has successfully delivered the Gemini PDA, aka the Psion 5

      There are some who seem to carry on loving late Mr. Jobs for the innovation (read addictiveness) he brought to handheld computing. I, for one, respect Mr. Mrsic-Flogel for his efforts to update and bring back the kind of computery I used to love and dearly miss ever since IrDA et. al. had fallen out of general favour.

  7. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Trollface

    Vaseline...

    And not on the edge connector.

  8. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    FAIL

    Indiegogo are proving themselves as much a joke as RCL

    "Indiegogo's promised debt collectors have yet to materialise"

    That's not surprising. I have long noted Indiegogo will need to have legal grounds to be able to do that and it's not at all clear what they would be. I don't believe they have any.

    Anyone can 'send the lads round', or instruct a solicitor to write a letter, to politely ask for money but that will most likely just elicit a "Fuck off; take me to court if you think you have a case". It is of course even easier to threaten to send the lads round and then not do that.

    I can only imagine Indiegogo over-promised on what they could and would do in the hope of protecting themselves when the shit finally hits the fan, so they can assert they went the extra mile on behalf of those who have waved goodbye to their money.

    I expect Indiegogo have recognised how potentially damaging this fiasco is going to be for themselves and the entire crowd funding business.

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Indiegogo are proving themselves as much a joke as RCL

      This is barely going to touch IndieGogo and crowdfunding. In context it's just a few speccy nurds and it's not even anywhere near IGG's biggest failure and disappearance on funds, Kickstarter failures are even bigger (checkout Skarp ,Zano, FutrueFon, Tiko, Popslate 2). Meanwhile new projects keep on going through.

      1. Whirlwound
        Coffee/keyboard

        Re: Indiegogo are proving themselves as much a joke as RCL

        The shonk ratio on IGG is way higher than KS though. Sometimes projects don't even try to conceal their blatant scammy nature. Remember the hilarity of WifiEx, anyone?

        Of the stuff I've backed on IGG, 80% have either fallen through or delivered and been dodgy in some way - the only notable exception being THE64, which has been spectacular so far. Considering they didn't even hit their target, they have way overperformed so far, and they still have the main unit and handheld to come. RGL's endeavour has been the absolute antithesis of the rampant, near-gleeful fraud undertaken by RCL. Still, once they've completed the main THE64 unit and sent it, I'll be closing my IGG account.

        Meantime on Kickstarter, my hit rate has been north of 90% delivered successfully, correctly, and of at least decent quality. Very few of the 70+ things I kicked for have gone tits-up, the most notable being Auditorium Duet (and at least I got some stuff out of Cipher Prime for that) and a dice pouch - and even then, nearly all of the ones that did go under have refunded me.

        I just wish Piro would get a bit of a rattle on with the Megatokyo VN, like - it feels like Card Sagas Wars has more chance of a release right now...

    2. DropBear

      Re: Indiegogo are proving themselves as much a joke as RCL

      I fully expect IGG to rely on the vast majority of its backers never having heard about the whole Vega thing - and be right. It seems that generally speaking it doesn't matter how badly a ship is taking on water, as long as large enough bits of it are still above the water the band can continue to play as if nothing was amiss...

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ...and on.....and on.....and on....

    ...and Ariston.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: ...and on.....and on.....and on....

      Re-repeat not fade away.

      1. msknight

        Re: ...and on.....and on.....and on....

        Re-repeat not fade away.

        Yes, it's turning into a skeleton of a company :-)

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's dead Dave

    Everything is dead.

    Apols to: Holly

  11. M7S

    Deferring decisions for another month

    Being admittedly ignorant of the structure of this company and the remuneration packages of directors, managers and staff, would it be too cynical of me to think that this could mean that what this really means is that there is another monthly payment of salaries to "shortly to be removed" directors, possibly along wit pension contributions, healthcare insurance, lease payments on company cars etc etc (exact circumstances may vary by individual) before new management is finally appointed, stops some of this and tries to return whatever might be left from the kitty to shareholders, dismissed employees etc

    Just wondering....

    1. SeanR
      Trollface

      Re: Deferring decisions for another month

      there's nothing left to pay themselves with...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Deferring decisions for another month

      Booking airline tickets to Brazil doesn't take a month

  12. adam payne

    “Mostly Levy said they would not answer the SRL questions ‘until after they had shipped’

    Ship what? a box full of air?

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Have they got the money for boxes?

      1. Stoneshop

        Have they got the money for boxes?

        They can always get some used ones from supermarkets etc., but that still leaves the packing tape, the shipping labels and the stamps.

      2. Whirlwound
        Trollface

        They've not even got the money for the air.

  13. Duffaboy
    FAIL

    limited numbers of vega's have shipped and El Reg were informed of this

    https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-07-30-backers-have-started-to-receive-the-beleaguered-zx-spectrum-vega-plus-but-early-impressions-arent-great

  14. Duffaboy

    Pic of shipped vega

    https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/38420942_10155407196092062_1611979386003652608_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=765289cd1007fca3f16141ea8dfe9d3d&oe=5BD5037E

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