you're right, i looked over the entire ToS and i guess patreon, the company, has completely washed their hands of anything other than their bottom cut; they will step in if a law is broken, or their own ToS, but as far as the transaction goes, they have absolutely no connection between patron and creator
technically, if you "legit" get ripped off from a creator "example, creator makes underlined absolute promise at x-tier and you do not get it, such as a physical item etc" you have to take them to court on your own, at best; which is kind of weird, nothing against patreon personally, i just didn't know they had ABSOLUTELY ZERO consumer protection guidelines