This is one of those times I am glad I didn’t invest in a kickstarter. The sad truth is I had a lot of hope for this one. Not because it was a cheap Printer but because it had a lot of promise. It was low cost because the parts were inexpensive not because they were Chinese. It used a simple way of producing a part that allowed for easy scaling. In the end it fails not because they couldn’t produce what they claimed but because someone in the company got greedy.
By now I’m sure most of you have heard of PeachyPrinter If not for its major success on kickstarter but for its huge failure to come through with the promised product. Month after month they had to push back the released for one issue or another. Then they come out with a video (see below) that seems so disingenuous that you feel it can’t be real. On the one hand, Rylan Grayston claims that he will continue to push forward and fulfill the promises he has made to the backers, but that is like a race horse with a broken ankle trying to finish the race. I didn’t personally back them because I just never had the funds when peachy printer came to mind. I did however recommend that some of my friends back them and I don’t feel good about that at all. I will let you watch the video and decide for yourself how you feel.
Honestly, If what he says in the video is true I want to feel bad for the company. Maybe it is the American in me but I have seen one too many companies and banks cheat honest people out of their hard earned money to believe this is genuine. I’m probably just jaded. On the one hand they haven’t run off to a tropical island yet. On the other the only people still employed by the company are the CEO and his brother. This is both sad and a little sketchy. According to their website.
We have yet to finished our books for the 2014/2015 fiscal year, so an income and expenditure chart for that period is not available yet.
At this point I must say, upon finding out about this issue we did a lot of things to reduce costs at Peachy Printer:
I took an immediate pay cut, and often paid myself even less if at all.
Nathan (my brother) took an immediate pay cut.
Reduced spending on R&D supplies and tools.
Nathan covered thousands of dollars in company related expenses from his own savings without reimbursement.
I moved Peachy headquarters from a commercial space into a house that served both my living needs and the space requirements of Peachy.
Nathan moved into the Peachy house and took an additional pay cut, leaving him at just 15% of the salary initially agreed upon.
Another employee moved into the Peachy house and pitched towards rent.We estimate that over the last year and a half these actions have saved the company well over $100,000.00 in expenses. In addition, I recently laid off all of the employees except for my brother, who has continued to work full time for next to nothing.
Here are a couple articles that some up some of the collective feelings on the matter.
Gizmodo writes.
The close-ups on Grayston and maudlin piano music prompted commenters to jump to a few conclusions: that the interview with Boe was scripted, or worse, that the entire Peachy Printer venture had been a scam from the get-go and both men were in on it. Grayston addresses this on the Kickstarter page.
In a YouTube video released Tuesday, a man purporting to be Boe admits to misusing Kickstarter funds. Boe recently told the BBC, however, that the video was made “under duress.”
I’m writing this because I’d like to find out what all of you think about all of this. What do you think about things like Kickstarter, PeachyPrinter and the state of the 3d printing market? Should we have faith or should we be more ready with torches and pitchforks? Feel free to respond here or on our forum.
//forums/topic/peachprinter-another-failed-kickstarter/
So glad you are here to let us know what to buy and what not to buy.
Not sure If you are being sarcastic. You can put your money anywhere you like but more and more people are taking advantage of Kickstarter to take your money and either give you a flawed product or nothing at all. All I’m saying is do your research before you hand them your money. and if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is.