Nov.5, 2013
Frankfort, IL Duy Dang launched a Kickstarter campaign in September of 2012 for Eventorbot 3D printer and he raised $137,508 from 297 backers in about 1.5 month, over 550% of the original goal. "I'm speechless and overwhelmed with all the support." wrote Duy. "To be able to share and have your interest in something I created is a great feeling. ...that was a big dream become reality. ..You will have no regrets in owning a Eventorbot, our machine will be a strong contender."
In March Eventorbot did the first print, and the first batch about 30 sets were shipped out in the same months. Duy had done a great job in those many months after funding. But the more shipments went out, the more technical and customer support Dang had to deal with. When time goes, more and more problems occurred. It is a too big project for Duy, with a full-time job and young family to handle.
Duy owns his own company. His profile says: "The company import and export bathroom and kitchen fixtures. I started the company when I was a sophomore in high school, and been self employed since. Over 10 years in the business. There will be no problem getting parts for the printer, as I have a lot of contacts for business and manufacturers I already deal with."
By the end of July, the shipment had seized around 80% of the shipment-list, the final 20% was still waiting. But right after that, the updates on Kickstarter stopped. For three months there were no updates, no responses on forum, telephone, personal messages, emails, facebook and twitter. Backers began to worry, got impatient, and angry. Some people offered to help, but still they heard nothing from Duy.
People started to dig more information about Duy, backer Carl provided the info he found:
Duy appears to have filed bankruptcy in 2010. More recently, He appears to have had his house foreclosed upon not too long ago. Like I touched upon before, his plumbing import business that he was claiming to run, which appears to be bathimports.com does not appear legitimate, it seems to have been defunct for a long time. It appears Duy may have registered 42 domains, 20 of them with the same e-mail as eventorbot. Many of them appear to be attempted businesses, and every single one seem to be defunct. Perhaps eventorbot is just the next in the longstanding line of bad businesses going defunct now? Theres some other possible bad stuff as well that I won't mention just now. The way I personally interpreted this is that Duy has a long history of financial irresponsibility and failures, and we gave him a ton of money which he likely spent much of on other things, and is most likely broke and doesn't even have the money to ship these printers, if they even still exist.
So what happened to Duy? Is Eventorbot a dead project? Duy has already delivered quite a lot of Eventorbots, no reason to stop there and run away. But failing to deliver or communicate after a successful crowdfunding campaign is viewed as the worst form of disrespect to the backers.
Backer frazzy626 put in a complaint to Kickstarter and they replied:
When you back a project you enter into an agreement with the project creator, as described in our terms of use. This agreement establishes a legal requirement for creators to follow through on their projects, and gives backers a recourse if they don't. While Kickstarter is the platform for this agreement, we are not a part of it. We certainly encourage creators to fulfill rewards, offer refunds, and communicate with backers, but we're unable to force them to do so. It's the creator's responsibility to complete their project as promised.
While issues like this are between the backer and creator, it's important that we're aware of these situations. We've made a note of this, and will take the status of this project into consideration if this creator submits another project. In addition, I've reached out on behalf of you and other backers to remind the creator of our Terms of Service, and ask that they post an update and follow up with their messages.
Finally, after three month, a new update from Duy for backers was posted on Nov.4, 2013:
This project is something that has taken more out of me than what I had expected. It is not just Eventorbot, but everything that is going on in my life right now. Not sure what is wrong with me, but I been just out of it. Mentally and physically. Eventorbot was something I was so proud of and now might be the biggest regret of my life. Not because of the work and financial dept, but I don't even feel like the same person anymore. One thing I had in life was my mentality, my strive, and the motivation. I feel like I have lost it all. Not sure if its being burned out or depress, but I am not the same person and am not sure if I will ever be. I never had any intentions on taking advantage or manipulating anyone. I still have full intentions on fulfilling all the orders.
No, I am not driving a new car, I did not go on any vacations, I still live in the same apt, and this project financially did the opposite of what some of you may think.
I been getting back to work and am starting to feel better. Very few of you will have compassion, and I completely understand. One thing I may ask, is please stop posting negative comments, showing up to my door, calling my cell at 3 in the mourning, and calling my business phone. These actions are not going to help the situation at all. Every phone call, message, visit, I get. Just ruins my day and is just burying me deeper. I will finish the project, and it is very hard to work at something that will take out so much from you financially and mentally, when all you hear is complaints.
For a long period Duy was mentally and physically collapsed by overwork and stress, - ' negative comments, showing up to my door, calling my cell at 3 in the mourning, and calling my business phone' - but finally he found a way back. Don't give up, Duy!
For those who have not yet receive their rewards but wants to cancel it, Duy offers to list their kits on Ebay for getting some money back.
Crowdfunding isn't for everyone. According to a research in 2012, only 25% of Kickstarter projects delivered on time (updated). And crowdfunding also takes a certain type of person or group to make it work. Anyone can create a campaign, including novices and amateurs whose dreams are bigger than their actual knowledge. On the other side, backers also need to reset their expectations. Crowdfunding platforms are not like stores, there are risks of your pledge. Risk is a natural part of the funding process and there is a chance that you will end up without money or product in the end. So it is really important to understand the risks before you fund it even if you are really passionate about it.
via: Crowdfund insider
Posted in 3D Printers
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I never got the printer nor a refund. Was a lot of money just lost. Was a backer. After that i never entered a crowdfunding campaign again.
Pankaj Doharey wrote at 8/4/2016 5:51:45 AM:
Another Chinese scumbag, dishing out others money and they vanishing.
Barber wrote at 10/30/2014 5:53:15 AM:
Sometimes criminals comes in all forms. Duy Dang...great guy..sucks in a bunch of people for $700+ dollars then because they live far enough away from him...he sells their printers on ebay. I doubt very much he designed the printer. I watched him trying to explain how the printer is put together...if you ask me, the videos show the first time he has ever put it together. A designer usually works every part several times before finally getting an end result. Duy had that sound in his voice of a guy who had been instructed on how to put it together. Oh and by the way, the Y carriage is wrong and had to be reworked to stop the drop at the end...this design is ok at best for a Plexiglas print bed.
Keith Rhodes wrote at 7/20/2014 8:07:19 PM:
I was too late to buy one of Duy's Eventorbot kits so I have built his machine sourcing all the parts myself. The machine is almost complete except for knowing where to connect a cooling fan for the hothead and where to connect the momentary disconnect switch. I would appreciate if someone could provide the information to complete this. Now the looming problem is how to download the various pieces of software in order to make the printer work. ( I have Linux based dedicated laptop which I will change to a Windows operating system. Which version of Windows should I use ? Will XP be OK or does the software require a later OS?) Duy has said that he would provide a video showing exactly how to handle the software but this apparently has not happened. I would appreciate very much if some kind individual would provide me with some answers.
Eduard wrote at 6/17/2014 1:31:36 PM:
I understand from someone that Duy get his firm down. He quit with everything. Does annyone have a excel list from the backers with adress who buy a everbot printer. I try to make our group bigger to make more change to get our monney back from Duy. Join us on Already 20 members on https://www.facebook.com/groups/190530411135028/244910905696978/… join us. Let get our monney back from Duy. We need more Backers who did not get the 3D printer. The start a proces agains Duy.
j wrote at 4/15/2014 6:50:02 PM:
How much will you sell the big one for?
Ron wrote at 11/24/2013 9:30:43 PM:
The problem here isn't Duy, it's Kickstarter. Kickstarter's cut is a percentage of the funds collected, so it's in their interest to oversell a campaign as much as possible, regardless of how likely it is that the campaign's creator will be unable to deliver in a reasonable timeframe. Sometimes the campaign creators succeed despite having been oversold (see printrbot), but more often than not they're unable to build their organizations quickly enough to deliver. Personally, I'd never start a campaign on Kickstarter without putting a cap on the funds that they were allowed to collect.
Jeff wrote at 11/7/2013 9:45:20 PM:
I was very impressed by Duy's videos and design I am sorry that it did not work out the way he and others had dreamed. Great design work Duy.
Graham S wrote at 11/5/2013 11:46:38 PM:
Unfortunately Duy Dang only made his latest update claiming personal problems on the eve of legal action by the large number of supporters he still owes machines and kits too. The reality is that only a very few actually received anything from him.
Tomek wrote at 11/5/2013 10:24:57 PM:
To be honest, a large percentage of R&D engineering projects in the real world also don't deliver on time. It's a combination of being too optimistic at the start, and knowing that a customer will demand 12 months when it will honestly take 14 months to develop. Only tangentially related.
Wes wrote at 11/5/2013 5:06:14 PM:
Best of luck to everyone involved. Some have done a great job with managing their projects and applaud those that limited their campaigns to not get over their heads with everything involved, and able to produce on-time deliveries and a viable product.
Mike wrote at 11/5/2013 5:01:47 PM:
"According to some research, approximately 85 percent of hardware projects funded through Kickstarter failed to deliver finished products." 85 percent fail to deliver?! really? where did you get this number?
CornGolem wrote at 11/5/2013 4:04:01 PM:
That's still better than what filabot did !
Ali Yousuf wrote at 11/5/2013 4:03:42 PM:
Don't give up Duy !! wish I could help.
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