Zeni kinetic – a word of caution

[Stefans]

I did a bulk filament order with Zeni Kinetic in March 2014. I was supposed to receive the order in approximately 1 month after the transfer of funds. I received about 10% of the order extremely late in August 2014. After many months of back and forth and many broken promises I asked for the remaining $23012 in December 2014 to be refunded as it became clear my product was not going to come thru and I had no choice but to go with another supplier to keep my business open..

To now (March 2015) I have not received any money and I have no clear commitment from Zeni Kinetic. All my interactions with Zeni Kinetic were through their CEO/Owner, Nicco Macintyre, who - after 100's of phone calls nearly all of them ignored. – I learned that Nicco is a very dishonest person, blaming his employees for all the issues and giving me empty promises without any tangible actions to follow. From expired deadlines to promises of partial monthly repayments ABSOLUTELY nothing has taken place and none of my money has been returned back to me. Zeni Kinetic has continued to grow and offer additional products and purchase expensive industrial machinery while still owing me money.

To me this seems as a big slap in the face of the whole open source community. It's the intellectual honesty of hundreds if not thousands of mostly unpaid developers and enthusiast with whom's work and feedback Zeni Kinetic’s business would not even be possible. It's appalling to me that they resort to using stolen money to pursue their dreams and expand business.

I have given Zeni Kinetic plenty of time and many opportunities to make good on this order and on the refund. At this point I have had to retain an attorney to take legal action to recover my money. Having to go this route not only takes large amounts of time and effort but will cause me to loose thousands of dollars for legal fees. This is unacceptable and the reason why I decided to take this public. As a last open request to Nicco Macintyre to get this right and to settle this $23012 balance NOW. I hope it also serves as a reminder to the rest of you that there are dishonest people in the reprap community so please careful where and how you buy your products.


Please post your experiences and thanks for reading

Stefan

[curious aardvark]

well what is your business.
At the moment this is your first and only post.

It could be genuine or you could be someone with a grudge trying to blacken someone else name.

I'm NOT saying you're lying - just pointing out it's your word against someone elses, who's not here to defend themselves.

[joe win]

well what is your business.
At the moment this is your first and only post.

It could be genuine or you could be someone with a grudge trying to blacken someone else name.

I'm NOT saying you're lying - just pointing out it's your word against someone elses, who's not here to defend themselves.

Fair points: internet provenance is always an issue, but I've had a similar experience.

My order (about $1500) hasn't been shipped and I've been chasing after them since Christmas. They don't answer the phone, don't respond to emails and don't return voice mails.

Note that this is my first post here too. I've never posted before because I never felt I knew more than the user base. In this instance I (unfortunately) do know more than the average bear.

That said, there is no reason to blindly accept (or discount) these statements. Try calling Zeni yourself and see how far you get. Leave a message ('inquiring about an order' should do), sit back and enjoy the cricket chorus.

[joe win]

After my last post I headed over to the Zeni Kinetic facebook page. A quick look around confirms what both I and curious aardvark said. Zeni Kinetic seems to have taken a lot of money from people and then not delivered. The word 'Ponzi' is even bandied about.

Just a quick sample from the dozens available -- you can see they don't ship what they take payment for, don't answer enquiries but *do* remove facebook posts they consider critical:


Terry Pollard: "It's sad to see all of these upset customers and the captain of the ship won't take any responsibility. Please update me on the status of my refund. I can't get through via phone and email is worthless at this point."

Chris KP Matt Gephardt KUTV 2News "Seems that Zenikinetic has many disgruntled customers. I say it is time for an investigation. And Zeni - if you delete this comment, phone calls and emails and tweets will be sent to Matt Gephardt and KUTV 2News."

Craig McLaughlin "Hey ZK - proof's in the puddin', and you just offered yet another "we'll be clear in 2 weeks!' promise. Promises & Lies. Glad I got the money back. February: $1695, 2 - 4 weeks. April: $1795 "will not commit to a date".

Good luck with your order !

[ATIpartsGuy]

Had a client with a similar experience with Zeni Kinetic. After taking a look of pictures of Nicco Macintyre I see the same man I knew as Adrian Knotts (minus the long red hair). You who choose to do business with him will find Adrian (Nicco) to be a talented and brilliant man, but he specializes in excuses and is "in my opinion" incompetent by choice. I'll readily admit I have an ax to grind with Adrian, but I am neither a customer or competitor of Zeni Kinetic. However, I think people should know who they're doing business with.

Ryan H.

Incidentally Adrian Knotts is the registered agent for Zeni Kinetic's business, <https://secure.utah.gov/bes/details....y=8778151-0160>, so 99% sure it's the same guy.

"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else". Benjamin Franklin