Mankati 3d printers coming to the USA

[tagyro]

All in all the printer has potential. The structure is made out of metal and the print bed is huge compared to other printers.

But (and it's a big but) the printer has some design flaws and QA is practically non-existent.
The glass bed was broke at the screws holes so it probably snapped because the screws were too tight - http://cl.ly/image/2m2d0a2M3O2N

If you're planing on spending $2000 for a 3d printer I think there are better options (I bought a ultimaker2).
What pisses me off is customer care. Although they admitted the problems, they still refuse to accept a return (and refund).
I bought the printer through alibaba so now I made a complain with them, hoping to get at least part of the money back. (I've tried thru PayPal and even Bundespolizei, but both declined responsibility, PayPal because I've made the mistake of making two payments - one of $1700 and a second one of $386, and the police because obviously they're a Chinese company and German Police doesn't have jurisdiction).

Anyway, you can follow the whole saga here: http://forum.mankati.com/forum.php?m...&extra=&page=1
In the end, if all fails, I'll donate the printer to my sons school, just so I won't have to see it in the house.

[Mjolinor]

You are correct in your view that you should have had a complete, fully functional 3d printer delivered to you but expecting the sort of service that you would get from a European company is wrong. This item is much more expensive if you go through a local dealer and the reason for that is that he has to legally obey the consumer laws in Europe.

Having read the whole thread I think that you should just fix the printer and use it. It will be a good printer and you will soon forget the hastle and bad feeling that you are currently feeling. For sure you have learned a harsh lesson and it would have been a happy solution for you if they had accepted returns and taken the printer back but that is extremely hard for them and they did their best to furnish you with the fixes. I think that as it is (as far as I can tell) just a small company they should have offered you a part refund and helped with the fixing if you were having problems, perhaps even contacting one of the bigger buyers in Germany and asking their help.

I see nothing in their handling of this that has made me change my first opinions that prevented me buying one in the first place. They do not have the experience, staff, knowledge or whatever it is to deal with consumers in our part of the world.

I have just been through a very similar thing with a Chinese company, admittedly not for this amount of money but there are a lot of similarities in that it is not unreasonable to expect that any company selling product actually at least test it before sending it out, particularly when they splatter their adverts with things like " 100% tested".

http://www.geeetech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15852

That is my similar thread. The company kept spouting about 100% tested and fully working when shipped and "the courier is to blame". I did all the tests they asked and reported the results, I think that would have gone on forever if I had not opened a case on ebay. Once a case was opened they sent another one. It had the same fault and the fault was a set of faulty PCBs. No way were these 100% tested, if they had been then they would have seen that they didn't work at all. Once they sent me the second one then I emailed them the fix pointing out the missing track on the PCB (or lack of it) and explaining to them how to get round the problem without a new batch of PCBs. For me a happy solution, I got a free board and in truth I actually enjoyed learning about the board so thoroughly.

Sadly for you I do not think that such a solution is possible now, it has gone too far. I would try asking them to refund $XXX so that you can pay a repair man to sort out the printer for you and you will forget the bad feeling and move on. I reckon that around $200-$300 would be a reasonable refund to ask.

[Mjolinor]

It does raise a quite humorous question: Why is it that all Chinese people believe that a courier is to blame when something doesn't work. Why can they not see that if a courier breaks something delivering it then it is their fault for not packing it correctly in the first place.

[Timaz]

Mankati is just a reseller for Chinese brand 3D printers- the Fullscale XT is just a Creatbot. Same with the others. The problem is they are using the packaging those printers ship with inside China- which is totally unsuitable for international transport.

EVERY 3D printer seller on Taobao will send out replacement parts if they are broken in transit. This is because their stores live and die by online reviews- with no review process and no comeback for dishonesty they don't really care. This is not "Chinese think it's the courier's fault" since no Chinese person would ever accept that excuse. This is "Chinese companies with no accountability tend to have incredibly bad service."

[Geoff]

Another machine that was almost in my hot hands until I saw all the issues they had, and also the utterly false advertising and printing demonstrations.

Just because a print is on a build plate in a pretty picture, doesn't mean THAT printer printed it. Think.

[tagyro]

You are correct in your view that you should have had a complete, fully functional 3d printer delivered to you but expecting the sort of service that you would get from a European company is wrong. This item is much more expensive if you go through a local dealer and the reason for that is that he has to legally obey the consumer laws in Europe.

I just bought a Ultimaker 2 (yes, it's a bit smaller and with only one print head) and in the end I payed more or less the same (for the mankati I had to pay another 200 euros import tax).
And there's really no comparison between the ultimaker 2 and the mankati

Having read the whole thread I think that you should just fix the printer and use it. It will be a good printer and you will soon forget the hastle and bad feeling that you are currently feeling. For sure you have learned a harsh lesson and it would have been a happy solution for you if they had accepted returns and taken the printer back but that is extremely hard for them and they did their best to furnish you with the fixes. I think that as it is (as far as I can tell) just a small company they should have offered you a part refund and helped with the fixing if you were having problems, perhaps even contacting one of the bigger buyers in Germany and asking their help.

I will donate the printer to a school, I'm sure they'll be more than happy and I will get rid of it.

I see nothing in their handling of this that has made me change my first opinions that prevented me buying one in the first place. They do not have the experience, staff, knowledge or whatever it is to deal with consumers in our part of the world.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I have just been through a very similar thing with a Chinese company, admittedly not for this amount of money but there are a lot of similarities in that it is not unreasonable to expect that any company selling product actually at least test it before sending it out, particularly when they splatter their adverts with things like " 100% tested".

http://www.geeetech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=15852

That is my similar thread. The company kept spouting about 100% tested and fully working when shipped and "the courier is to blame". I did all the tests they asked and reported the results, I think that would have gone on forever if I had not opened a case on ebay. Once a case was opened they sent another one. It had the same fault and the fault was a set of faulty PCBs. No way were these 100% tested, if they had been then they would have seen that they didn't work at all. Once they sent me the second one then I emailed them the fix pointing out the missing track on the PCB (or lack of it) and explaining to them how to get round the problem without a new batch of PCBs. For me a happy solution, I got a free board and in truth I actually enjoyed learning about the board so thoroughly.

Unfortunately it seems that some Chinese companies have really bad QA or are cutting corners for profit, though I don't want to generalise this. I think I've just been unlucky and next time I'll be more cautious.

Sadly for you I do not think that such a solution is possible now, it has gone too far. I would try asking them to refund $XXX so that you can pay a repair man to sort out the printer for you and you will forget the bad feeling and move on. I reckon that around $200-$300 would be a reasonable refund to ask.

I prefer not to deal with mankati anymore.
I'm waiting for the result of the complain I made with AliBaba and that will be the end of it.
I spoke with a lawyer friend and I don't have any legal base to pursue this (the company is from China, I've made the purchase from Germany)

In hindsight I probably could have handled this better but I was really pissed at mankati. Not so much about the money, although $2000 is a considerable sum, but more at their attitude towards me.
I realise now that I have part of the blame (I should have returned the printer from day one) but what's done is done and I can't fix this now.
I was a bit hot-headed (no pun intended) and I've lost $2000 but I hope that I, and others, have learned a lesson.

[tagyro]

Another machine that was almost in my hot hands until I saw all the issues they had, and also the utterly false advertising and printing demonstrations.


Just because a print is on a build plate in a pretty picture, doesn't mean THAT printer printed it. Think.

True and true.
I was mesmerised by the big size of the print bed and didn't investigate further. I made a mistake and I got burned, at least I've learned something.

off-topic: love your stormtrooper helmet, will print one soon, thanks

[Mjolinor]

Get it stuck on ebay, I may even bid on it. I still think I would like one.

I didn't realise that Mankati was not the manufacturer, when I first saw them I went looking as it is actually very hard to get back to the manufacturer for Chinese products and I enlisted a friend of mine that is from Beijing, he went off searching and came back saying they were the manufacturer as far as he could find out.

[tagyro]

Get it stuck on ebay, I may even bid on it. I still think I would like one.

I wouldn't feel ok with selling it to someone (bad karma).
If the AliBaba doesn't accept the complain I'll donate it to a school.

If you want to buy a similar one, go with the creatbot instead of the mankati (they might be the one and the same!) - just looking at the photos I noticed some small differences (for one, the panels on the creatbot have some big, round screws while on the mankati they're small and hard to un-screw). Plus, creatbot have also a bigger model: http://www.creatbot.com/CN/Product_DH.html

[Mjolinor]

Can't justify it now. I bought a couple of Stratasys instead then a Wanhao as well as building a delta printer so I am all 3d printed up at the moment.

I do have a tendency to collect things, real hoarder me.