Cobblebot 3D Printer

[JRDM]

Yes, in my experience, threats to sue are 99% empty. The fact he doesn't respond to a serious inquiry suggests he's not serious. Also, if you're not in Texas, Texas law doesn't apply to you.

That said, this is a good reason to use handles for accounts that aren't under your real name.

[DonnellWilliams]

Yes, in my experience, threats to sue are 99% empty. The fact he doesn't respond to a serious inquiry suggests he's not serious. Also, if you're not in Texas, Texas law doesn't apply to you.

That said, this is a good reason to use handles for accounts that aren't under your real name.

Handles won't hide you from anything if the case was real. A lawyer would just have the webhost and isp subpoenaed to get your mailing addresss. Of course this would mean for a lawyer to have a real case and all the legal paper work for this to happen. Unless a user make his mailing address public or somehow finds him to hand the letter in person. He just has Jeff's mailing address because he was a backer which made it convenient to be easily sent a C&D.

Again I'm sure Jeremiah himself knows he doesn't have a case here. But it costs him nothing to serve a C&D letter to someone who doesn't know any better to shutup. Unless you are some competitor running some smear campaign and reporting falsefied information about them you are protected by the First Amendment. Do you know how many defamation lawsuits Obama would win if someone said anything bad about him?

[JeffBlack]

It appears they have updated their TOS.
Section 5 now also states:
"You agree only individuals that pledged for the $499 and $999 Kickstarter reward tiers will receive an assembled unit."
and
"Our products do not come with a warranty by default, but you may purchase a warranty separately. The electronics included in our kits are delicate and we have no method of determining if customers handle them safely and properly. Improper handling can easily cause damage to the electronics. All electronics shipped are considered to arrive in working condition. Therefore, should you choose to not purchase our separate CobbleCare warranty, electronics will not be replaced if you later determine they are damaged or otherwise not working."
Section 13 also has the statement about the electronics arrived in working condition.
They made a few changes turning "Terms of Service" into "Terms and Conditions"
And they added this to section 22:
"You agree that should Cobblebot Inc. make an exception and refund any money associated with the purchase of a Cobblebot 3D printer, that there is a $300 restocking fee associated with the refund of Cobblebot 3D Printers.
Should Cobblebot Inc. make an exception and refund your post-Kickstarter upgrade purchases, you agree that receiving a refund of your post-Kickstarter upgrade purchase is also an agreement that you are forfeiting your Kickstarter pledge. Agreeing that you are forfeiting your Kickstarter pledge means you agree that you are not entitled to a refund or any other form of compensation for the donation you made to Cobblebot Inc. on Kickstarter."

So now the SEBs that wanted an assembled unit are no longer entitled to one and if they complain and want a refund it will cost around $600.

Also, if the electronics are broken, tough. You need to replace it.

Don't you just love their attitude?

[3dspider]

Yeah, I now retract all defense of them. Criticize away. They had their chance to deliver on their promises, they've failed.

[Blackstar]

Well, I'm here to add my tale to the tale of others. I too backed cobblebot. I'll be honest, I really want that printer as there are a lot of things about it that I like. I'm not going to give a lot of info about the conversation's I've had with them, but let's suffice it to say they are treating me pretty bad. They won't give any information on when I'll get my printer or simple detailed questions about the printer itself.

I was encouraged by several state attorney generals that I have spoken to over the last several weeks to file official complaints against them, as due to the fact they met their funding goals, they are legally obliged to deliver product. That is per Kickstarter's terms and conditions that anyone seeking funding must agree to. Sounds like several state attorney generals are very interested in a nice little wrapped up class action suit that could form out of this.

The are rather nasty and unhelpful when asking them simple questions as well as if they have no time for the people who helped fund their company and their product.

- Blackstar

[NoahSH]

Seems like the guy should start his own law firm. The way that he made a warning about circumventing the security feature of the PDF. Get real. Even if they deliver they are not setting themselves up very well to run a business long term. All the warnings and law suits are only a sign that the people in charge are afraid. And you can't make a successful business if you are afraid of your customers!

[nka]

Just participating with instant of threatening customer would have helped a lot. I'm sure someone would have come with instructions (so they dont even have to do it !!).

Can't wait from them to have all printer delivered to see them die and/or having a massive law sue again them !

[MiniMadRyan]

I wonder what their motive is at this point. Are they actively trying to commit fraud and use false legal claims to silence their users, and have no intention of delivering any printers? Though I haven't seen the build guide, releasing it would seem to imply they are still trying to deliver or at least produce printers, which if that's the case, why would they alienate their users with such heavy handed tactics.

Or is the product that bad, and they know it's that bad, but don't want to take the time to correct the issues that they just keep pushing ahead and use their 'legal' tactics to silence any reviews or comments about it...

[JeffBlack]

I would say they are trying to deliver something to try and avoid a lawsuit for non-delivery of goods.
I also believe that they are significantly overcharging for it especially on shipping where they are charging around double (or more) for some people.

But yes, it is quite a bad product.

In order to make it work you need to support the entire gantry system from one side, making it lean meaning it will be next to impossible (without additional items) to have good prints.
The attachment for the build plate is absolutely pathetic.
The bearings they have provided are horrible and are difficult to turn.
They have provided the wrong size shims/spacers so when tight the bearing assembly seizes, and for the idlers, they didn't have any shims so the bearing is pressed against the plate making it useless.
The electronics are substandard, with at least some being counterfeit arduinos, with at least one being DOA.
Numerous people have been getting A4988s instead of DRV8825 (numbers may be wrong).
People are also having issues with the stepper motors.

And they have modified their T&Cs to state that if electronics are broken, you need to fix them.

So I would say it is a very bad product.
They appear to want to make money and don't care how they go about doing it and seem to be quite happy to threaten their customers/others if they dare to point out their negative attributes.

[JeffRand]

I have had it with Jeremiah (CEO of Cobblebot). He just posted that people, like me, that have been shipped the wrong parts, will have to wait until the very end to receive the correct parts. I was backer #84 and in the October Super Early Bird group. And, because they screwed up and sent me the wrong part, I will have to wait until they have shipped all of the other parts to everyone else. When will that be? December?

This is the worst Kickstarter I have ever backed. They had me hooked with a fully assembled 3D printer for only $299. Then after the campaign ended, I was told that getting the fully assembled printer would cost me $225+ to get it shipped. So, I was forced to go with the "cheaper" shipping ($75) for a pile of parts. Then I'm told that I should get the "highly recommended" metal upgrades, so I pay an additional $160. Now it turns out that if I hadn't paid the extra $160 dollars, I would have received the same parts everyone else is receiving. And to top it off, because I didn't upgrade to the metal LCD enclosure, I'm now told that I won't receive anything to protect the electronics. I'll have to come up with something on my own. So, at this point I've sunk $535 into this and I still have no working printer. I'm still waiting for instructions and firmware, in addition to the fitting I need to connect the tubing to the hotend.

I really feel like I was deceived on so many levels. I wonder if that was the plan all along? This whole fiasco reminds me of bait and switch fraud. I'm so frustrated right now, I could scream. This has been a very costly lesson for me. I hope sharing my experience saves someone else from making this same mistake.