Any Sumpod feedback yet?

I do hope this all works out in the end,.. but I can't understand why there would be such a big delay.

I know Richard seems to have some strange idea about shipping the entire first round in one go,.. but if I were him I'd be shipping individual machines as they were completed.

I suspect that he did not have the essential working prototype machine before campaigns began, and thought he had all issues figured out, but discovered some new problems when he tried to assemble the first one. If this is the case, i'm confident he'll fix it & everyone will get their machines eventually,... but people gave money in good faith with a timeline laid out, and the deadline came and went a long time ago. Richard needs to communicate better exactly what the issue is and post more photo's & videos.

I will admit, I am being very trusting with this whole thing. The man has $600 of my money and ok... I have seen very little so far, at times I have been a little worried. However, the research that I have done as a result of these worries have led me to believe that Richard is simply disorganised. In my eyes it simply does not make sense for him to be ripping me off. While this may sound a little shady, I have been able to find vast amounts of information through the web and my own contacts, which confirms that he is at the very least who he says he is. In all honesty, I think this is just a very rough and amateurish attempt to start a new business. When I put my money into the campaign I expected this to be the case. Hopefully he will learn from round 1 and improve upon his performance so that rounds 2 and 3 can run a little smoother.

In other news I had an email today saying that my unit atleast (although I assume everyone elses too) will be picked up by the shipping company on monday (yes, yes it was supposed to be last wednesday... there was another *setback* see the above for why I'm not sh*tting myself. ^^)
.

I really hope it works out & I can't wait to see the photo's & videos of the working pods.

Until I see results though, my money is staying in my pocket!

@thip
OK, now let me get this straight, OH, its another delay, erm, didnt you say you had shipping numbers. Oh yes, and I had those emails 5-6 weeks ago, first the sumpods were ready they just needed power suplies as there was some problem with it, after a week I offered to pick it up without power as I had a suitable supply, then I was told I could collect on wednesday, then wait till friday and by then the psu's would be there, then i was told they were in so i could collect on sat, then sun, then mon, then he would drop it off tue, then after waiting on tuesday all day, he never showed up, when asked he said he would drop it off friday or maybe he would just post it. then I got pissed and asked if it was a con. After some discusion on the sumpod forrum and a few phone calls, Richard decided that he was not going to give me a sumpod(im glad now) and that I would be sorry as he would have all the pods out and delivered by tuesday, he even posted this on the web site. And here we are 5-6 weeks later with the same old promises being spouted, I am fairly sure that come monday there will be some other reason why they were not shipped.
It also has not escaped me, that you, THIP may indeed just be an alias of richard as you were very defensive of a person who has been very elusive and evasive. Not to mention that you SOUND like richard. A lot of what you spouted in your message was almost verbatum to what he said to me before.

Nearly forgot, I notice the sumpod website is still down 6 days later, Richard has no time..., but post somthing he dosent like on his indigogo campaign and its deleted in minutes.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2011 06:39PM by duncanperham.

hahaha I was wondering if you would jump to that conclusion. Well, I'm not Richard, My name is David and I live at the other end of the country... I don't really expect you to believe that now that you think I'm a sock puppet. I doubt there is much I could say to convince you otherwise? In all honesty I don't know what else there is to say... although I really do love the drama <3

ok, prove it, you are david G watson right. I will pm you through indiegogo, tell me what I say.

Umm wrong David... I'm D M Capper if you must know. I the second donation on the first campaign (anonymous) . Besides, Dont you think if I was richard, my indigogo profile would be... well... fake too?

ok, unhide ur name on there so i can pm you, and that was not for 600, it was 660. and you really do sound like richard. I spoke to him a lot and you say things exactly like him. And yes, the second funder could easily be a ploy by yourself to get the indiegogo numbers up.
I also notice that you never once posted on the indiegogo campaign or the sumpod site, you just sat quiet for all that time, but felt that upon reading my post you had to sign in and say your bit?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2011 07:28PM by duncanperham.

Duncan, this is getting kinda old. The only things you've ever posted about on this forum have been rants about the Sumpod. We all get that you're pissed off and that there have been a lot of bumps along the road and that Richard has been a poor communicator. Honestly, I agree. It seems pretty clear that Richard has been disorganized, swamped with orders he's having difficulty fulfilling within a reasonable timeframe, and bad at keeping in touch. But really, do you have anything positive to add, or do you just want to complain all day? You seem really obsessed with tearing down the Sumpod! I mean, by hook or by crook, you eventually got your money back, right? Use it to go buy a Huxley or something. I guarantee that it will have a far more positive effect on your life than complaining about an unsatisfactory DIY hobbyist product that you don't even own.

oh yet another of richards aliases, you were richards shining knight who swooped in with nothing but good thigs to say about the sumpod last time and you didnt even buy one, what a coincidence ur online at the same time, wait a minute, let me just sign up my alt id to back up may story d gowler where are you.
and come on thip unhide that second indigogo name.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2011 07:35PM by duncanperham.

@duncanperham

> ok, unhide ur name on there so i can pm you, and
umm no, whats the point?

> that was not for 600, it was 660.
you got me! Surely I wouldn't have omitted the postage when I quoted it earlier!?!?!

>and you really
> do sound like richard. I spoke to him a lot and
> you say things exactly like him. And yes, the
> second funder could easily be a ploy by yourself
> to get the indiegogo numbers up.
And you're.... ummm... bah who cares what you are.

> I also notice that you never once posted on the
> indiegogo campaign or the sumpod site, you just
> sat quiet for all that time, but felt that upon
> reading my post you had to sign in and say your
> bit?
I've posted a reasonable amount on the sumpod forums already under one of my many aliases (I included a few of them in the author field so as to help you, can you spot the joke one?)

@Pointedstick

Here here!


@anyone else who might care
I've had enough of this, signing out until my unit arrives/duncan posts something that looks like too much fun not to reply to.

duncanperham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> oh yet another of richards aliases, you were
> richards shining knight who swooped in with
> nothing but good thigs to say about the sumpod
> last time and you didnt even buy one, what a
> coincidence ur online at the same time, wait a
> minute, let me just sign up my alt id to back up
> may story d gowler where are you.
> and come on thip unhide that second indigogo name.

Oh god I can't resist, disregard that last bit of my old post... I'm sorry if the approaching flame war makes things worse Richard, but this is too much fun. He thinks I'm 3 people! Its the most important I've ever felt ever!

Wow, this is getting downright hilarious. How many sock puppets do you think Richard has? Why stop at two, maybe he has ten! Heck, maybe we're all Richard. That's what Richard has been doing with all his time—making online aliases to attack you in forums! It's a conspiracy against you personally! Booga Booga!

A moderator should lock this thread before it starts to smell. And sorry for feeding the troll, it was just too much fun.

>And sorry for feeding the troll,
> it was just too much fun.

Careful! That sounds alot like what I said! This is starting to freak me out! Maybe we are the same person after all?!?! tell me now. Do you prefer cats or dogs? I'm a cat person and if you can't cope with that then the continuation of our shared persona may become a little turbulent.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2011 08:28PM by thip.

Richard, you've raised:

Round 1: 23,120
Round 2: 14,595
Round 3: 1,375

a total of $39,090

(not including postage. Have you billed and collected payment from people for postage?)

How can you possibly be broke? That money is all earmarked for buying supplies etc right? It's only the profit margin that you get to keep...

All these words from Richard sound understandable.

However there's a strange aftertaste with all the threads in his forum disappearing (well forum is down for now..), posts on indiegogo getting erased.. shipping numbers changed.. key questions systematically ignored and not answered and always new excuses popping up of why shipping is delayed yet more.
The intransparency of that Richard Sum isn't helpful either: Why not make a photo of yourself an your own website, put your phone number there, address, etc? Even if everything would crash now by him having an accident, etc. how should we know where to enforce our money back from?
And while the newest excuse is the CNC machine supplier he yet started another indiegogo campaign for CNC machines?!? [www.indiegogo.com]

It's not the problems pissing me off it's the way he treats people who gave him LOTS of money and trusted him. No matter how good the machines will be in the end he seriously disappointed sum of us.

yes lob, profit. parts have been bought. Also regarding mdf, many items are now made from it so i dont get you being against it. I hope you are happy with your emaker.

sorry to hear you feel that way directbean. maybe you should email me.

richard

at last, someone who can say it in less words than me and says it better, directbean.
@Richard. Yes I am annoyed, you wasted a lot of my time, and created expectation, but what I am most annoyed at is the lies, persistent failed promises, I told you on the phone to keep us up to date more, just some pics, you were very arrogant and said that we should all just shut up and wait, well, I think they have all waited long enough, you said the units were ready 6 weeks ago. So why is only one out there now. Still not operational. You have also promised collection of the pods on monday people aparently had tracking numbers (thip and others) on thursday. So if tuesday comes and goes and the pods have not arrived, then its you who has told your last lie, because no one wil believe you anymore.
Then you keep starting new campaigns. I would be happy if you stopped new campaigns, finished what you started. And stop deleting coments when someone says somthing you dont like. At last it does seem to be sinking in that things are not as they should be with sumpod as you are apparenty unable to keep up with them. If you want the sumpod to thrive, finish some, be more reliable, comunicate with people. And why is the forrum down for a week now, it dosent take that long to update a forrum site.
And if im such a Pr*ck, why have I got nothing but praise for JM and huxley, fantastic, the way a company should do buisness, you could learn a lot from him Richard.
So the gaunlet is down for all to see, and this time you cant just delete the thread. Tuesday is the dead line for delivery of atleast some of the pods, as you have already given out shipping numbers on thursday, so they must be ready to go. OR in front of all reveal yourself as a Liar.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot, you have collected postage, 45 units at $60 or $120, so lets call it $90, thats $4050or there abouts that you should have in the bank ready for postage. But by your own admision you have nothing there.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2011 02:44PM by duncanperham.

@Duncan

I think we get the idea now... Your not happy with the way things went. Fair enough. What isn't fair is that you are saturating conversation with your anger despite the fact that you now have nothing to do with this any more. You got your money back, you bought a shiny new printer with an established track record. Why can you not leave it at that instead of throwing accusations around left right and centre. I can understand why you might have been annoyed, what I cannot understand is why you are still annoyed? As far as I can tell all your issues have been resolved as best they can be. What else do you want done?

just thought there is no point in commenting

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2011 03:58PM by progomez.

I still don't think Richard is a scammer...but I do think there are other problems - possibly not related to the actual building of sumpods, that we're unaware of. Debt problems that were solved by an influx of $40,000 or so for example. Maybe round three (and Four if you include the cnc machines - wtf in regards to these btw...where's the detailed drawings?) are to fund the completion of round 1.

I hope I'm totally wrong of course...I just see no way that all this money is largely spent if it went into a separate bank account and was used to buy some sheets of MDF, bolts, nuts, washers, rods, wire, motors, etc.

And regarding Richards comment that MDF is widely used: Yes MDF is widely used and so is fiber glass insulation....that doesn't make either of them safe. MDF is actually banned in a few countries btw, and in fact in the US there are some restraints on it's use in construction. The UK and Australia are probably the two countries where it's most widely used. Don't rely on big business or politicians to tell you that products like MDF are dangerous. Most politicians are lawyers/accountants/etc, are in bed with large corporations and have no idea how the construction industry operates. I don't want to get off topic here, since the non-delivery of sumpods is the main issue, but if you get cancer in 15 years time, and working with MDF was the cause, it's not like you'd automatically be able to link the two. Even if you did, best of luck trying to take legal action against a large corporation.

Correct me if im wrong, but are forums not meant for people to voice there opinions, richard deletes anything any one says from his site, so someone has to highlight the problems here. I will shut up when either A: the sumpods roll out (i mean like the whole first campaign) or B: when people accept that richard is not very truthfull, as we will see on tuesday when the first wave of pods arrive or dont.

And, also, regarding the cnc machines. You're going to start shipping cnc machine 1 - which no one has any idea wtf it looks like, despite the fact you have detailed plans that people can purchase, in just over 2 months time. Cnc machine 2 is more complicated, still apparently you will start constructing these if there are orders, in 54 days time. Sounds to me like someone needs to raise some more capital to help fund something. Do you know what a ponzi scheme is Richard?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2011 04:05PM by lob.

it seems that there is no point conversing with either of you both. lob just dont get why you feel the newd to speculate and scaremonger.

the ones who have paid out have my email and number and can call anytime.

i hope to turn it around but in either case, all will get an excellent machine and it wont be because of perham whether i do or not.

seriously though whats the mdf crusade about. emaker uses mdf as well i thought.

Richard

one more thing about the sumpod. about 15 weeks ago or so, richard had a working sumpod. (or so we are led to belive)
So since it was cnc machined, everything was in place and all he had to do was cut some more mdf order a load of bits and away they go, but 15 weeks or so later, only one has ever materialised. ??? And you wonder why I am suspicious.


Richard, if you dont like people complaining about your service and product, improve and deliver and shut us all up. Or give us a real answer and tell us why its taken you 15 weeks to put out somthing that you had already designed and had a working prototype.

Also has anyone noticed how like a politician Richard is, he never answers awkward questions, he just keeps telling us what a great and wonderful product hes going to make, has made, has given shipping numbers for on many occasions, yet none have EVER shiped, he hand delivered one recently and it was missing bits, and to date is still not opearational.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2011 04:15PM by duncanperham.

Have not got anything more productive to do with your time Duncan? Why don't you use these experiences as inspiration for a turn based adventure game or something? I'd love to play it!

@thip im speaking 2 richard right now, and there is no tracking numbers, he has no cnc machine. Atleast he says the one he has is not good enough. So no chance of a pod this week. LMAO

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2011 04:31PM by duncanperham.

Do go on...

progomez Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> seriously though whats the mdf crusade about.
> emaker uses mdf as well i thought.


I strongly suggest Richard, based on the photos of your workshop, that you read this:

[www.childrensfurniture.co.uk]

Maybe look for an alternative material to use (metal?)

Richard will not give me a date when even one pod will be shipped, he just keeps saying WHEN they are finished they will go out.

When asked why they wont be shipped he just says its not anything to do with us.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2011 04:44PM by duncanperham.