ComplaintsforProject R3D, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  04/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a Talos 1800 3d printer on January 20th, 2024. I picked the machine up from Project R3D's facility on March 2nd, 2024. I should have rejected it on the spot because there was no sign any test prints or validation had been done. I asked for the prints they claim they did and it just so happened the previous day was garbage day. I asked for *** to print something before we loaded it up but he could not. The filament tensioning mechanism they provided is ****, colliding with the print head and getting caught up in cable chain. The bed sags badly. The z-axis motors skip during leveling, throwing off the results. Printed plastic parts failed almost immediately because they are made from PLA in an enclosed machine-they warped badly. An x-motor failed in the first 3 weeks. The x-axis belt clamp failed on the second print. Numerous signs the machine was never tested or their design was validated. The machine drove the bed off the rails because there is no z-limit switch and the software is faulty. Most of this happened in the first week, the motor failed in week 3 and the bed ran off the rails in week 4. They won't take the machine back because I first asked for a refund after their 14 day return policy, as if that matters for a faulty machine.

  Business response

  04/12/2024

  Prior to this customer ordering a Talos 1800 they first visited a reseller to look over an 1800 to be sure its what they wanted. The customer then ordered the unit from that reseller. The customer wanted to pick up the machine. Once the unit was completed a date was scheduled for pickup. The customer requested that we start printing his production parts for him and stated he would like to a few finished parts when he arrived. We do not offer a print service and he acknowledged that. We did test the printer with the files he provided while we were verifying the printer. We did not have any completed parts for him since we would start a print until we saw a slicing issue and then adjust so no parts ran the full time since tuning is often many small short prints to work to the best print quality. Again we do not provide a print service so we had no goal of having any of his production parts completed for him but we would try if we had the time, which we didnt. **** did ask to see the unit run, we did not decline that. A print was started without material due to the heat-up time needed to get such a large bed up to temp to start a print, it was a Saturday and **** had already stated he had to get going because it was a several hour drive back. We went over the printer with him along with what he should do once he gets the unit set up in his shop along with how to use the camera for setting the offset of the heads. The first thing we stated he should do is level the bed then print the provided gcode file to verify everything was good after transit. 

  After the customer set up his unit he had some questions, he was having trouble and the following trouble shooting situations we worked through with him. 

  The following issues can be summed up as:

  -Heater issues- Hotend wires were bumped loose when replacing a cover, we asked him to check the wire and he stated it wasnt the wire. We asked him to check again, it was the wire and he had to reseat the wire. The second was the bed not heating, he didnt have it plugged in.

  -Warped Covers- replacement covers were sent out of a higher heat resistant material

  -Customer Damaged extruder gears- Replacements were sent free of charge, the damage was due to over tightening the lever to be able to pull material off a large spool of filament 4kg+

  -Bed was out of level- The system showed an error of the probe being triggered already we walked him through releveling. When the bed is to far out of alignment and you rerun 4 point leveling repeatedly when it cant correct the * motors can bind or as **** stated "skip"

  -1 hardware failure- ***************** was sent out same day. 

   

  3/3/24- **** reached out for assistance with a print and we asked if he had run the print was loaded onto the machine which he stated he deleted it and didnt run it. We sent him the file to run. This was able to narrow down that the issue was on his end with his profile changes. **** also had a hotend jam due to running material well below the temp needed for PETG on a hardened nozzle and flow rate. We walked him through clearing the jam

  3/4/24- **** requested some STLs due to a warping issue on one of the covers and the stls were sent along with some Macros he requested to be made for him. The * belt became loose and we walked him through ensuring it was clamped in zip tied along with tensioning the belt.
  

  3/5/24- We adjusted his profile for him to help him get started. We asked him to tune his pressure advanced for the specific material he was using. **** stated his material was brittle after printing which we suggested that it may not be hot enough and to tune the temps for his material. 
  

  3/6/24- **** informed us that one of his bondtech gears were messed up, we found that he was moving the lever over to the flexible position rather than the rigid material position which then tore up the gears. We replaced them free of charge.

  3/8/24- **** requested more probe points which we sent him the changes for that.

  3/14/24- **** stated he was having an issue with the bed leveling, the system was warning him that the probe was triggered before the probe point so it was canceling the leveling. We informed him that the bed will need to be leveled within 7mm and that its a safety to keep the bed from crashing. We walked him through the processes of getting the system leveled.

  3/20/24- **** stated that none of the heads were moving, we asked him to run the test print we sent him on the 3rd and had to resend it to him. We found the issue was a change he made to his slicer. 

  3/22/24- A motor failed, being the first hardware failure. ***************** was sent and **** installed it.

  3/30/24- **** stated he left the printer unattended while homing and the bed walked off the rails. 

   

  The unit is a low cost large format 3d printer which should not be left unattended while starting a print and during the homing process. After many discussions with the customer but the reseller and ********************** found that the customer was expecting features that were never intended to be available on unit. The customer expected it to do things that it was not set up for and he was never informed it could do. **** stated his intentions on what he wanted the machine to do and we repeatedly told him that  its not what its meant to do and he would have a high failure rate with his plan. After **** was having problems tuning his for his material which was causing print issues we offered to come on site and assist him the first week he had it. He stated it was then running fine for over 60 hours and that it was not needed. Every time **** requested support we provided it including replacing parts that were damaged by him. After he crashed the bed we offered to again, go on site and assist him free of charge. He requested to return the unit for a full refund we stated he was outside of the return policy and if it was possible there is a restocking fee. He stated "the policy's can be waived". He then agreed to have us come up and work with him on the printer, after we started setting up what day to come on site he filed a dispute with Paypal while still wanting us to go on site. The onsite visit has been postponed unit the dispute is working its way out. 

   

  Reason for no return on refund at this time. 

  -Customer inspected the machine before accepting it, customer also traveled to look at the unit to make sure it was what he wanted. 

  -The unit is outside of its return policy.

  -The unit is now damaged and customer has stated he will take nothing but a full refund while we would be stuck with a damaged unit due to user error. 

  At this time we are still happy to go onsite to assist him in getting his unit back up and running but not until the dispute has closed. 

   

   

  
  
  

  Customer response

  04/13/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  I do not accept the response given by Project R3D.  It is filled with irrelevant and incorrect information.  If they want to gaslight and obscure the truth to make themselves feel good, I see no reason to argue with them in this venue and will start taking action in legal venues. I have plenty of proof for my claims and am very confident a court will rule in my favor.
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************
  

  Business response

  04/15/2024

  Im not sure what the customer may think was a false statement but we do have text messages, emails and recorded phone calls to validate the timeline we submitted above. 

  At the end of the day this customer should have never been sold a unit which is why we did not sell them the unit, a reseller did. From the beginning the customer requested modifications that we declined then made several statements that they had procured another companies printer and had no luck with it and wanted to *** them because they were no longer helpful. After we have offered help every chance we could it makes me wonder about the situation with prior unit.

  Off the requested changes alone we would have denied the sale to this customer and after hearing about their prior printing experience it would have been a hard no. Now this customer has waiting beyond their return period and is now expecting special treatment which we can not offer. 

  Customer response

  04/17/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  
  ***, I provided you with a list of issues experienced on this printer on 4/3.  For you to say I've only experienced one component failure is false.  I count 6 from my list on top of all the other failures. 
  

  Do you really want to deflect this conversation to my experience with another bad 3d printer manufacturer? The only aspect of that experience that is relevant here is that your machine has been worse than theirs, which I did not think was possible.  I know it's possible to make a printer that actually functions.  I do not know why it is so difficult for you to do so.

  I wish ****************** would not have sold me the printer as well!  Glad we can agree on something.  Maybe you should agree to the refund and this can be water under the bridge; you can get your printer back to do some proper testing and validation work and I'll find something that actually works.
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased a Daedalus 3D Printer on 10-5-21. Got the printer and it didn't work properly. Sent it back and they said they'll fix it and send it back. They did send it back but not until I filed a Paypal claim. After I received it again, it still didn't work properly and they would not respond to my emails. I tried several different things on my own but it is still not working. I am done spending time and money on this thing!

  Business response

  01/28/2023

  We test every printer prior to shipping. Customer received the unit and used and but ran into issues with extrusion due to a combination of heat creep and incorrect temps for the specific hotend/nozzle combo. Prior to contacting us the customer attempted to solve the issue by making changes to the electronics. After that did no solve his issue they contacted us where we offered to accept the return. Upon the unit arriving at our facility we began to look over the machine and found damage from shipping, electronics modification that we do not cover along with the customer swapping out the high end E3D V6 Gold for a clone hotend. Once the customer was informed of the cost of the damages he opted to have the unit fixed and returned to him. We did a full overhaul free of charge for the customer, retested the unit and sent it back out. While we were overhauling this unit, free of charge replacing the clone hotend with the proper $100 hotend since the customer kept the first one, the customer chose to open a dispute. This put us in a position to not only have to fix damages by the customer from modification and improper packaging, we also had the money pulled from our accounts. The customer was informed that due to the type of hotend and nozzle combo he would need additional heat due to the hardened nozzle. Along with that we had the customer set the hotend fan to always one to keep from having heat creep. As stated on our website that we have a 30 day return window and 1 year warranty, both of which have now passed. We did contact the customer and offer to walk them through solving the issue but as of now they have not agreed to that.  

  Customer response

  01/31/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  Most of this stuff is correct, but I still don't have a printer that works. After repeatedly trying to contact the company in the last few months (before the warranty period expired) with no response, I am ready to send it back. I would like a partial refund. I understand the warranty has expired. I am not asking for the full amount, but I feel satisfaction should be made on both sides.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩