A copy to make it easier to read:
Project Update #27: The Storm
For backers only, Posted by cw&t
Hi backers!
First, for those of you still waiting for your pen(s), we're still on schedule. The schedule was posted a few updates ago (update #22). The 3 remaining batches are shipped from our manufacturer in China on
July 7th (480 pens)
July 23rd (480)
August 7th (494)
In the last couple months, we fought hard to speed up production. We advanced more money and were promised ship dates by our manufacturer and none were met. In their eyes, delays were caused by us because we were so picky about the details, but the truth is we weren't asking for anything out of the ordinary. All we asked for was for them to follow the specifications in our drawings they agreed to on day one. They weren't able to meet the specifications, so they blamed production delays on little changes made during production to help make the pen more manufacturable.
To try to move things forward faster, we proposed to place a new order with our manufacturer in exchange for ramping up production. Instead, they countered our offer and demanded we sign an exclusive 4 year contract, place a new order immediately and pay an additional engineering fee, or they would stop production of the current order.
We weren't interested in a 4 year exclusive contract with a manufacturer that hadn't proved itself, so we didn't sign. On top of that, they took our olive branch (the proposal to place a new order), sharpened it into a shank and started stabbing us with it (metaphorically, of course, with lawyers).
They stopped shipping us pens. We lost some sleep. Lawyers got involved. There was yelling over email, in person, and on phone calls. After many weeks, we arrived at a compromise. We lost a lot of time, some money, and our faith in Chinese manufacturing, but we're still moving forward. They won't be ramping up, but they are completing this order and making pens (that we are super excited about!) without changing the shipping schedule.
We're not placing any future orders with them or any manufacturer in China ever again. It's an unfortunate conclusion, we can't even begin to tell you how pissed off we are with them. It's the first and hopefully last time we'll yell in a business relationship. It's not how we like to do things.
This all happened at the beginning of May. We have been aching to share this, but we had to wait until the storm settled. We were mislead, and in turn, we mislead you. We thought we would finish fulfilling all 5.5k pens in a timely manner. Many of you are understandably frustrated and upset that a project you backed is taking a year to complete. We are too, and we sincerely apologize. We've made poor business decisions and we only have ourselves to blame.
We learned our lesson. We're now setting up to manufacture our next order of pens in Vermont, USA. We won't be able to sell the pen for $50, but we're happy to be out of China. Vermont lacks the charm of smoggy skies and broken english, but when Vermont says they can do it, they mean it.
lots of love,
cw&t
PS. your drawings from us are coming soon! (2 of them are at the bottom) we have about 110 so far and many more to go.
PPS We get butterflies every time we see your drawings. Keep them coming! http://pentype-a.tumblr.com/submit
Check out some of the latest drawings (and some great pen hacks!) http://pentype-a.tumblr.com/