- Report: #435609
Complaint Review: American Ingenuity - Baltimore Maryland
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American Ingenuity
3500 Boston Street, Ste 334 Baltimore, 21224 Maryland, U.S.A.
Phone:
443-451-3365
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American Ingenuity - President Nate Or Nathaniel Bender Failure to fullfill Contractural and Fiduciary Duty Baltimore Maryland
I paid American Ingenuity, LLC $8720.00 for a 5 Phase contract that included product development, prototyping, egineering and industrial design, tooling, marketing and product sample inventory.
the cost for each phase was as follows:
1) $1,800.00 for egineering and industrial design work.
2) $520.00 per prototype. It took this company almost 2 years to give me a working prototype that today, is still not to the exact specifications I asked for. The product I have now is a decent working prototype, but still needs to be corrected before being presented to potentional licensors or manufacturer sales reps. I can show what, who, and how I asked for this proto to be made. I have numerous drawings, photos and proof that this company could not get measurements right on a simple a square design. To date, I have received 8 working/non working protos non of which have been corrected.
3) $4,400.00 for tooling. They provided a tooling guarantee good for 500,000 units. Where is my tooling, Mr. Bender? Please ship it to me so that I can give the tool to a manufacturer who knows what they are doing. I will have the tool corrected and begin my retail business.
4) $1000.00 for marketing and design work. The marketing flyer was never fully corrected. I have what they were going to originally supply me and send to potential vendors versus my design that I personally had to help them with. The correction I asked for was very simple and could have been corrected in less than five minutes. I received one list of 25 potetional US vendors that they were to contact. No progress reports were ever provided. No proof that any product sample was ever delivered. No proof that any negotiations or talks ever took place.
5) $1000.00 for starting inventory. I have yet to see any inventory from this company or that proof any inventory was sent to a potential licensor, sales rep or manufacturer rep.
I signed a 6 month representation contract with this company. To date, I have yet to see a bill from the US Post Office showing proof that they mailed a sample prototype to a any prospect. American Ingenuity, LLC was to bill me for the postage. I have yet to receive any additional returned calls, or returned emails from this company.
Glenn
Richmond, Virginia
U.S.A.
the cost for each phase was as follows:
1) $1,800.00 for egineering and industrial design work.
2) $520.00 per prototype. It took this company almost 2 years to give me a working prototype that today, is still not to the exact specifications I asked for. The product I have now is a decent working prototype, but still needs to be corrected before being presented to potentional licensors or manufacturer sales reps. I can show what, who, and how I asked for this proto to be made. I have numerous drawings, photos and proof that this company could not get measurements right on a simple a square design. To date, I have received 8 working/non working protos non of which have been corrected.
3) $4,400.00 for tooling. They provided a tooling guarantee good for 500,000 units. Where is my tooling, Mr. Bender? Please ship it to me so that I can give the tool to a manufacturer who knows what they are doing. I will have the tool corrected and begin my retail business.
4) $1000.00 for marketing and design work. The marketing flyer was never fully corrected. I have what they were going to originally supply me and send to potential vendors versus my design that I personally had to help them with. The correction I asked for was very simple and could have been corrected in less than five minutes. I received one list of 25 potetional US vendors that they were to contact. No progress reports were ever provided. No proof that any product sample was ever delivered. No proof that any negotiations or talks ever took place.
5) $1000.00 for starting inventory. I have yet to see any inventory from this company or that proof any inventory was sent to a potential licensor, sales rep or manufacturer rep.
I signed a 6 month representation contract with this company. To date, I have yet to see a bill from the US Post Office showing proof that they mailed a sample prototype to a any prospect. American Ingenuity, LLC was to bill me for the postage. I have yet to receive any additional returned calls, or returned emails from this company.
Glenn
Richmond, Virginia
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Nathaniel Bender
Baltimore,Maryland,
United States of America
This report was filed after American Ingenuity shut its doors
#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, August 08, 2012
Glenn's project was one of many that ended prematurely when the company shut down in the face of the great recession. 2008 was a difficult time for many American Businesses and American Ingenuity was no exception. That the development lasted longer than expected, and ultimately extended to the business' untimely end, was a testament to American Ingenuity's commitment to Glenn's product. The agreement between AI and Glenn was that, for a minimal fee, AI would continue revising the design until the Glenn was happy. Under such circumstances, the time-frame is as much under the control of the client as it is American Ingenuity. AI was willing to assume the risk of a fixed bid development project because we believed in the market viability of the product, and it was set to profit from the commercialization of the product; a strategy that worked extremely well for AI in the past. While it is understandable that Glenn was upset by the way his project ended, it was an unfortunate casualty of the great recession.
