I took a project to One Off Effects in May of 2015. The project was brought to life in initial prototyping and worked on by an industrial engineer. So it lacked some mechanical elements which I felt needed a “professional touch”.
When I contacted OOE, Matthew Jones (the crooked sales guy who eventually had a fall out with the other partners and is now gone) gave me a real nice sales pitch about how good they are, how experienced they are and etc. He told me they would deal with all the issues I had with my product and it was all very easy and etc. I gave them a very detailed handover with all the issues I needed resolved in the project and they promised to deliver a manufacturable product within 4 to 8 weeks!! We parted 7 months later with the threat of a lawsuit from me with the work not even close to done and invoiced 90% paid.
They didn’t actually start on my project for about 3 to 4 weeks after the initial signing of contract and deposit. And when they supposedly did, things just went from bad to worse.
To make things factual and indisputable, here are a few things I experienced and you can expect:
1. These guys are NOT engineers, nor trained in product design. And if any of them are, they are NOT qualified to bring a product to manufacture ready status. They lack some very basic knowledge of some very elementary stuff. Test them out before you hire them. I wish I had.
2. Your work will not get done in-house nor on time. They hire part-time freelancers with questionable backgrounds and pass your work along. They have no control of the freelancers and since One Off Effects seems to be in financial trouble, they have trouble paying the freelancers, so the freelancers won’t work unless they’re paid in small increments. My freelancer once took off fishing and left the project hanging! Of course, they are not employees or even committed contractors… so OOE couldn't do anything about it. The worst part is, when my freelancer took off, no one in-house had the SolidWorks knowledge to pick up the work!!
3. By their own admittance, the company is in financial trouble… so be careful if you’re giving them deposits.
4. I honestly don’t think these guys have ever brought a single product to life from scratch. I wish I had insisted more on seeing that… and done my due diligence more carefully.
5. There is another review on Google about OOE by another pissed off fellow… and I can totally relate to him… Ben’s answers to this guy’s review is the same BS he was giving me when they were not delivering on their promises. He would throw tantrums when asked for updates and be insulted as an “artist” and refused to update, blaming me for trying to micromanage him. I see he is dishing out the same BS to others.
6. They couldn’t do simple stuff!! The first time I asked them to send me some of the files they had worked on in STL so I can send them out to get 3D printed, they send me a bunch of garbage… the prints all came out messed up… and then they told me they don’t have the capability to convert to STL in-house and I should hire a third party to convert files to STL because they don’t have the software to do that, and they blamed SolidWorks!!!
7. They work very hard at removing bad reviews from the web on their work. I have had to post my reviews multiple times... and most of the other "good" reviews seem fake. Ask for real references if you work with them. They will likely have this review removed at some point...
In short, stay away. These guys are crooks and liars. They don’t know their stuff… and will fail if put to a proper test.
I took a project to One Off Effects in May of 2015. The project was brought to life in initial prototyping and worked on by an industrial engineer. So it lacked some mechanical elements which I felt needed a “professional touch”.
When I contacted OOE, Matthew Jones (the crooked sales guy who eventually had a fall out with the other partners and is now gone) gave me a real nice sales pitch about how good they are, how experienced they are and etc. He told me they would deal with all the issues I had with my product and it was all very easy and etc. I gave them a very detailed handover with all the issues I needed resolved in the project and they promised to deliver a manufacturable product within 4 to 8 weeks!! We parted 7 months later with the threat of a lawsuit from me with the work not even close to done and invoiced 90% paid.
They didn’t actually start on my project for about 3 to 4 weeks after the initial signing of contract and deposit. And when they supposedly did, things just went from bad to worse.
To make things factual and indisputable, here are a few things I experienced and you can expect:
1. These guys are NOT engineers, nor trained in product design. And if any of them are, they are NOT qualified to bring a product to manufacture ready status. They lack some very basic knowledge of some very elementary stuff. Test them out before you hire them. I wish I had.
2. Your work will not get done in-house nor on time. They hire part-time freelancers with questionable backgrounds and pass your work along. They have no control of the freelancers and since One Off Effects seems to be in financial trouble, they have trouble paying the freelancers, so the freelancers won’t work unless they’re paid in small increments. My freelancer once took off fishing and left the project hanging! Of course, they are not employees or even committed contractors… so OOE couldn't do anything about it. The worst part is, when my freelancer took off, no one in-house had the SolidWorks knowledge to pick up the work!!
3. By their own admittance, the company is in financial trouble… so be careful if you’re giving them deposits.
4. I honestly don’t think these guys have ever brought a single product to life from scratch. I wish I had insisted more on seeing that… and done my due diligence more carefully.
5. There is another review on Google about OOE by another pissed off fellow… and I can totally relate to him… Ben’s answers to this guy’s review is the same BS he was giving me when they were not delivering on their promises. He would throw tantrums when asked for updates and be insulted as an “artist” and refused to update, blaming me for trying to micromanage him. I see he is dishing out the same BS to others.
6. They couldn’t do simple stuff!! The first time I asked them to send me some of the files they had worked on in STL so I can send them out to get 3D printed, they send me a bunch of garbage… the prints all came out messed up… and then they told me they don’t have the capability to convert to STL in-house and I should hire a third party to convert files to STL because they don’t have the software to do that, and they blamed SolidWorks!!!
7. They work very hard at removing bad reviews from the web on their work. I have had to post my reviews multiple times... and most of the other "good" reviews seem fake. Ask for real references if you work with them. They will likely have this review removed at some point...
In short, stay away. These guys are crooks and liars. They don’t know their stuff… and will fail if put to a proper test.
The biggest mistake I've made! Though I could write a book on the incompetency, lack of professionalism and skill of this company, I'll keep this as short as possible. These people should not take people's money for services they are not qualified to perform. I initially brought my project to one off effects in August of 2015. I admit I was over-zealous in wanting to bring my project to life, but upon visiting their place of business in Oxnard, the clutter , filthy restroom and lack of organization should have been a red flag. What projects do they actually have on the market? Please don't let the pretty website fool you, most of those people don't even work there. I contacted them to prototype, and complete all DFM files for a design I presented to them. Beau Silva was my initial contact and project manager.
I met with him and Jackson Kwiatkowski , the so called " engineer" assigned to my project. These guys told me my product would be fairly simple for them, especially since I provided them with the design, tons of research as well as a product to reverse engineer, that would help them move along the project even easier. Ben McKee ( the CEO) told me he would be in charge of the project every step of the way. Once I realized what little they had accomplished by my 12-13 week deadline I started to panic but remained patient and positive. They then started to blame the delay on the electronic engineer whom they had contracted. I was under the impression that they completed everything in-house, which obviously wasn't the case.
Even though many alarms where going off in my mind I still chose to give them the benefit of the doubt, simply because I wanted my project completed and was so invested. Once we reached 2 months past the deadline they contacted me and stated they where at the finish line, and asked if I could send them another $4500.00 payment to help them reach the finish line. I immediately sent it , even though this wasn't part of our agreement. At this point I've paid this company $13.5k and don't have much to show. Shortly after this payment Jackson emailed me and said he'd no longer be employed with One Off Effects by the end of the week. WOW, I was floored, I had just made an unscheduled payment and here the only person who has been working on my project is quitting with a one week notice.
Sorry I forgot to mention that my project manager Beau had given me the same news a couple months prior. obviously something isn't right with this company. Ben has given me every excuse in the book on why my project still isn't finished and we're now well over a year I took it upon my self to contact some of the negative reviewers that I had previously asked One Off Effects about. They had passed these clients off as just clients that couldn't be satisfied. Upon contacting a couple of them, their interaction with One Off Effects was identical to my own and had all ended badly for the client. They told me I was pretty much screwed and that the CEO Ben McKee was not compenetent and not to be trusted and that Jackson was not close to being an engineer.
Even with my current situation and speaking with past clients I thought my situation might turn out differently. I had already paid these people and had given up a lot of time so it was hard to just walk away. We are now past the 1 year mark and they've only sent some incomplete cad files that aren't designed with saving cost and many elementary mistakes ( per several manufacturers , who stated they haven't designed something thats actually manufacturable, and definitely isn't designed with cost in mind). He barely started working on components for my project that should have been figured out in the first couple months. At times I felt like I was a better product engineer than them , due to constantly have to remind them about details of my project.
I sent several emails and expressed to Ben McKee how unhappy I was. He told me several things that didn't sit well. He said "thats how this industry works", he had initially told me Jackson found a better opportunity and being that he's a good boss he had let him go. To Bens credit , he did offer to waive the remaining balance of 4500, but from my perspective he could have dropped the price to 5 bucks, because if the project is never completed and not executed correctly I'm still out of 5 bucks and would have chosen another company. Once I expressed my grievances he said Jackson was a F*** up and thats why he fired him. GREAT, this is the company I've paid all my money to. I asked for a refund since they didn't seem competent enough to execute my project and couldn't give me a solid completion time, even though we were grossly past the initial deadline.
I decided to take my time and lost opportunity as a lesson learned. Ben McKee initially agreed, because he knew I was speaking the truth and had been an excellent client. Ben McKee then called me back a couple days later to save face, he did a 180 and stated they did everything they could and he didn't understand why I wasn't happy. Seems he didn't want to take responsibility for his companies short comings. These people should not be in business, and since I chose them and fell for their spill maybe I shouldn't be either. Ive been offered 5k and I would have to forgoe ownership of my project ( that I brought to them) as well as not leave any negative reviews,.... Does this sound like a company you would want to be involved with???????
Its nothing they can say negative about me, as I've been patient , professional and more than gracious with this company. Hopefully I can save another entrepreneur from making the same mistake did. I didn't heed the advice and counsel from several past clients that all said the same thing , which since have been deleted from google and replaced by these phony 5 star reviews. Id be willing to bet none of those 5 star reviews can be validated by real people or projects. Don't believe me? Give it a try. Unfortunately this situation will end bad for both parties. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ( anyone who's considering working with them, id be happy to speak to you on how they operate, just contact me).
One Off Effects LLC Reviews
I took a project to One Off Effects in May of 2015. The project was brought to life in initial prototyping and worked on by an industrial engineer. So it lacked some mechanical elements which I felt needed a “professional touch”.
When I contacted OOE, Matthew Jones (the crooked sales guy who eventually had a fall out with the other partners and is now gone) gave me a real nice sales pitch about how good they are, how experienced they are and etc. He told me they would deal with all the issues I had with my product and it was all very easy and etc. I gave them a very detailed handover with all the issues I needed resolved in the project and they promised to deliver a manufacturable product within 4 to 8 weeks!! We parted 7 months later with the threat of a lawsuit from me with the work not even close to done and invoiced 90% paid.
They didn’t actually start on my project for about 3 to 4 weeks after the initial signing of contract and deposit. And when they supposedly did, things just went from bad to worse.
To make things factual and indisputable, here are a few things I experienced and you can expect:
1. These guys are NOT engineers, nor trained in product design. And if any of them are, they are NOT qualified to bring a product to manufacture ready status. They lack some very basic knowledge of some very elementary stuff. Test them out before you hire them. I wish I had.
2. Your work will not get done in-house nor on time. They hire part-time freelancers with questionable backgrounds and pass your work along. They have no control of the freelancers and since One Off Effects seems to be in financial trouble, they have trouble paying the freelancers, so the freelancers won’t work unless they’re paid in small increments. My freelancer once took off fishing and left the project hanging! Of course, they are not employees or even committed contractors… so OOE couldn't do anything about it. The worst part is, when my freelancer took off, no one in-house had the SolidWorks knowledge to pick up the work!!
3. By their own admittance, the company is in financial trouble… so be careful if you’re giving them deposits.
4. I honestly don’t think these guys have ever brought a single product to life from scratch. I wish I had insisted more on seeing that… and done my due diligence more carefully.
5. There is another review on Google about OOE by another pissed off fellow… and I can totally relate to him… Ben’s answers to this guy’s review is the same BS he was giving me when they were not delivering on their promises. He would throw tantrums when asked for updates and be insulted as an “artist” and refused to update, blaming me for trying to micromanage him. I see he is dishing out the same BS to others.
6. They couldn’t do simple stuff!! The first time I asked them to send me some of the files they had worked on in STL so I can send them out to get 3D printed, they send me a bunch of garbage… the prints all came out messed up… and then they told me they don’t have the capability to convert to STL in-house and I should hire a third party to convert files to STL because they don’t have the software to do that, and they blamed SolidWorks!!!
7. They work very hard at removing bad reviews from the web on their work. I have had to post my reviews multiple times... and most of the other "good" reviews seem fake. Ask for real references if you work with them. They will likely have this review removed at some point...
In short, stay away. These guys are crooks and liars. They don’t know their stuff… and will fail if put to a proper test.
Ben McKee is a low-life scum.
He was extremely nice when courting my business.
Then he turned into a total jerk.
He becamse abusive and nasty and refused to fulfill his contractual obligations.
He was verbally abusive.
He repeatedly ignored my e-mails.
He began the work but then dragged his feet for several weeks and refused to follow through and complete it.
Then he informed me that he didn't want to continue working on my project.
Now he won't refund my money.
I've hired an attorney to initiate legal action.
Ben is a snake and a disgusting example of how not to treat people in life and in business.
He deserves to be shut down and run out of town.
I look forward to taking him to court and hope those of you who've had this horrible experience will be interested in coming along for the ride.
I took a project to One Off Effects in May of 2015. The project was brought to life in initial prototyping and worked on by an industrial engineer. So it lacked some mechanical elements which I felt needed a “professional touch”.
When I contacted OOE, Matthew Jones (the crooked sales guy who eventually had a fall out with the other partners and is now gone) gave me a real nice sales pitch about how good they are, how experienced they are and etc. He told me they would deal with all the issues I had with my product and it was all very easy and etc. I gave them a very detailed handover with all the issues I needed resolved in the project and they promised to deliver a manufacturable product within 4 to 8 weeks!! We parted 7 months later with the threat of a lawsuit from me with the work not even close to done and invoiced 90% paid.
They didn’t actually start on my project for about 3 to 4 weeks after the initial signing of contract and deposit. And when they supposedly did, things just went from bad to worse.
To make things factual and indisputable, here are a few things I experienced and you can expect:
1. These guys are NOT engineers, nor trained in product design. And if any of them are, they are NOT qualified to bring a product to manufacture ready status. They lack some very basic knowledge of some very elementary stuff. Test them out before you hire them. I wish I had.
2. Your work will not get done in-house nor on time. They hire part-time freelancers with questionable backgrounds and pass your work along. They have no control of the freelancers and since One Off Effects seems to be in financial trouble, they have trouble paying the freelancers, so the freelancers won’t work unless they’re paid in small increments. My freelancer once took off fishing and left the project hanging! Of course, they are not employees or even committed contractors… so OOE couldn't do anything about it. The worst part is, when my freelancer took off, no one in-house had the SolidWorks knowledge to pick up the work!!
3. By their own admittance, the company is in financial trouble… so be careful if you’re giving them deposits.
4. I honestly don’t think these guys have ever brought a single product to life from scratch. I wish I had insisted more on seeing that… and done my due diligence more carefully.
5. There is another review on Google about OOE by another pissed off fellow… and I can totally relate to him… Ben’s answers to this guy’s review is the same BS he was giving me when they were not delivering on their promises. He would throw tantrums when asked for updates and be insulted as an “artist” and refused to update, blaming me for trying to micromanage him. I see he is dishing out the same BS to others.
6. They couldn’t do simple stuff!! The first time I asked them to send me some of the files they had worked on in STL so I can send them out to get 3D printed, they send me a bunch of garbage… the prints all came out messed up… and then they told me they don’t have the capability to convert to STL in-house and I should hire a third party to convert files to STL because they don’t have the software to do that, and they blamed SolidWorks!!!
7. They work very hard at removing bad reviews from the web on their work. I have had to post my reviews multiple times... and most of the other "good" reviews seem fake. Ask for real references if you work with them. They will likely have this review removed at some point...
In short, stay away. These guys are crooks and liars. They don’t know their stuff… and will fail if put to a proper test.
The biggest mistake I've made! Though I could write a book on the incompetency, lack of professionalism and skill of this company, I'll keep this as short as possible. These people should not take people's money for services they are not qualified to perform. I initially brought my project to one off effects in August of 2015. I admit I was over-zealous in wanting to bring my project to life, but upon visiting their place of business in Oxnard, the clutter , filthy restroom and lack of organization should have been a red flag. What projects do they actually have on the market? Please don't let the pretty website fool you, most of those people don't even work there. I contacted them to prototype, and complete all DFM files for a design I presented to them. Beau Silva was my initial contact and project manager.
I met with him and Jackson Kwiatkowski , the so called " engineer" assigned to my project. These guys told me my product would be fairly simple for them, especially since I provided them with the design, tons of research as well as a product to reverse engineer, that would help them move along the project even easier. Ben McKee ( the CEO) told me he would be in charge of the project every step of the way. Once I realized what little they had accomplished by my 12-13 week deadline I started to panic but remained patient and positive. They then started to blame the delay on the electronic engineer whom they had contracted. I was under the impression that they completed everything in-house, which obviously wasn't the case.
Even though many alarms where going off in my mind I still chose to give them the benefit of the doubt, simply because I wanted my project completed and was so invested. Once we reached 2 months past the deadline they contacted me and stated they where at the finish line, and asked if I could send them another $4500.00 payment to help them reach the finish line. I immediately sent it , even though this wasn't part of our agreement. At this point I've paid this company $13.5k and don't have much to show. Shortly after this payment Jackson emailed me and said he'd no longer be employed with One Off Effects by the end of the week. WOW, I was floored, I had just made an unscheduled payment and here the only person who has been working on my project is quitting with a one week notice.
Sorry I forgot to mention that my project manager Beau had given me the same news a couple months prior. obviously something isn't right with this company. Ben has given me every excuse in the book on why my project still isn't finished and we're now well over a year I took it upon my self to contact some of the negative reviewers that I had previously asked One Off Effects about. They had passed these clients off as just clients that couldn't be satisfied. Upon contacting a couple of them, their interaction with One Off Effects was identical to my own and had all ended badly for the client. They told me I was pretty much screwed and that the CEO Ben McKee was not compenetent and not to be trusted and that Jackson was not close to being an engineer.
Even with my current situation and speaking with past clients I thought my situation might turn out differently. I had already paid these people and had given up a lot of time so it was hard to just walk away. We are now past the 1 year mark and they've only sent some incomplete cad files that aren't designed with saving cost and many elementary mistakes ( per several manufacturers , who stated they haven't designed something thats actually manufacturable, and definitely isn't designed with cost in mind). He barely started working on components for my project that should have been figured out in the first couple months. At times I felt like I was a better product engineer than them , due to constantly have to remind them about details of my project.
I sent several emails and expressed to Ben McKee how unhappy I was. He told me several things that didn't sit well. He said "thats how this industry works", he had initially told me Jackson found a better opportunity and being that he's a good boss he had let him go. To Bens credit , he did offer to waive the remaining balance of 4500, but from my perspective he could have dropped the price to 5 bucks, because if the project is never completed and not executed correctly I'm still out of 5 bucks and would have chosen another company. Once I expressed my grievances he said Jackson was a F*** up and thats why he fired him. GREAT, this is the company I've paid all my money to. I asked for a refund since they didn't seem competent enough to execute my project and couldn't give me a solid completion time, even though we were grossly past the initial deadline.
I decided to take my time and lost opportunity as a lesson learned. Ben McKee initially agreed, because he knew I was speaking the truth and had been an excellent client. Ben McKee then called me back a couple days later to save face, he did a 180 and stated they did everything they could and he didn't understand why I wasn't happy. Seems he didn't want to take responsibility for his companies short comings. These people should not be in business, and since I chose them and fell for their spill maybe I shouldn't be either. Ive been offered 5k and I would have to forgoe ownership of my project ( that I brought to them) as well as not leave any negative reviews,.... Does this sound like a company you would want to be involved with???????
Its nothing they can say negative about me, as I've been patient , professional and more than gracious with this company. Hopefully I can save another entrepreneur from making the same mistake did. I didn't heed the advice and counsel from several past clients that all said the same thing , which since have been deleted from google and replaced by these phony 5 star reviews. Id be willing to bet none of those 5 star reviews can be validated by real people or projects. Don't believe me? Give it a try. Unfortunately this situation will end bad for both parties. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ( anyone who's considering working with them, id be happy to speak to you on how they operate, just contact me).