Normally, we wouldn’t cover an announcement that a product is now available for purchase online. However, the Rite Press is not a normal product with a normal product history. After the “no mess French Press” crowdfunded more than $1.3 million across Kickstarter and Indiegogo, the Rite Press wound up being a no-show for most backers.
Then in February, after months of delays, Sargam Patel, CEO of the Rite Company, asked people who already pledged to pitch in another $30 each in order to fulfill the thousands of outstanding, unfulfilled orders.
Which brings us to today’s announcement that as of now, anyone can buy a Rite Press directly through the company’s website.
Record scratch.
Huh? How can the Rite Company open up sales of its Rite Press, when it still hasn’t fulfilled the pledges of its crowdfunders?
According to Patel, whom I chatted with by phone yesterday, the answer is that money from the direct sales of these new Rite Presses are the only way he can fund the fulfillment of the earlier backed ones.
As a quick refresher. We wrote a piece in February outlining some of the woes Rite Press encountered, including manufacturing issues in China. But the bigger issue was that the cost of goods was $1.8 million and Rite had raised only $1.3 million (Patel also put in $280,000 of his own money into the project). The result all this trouble was that only 7,000 of the more than 21,000 backers got their product.
Needless to say, backers were rightfully hacked about the whole situation.
Patel told me that if he could do it all over again, there are two things he would change. “One, I would have asked for a higher pledge amount.” Patel was losing $20 on each order which was compounded by “Two, I would have set a cap on the Kickstarter.” By getting an average pledge of just $45 and offering free shipping, the fact that he kept taking pledges with no cap just amplified the amount he was in the hole.
The new prices for the Rite Press are $100 for the 1 liter press and $80 for the half liter. Patel said that each new sale would fund the fulfillment of an original backer who did not pledge the extra $30 in February. But he needs to sell a ton of new units in order to meet the backlog. “If we don’t get a single order on our webs site,” Patel said, “then we don’t see ourselves shipping those [crowdfunded] units anytime soon.”
But original backers shouldn’t get too excited. They are still at the end of the queue. This gets a little complicated, but here’s the breakdown of who got a Rite Press, and the order of who will, according to Patel.
- The company shipped 6,000 units before any troubles
- “Several thousand” backers agreed to give the extra $30 in February, which gave them priority and took the number up to 8,600 units in the hands of people or in transit to their homes
- There are 300 units available in a warehouse right now. People who buy their Rite Press directly from the site as of now will get theirs right away
- Once those 300 units are sold, another 500 units will be re-ordered to sell on the website and an additional 300 units to ship to crowdfunders
- Patel is going back out to original backers again to see if they want to pledge $30 to get their units in a more timely fashion.
- All in all, 12,000 units need to be sold on the site, assuming no one else pledges more money, to fulfill all the original backers.
There is a plastic Essential Plus currently for sale on Amazon, which Patel laments is selling “slowly” because angry crowdfunders have “shit on the product” in the reviews, giving it just 1 star and calling out the company on never fulfilling its original orders.
All this news is probably infuriating to original backers, who are now stuck watching newcomers cut to the front of the line. Despite all this and continuing to live off his savings (he says he still isn’t drawing down a salary), Patel seems undaunted, if not optimistic.
“Amazon is selling 90,000 French Presses [total in the category] a month. Aeropress is selling btwn 6,000 – 7,000 units per month,” Patel says, “It’s reasonable for us to pick up traction on our web site.”
Whatever the case may be, it is reasonable for crowdfunders everywhere to be careful about what they back. Kickstarter and Indiegogo may have spawned a number of great products, but they’ve also enabled overly optimistic and perhaps naive entrepreneurs into thinking that they can pull off hardware innovation on the cheap. But as Cinder, iGulu, HOPii and Rite Press has shown again an again, consumer hardware at scale it tough. Caveat Emptor.
I was an early backer, and actually got my 1L press in the first shipment that went out in November. Unfortunately, it was a piece of junk, badly designed and executed (glops of solder on the threads keeping it from opening properly). The filter assembly was broken within a few uses — the bolt holding it on fell down my kitchen sink drain. The worst part, though, was that the filter didn’t come down far enough to press the liquid out of the grounds, leaving a wet mess in the lower compartment, too wet to just throw away. So, no easier to clean than a normal press. Oh, yeah, and it leaked. A lot. I’m happy, though, that they gave me a full refund of my pledge, which I suspect they did because it prevented me from making any more comments on their page.
Wow wish I could have gotten a refund. Never got mine and paid a lot of money for it.
Funny, you paint Patel as if he’s just a good guy in a bad situation. He has shared more with you than with his original backers. He shared very little on his last update and ignored his original backers altogether .. don’t get me started on the “ceramic” press. You missed so much in your article.
Why don’t you talk to his backers and get their opinions and publish those?
I’m happy to talk with anyone who will give me facts, not just opinions. I want the whole story to be honest and accurate.
Fact: i’m out money and rite press and kick starter won’t help to do anything about it. 45 bucks for a french press is standard for the type of quality rite press touts. I’m not alone in this fact. NO ONE should feel sorry for sargam patel. Take your money else where and give it to a company that will get you their product.
Chris, nice try but doesn’t fly. You’ve ignored plenty of “fact” and only got Patel’s “opinion” and published that. What silliness are you engaged in?
“Several thousand” backers agreed to give the extra $30 in February, which gave them priority and took the number up to 8,600 units in the hands of people or in transit to their homes
I pledged additional money and haven’t received my press or any updates on when it would arrive, despite several emails. Where are the people in the queue who paid the extra $30 but still haven’t gotten a press!?!?
I pledged $55 in April 2018 for a half liter rite press and tea kit add on. When I received an email in March 2019 requesting an additional $30 before they would ship, I sent nothing additional since I had lost confidence in this merchant. When I heard that even those who sent in the additional $30 were still waiting 5 months later, I contacted my credit card and opened a dispute. I received an immediate credit for the full amount while investigating the merchant. I feel confident the credit card company will resolve this dispute in my favor.
This whole project has been a scam..with hardly no updates. I was an early backer and now out the money. No responses in several months. No ticket support. A total scam. All of us who backed him are screwed out of our money. 1.5 years I have been tracking waiting for my press to ship. Now he has run off and is not answering any questions. Then on top of that..he asked several backers to support him by giving extra money to get their press right away and they all got screwed over. Do not buy from a scammer like this. I will never support KICKSTARTER either……Taking Patels spin on things is a slap in the face to all of us backers. There should have been a portion of the article dedicated to all of us who funded this project. THIS IS A SCAM…..
I too waited 1 1/2 years for my order and occasionally would inquire about it. I would get a cheery replay saying the end product has not yet met their standards and thank you for my patience. Then in February 2019 I received an email requesting another $30 to expedite shipping. I smelled a scam, so I did not take the bait. When I heard from other customers who actually sent in more money and still received nothing, I emailed a request for a refund. No response. I then turned to my credit card and opened a dispute. After learning the details, Discover card credited my card the full amount while they said they would contact the merchant. I then received a message from Indiegogo saying that if I wanted the product shipped, I needed to cancel my request for a chargeback. Ha! That ship has sailed. Don’t get taken. Fight back.
I emailed rite 3 months ago to very politely ask for an estimate of when I might get my press, as it’s been a while since we’ve gotten an update. A month ago I emailed them again saying I hadn’t gotten a reply. I just went to their website and it’s not up. If you have his phone number you should give him a call and tell him to update his backers.
Ive been waiting two years. Early bird backer. No eta on shipping, not even for those who fell for the additional scam of extra money. No updates since March 2019 (and those were all general and occasional excuses about how there were errors in the business plan, blah blah….)
Im glad to see a cheaper version of this product is failing royally on amazon with awful reviews.
KARMA