One Off Effects Ben McKee Incompetent Oxnard California

  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).