Want months of legal nonsense? Then support Kuhn Machines.

To keep an extremely long series of events shortish I will just highlight the important parts in this review. Let me just begin by saying that dealing with Kuhn Machines and Bernadette specifically was some of the worst experiences I have ever encountered.

The order: My mom told me about KM's post on FB about a special on CNC routers. I was apprehensive at first and calling and then talking to Marianne didn't help at all. Having a repetionist with no knowledge about these machines should have raised alarm bells but for some reason I didn't worry too much about it. Thus, I caused myself 2-3 months worth of annoyance and legal nonsense to finally get a refund. So we ordered the machine early into September. And orginally my parents would've gone up to Pretoria anyways so they would've picked it up. Real life got in the way and they couldn't, so we decided to get it delivered and pay the delivery extra. We payed our due and ... communication goes dark. No responses after multiple messages/emails or phone calls. We just wanted an ETA on when we would get the machine more or less. After a few days we finally got a hold of Bernadette and was accused of being abusive because we want to know what is happening to a machine we already paid for. All we did was call Bernadette out on her contradictions and then she would get highly defensive and unprofessional. A trend we experienced a lot these past few months. After a bit of back and forth with Bernadette she claimed that someone had a medical emergency and that is the reason the communication was non existent. We eventually got the machine mid October.

The machine: When we received the machine I didn't feel excitement or relief it was here, rather I felt perplexed. I order a 800mm high, 1200x600mm CNC router that was supposed to be standalone. I also payed over R3000 for shipping because I thought the weight is why the container was so expensive. Instead I got a broken 3mm thick box and a CNC with no legs. Upon inspecting the rest of the machine I found that the base was made of ~2mm thick square tubing with self tapping *****s, not a full aluminium construction as advertised. The whole machine was flimsy and the gantry's drive system was timing belts tensioned with cable ties. The 3 engineers I told this too was shocked because this is a severely poor design. On top of a poorly made machine I got random holes bored into my machine and instead of using a new piece of metal, they just turned it and used the other side to hide their mistakes. Needless to say I wanted a refund the same day I got my machine in a black bag because the container was unusable.

The refund: And here is the biggest problem I had. Communicating with a bunch of unprofessional people who would rather look down on you and play victim than give you a simple refund. I emailed them listing all of my problems and saying I want a refund as is my right, thanks to the Consumer Protection Act. Bryan, the production manager at KM, instead decided to tell me why everything went wrong by blaming the courier, despite admitting in the same email that he wasn't there to quality control the machine. He kept blaming the courier and I told him to stop pointing fingers if he refused to send me proof of the claims. Even with proof that is between KM and the courier, yet somehow it was made my problem. After another response where I told him I just simply want a refund I don't want a replacement because I don't trust them anymore, I was ignored. To this day that email was never responded to. It was sent in the middle of October. After a few phone calls to Bryan we finally got a call from Grant and he told me he would look into it and get back to me the same day. He never got back to me and his number was hidden so I couldn't phone him back. They blocked the number I called them with and a few others. At this point I got the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud involved. They accepted the case and started to contact KM. After multiple attempts my dad tried to get in contact with Bryan and he kept saying he will only talk over emails. Every email was promptly ignored and he decided to call Marianne and Bernadette from his 2nd cellphone. He got into contact with Bernadette and tried to de-escalate the building tension and eventually got them to agree with a refund if we sent them the machine. I finally told the CGSO that we would proceed with this but I am hesitant because these people love blocking communication and going dark. They said if that's the case we can escalate to fraud charges and they will refer the case to the National Consumer Commission. So I sent the machine and it arrived two weeks before this review is posted. KM told me usually these proceedings regarding a refund take a week, but they will try to do it sooner. They didn't... at all. After a week the lies started again. Bernadette said she will send it to their auditor friday because her son is in ICU. First of all this is the second time they use health as a shield. Go and read some of the other negative reviews on hellopeter and you will see they did it to another person as well. Bernadette loves to use people's health as a weapon to avoid responsibility for their unprofessionalism. Monday came and we got another lie saying the accountant, not auditor, will do it in the next 1-3 days. This is already past the promised deadline. Wednesday came and again nothing. All the while our calls are getting ignored and responses are more lies saying they will pay. So finally we got to today. Two weeks after the promised date. Bernadette insisting that the auditor, no longer accountant, already payed it and it should reflect today or MONDAY. Not how transfers work, but sure. So I decided to phone her with my personal number and told her if it doesn't reflect today I will press charges at the police for fraud and escalate. Only then did I get a refund. But, before I got a refund she sent my dad an emotionally manipulative message saying how her son is in ICU and she will not be harassed, how she will use her medical funds for her son to pay us back and tell the auditor to stop the transfer, even going as far as to send a video of her son. It's appalling how Bernadette would use how own child as a shield and play the victim. Also she payed the exact amount, to the cent, for my machine after supposedly "emptying" her 4 accounts. Curious.

The conclusion? Bernadette, Bryan and Grant are the most unprofessional lot of people I have ever met in my life. Bryan and Bernadette specifically I never want to encounter in my life ever again because they are vile humans. Do not support these people at all. I wouldn't even wish these 2-3 months on my worst enemies. If you want an affordable benchtop cnc, rather buy the CRON craft from 3dprintingstore.co.za It can't possibly be worse than anything from KM.