Marbel the biggest scam in Esk8. What to do?

So I’ve been procrastinating this thread since I joined. Mostly because I wanted organize my thoughts to deliver the whole picture. I decided to just give the just of it because I need suggestions. What can I do?

It all started over 3 years ago. Boosted had just ended their initial Kickstarter and was taking preorders. I came across Marbel thatclaimed itbwas just behind boosted in their release date. So I decided to preorder a Marbel. Probably one of the first preorders after the Kickstarter campaign ended. I won’t even go into how many times we were lied to about when we would get our boards. Contact was ended after money was received and refund requests were ignored. Long story short, about 11 months after the date I was told, I received the long awaited Marbel 1.

Got on for my first electric skateboard ride and boom broken. A piece that was holding the motor in place fell off. Apparently this happened to almost everyone who received a board. This was before I knew how to fix issues, So under warranty it gets sent back. It takes over a month each time the Marbel has to go into the shop. Once I get it back about 5 min in and it breaks again, had to get shipped back across the USA to Florida. This happened 6 MORE times, only lasting a few minutes each time. This isn’t an exaggeration. After the 4th time they said they would not pay for return shipping and I had to pay the 100 bux round trip. After the 6th time they literally said “we know it’s under warranty, but at this tome we don’t know how to fix the problems you are experiencing, so we will not be repairing the board”. At this point I asked for my money back which resulted in over a year of ignoring my emails.

I would send about 3 emails a week for over a year before receiving a response. Finally in October of last year, I get a response saying, we are making the generation 2 and if y I send in your broken gen 1, we will upgrade it to the gen 2 for free.

Great right!? I can’t believe I fell for it. Once they received the board they cut all contact again. This was a year ago. In several emails I asked for my old broken model back so I can be done with this nightmare. The only response I ever got was simply “no”.

So what can I do? If you read reddit there are hundreds of people that have tried letters from lawyers, and other legal action. The letters are ultimately ignored and to continue you’ll end up paying far more than the board was worth. Class action lawsuit? Well there’s been talk and it never happened, so until that seems likely I need another option.

They are in Tampa, so if I wasn’t all the way in CA I would just go to their office and wait. At this point I’m at a loss.

Any ideas?

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How did you pay them? Id say if it was through paypal or a credit card just claim the cash back and cut you losses. sounds like they have done a runner

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Claim what cash back? Payment was made years ago. There is nothing to claim back.

Right there a limit on time with those.

I know over here in the UK we have some power if we pay through a credit card. quite literally you call up your credit supplier and you make a claim - some thing along the lines of “they took my thing a year ago and wont refund me” then if the credit company agrees with that they did something wrong, you get your cash back and the company that is in trouble now deals with your credit company

For paypal its simmilar but not the same, as paypal actually paid them, not you, you paid paypal to pay them (if that makes any sence)

as im writing this @Chase just made a good point, but if you can get a recent email saying pretty much anything, you can reopen the case (or atleast I beleive)

Edit: I actually know fuck all about how this stuff works, im just piecing together the information my mother (30 years mortgage adviser) has told me over the years.

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They straight up said no?

Unless your hellbent on revenge I don’t see it being worth it

I recommend taking the L, get another board, and be auspicious of any movements by an Mabel employees who try to “resurge”.

We really should have a “wall of scam” :thinking:

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Yes straight up said no. They have always been very rude and belierant when they choose to respond. Once I was waiting for my board to be sent back for 2 months. When I finally got an answer to my question “has my board even been looked at or has it just been sitting around the shop? The reply was “your board is just sitting around the shop”.

I am sorry about your loss but Marbel is not the worst scam. At least you got a turd. Stary is the worst scam ever. Over 1000 guys lost all their money. NOTHING. Not even shippings. Kickstarter washed hands and looked away. They have taken half a million $usd and run away with total impunity.

Now thats something I could get with.

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Wtf how are companies doing this?

At least I got a turd, but they stole it back. I wish I at least got to keep the deck.

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That is insane. Sorry this happened to you.

It could be done really well too. A topic only leaders can post in (to avoid community lynching and vendor bashing) and all that’s in there are post in regards to know people who have harmed or scammed out the esk8 community along with post and evidence to support such conclusions.

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@Jc06505n

We really should have a “wall of scam” :thinking:

Best idea I read so far. Why no? Sounds great.

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Just a couple of quick points here: you’re talking about a Section 75 refund with your credit card company.

  1. They are jointly liable for the purchase under UK law, so essentially they bought the board because you paid with their money - and so because of that they get zero back from the retailer, they refund you and then take the hit. The product is often destroyed, and I do mean destroyed.

  2. They will ask for the board to be sent to a third party (which you have to find and arrange, as well as covering any incurred costs) for inspection to confirm it is non functional. If you don’t have it for any reason at all, even what is described above, no payout.

  3. If in any of the communication the company you bought from offer to make the product right, even if its the first time out of 6, no payout.

  4. If you have consistent dialogue, like they responded to you three times total in three months, no payout.

Essentially you get where I’m going here - A section 75 claim sounds amazing but in reality its just a massive waste of time and energy to get back where you started.

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Essentially you get where I’m going here

wow, thats sucks much more than I thought it would.

Also completely ignore what I put, this guy actually sounds like he knows what he is talking about while I can confirm I do not :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’ve always been wary of kickstarter for this exact reason. Paying upfront for an essentially beta product by an unfunded startup with no investors/track record sounds like a really bad decision.

As for what to do, brah its been 3 years lol. That moneys gone, probably the board too. If I were in your shoes I’d be reverse scamming them out of spite/revenge.

If I didn’t live on the opposite side of the country I’d wait outside their office to at least get the deck back. Maybe I should just buy a plane ticket out of principle.

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I’m an hour away. Who should I beat up?

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well, we could do a gofundme campagin for a squad of our most verbal and offensive forum members, so they can skate around and beat up thier cars atleast? Then film everything and sell as a cashback. what could go wrong?

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Wow man so many people go screwed. I had almost the same experience except when they announced the 2.0 I was told to keep the 1.0 they sent me the 1.5 and that they were going to send me the 2.0 when it was ready. So I got 2 broken turds instead of one. I ended up DIYing them both with VESCs to get it rolling again. which there was some way I could help. you should aggressively persue this with you credit card company. I don’t think there is a time limit.

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What pisses me off the most is how they told everyone in June they were going to “get back to you in 24 hours” and just disappeared like a crackhead who owes rent. I laughed. Some people here got caught twice paying for an upgrade to the Marbel 2.0 I feel like I was one of the more fortunate ones only because I mades video of the board when it worked. I was a huge supporter trying to keep the dream alive but now I realize they were never very interested in developing the product. Their second iteration was really only a rendering. I say that I feel lucky at the end only because many people walked away with nothing while I have 2 Marbel boards. I payed $1200 just after the kickstarter and got the board a year later with tons of problems. I remained patient and they just kept fixing it . last summer Finally when It broke down for the 12th time they said just keep it “do what you want with it … we are sending you the Marbel 1.5 with a larger motor and new wheels and wheel pulley. and the Marbel 2.0 when its ready…I’ll even upgrade you to the 2.0 Twin… I appreciated you support” it was significantly stronger but it had the original problematic motor controller. Since then I have updated both boards with DIY parts, one with hub motors but the Marbel 1.5 motor is still working and it is still my lightest board with any pull. I noticed right away that the Motor mount (metal plate enforced ) and pulley cover was 3d printed. It is still holding together . I let it slide because I figure its a prototype. They kept my hope alive by a thread. They explained they were developing the 2.0 and had investors and raised funds. A few months later in the fall after no updates I emailed them and got no response. There are people re-invested in them and got screwed again. I knew after the first year when they decided to not update or make corrections they were just waiting it out till they could just slide out the back door.

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