Are you looking for a real update on the status of Arist? Here is a recent video that was filmed in early-mid October by NOW TV in Hong Kong. After over a year in development they have produced a cold drip that leaks and on the second try it “burnt out.” Check the video with subtitles below.
Visa Chargeback – How To
Find out all your payment information from Amazon Payments, https://payments.amazon.com/home, Mine was charged through on the 24th of November however it didnt show up on my Visa statement till the 27th of November.
Call your Credit Card company, and ask to file a chargeback dispute. Give them the information that you purchased a product that was supposed to ship in June 2015, however the company is no longer communicating with you, and is not responding to updates on the status of the product. They have now said the product has been delayed and that partial refunds will be issued in October. Most credit card companies will understand this and put the claim in. My CC company took the report, and then followed up with a letter asking for my proof. I included the following screen shots and used HelloFax.com to fax Visa all the details. Using a Program like Skitch to annotate your pictures and blur out non relevant information.
I phoned Visa after 2 weeks to check the status of the chargeback (I was late getting back to them as my wife and I had our first child in late August… so we were 3 weeks late getting them the above information), they in turn called Visa International regarding it and the next day I was awarded my chargeback. There are many chargeback resource websites, however being Canadian I used this one for Tips.
Just remember to read your credit card companies policies, some may not allow a chargeback being so long ago. My CC company did not want to pursue it until I told them that it was a pre-order for an item that should have shipped in June, and now its delayed further. I started my chargeback in August and it is finally resolved today.
*disclaimer – This is not a guarantee that it will happen, however it is another tool in your box to…
** Will edit in the future to show the refund on my statement. Notice the refund amount is higher than my pledge of $299, its simply exchange rate conversion.. I’m Canadian, Eh?
And here it is in my online statement..
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Arist ripped off Scanomat
At the start of the Arist Kickstarter campaign, a famous and highly advanced Danish Coffee company named Scanomat wrote on the KS comments page that Arist had violated their intellectual property by ripping off their mobile app and graphics. Benson loudly claimed that Scanomat was just jealous because they couldn’t compete on price. However, he quietly changed his plagiarized content. Here are side by side images.
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Arist KS Update
#17
Thanks for the constant support, everyone. Throughout this Kickstarter experience we’ve learnt again and again to stay connected with our backers. We might not have always stayed active in the comment section, but we have continued to release updates. We promise we will continue to release updates and keep you in the loop until the Arist has been shipped.
In this issue of our latest update, we want to connect with everyone even more. We’ll be showing a peek of the inner workings of the company by releasing the revised production plan (post redesign) and the much anticipated Q&A section. We kindly remind everyone to keep the contents of this update within this update and please don’t post or divulge any such information elsewhere. Thank you.
Production Timeline
Below is the revised production timeline of the Arist, after the redesign.
We really want to share this incredible journey of manufacturing the Arist with everyone. The Arist is currently in Phase 4A: Manufacture Engineering Development; and we will provide a summary of the different tasks that will be completed in this phase. We will also include a short summary of every phase we’re in for subsequent updates.
In Phase 4A, we focused on engaging and aligning with manufacturers, which ensures the production model is feasible. Alignment with the suppliers will allow our team to evaluate the basic functions of the various subsystems of the functional manufacturing model.
Our engineering team is performing appropriate analysis, refining the 3D model, creating engineering drawings and performing DFM and DFA with the manufacturers. Design review is being conducted to evaluate the refined 3D model incorporating the result of the DFM & DFA, aligning the CMF specification. By the end of this phase, the soft tool release will be ready.
Q&A
Q. Will the machines still support milk and syrup? I mean can it dispense hot frothy milk and different flavors of syrup?
A. YES!
Q. How long will the milk stay cooled for?
A. The milk container keeps milk at 4C and it be cooled indefinitely as long as the machine is on, but the milk may still spoil past its expiration date.
Q. We understand that a few baristas have received Arist machines in July 2014. Can they make short 20 to 30 second videos introducing themselves and where they’re located?
Chris Fan is one of the first baristas to try Arist locally. She is also the only barista on board who is a licensed Q grader. She has been very helpful consulting us on coffee quality.
Q. Can you introduce your engineering team, their background and what part of the Arist they’re responsible for?
A. The recent heated debates on the web have created a hostile online environment, from which we feel the need to protect our employees. Thanks to the actions, which consisted of privacy invasion and personal attacks, of certain envious cynics, such as Bonnie Jacqueline YuenHan Mou, we have concluded it is unwise to give out any more information about our employees at this time. However, we do understand that backers are curious and want to connect with the people working behind the scenes, so we have asked some of our engineers to prepare a short unedited paragraph about themselves for another update.
Q. What kind of financial support did you receive from the Hong Kong government? How much prize money did you receive from the ICT Awards?
A. As of November 2013, we were qualified for two forms of financial support locally. The first is the HKMC microfinance loan, which is a five year loan with a total value of ~US$38,461. The second is from the HKSP Incubation program, which provides a total funding of ~US$38,461, which we have claimed $0 so far. There is no prize money from winning the ICT Awards. We have not received any additional government grants or funding since the end of the Kickstarter campaign.
Q. Can you show us how you are spending our money?
A. Here is the break down and projection:
The above table summarizes the expenditures from the initial Kickstarter funding. From Dec-May, marked in black, illustrates money that has been spent and the future expense projections are marked in blue. With the current projections, to produce 2500 Arist units, we may be short about $26,000. In other words, we may be unable to produce roughly 100 Arist units. As we don’t want any backer to miss out on the Arist machine, we are doing our best to solve this problem. Right now we can think of two possible options: 1) land an investor and 2) take out a bank loan. If you have other ideas you think can help us, please don’t hesitate to tell us.
Option 1 is the best possible solution. Not only can an investor help with short term cash deficits but they can also help with future expansion plans and improve our company even more. However, finding a suitable investor is not as easy as it seems, especially with some unhappy detractors casting a shadow of doubt on our project. Due to these recent activities, several high potential investors are hesitating. If we cannot make up the deficit of $26,000, the unspoken third option is to not ship 100 Arists. Of course, that is a choice we do not want to make. We will not even consider it until we have exhausted all other options. Even with this minor problem, we will ensure our supportive backers get the Arist.
Q. You said you sold 22000 machines after KS, but some backers have said your website does not have that much traffic. How is that possible?
A.On the contrary, we do get many visitors at our website.
The above graph shows the number of requests our website received from 5:55 – 6:55, yesterday.
Q. Can you show us copies of the three patent applications, including your name and the date of filing on it, but with the confidential and proprietary parts blacked out?
A. No.
Q. Did you reject any press from viewing your machine? It seems like only mainstream non-technical press were allowed to view your machine. Why?
A. Yes, the only press we’ve rejected from viewing our machine was unwire.hk, due to their unprofessional journalism. We don’t have an answer to that as the media contacted us of their own volition.
Q. We read from SCMP that you needed to use screwdrivers and a pencil to tune the machine to produce coffee. How many reporters did you need to do this for? Why? Is this a standard part of operating your machine?
A.
The photo depicts the two tools in question. At the bottom is the pencil and on top it’s not a screwdriver. (Pop quiz! Can anyone tell us what that’s called or what it’s used for?) We needed something long to reach into the machine to turn off the case sensors so the machine can still brew with the cover off. We just grabbed what was handy at the time. We didn’t think it would cause a debate. The reporter did not ask for an explanation at the time.
Q. Benson, why are you always f***ing over your backers? You need to stop being so rude to us and respect us as equals. We aren’t blind to the stupid sh** you are trying pull right in front of us. Give us a refund now!
A. As previously mentioned, the refund requests will be processed in October. We will do our best from now until that time to ship the Arist.
Conclusion
To conclude this update, we want to communicate that in any industry, there will always be competitor and nonbelievers who wish to see you fail. We are aware of their existence and their activities around the web, especially the activities of a certain third party website. However, we won’t acknowledge such parties, who have twisted the truth to serve their own agendas. We are up for the challenge and we will work towards our goal until the sky comes crashing down. We want to thank all our understanding backers by supporting us silently and enabling us to focus our energy and resources on this important mission.
That being said, we will focus our efforts on the work at hand. And as the comment section has become a vehicle for hidden agendas, we will no longer monitor it. For more productive communication, please PM or email us.
– Team Arist
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New Timeline Feature
Let’s be honest, it’s hard to keep up with Benson and Nelson’s [alleged] lies. That’s why we built this exciting timeline page! Go back all the way to the beginning and relive the excitement for the first time.
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The World cares about the Arist Scam
AristScam.com has become wildly successful beyond anything imaginable when the domain was purchased 4/11/15. Alexa rankings show we are way more popular than the AristCafe website. I’ve enjoyed looking at the analytics of who’s been visiting this website, and I thought I’d share a snippet with you. But first, take a look at this graph of Arist creator posts on Kickstarter. This website, and the impact of your viewership and action made an impact!
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Benson Cheats at Kickstarter Launch
Previously, we released information that implicated Benson in a scheme to game his Kickstarter launch as well as control the comments section with false-positive comments. Upon request we’ve decided to release further evidence of these claims (included screen shots at the bottom).
The main reason that someone would want to inflate sales like this is to catch the eye of the media and to gain a “Staff Pick” badge. Although this isn’t illegal behavior, it certainly isn’t honest, and what’s worse is that once again Benson has been caught lying.
When this information was originally released Benson categorically denied all such claims and said publicly on April 29th:
Some of you have come to many conclusions due to rumors, speculation, and some so called source information. They are easy to believe in as you are quite frustrated with misleading information that was not provided by us. But I am confused as to why some of you will find it believable. For example:
.
1) Launch Party. Yep, we hosted one and friends and family came to show their support. They are all real pledges, and no refunds were made. Kickstarter already assumes you will do your own promotions to increase exposure.
Well folks, here is some additional evidence pulled from a private WhatsApp group chat proving, at very least, Benson shouldn’t be trusted.
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Arist’s Next Update May Make or Break this Project
We understand that you’ve already applied for three patents and you shipped 1,000 Arist machines in July 2014. Congratulations!
For the next update, it would be great to have more concrete information:
1. How long will the milk stay cooled for?
2. We understand that a few baristas have received Arist machines in July 2014. Can they make short 20 to 30 second videos introducing themselves and where they’re located? People would love to hear about their favorite parts of the Arist and it’ll inspire a ton of confidence. Low-quality webcam videos would be perfectly fine.
3. Can you introduce your engineering team, their background and what part of the Arist they’re responsible for?
4. Can you show us copies of the three patent applications, including your name and the date of filing on it, but with the confidential and proprietary parts blacked out?
5. Did you receive financial support from the Hong Kong government? What kind of financial support did you receive?
6. What medium did you use to sell the 25,000 units? Which, if any, retailers have placed purchase orders? What countries do they reside in? What is your future plans for those markets?
7. Did you reject any press from viewing your machine? It seems like only mainstream non-technical press were allowed to view your machine. Why?
8. We read from SCMP that you needed to use screwdrivers and a pencil to tune the machine to produce coffee. How many reporters did you need to do this for? Why? Is this a standard part of operating your machine?
It’ll be great to learn more about your team and efforts. We don’t think any of the above is confidential, and this will rebuild trust in your company.
Reference : SCMP article (dated on May 19, 2015)
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[Updated with Letter 2] Benson threatening me with a lawsuit, and asks me to take down this website. Threatens me by mentioning my mother! Disgusting.
Hi Jake,
To allow our Lawyer to forward you a Legal Letter, I just want to confirm your contacting address as the following:
—–
If this is not the right one, please reply us the way to contact, otherwise we will have to defer this work to our lawyer on looking up your contacting address.
I personally don’t want to take this into court, but as I have to take the right action to report to our investors committee due to your action, I have no choice to take legal action against you in person. Unless you will remove all information within 24 hours that has been posted to AristScam.com from any publicly accessible channels (i.e, Internet, radio channels, TV channels .. etc), we can reconsider the option of not to take this legal action.
In addition, We have the record of Ms — making the pledge payment from your Kickstarter Account, I just want to confirm your relationship with Ms. — that she is your mother, and —– is her full legal name.
All information has been recorded and copies has been make to file this claims.
Benson
Dear Jake,
As you have decided to ignore our advice, you give us no choice but to defer this case to our lawyer. From this point onwards we will not contact you personally any more.
Just my final message to you as a friend since I know you are being influenced. I hope by now you understand those anonymous sources are using your identity to spread false allegations of a defamatory nature, which is illegal. I know who they are and they could have said all these themselves, but instead they chose you because you have given them the opportunity to do irresponsible things that can lead to legal issues. And now, you will take all the blame because you have become the scapegoat. These are false information that you have been spreading as if they are true.
Maybe many people around you are comforting you by telling you not to worry, but this is your own issue, not anyone else’s. We have a confirmation of your information already. You will receive our legal claim shortly. To be honest, I didn’t want to have to do this. I have tried to explain it to you already before.
Benson
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[Updated with FBI, Canada contact] How to get an Arist refund and contact authorities!
Dear Backers,
Benson and Nelson Chiu do not respect you, but we do.
We have to stand together or else Benson and Nelson will profit from their massive fraud. Even if they refund each of their vocal critics, they will still walk away with hundreds of thousands of dollars of backer money.
Write on Kickstarter, and keep writing:
Benson and Nelson, we saw the refund procedures listed on www.AristScam.com and will keep asking for a refund until you have offered us one. Please give me a refund.
Even if Benson and Nelson decide to refund 100 vocal backers, they’ll still be walking away with $807,739 in profits. Plus, they have Hong Kong government money.
After you receive your refund, comment here, or join our facebook group so that we can build a community and bring justice to the Chiu brothers.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Please stand together and e-mail [email protected] with the following:
Benson and Nelson stated that they qualified for the ICT award because they shipped 1,000 Arists back in July 2014. (http://startupbeat.hkej.com/?p=17198)
However, according to this site, Benson and Nelson were still modifying an existing Jura coffee machine as of July 2014. (http://aristscam.com/brazen-benson-bragging/) (http://aristscam.com/arist-ripped-off-mobile-control-of-a-coffee-machine-from-a-2012-youtube-video/)
Please revoke this reward immediately to avoid further disgracing Hong Kong.
Thank you,
Backers of the Kickstarter Scam, Arist
Worldwide do this:
1. Go to www.ic3.gov.
2. Click on “File a Complaint.”
3. Read the terms and click “I Accept.”
4. Fill out the form.
Report the alleged crime to the on-line shopping website you dealt with (kickstarter, and Amazon)
If you’re in the US do this:
Please contact the Washington and Illinois attorney generals through these linked forms.
If you’re in Canada do this:
Report to the RCMP. [Benson and his brother allegedly have family in Toronto.]
1. Contact the police service of jurisdiction in your area.
2. Report the fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre by going to their website or by calling 1-888-495-8501.
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[Updated with KS comment] Arist silencing vocal Kickstarter critics by refunding them!
Update 1: Dax reached out to KS which replied “Kickstarter cannot issue refunds, so this refund must have been issued by the creator.” See comments below.
Benson and Nelson Chiu have decided to silence the opposition. They have refunded about 10 of the most vocal critics on Kickstarter. By doing this refund they are preventing us from posting on the comment section. They had hoped that they would be able to just make us disappear and make it look like everything is going great.
Benson then claimed on the comment thread that it was not him doing a refund, but perhaps Kickstarter itself. Another flat out lie.
Below is a screen capture of my refund clearly showing “Arist Inc.” refunded me because “Customer is requesting for refund”.
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Brazen Benson Bragging
If you want to see Benson brazenly bragging about how he’s modding [read plagiarizing a Jura youtube project] then check these photos out from mid July 2014. Here’s more proof that: (a) There wasn’t an Arist sent out to 1000 people handbuilt in July. (b) This project is plagiarizing a youtube video.
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Loans in Hong Kong
The only, currently documented, government money that Benson has received is a Micro Business Startup Loan, which is up to HKD 300,000 upfront and repaid over a period of up to 5 years. They were featured in a promotion book under the name Garffee (p.64).
It is unlikely that Benson and Nelson Chiu recieved the Innovation and Technology Fund [which is a 1:1 matching fund]. There is a public online database where there is no known mention of nBition, Arist, Garffee, Benson/Nelson Chiu.
Sciencepark’s new funding scheme, “HKSTP Corporate Venture Fund” is not running yet. But it could be the next target for the Chiu’s.
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Hong Kong Legislative Councilman asks questions about ICT and Arist!
Councilman Christopher Chung Shu-kun has opened a line of inquiry into what is emerging as a bombshell Arist and ICT scandal. See his letter here. Translation follows.
Continue reading Hong Kong Legislative Councilman asks questions about ICT and Arist!
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Arist allegedly shipped to 1000 baristas around the world last July! Ludicrous claim casts doubt on ICT Award.
Newly discovered: Benson and Nelson Chiu told HKEJ and PC Market that 1000 machines were assembled by hand and shipped back in July of 2014! How ludicrous is that?