keyboard redditors get someone fired, Corsair acquires Drop, crooked GMK keycaps 

Managed to catch COVID again and am recovering so sorry about the slightly muddy voice if audio wasn't as clear!

To say I’m furious about the M&C situation would be an understatement. What they did wasn’t just gross negligence, it was theft. In no way can I even fathom how they could’ve unintentionally mismanaged that much money. Personally, I would never harass someone’s family or employer, but as far as I’m concerned, they’re thieves. Im out ~$500 with zero recourse available to me because it was too far back to dispute the charge. I even reached out to them and offered to pay for shipping (AGAIN) if they would just ship my order. Nothing. What makes everything far worse, though (which is hard to imagine) is the blatant lack of communication, and when they DID communicate, it was to tell us they have lives and they’re going on vacation so they don’t have time to ship sets, etc. This is straight up inexcusable and unacceptable. It’s likely that I’ll never get my GMK Terror Below set, or the cable and artisan I ordered with it. I. Am. Livid. Full stop.

Group Buys are honestly what made me phase out of the hobby the past two or so years and now I just enjoy the keyboards I was lucky enough to build, and view what the community is doing at a distance. I never was a complete fan of the prospect of giving away my money for a product that hasn't even been created yet, but early on in my time in the hobby I did go in on some keyboard and early GMK GBs against my better judgement. Luckily during then GMK GB's didn't take at least a year to pump out, and the group buy runners of yesteryear were (sometimes) staples of the community who just wanted to share their products and passion with a community who were willing to put their trust (and money) in them. I've definitely seen horror stories of people getting screwed over by group buys during the pre-Covid era of the hobby, but the explosion in popularity that this hobby garnered during quarantine really just exemplified a lot of it's shortcomings and it's sad to still see this trend go on in the present. Seeing so many people losing their hard earned money all because of incompetent GB runners is incredibly sad and not what I want to be synonymous when people think of this hobby. The last GB I was a part of that really was the final nail in the coffin for me was the GSKT-00. I don't need to go into specifics of all the mess that went down with that GB but iykyk and I at point I just had enough of GB aspect of mechkeyboards. Waiting years for a keyset to get shipped to you, receiving faulty products whether it's those said keycaps or the keyboard that you're planning to build, takes the wind out of a lot of people's sails and I'm not surprised if people fall out of this hobby because of it. I honestly wish for this community that I put a lot of appreciation and admiration for to be able to grow past these hurdles and I hope that isn't just wishful thinking at that point. Hopefully all those affected by the negative aspects of GBs are able to get their money back or their product that they were promised.

Groupbuys have been the worst part about this hobby in the past few years- its anti consumer, unreliable, and is often handled unprofessionally for a hobby that has grown so large. In fact, the majority of vendors that carry out these groupbuys aren't reputable at all. Yet for some reason keyboard redditors are adamant on insisting that they're perfectly fine, but ironically are the first to complain when things go awry.

Easy to say to stay civil when you are not part of this mess. While I can’t say nasty comments (I also didn’t get a chance to see them at all) and harassment is the right way to approach this, I find myself hard to not say he got what he deserved. It’s not like he was willing to work with the members of the community to minimize damage. He used the community’s trust at his advantage and stole hundreds and thousands of dollars. This kind of happenings rot community from inside out and does nothing but harm to the hobby

I agree that the harassment went too far. People contacting either the clients or the owner’s family crossed a line. However, it is important to note that: 1) The ownership of Mechs & Co was listed publicly on his profile. 2) The potential for considerable fraud or at the minimum gross negligence on the owner’s part (possibly to the tune of 1M or more USD) is something that ABSOLUTELY should be disclosed to an employer. Mike may be looking at either major civil suits or potentially even criminal charges based on what is uncovered. Until this is fully resolved, he should not be trusted near money, and his firm clearly did care about this situation. It’s the sort of thing that would have turned up on a background check or credit check if the timing of his hiring had been different. He is a ticking time bomb for anyone associated with him.

I bought several things from the GMK Tiramisu set from Mechs & Co and the entire ordeal is so depressing. This was the first group buy for many of us (including me) and I used my debit card to purchase over $200 worth from this group buy so I'm not getting that money back and it's gone forever. Good lesson in putting group buy stuff on a credit card with protection that covers a long time. I don't see myself joining another group buy for the foreseeable future. This was such an emotional hassle and so many of us are out a couple hundred dollars. And what's so disappointing is that in the discord server for this group buy specifically, a lot of us were willing to wait several more months to give them time to fix this huge problem but it doesn't look like that's even gonna happen. I wish they would refund us so we can have closure. Thanks for the update! Hoping it gets resolved somehow for the sake of everyone who believed in them and supported them before all of this.

Feeling so honored to have my Pluto pics in your video! Thank you man 🙏🙏

Guess it's time to file a chargeback for my GMK NTD... to hell with these irresponsible a-holes who willingly misappropriate other people's money like this. Some people are theorizing that they either spent it on student loans and/or lost it on the stock market, and to be perfectly honest, it wouldn't surprise me if either of those cases were true.

Loving these monthly updates. Great work and thank you!

i appreciate the links to all the things you talk about, that sliding cluster keyboard really interested me and it's nice to just be able to scroll down and learn about it and not have to google and hunt for it. also, keep up the great work my dude

My GMK botanical R2 set is affected, honestly wouldn't have noticed if not for the post.

As someones whos been burned a few times by bad group buys (product doesnt match whats promised/unfulfilled/defects), I've bever been a fan of the concept and always felt weary about giving money in advance for a product I might not even get, as such I've resorted to only buying keysets when they are in stock or readily available. Also a lot of group buys always had the problem of being limited runs and then scalpers buy the keysets to resell them for double or even triple the original value.

GB perpetuate two big issues in the Keeb community: 1) Financial pressure to BUY NOW so you don't miss out even if you don't have the money 2) Consumer waste I think GP’s should stop and just have limited quantities of in stock items instead. Then if there is enough demand (“notify me when available”) do another run of limited quantities.

This series is great, I hope you keep it going!

Fascinating about Corsair's acquisition of Drop.

so Mike think he can just walk away scot-free after embezzling over $500,000? losing his job should be the least of his worries

Still glad to see you're doing well since the Troy days man! Keep up the great content :D

hell yea another monthly update, thanks again Taeha!

I was thinking of attending the Melbourne event as I can get there. Are these events worth attending? What's other people's experiences like?

The cherry on top for this video is my favorite album on the back shelf

I've never understood why so many people in this hobby trust group buys. The best managed ones still take too long and more often than not, for average quality, especially for keycaps. The not so well managed ones end up taking forever to receive and/or the quality is bad. I only buy stuff in stock or handmade so it won't take long and I can always charge back.

Looking forward to the keeb news this month! thanks mr taeha!

I personally don't agree with your take on the Mechs & Co stance. the company has stolen several hundred dollars from several hundred people, and should be held accountable, unless they file bankruptcy the people affected deserve to move as they see fit to secure their purchase/refund. This isn't an oopsie daisy or a small issue, this affects a large group of people and a lot of their money. Worse has been done for less, and unless more communication from Mechs & Co starts to happen, I think the responses are justified

Certified reddit moment.

I can't wait to be known for my boards and not for Mechs & Co news lol. Anyways, I can't wait to eventually attend some large meetups!

It's definitely wishful thinking, but I'd love to see Corsair pop out a hotswap hunk of metal if they have the wherewithal to implement an interesting, or at least tried-and-true, enthusiast-level mounting system and all of the usual accoutrement - screw-in stabs, USB-C, layout flexibility, etc.

Love this series of vids, Nathan! Sorry to hear you caught COVID, but seems like you're much better now. Keep up the great work

so people paid GMK tax to get products not up to so called GMK standards?

I don't understand why some group buys even exist like for the Kohaku guaranteed to sell just make a certain amount dont run a group buy and when you receive them then put them up for sale and and people will buy them.

Thankfully I was able to dodge the Mechs & Co. bullet but I am still in a similar boat due to being burned by Aeternus. It's been a mess there too with Taylor, the owner of Aetenus, having ghosted the whole community in March and hasn't been seen since. The groupbuy situation is at an incredibly frustrating breaking point in this hobby. I myself have slowly phased myself out of the hobby over the past year due to groupbuy burnout.

Its really annoying how bigger companies tries to pull group buy thing as standart. Group buys are only for solo people and starting business. There should be a law which bigger companies gradually forces them to go out if group buy selling phases

I'm guessing the impact could be lessened a bit if the manufacturers would disclose order numbers and payment status. Probably not a particularly popular solution for them, as that'd disclose their finances, but imo would go a long way to improving trust

It's unfortunate that a situation like this had to ever occur, but can we finally be done with group buys?

So far, pretty much all the gmk r2 sets have issues: missing keycaps, crooked, and printing errors, … pretty disappointed with the QC regarding such a high price. Tried JTK, and Domikey and they are perfect alternatives. The sound difference between them and gmk is 1%... So for those who say GMK has better sound 😅 LOL, yes they have better sound in comparison to the CLONE ones only. And this is obviously what “premium” keycap sets should do 😂

finally got my tuzi set and i can’t even say i want it anymore bc it was so frustrating to watch it keep going back for color matching. i kinda wish that gmk could provide people with palette or the pantone sample range for the colors they’re aiming for so this doesn’t happen again or even just that the creators would invest in the pantone color picker

Thank you Taeha for updating about mechs and co, haven’t been keeping up and you just got me $350 back in my pocket hopefully 🙏

I’d like to look on the bright side of the Massdrop/Corsair deal. Even though Drop fell out of favor in both the keyboard and audiophile community in the past years, they still have great understanding of the both communities wants in a product. This is a great move on Corsair’s part if they intend to revamp their peripherals line up to better compete with Logitech and Razer.

Love taeha talks

I never liked group buys, I understand the purpose of them existing but there needs to be a better way to go about these things. I have ordered a few items that I had forgotten i even placed an order for, only to get them delivered and put them up in my closet because it no longer fits my desk setup/esthetic. Im still waiting on my Wind X r2 southpaw and this will be the last GB i join. We have been molded to an instant gratification population at least here in the U.S and I have Amazon to blame at least partly for that.

Love this series!

This just in... as of July 2023, Taeha's hair product budget exceeds his mech keeb budget by three fold!

Sadly out of $160 from MW Pavilion due to making this purchase on debit sadly, sucks that Mech & Co. took the route that they did.

What even happens to products from mechsandco that are already paid for?

Never thought I'd see the day we get "Tea"ha types

Thanks for the comment on M&C/Reddit's Reponse, and i am glad to know I am not alone there. It disappoints me, but as a maker, I will be stepping away from the r/mk community entirely. That forum has changed dramatically since I got in the hobby. People used to be excited about new projects there, but now it just seems like a forum for witch hunting. I do not feel like it is a good space to share my projects any more.

Personally this is why i just buy clones of GMKs , no groupbuy, insane prices, or wait times

I'm glad that the Mechs and Co founder got fired from his job. He got what he had coming. Full stop.

I have the hubble and a few keycap sets totalling over $1k with mechs and co. It's kind of upsetting. I think it's also messed up that manufacturers are going to relist these items for sale to the general public (like MW did with their keycaps). We're lost out of money while the manufacturers get away with it. I think some responsibility need to be put onto manufacturers too because it's the designers/manufacturers who pick what vendors to sell from, so they should've done their due dilligence to pick a proper vendor.

Heaven Beach in the background, you are a very tasteful man Taeha.

is that buchardt?

i'm still waiting for my gh60 pcbs... needless to say, that was the last GB i participated in.

Remember when Drop was MassDrop... Used to buy weed vapes from them circa 2012

I virtually only buy from products if it's on preorder (AKA they are already in production and are simply waiting on shipments. Examples like the HIBI June), or if they're in stock. Osume has been fucking amazing and is virtually one of the only people I buy sets from because they have consistently good CS, are constantly fixing whatever rare mistakes pop up, and are very prompt with all order shipments and transparency. GBs just shouldn't exist anymore, IMO. Just because the hobby is still small compared to other industires (though it's grown a lot), doesn't mean giving random untrustworthy people money for years on end makes sense. It kind of reminds me of the current arguments about fanzines. Fanzines are a much smaller market but there's been a huge spike in people taking 20/30k worth of preorders for a zine and running with the money. There's gotta be a solution

the quality of GMK, wah dunno if its me but my GMK yuru has drops of red here and here on the alphas, and just my luck all the new sets that took ... i believe almost 600+ days for them to arrive all have this crooked caps :( Like wah dunno, i'm not even going to bother to follow up with vendors and then wait 1 year for gmk to send the replacements. And 1 year is considered fast for GMK o_O just..... argghhh tired and just gonna just find a way to twist my switches

Either take away the group buy model, or legitimize the vendors. This should be non-negotiable at this point. Way too much risk doing group buys on vendors with no prior reputation and financial history with no signs of transparency and accountability.

Still holding out for my XOX70 from Mechs and Co... It was listed as paid so here's hoping

IMO goup buys might have *some* relevance in regards to limited production in today and age. Sadly this seems to be more of a mechanism for vendors and Cough cough GMK to infuse a false sense of FOMO and increase sacristy and thus raise costs.

group buys have been around long enough (years) with enough size to be viable targets for scammers

i honestly think with the way the hobby is going, there is going to be some type of preorder/ group buy to always exist within the hobby. It is sad to think about all the people who got scammed out of M&C, i my self was scammed from them too. but i think the GB model with how small the hobby still is need to exist for these companies who ARE trustworthy to thrive. the hobby has grown but it has tapered off so much it would be unsustainable for these bigger vendors to even keep things in stock without cutting some of their margins.

Great ep. Background music too loud though

Do you have any recommendations for tkl keyboards under $100

The KING!!

This hobby is what got a lot of people through covid and gave quite a few something to do at home wether researching or building … the state of the hobby now is dreadful most companies expanded during the boom of popularity but are now suffering because of the steady decline in hobby participants. A lot of vendors were already shady and when concerns were brought up like zeal and their terrible switch QC the customers were scoffed at simply from band wagoning. Makes me sad every time I check back into the hobby to see what’s new or going on and it’s all just a mess and everything is so horridly expensive now.

I spent almost $700 on gmk terror below and monochrome. Shitty thing is I tried to charge back like 9 months ago cuz I was fed up with waiting and my credit card company filed in M&Cs facor. Sucks so bad.

Wow Taeha owns a Bucahardt speaker~

Yessss the only one covering keeb drama atm, thank you Taeha

Xox70 was my first GB. Very unkind way for me to learn

I don't think group buys should go away completely. The entire hobby is built upon the designs of other people and their own expression of art put into the form of keycaps and keyboard designs. While there are definitely examples of group buys gone bad, there's still more group buys that have been handled well. The whole 2 year wait thing for keycaps is really on GMK for accepting so many orders while still being so far behind in queue though, but its still, imo, not enough reason to get rid of GBs altogether. At this point only a few vendors can really be trusted, and it really sucks that anyone that isn't deep into the hobby won't have any idea of which ones those really are. There definitely needs to be a better system for vetting vendors that are capable and trustworthy. Idk how that will happen, and it probably does involve multiple vendors and maybe even content creators communicating with each other, but I hope people step up before we start seeing even less and less custom projects in the hobby.

Dont know if anyone ever reported on that but PRKNS who wanted to make the 40% whimsy also made a keycap set called 1930 and never delivered, then just vanished from his discord and never returned. I remember someone telling me if I want to buy that keyboard I need to have some faith. Well lucky I am not a believer.

holy, he made a second video

As someone that is furiously waiting on my first ever absolute Group buy, GMK Sumi from Project Keyboards, I understand the frustration of the people affected by mechs and co. However, I also don’t support the personal harassment and comments they got but I do still think they should be held liable under a legal standpoint. For this same very reason I have not joined a GroupBuy since and will now only buy from reputable sources or second hand market I guess….it’s because of things like this that hurt the reputation of the hobby

I'm happy for this. Time to end GBs bs and making keyboard community a more transparent + better availability for all.

I'm still geninely dissappointed with how the whole Rukia R2 groupbuy has gone.

whoa what the heck the goat is making videos again

i knew about the mech's and co situation like 2 years ago. i stopped buying from them back then. i've been buying GMK GBs that they carried from international vendors, like prototypist. i actually ended up saving a few dollars as well due to not having to pay a 9% sales tax on my GMK orders.

I fundamentally disagree on your take on Mechs & Co. You yourself said it was gross negligence on their part. Allowing them to scam, and then move on to a new job is gross negligence on the communities part. I’m sure they didn’t disclose any of the issues they themselves have caused for their former business. If I were the persons new employer, I would want to know whether the person im employing is trustworthy - and given how the M&C debacle went down that’s just not the case. Reap what you sow.

Group buys are a MAJOR gate keeper for newcomers in this hobby, in my opinion they shouldn't exist anymore but vendors just keep milking on the love that people have for the hobby and don't wanna take risks like any other small/new company has to, GB's should ONLY be acceptable for new experimental/innovative products.

Haven't been a part of any GBs since 2020/early 21 at latest, but man it's crazy I've forgotten about so many GBs and just receiving shipment now-I can't imagine folks who have recently joined and are getting burned. Has the hobby really scaled up this much that things are such a mess now? Is it just covid backlogs? What's going on?

i guess i really am not ever getting my mw commut

Just want to say thank you Taeha for all that you do. Get well soon bro

Love what vendors like Keychron have done to put out budget boards that are still of good quality - sometimes via in-stock sales. Personally, I hope a cost effective means of doing in-stock sales comes about and that group buys are phased out. I'm probably dreaming though.

I'm just glad that I'm too poor to even consider getting involved with a group buy.

I really like these, I need more of these pls k thx bai

That haircut... Korean grandma hair

Imo its perfectly valid to contact the business where someone that has stolen thousands of dollars now works while trying to simply ignore the situation, especially when they decide to share it publicly. If the business doesnt want to keep working with someone whos scammed thousands thats more than fair. Saying that, staff and clients shouldnt be harrassed obviously.

Of course group buys should still exist. This whole Mechs & Co saga is not the fault of group buys. Group buys are the only way the little guy can make stuff. No group buys, no hobby really, as we're just merely consumers when that happens, sitting here waiting for large companies to make something we want. Group buys give every one of us agency in our hobby. It's vendors that are the issue, not group buys.

I disagree here, a business deserves to know if they're employing a person that would so grossly mismanage their business and outright scam their customers.

Looking good bro!!

will never participate in a group buy again, unless it's a zoom board

I really enjoy these videos

Groupbuys need to go. Been waiting 5 months for my zoom75 and 2 years for my GMK Mecha01

Been waiting for the Type K for literal years. So excited.

lol, Captain America old!

KL-90 Alu buyers who bought their keyboards 2020 and still don't have them:

thg group buy business model is the worst part about keyboards now. i have been burned by too many of these vendors at this point and have little faith in future GBs. also extras are easy to get on the ones that are successful without preording anything and also usually for cheaper.

OH SNAP i'm actually still expecting a "GMK Terror Below" set from Mechs&co right now! which going from the list you showed was actually paid for and says it has been delivered to them but i have not received it :O their support has been pretty good with updates since i placed my order though, every time i email i get a reply so i will ask for an update now... but to answer the question i definitely feel like group buys should be phased out, maybe switch the sneaker model... relatively small runs but regular restocks to keep up with demand whilst avoiding a resale value & all the things that come with that like bots & scalpers etc.

the clickbait thumbnail is godlike, get that bag g

Hell no, the dude who owns Mechs and Co. literally lost multiple thousands of dollars from people. Some individuals lost $2,000. He deserves it point blank period imo. I do agree it’s bad to involve outside people who have nothing to do with the situation, but as for the individual in question, I could not care less what happens to them.

oh your hair is naturally curly