Note To Our Readers: The CWK Girls Straight Plates Will Be Issuing Refunds To Investors

Remember this post? We were so excited about this invention because it was a brilliant solution to really stretching your natural hair. From the post we told you that the CWK straight plates were first introduced to us through Kick-Starter, and at the time, many naturals planned to support the project including many of our own readers.

The project became pretty popular, presented on websites like Madame Noire and Black Girl Long Hair, bloggers and readers alike invested in the project because we all wanted to see it successful.

Kelechi Bradley is the creator of the CWK straight plates and she was able to meet her financial goals on Kickstarter which meant she had a few obligations to fulfill which was thoroughly detailed on her kick-starter page.

Well like many of you who have backed the project we have been watching the progress of development, silently hoping the straight plates would make it to market pretty soon.

Unfortunately, there have been some reports that allude to the whole thing being a scam for a variety of reasons. JC of The Natural Haven was very detailed about her concern as well as members of LHCF who have a thread talking about the their speculations.

Considering we also ran the story, we feel obliged to tell you all about what the concerns are and to make you aware that if you did back the project you should keep a close eye on it and probably expect a refund.

Kelechi recently opened up in an email to her investors about the troubles she is facing with the launch of her product. We will refer to her email throughout this post so that you can make your own informed decision on whether this whole thing was a scam or not, starting here:

Good Morning Investors,

As you know the CWK Girls team has been working overtime to bring the CWK Straight Plates vision to fruition. None of our success thus far would have been possible without you all. Your investments were the catalyst that transformed our dream into a reality. Although each step of the creative process has offered its share of challenges, the journey along the way has provided invaluable opportunities that have stretched the creativity of the CWK Girls team and nurtured our growth. Today it saddens us to inform you that we have received some information that has temporarily halted the entire production process. Throughout this process four outside sources have contacted our team with the assertion that they own the patented rights to an idea identical to the Straight Plates; however, none of them could provide the proper legal documentation to support their claims.

From the beginning of the email, Kelechi informed her investors about patent issues, but if you read some of the concerns of the investors you will see other issues that she doesn’t mention in the email. Even with all the issues together, still it does not scream “scam”, at least not to me.

1. Ambiguity on if the molds were already made and tested, or if they needed to be made and tested

CWK updated their followers and backers that the molds were done and sample plates produced, however in a later update they reported that they needed to do further testing and modifications. They further confused things by asking investors for their address’s to mail out plates to investors which gave the impression that everything was good with development.

It would have been better to just communicate the issues with development rather than move forward on getting addresses because even if molds are made, there might be many reasons they would be considered ‘not ready’. For one, production and manufacturing for a new product is not always easy. Your vision might not be what you actually get and while I am not trying to make an excuse for the confusion, its good to look at all sides.

2. Potential patent issues early in the game

This is a huge one and the main thing Kelechi referred to as the thing that will halt her production because if she cant get a free and clear patent, she might as well close down everything, which from the looks of things is what she has decided to do, at least with this project.

If there is already a patent on a similar product this could be an issue. This information was however not fully disclosed by the CWK team to all of her investors early in the game according to her critics.

Again, not making an excuse but the patent game is a tricky one, you can’t even file a patent before getting your manufacturing and research in place and up to par because frankly patents are costly.

It makes sense to get your research and production planned first and then file the patent since you cant have one without the other. If CWK had researched early they might have noticed a similar patent pending product, which is public knowledge if you look in the right place.

In the letter Kelechi gave an over view of just how serious her patent issues are:

We filed a non-provisional patent in February of 2014, less than two months after the above date. The alleged owner of this patent has threatened to take legal action against CWK Girls, LLC. Since our last correspondence we have relentlessly attempted to make contact with the involved parties to gain the necessary information that would put our attorneys in contact so that they could compare the verbiage of both patents and legally sort out this matter.

Their final response shortly stated that their “lawyers would be contacting us soon.” Unfortunately, weeks have passed and we have received no further contact and all other communications from the CWK Girls team since then have been ignored. Despite this, we have worked diligently to resolve this matter. Due to the fact that it usually takes many months for a patent to be seen in the U.S. Patent database our attorney can neither verify nor dismiss the stated claim at this time.

3. Delays in communicating problems to investors

In terms of communicating these issues – and others – there were obviously instances where she was open and others were she wasn’t.

Personally, I do not fault her for her communication because when involved in any form of litigation, or even just trying to keep things above water, you are bound to fall short in some areas and at least there was some communication at the end of the day, in her email she spoke to her work and road blocks:

We have invested countless hours, energy, and money into this project and hate to see it suddenly come to a screeching halt. We know that so many of you have stood by us and encouraged us throughout each phase of this creative process; thus, it is important for us to be honest and transparent with you as we move forward.

Sorting through a matter as complicated as this could take several months, and we do not believe that it is reasonable to expect our investors to wait in uncertainty as we navigate this step in the process. Because of this, we have decided to provide ALL of our backers with a 100% refund.

Other issues include her online store being open potentially selling products that customers would never receive, and poor PR with regards to addressing the concerns of investors and customers. Again we are iffy on that, this situation will depend on some serious patience from investors who are affected and her store was eventually closed.

While we might feel for her situation, people are simply going to want their money back and in her email, Kelechi tried to explain how refunds were going to work so this part is very important:

How will refunds work? Unfortunately, we cannot refund directly through Kickstarter. In addition, Amazon does not let you manually refund after 60 days. We will be required to go through each individual transaction and document the associated transaction identification number in order to initiate a request for refund. An organized transaction list will be sent to Amazon weekly until all of the invested funds are returned. A corresponding email will be sent to each investor notifying them that the refund process has been initiated for their specific investment. The process is tedious, so we ask that you remain patient.

Please note that we have invested over ten thousand dollars of the Kickstarter funds in the developmental stages of this project. While Kickstarter does not mandate that lost funds be refunded, we however believe in doing what is right. In our opinion, that means making certain that each and every investment is honored and returned. Providing a refund to each investor means that we will have to absorb a hit for the initial money invested in the development and production as well as an additional 3% credit card fee. This is an act of goodwill.

Was this one big ole scam?

Personally I don’t think so; it is simply a deal that went bad – and the risk you take – when you garner a ton of investors. You are now obligated to every investor, every personality, and every need that they bring to the table, for helping you. With that said, the issues that are expressed online will vary from person to person.

The point is: make your own informed decision with the whole thing; we don’t want to create any unnecessary bias towards the company because frankly, what they did was pretty cool.

Kelechi ended the email with the following:

Please do not think that this is the end of CWK Girls, LLC. Thousands of you believed in our vision and that alone is motivation for us to push through this hurdle and continue to develop innovative products. We are committed to our curly, wavy, kinky* haired girls! Before moving forward, it is important for us to look back to say thank you for your investment, understanding, and continued support. We are grateful.

Best Regards,

Kelechi Bradley and the CWK Girls Team

So if you invested, watch this situation closely – I know we will.