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#4925650
I hate for my first post here to be a negative one but I have had one of my worst buying experiences with GBfans member Knowone251 through his Etsy page. In early September I ordered both his vac formed pack shell and his resin parts kit for the pack.

The first order, the pack parts, were suppose to be ready to ship in two weeks and the pack shell was suppose to ship in four weeks. After missing the ship date for the resin parts, with no communication, I sent a message asking for an update. He finally got back to me saying that he had been ill and that my order would be shipped in a "few days". I told him that I understood and waited. More than a week later after hearing nothing from him I asked for another update. He responded "my bad" to the lack of communication and promised that my parts order would go out that evening (this was October 1st). A shipping label was created that evening but it did not make it to the post office for several more days. After all of the delays and aggravation I was excited when the package finally arrived. What I received was disappointing. The resin pack parts that I got are not the worst resin pieces that I've ever seen but they're a mess. Many parts were undersized, there were tons of bubbles, warped parts, bad seems, and weird misshapen parts that look like they weren't molded properly. At this point I was just glad to have received anything so I decided to keep them and try to fix them up. A couple of small parts were also missing which I contacted the seller about and we agreed that he'd send out the missing parts when he shipped the pack shell.

The second order, for the pack shell has been an aggravation to but it mildly. Garrick originally told me in a message (that was in response to the status of the resin parts) sent on Friday October 4th that my pack shell would be shipping "tomorrow or Monday" so, the 5th or 7th. Again, I waited with no communication. Monday came and went. I waited another week before asking for another update. I didn't get a response for several days telling we that there had been "delays" and gave me the vague shipping time of "end of the week". At this paint I got really annoyed and asked him to just ship the pack shell that I had ordered. I never got another response so I went to Etsy to see when I could file a claim since the Etsy ship by date had come and gone and discovered that his Etsy store is gone. https://www.etsy.com/shop/KnowOnesDesigns

I have given up hope of actually receiving the pack shell. I have been overly patient and understanding and feel like I got completely ripped off by Knowone251.

So, buyer beware....
#4925845
Hmmmm, this doesn't make me feel any better about my in-process purchase with him. I purchased a fully assembled proton pack from him in September, and the communication has indeed been sparse the closer it's getting to the end of this month. He told me the package would be in the mail late last week, or early this week, and now it's Friday, with no notification or communication, and I also noticed his Etsy shop was de-listed. Will update here or post a new Feedback post if or when this transaction is completed. Hope you get the rest of your shipment somehow.
Venkman882 liked this
#4925851
I wanted to post a follow up to this. After I posted this I received a refund for the pack shell from Knowone251. He also sent me a message with what I feel is a sincere apology and an explanation for everything that went wrong with our transaction. He also offered what I think is a very gracious olive branch and I feel more than satisfied with how this turned out in the end.
#4925909
Wedgeismyhero wrote: October 18th, 2019, 1:01 pm Hmmmm, this doesn't make me feel any better about my in-process purchase with him. I purchased a fully assembled proton pack from him in September, and the communication has indeed been sparse the closer it's getting to the end of this month. He told me the package would be in the mail late last week, or early this week, and now it's Friday, with no notification or communication, and I also noticed his Etsy shop was de-listed. Will update here or post a new Feedback post if or when this transaction is completed. Hope you get the rest of your shipment somehow.
I hope it works out for you. I opened a paypal dispute before I got a proper response from him. Seems he took on more orders than he could manage in a reasonable amount of time and closed his Etsy shop so that no further orders would come in until he catches up. This certainly has not been the best experience with a seller that I've ever had but he did make things right by me in the end.
#4925971
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

BigDaddy wrote: October 19th, 2019, 5:14 pm
Wedgeismyhero wrote: October 18th, 2019, 1:01 pm Hmmmm, this doesn't make me feel any better about my in-process purchase with him. I purchased a fully assembled proton pack from him in September, and the communication has indeed been sparse the closer it's getting to the end of this month. He told me the package would be in the mail late last week, or early this week, and now it's Friday, with no notification or communication, and I also noticed his Etsy shop was de-listed. Will update here or post a new Feedback post if or when this transaction is completed. Hope you get the rest of your shipment somehow.
I hope it works out for you. I opened a paypal dispute before I got a proper response from him. Seems he took on more orders than he could manage in a reasonable amount of time and closed his Etsy shop so that no further orders would come in until he catches up. This certainly has not been the best experience with a seller that I've ever had but he did make things right by me in the end.
Glad it all worked out. Too bad it took the review post for you to get any action.

I noticed his Etsy store was closed as well. Looks like he's Ebay is still going though.... https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Proton-Pack-Pro ... SwL~hdonNl
#4926189
Update on my current situation (figured this should go here instead of starting a new thread for the same seller):

After not hearing from Garrick and reading this feedback post, I tried to contact him on Oct 18th via his Instagram @knowonesdesigns asking what the deal was. He told me they had shut down their shop for the Halloween season and was moving their storefront to their personal website. Fair enough, but not being given any kind of notice via email about the situation after missing the shipment window he had stated earlier was not cool. He asked me to communicate via his gmail as he doesn't check his Instagram often, so just to make sure I'm staying on top of it, I email him there asking when I can expect the pack now. It takes him a few days, but he gets back to me letting me know it would ship middle of this week (around 10/23 I'm guessing) and takes about three days to deliver, so I should expect it Friday/Saturday.
I get an email from PayPal Thursday morning with a UPS tracking number that states the label has been printed, but has yet to reach a shipping facility. It's now Friday afternoon, and the status hasn't changed, so I'm guessing it's not going to be here by tomorrow or Saturday. I wouldn't be so worried, if it weren't for the same thing having happened to BigDaddy and the fact that I'm flying out on Oct 30th, and had planned some stuff around getting this pack in a timely manner. To be clear, at the start of the order process, I asked him before putting any money down if his work load would allow him to deliver this before Halloween. He assured me that as long as I paid everything before Oct 15-20th, I'd receive my pack in time. Now, if I get this before I fly out, I'll eat crow about the deadline. But when he initially said I'd receive it the week of Oct 14th, I made plans to attend a few Halloween parties this weekend in full regalia. Crappy, but not the end of the world. Now I'm worried that the pack is going to arrive when I'm out of town, and the package needs to be signed for upon delivery.
I wouldn't recommend buying from Garrick/Knowonesdesigns at this point in time. His communication is severely lacking and he doesn't seem to be able to deliver in a timely manner. I was hoping to get a complete pack kit from him so I could build a second one in my spare time, but I'm thinking I'm going to look elsewhere.
HeavyKevy1983 liked this
#4926244
I hope it arrives in time. My items sat for a few days after having the labels printed but once the post office had them, they were here (from Arizona to Florida) in two days. I'm still having an issue with him though. I still have not received the missing Legris straight connectors that he forgot to ship with both of my orders. Said he'd send them a week ago but I have heard nor seen anything about it since then.
#4926288
https://imgur.com/a/hTiB1e6

Here's a link to some photos I took of the resin proton pack parts he sent me. As you can see they need work, to put it mildly. The first two photos show the overall quality (such as the bumper not only being a mess in the back but also dipping in the center and having a slight twist to it) while the rest of the photos show the Knowone251 parts (always on the left) next to resin parts that I bought from Heavy Props that I've been told are extremely accurate. Most of them are just really rough and undersized by comparison. The booster ladder is especially warped and full of air bubbles. The crank knob probably the worst though. It is slightly undersized and is actually not fully cast. The bottom was not fully filled and the top of the knob is missing the bevels. Whatever knob that this was molded from had been sanded flat (with a slight angle) so this part is pretty much unusable. I think that the photos really speak for themselves.

Note: I had already started putty work on the ion arm when I took these photos.
Wedgeismyhero liked this
#4926340
https://imgur.com/a/GUMEwh4

Here are some photos (and a video) of the paper this, gritty pack shell that I was sent as a peace offering. At first I was satisfied and felt like he had gone above and beyond to make things right but after I started trimming it I noticed that it's got a ton of issues. I usually don't look a gift horse in the mouth but this thing is going to require a lot of fiber-glassing just to make it stable enough to use. I don't know if it was rushed or if this was a rejected pull that he had laying around but it's eggshell thin in many places (I can actually see a little light through it in one place) and is covered in this weird gritty texture that looks like a mix of tiny bubbles and little holes in the surface of the plastic. Like I said, I don't know if this is his typical quality but if I had ended up paying for this, I'd be ticked off.

Also, it's been over a week since he said he'd send out the missing Legris straights and I haven't heard anything since.
#4926348
My pack is finally in the mail, getting overnight shipped and should be in my grubby little hands before I get on my flight. And now I’m worried about the quality of this thing. I was expecting a lot of trade offs for it being a very light, ABS vacu-formed pack with mostly resin parts, but your parts are not looking as good at what he showcased on his video with Punished Props on YouTube. I’ll post pictures if I have time and see how it compares. Crossing my fingers.
BigDaddy liked this
#4926379
Boy, am I disappointed. I received my pack this morning, and all of the issues you had with your shell and cast parts were indeed present. Not only that, but the labels were peeling, the shell was separating pretty badly from the motherboard, quite a few parts had come unglued including the power pack from the motherboard, there were hot glue threads everywhere, lots of sloppy hot gluing, the top of the wand body was missing two full hatlights (not sure if they're all called that), and the handle to the wand was snapped at the seam. I'm going to blame that on UPS, although the box wasn't labeled as fragile or "handle with care", not that I imagine UPS would actually honor those, they've busted plenty of things shipped to me. The video he did with Punished props also showed a different set of electronics than the one included. From looking at it, it looks like it's the GBFans kit, which doesn't seem to be wired properly as the cyclotron lights don't work right until you run it through a full firing of the stream into the vent sound effects. That or it's user error on my part. He did tell me to not use too many functions at once as it "resets the system". The shell thickness seems pretty uniform, I haven't really scrutinized it any more, but taking the motherboard off, it looks like once again he deviated from the Punished Props build and used a different method for fiberglassing the shell.

Here's a link to the photos I took this morning. http://s18.photobucket.com/user/wedgeis ... ProtonPack

The pros:
- The pack is lightweight and comfortable to wear. Nothing wrong with the repro Alice frame, feels very secure, aside from one of pieces of mounting hardware not being attached properly.
- Once the sounds are working, it sounds pretty damn good. I'm no audiophile, but for my personal tastes, it sounds alright. There's some rattling in the pack, but that's something I'll look into fixing myself. The volume range is pretty good.
- I guess I have a pretty good project shell to start on. The shell is sturdy, even if uneven on the edge that rests against the motherboard, and will probably be a good one for me to start learning techniques on how to make my own pack from other parts.

Ultimately, the product doesn't match what was showcased in the Punished Props video, and the quality of the cast resin parts and the shell body wasn't there. I can't recommend KnowOnesDesigns for any Proton Pack services or products.

Also if anybody can recommend a way for me to quickly temp fix my wand handle so I can at least wear it out tomorrow, please let me know. Some kind of epoxy? Is there anything that can cure overnight or within a few hours well enough to hold the damn thing together?
#4926386
Sorry that the quality of your's is shoddy as well. I was hoping that he'd get his act together. That quality is completely unacceptable. It looks like the whole thing was hot glued together. Does that appear to be correct? I would be furious if I received that after paying for a completed pack. If you paid with PayPal, I would advise filing a claim because that thing is certainly not as advertised. If you want to keep it, you can request for a partial refund. As for the broken part, most hardware stores sell 10 minute epoxy that should fix it pretty quickly.
Wedgeismyhero liked this
#4926563
Wow...the more I hear about his shoddy work the more annoyed I get. I can't help but laugh when I see him selling his completed packs as "Professionally built" when we've seen how they turn out and they are slopped together with hot glue....
#4926778
Hopefully this will be my last post on the subject. After failing to ship the missing Legris straights, after many several promises, I filed a claim with PayPal for a partial refund so that I could pick some up from another seller. He never responded to PayPal so they sided with me and refunded me the $11 that I asked for. I am no longer owed anything from Knowone251 so I'm done. I will try to make the best of the situation and try to fix up the crap he sent me. I'm sure that the resin parts can be salvaged (even though they look like recast garbage) but I'm not sure about the shell. It is just so thin in some places. Hopefully once I back it with some fiberglass, it will be strong enough to attach parts to.
Wedgeismyhero liked this
#4926779
Sorry it ended that way. I ended getting a $250 refund for the poor finish and cut corners. Let me know if you fiber glass the shell, I’d like to see how you handle it. Mine doesn’t look too great with the fiberglassing he did and is starting to separate from the shell in quite a few spots. This pack is more and more of a disaster the more I look at it and its individual components and construction techniques. For any potential buyers: be aware that the pack he puts together in the Punished Props Youtube video is NOT representative of the pack that I received. Go elsewhere for a completed pack or resin components.
#4926790
I'll probably start a build thread, eventually, as I try to polish this turd. Right now, I'm prepping a Studio Creations shell tjat I bought instead.

I've been thinking about that video. After watching it again I realize that while they do use Garrick's bucks to make the pack shell, everything else is done using Punished Props equipment and materials. I think that is why the pack in that video turned out much nicer than what we received. I think it's false advertising when he uses that video to promote his product.

On a side note, I talked to a buddy of mine that know tons more about plastics than I do and he says that the bubbling and pitting seen on the packs we received is from moisture in the plastic. He says that "ABS has to be dried out before being thermo-formed. Any professional knows that". So, yeah. Real professional...
#4927734
I purchased a fully built pack from Garrick and have had it for about two weeks now. I can not afford the more high end built packs as I'm not good with putting together all of the electronics and whatnot. I just have not time for that. He was gracious enough to build one for me. It came at 0 hour as I needed it for a Thanksgiving parade. Now for the actual pack itself, I love it. I do this for a hobby with the Windy City Ghostbusters here in Chicago. I didn't need to spend thousands on something I'm only going to wear a couple months out of the year. Somebody in this thread nailed it, they said, "The more you look at it, the more you will find cut corners". That is very true. There are tons of cut corners. With that being said, this is a starting point for me. I now have something to upgrade along the way and to make it better. I'm going to be working with a friend of mine to make it better. I'm also going to be using GBFans.com to buy better parts to replace. I already bought new stickers and new green tubing with the connectors for the wand because Garrick must have been drunk when he attached that, so I'll fix that myself. Here is my list of pros and cons.

Pros:
- Lightweight, which is good for my back issues although wearing it all day does take it's toll.
- Accurate enough. Just holding the thrower and turning it on makes me feel like a kid again.
- Does the job for the money I paid. I'm happy with what I got. It puts smiles on people's faces when they see it.
- Sound. Wow is this thing loud! It was great people to hear while posing for pictures.
- Mounting. Garrick chose the 4 bolt method for mounting to the alice frame. It tends to have a wobble up at the top. No biggie as I will add one more bolt at the top for more added security.
Wand- It's actually not that bad of a wand compared to the expensive ones. It fits nicely in my hands and is very comfortable. The switches are all solidly connected and function properly.
Lights- The lights are nice and bright and really light up a room
Beefy- The size is accurate and this is a serious piece of hardware to strap on your back.
-Price. Like I said before, he was right in my price range. It's a great pack if you are unable to do the work yourself, but still want an accurate enough pack.

Cons:
- Glue. Boy does Garrick love his glue. This stuff is everywhere. The first thing to fail was the green wire on the wand. That was hardly even glued at all and just popped right off. I ordered the correct fitting from this website so we are good there. There are many things I have to glue back down or spot glue to fill gaps. It seems like it was a rush job in most areas. The red wire at the front of the want popped right off too after i drew the wand to hold. The gold painted cast connectors that hold the red wire were not glued on very well. I had to use much more loctite and a clamp to get that glued back down. The resin casted silver tip on the clear tube on the wand popped off as soon as I took it out of the box, but again i glued that all down myself.
- Motherboard. Great that he uses correct thickness aluminum, bad however is it is cut waaay too long at the bottom of the pack. The very sharp edges of the motherboard stick out so long it cuts fabric and scrapes floors. I will have to take tin snips and a sander to get that right. With it being longer, the pack does not sit on it's own as it should because that piece just juts the pack forward.
- Communication. Garrick lacked a lot in this department. I had the same issue with a label being created, and watching as nothing happens. He had to next day air it to me for the parade. I applaud his efforts to get it to me on time.
Stickers- Ya no on these....they are all mostly falling off. So today i ordered fresh vinyl ones from this website. He told me just to glue them down, but who glues stickers....
-Mounting. The 4 bolt system he used to bolt to the alice frame creates a wobble of sorts if I stop real sudden. I'm going to rectify that by adding a top 5th bolt above the crossbar on the alice frame.
- Resin parts. Some of the resin parts and plastic parts he used seem cheap. I will be replacing them with real aluminum parts sometime next year. Both Clippards for pack and wand will get replaced after the holidays.


Overall, for what it is, I'm happy with what I got. It could have been waayyy worse. I'm a 36 year old father who gets to dress up as a Ghostbuster every couple of months. This pack and what Garrick built is enough for me. People still love to smile when they see it and thats enought for me! Plus, it will be a work in progress and will be fun to replace bit and pieces with more realistic parts. I give the whole experience a 6/10. Yes, Garrick could have been more responsive than he was, but he got me the pack on time and it worked right out of the box. For that, I am grateful he put the time and effort in to build me one of the coolest pieces of movie history ever. I OWN A PROTON PACK. I still can't get over that. If anybody has any questions about my experience please do not hesitate to ask me. I will be happy and honest in my answers.
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#4929796
Woukd you be able to share some photos of your pack? I'd like to see hiw it comparea to others.

I am happy that you received what you ordered and are overall satisfied with it. It still bothers me that he sells these as "professionally assembled" and finished pack when they are slopped together at best. You have admitted that there are many issues with your pack and that it'll be a work in progress for you. That doesn't seem like you got what you paid for. Either way, be happy with your pack and I'd love to see it when you've finished it to your liking! I haven't gotten over my annoyance enough to start trying to polish the turd that he sent me. Maybe your WIP will inspire me.
#4934360
My mate just shared this thread with me. I bought a pack from Garrick on December 31st 2019. His communication has be worrisome, and given me a lot of stress. I'm in no rush to get the pack really. However I am concerned that I'm only protected until June 28th 2020 by paypal. After reading this I'm terrified that I spent thirteen hundred dollars on a sub par product. I spent all of my holiday money on this thing and was very conflicted but took a chance. I'm regretting i did after reading this forum. :(
NotSabbat liked this
#4934395
I'm sorry man, that bums me out. Don't get your hopes up. If it's one thing I've learned from my experience, it's that if you really want a great quality pack, you're going to have to get cracking on your own, or you're going to have to pay someone way more than $1300. And that Garrick's quality control is crap. Let us know the state of your pack when it finally arrives, hopefully it's not a total shitshow, and if you're worried about being covered by PayPal, I'd probably press him for a timely delivery (It's been five months!) or have PayPal return your money in its entirety.
Gregors liked this
#4934947
Sorry that you got roped in by him. My suggestion, file a PayPal claim and get your money back. It's been too long already and he'll just keep making excuses. Frankly, his product is crap and $1300 is a complete rip off. File a claim, get your money back, and start ordering parts to build your own back. Studiocreations sells great pack shells for about $100 and Hole in the Ground Productions sells reasonable priced resin parts. Check eBay for 3D printed parts too. They can be a lot cheaper and look great will a bit of clean up. It might take longer but it will be cheaper and looks a hell of a lot better than what you'd get from Garrick.
Wedgeismyhero, AZspidey liked this
#4935612
So I received the pack today. I'm very happy with what i received. The pack does have some minor cosmetic issues, nothing major and my Heavy Ghost head friend has some thoughts on the construction, but overall everything worked, found no Hot Clue Strings, he used the GBfans wand light & Sound kit as an upgrade for taking so long. I'm very happy with the Pack. I plan on doing a full video review soon.
Christof liked this
#4935613
Glad you like the final product and sounds like he might have actually not cut corners with you! One thing I'm still wary of is his claim that the GBFans sound kit was an upgrade. That's what came stock with mine, it was never mentioned as an upgrade, and on top of that, the one he sent me was faulty. But looking forward to your review, hopefully I can see what a well done Knowone's pack is supposed to look like!
Christof liked this
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