Dear Backers,

Today I come to you with some incredibly difficult news. What I’m about to disclose has plagued this company for over a year, but I’ve always had a plan that ends with printers in your hands. Recently it became clear that our latest strategy to deliver rewards was no longer viable. It’s under these circumstances that I felt you must know what we’ve been facing…

I wanted to give some backers the opportunity to talk with me personally about this issue, so a few days ago I called up 3 backers who live here in Saskatoon and invited them over to the Peachy house. We sat down, turned the cameras on, and I told them about this problem for the first time, face to face. Here is what happened:

I can’t begin to explain how relieved I am to finally speak about this issue. I’ve been wanting to share this story with you since the day I found out, and it’s been very difficult to live with it in darkness. That being said, there are still many more questions to answer…

What Can I do about This?

The Police would like to hear from you. They have asked me if there are any backers that they can talk to. It is very important that the police and policy makers of Canada hear directly from you, that this is a problem you want them to take seriously. I have written an open letter to the police, and I hope you will too. Here is the open letter that I wrote, and here is a list of emails which you can address your letter to:

dean.gulka@police.saskatoon.sk.ca - Sargent Gulka is the Police Officer heading this Investigation. 

PoliceService@Saskatoon.ca - email of our local police department.

 jus.minister@gov.sk.ca - Justice Minister of Saskatchewan

casano@NCFACanada.org - National Crowdfunding Association of Canada.

Please CC info@peachyprinter.com to your letter, and put ‘Letter of Concern from a Peachy Printer Backer’ in the subject line. This will allow us to collect each letter, and ensure that they are brought to proper attention.

You can also help us decide what to do next by answering the survey at the end of the update.

What if this whole thing is a scam?

I fully expect that some people will think this is just a big conspiracy, but if that were true do you really think I’d be asking you to write to my local police? After looking at all the evidence, if you still think this is a scam - I encourage you to report that to my city police: 

http://saskatoonpolice.ca/contact/

I know I’ve done my best to act in the interest of the backers, and I’m confident the investigation will find that to be true.

What actions have you taken?

At this point in time I have done the following things:

- Removed David’s access to company accounts

- Asked for and received David’s resignation from the company

- Collected incriminating evidence against David including bank statements, phone call recordings, and camera footage

- Filmed an admission interview with David for release to you, my backers

- Peachy's lawyers created a contract with David including an admission-repayment agreement (with interest on late payments).  David signed this agreement, and defaulted on 2 of the 3 payments.

- Absorbed David’s shares back into the company

- Conducted an internal audit to determine the true amount of funds stolen

- Raised funds from other sources to continue development, and move towards shipping

- Tried many ways to fix the problem before it affected our ability to ship such as a repayment agreement, investors, loans, blanket orders, etc.

- Reported the crime to the police

- Worked extremely hard to provide you with this detailed, and honest look at what happened with your money.

How about some Evidence?

I’ve prepared an Executive Summary and posted it on our website. This is a comprehensive write-up detailing the events that took place, including a timeline, a series of graphs and charts, and an overview of important documents. I highly recommend that you read the entire thing so you can gain a well informed perspective on what happened. At the end of the summary, you will also find a download link to an evidence package containing video clips, phone call recordings, and documents.

Here’s a picture of the house David has built with your money:

What were your plans to ship and why did they fail?

The short answer is that I expected, and still do expect David to pay us back. This was a reasonable expectation, and he has actually repaid $111,000 to date. You can see why I thought that this was a viable solution, he got over a 3rd of the way there. To this day I still think it’s a little crazy that he hasn't paid us back in full…

I also attempted 3 other plans in an effort to develop and deliver backers rewards. I was quite confident in some of these plans, and made shipping estimates based on their success. I truly believed that I would be able to deliver under one or a combination of these plans, which is why I maintained that things were on track, and that I would still be able to deliver rewards… I didn’t publicize this situation out of fear that doing so would have jeopardized our chances to fix the problem.

Many of you may think I should’ve done things differently, and maybe you’re right… It’s easy to criticize after all the cards have been played. However one thing is for certain, my intentions were always in the right place: Delivering a good product to you.

When it comes to this subject there is a lot more to say. You can read our full explanation in the ‘Pursuing Repayment’ and ‘Finding Other Solutions’ sections of the Executive Summary.

Why Would David agree to film an admission Interview?

I realize that this is mind-boggling, and honestly hard to believe. While it was no easy feat to capture, keep in mind that David knows exactly what he did, he lives with it every day, and he knows you deserve an apology straight from him. I told him I’d only release the video if he failed to pay us back before we were ready to ship. I think he was actually so confident in his ability to repay, that he didn’t think the video would ever see the light of day. David was also cooperative and remorseful at this point in time. He had a very clear understanding of our duty to keep backers informed throughout the process, and I think he felt bad about the difficult situation he might be putting us in if he didn’t film the video. Finally, I asked him if he was the kind of man that would take responsibility for his actions. I offered him a chance to speak for himself, and he took it.

Is there any money left?

No, we’re broke. In fact, I wasn’t even able to pay rent at the house/headquarters this month. Have a look at Peachy’s corporate and my personal account balances:

How did Peachy Printer spend the money that it did receive?

I can assure you that all the Kickstarter money I did receive was spent towards the goal of developing and delivering your rewards. Here is a breakdown of how that money was spent:

You can read more about this in the ‘Report of Received Funds’ section of the Executive Summary. 

Is funding the only issue holding you back from shipping?

When it comes down to it, this missing money is the reason that I'm not able to deliver printers... That being said, in the case that I do receive full repayment from David, or raise funds from some other avenue, there are a few things that will need to be dealt with before we can continue manufacturing and shipping.

The only major hurdles we have yet to overcome are achieving laser classification and CE certifications. Unfortunately, we came to a screeching halt right in the middle of preparing our laser certification report and turned our focus to preparing this update. We will have to achieve these certifications before we can begin to ship. To read more about this topic, click here.

Due to our difficult financial position, I had to lay off the entire team. At the moment me and my brother Nathan are the only people working on the project. There will be some time required to spin operations back up, and it may take even longer if I'm not able to hire everyone back.

In terms of the Peachy Kit and Assembled, those are the only known issues before we can continue manufacturing and shipping. All other rewards still require further development...

In Closing…

While I’ve done my best to answer the big questions, I know that you probably have many more questions, so I’ve started an FAQ section and I will be adding to it as your questions roll in. Keep in mind that at this point, we are a very small team faced with what will likely be an immense amount of communication, so please look in the FAQ before asking your question in the comments section.

I can’t stress enough how much I appreciate the support and patience you’ve shown me so far. I know it’s already been a very long wait, and I’m sorry to say that it’s just gotten longer. I understand that you are probably pissed off, and rightfully so. What David did was a disgusting abuse of a good-hearted community. You deserve nothing but respect and gratitude. I’m pissed off too.

I want to know how you’d like Peachy Printer to move forward from here, so please take a minute to let me know by filling out this survey. No matter the outcome, I will continue to keep you informed as things unfold by way of regular updates...

It has been an exhaustingly difficult and stressful 18 months, but despite everything that’s happened, know this - I am still here, and I am still doing everything I can to deliver your rewards.

Until next time,

Rylan Grayston.

P.S.

Hopefully by now this is obvious, but I must say - Peachy Printer Inc. completely absolves Kickstarter Inc. of any wrongdoing. In no way is Kickstarter to blame for what has happened. Kickstarter, you are great. Thanks for everything.

Finally, I want everyone to act in a civil manner, we have a justice system that is fully responsible for responding to this. Please do not bring harm, or threaten to bring harm to David.