HI

I have seen a lot of people asking about Designmind Group and have decided to post my story.

I found their website through google and submitted my first idea to them. Rick came back to me very quickly and between us decided that the idea was not viable and let it go. Several weeks later I submitted two further ideas and when Rick contacted me we decided that one of them was worth pursuing. He took another week to come back to me and told me that his team had decided that it was an idea that Designmind Group could consider and that the next step was to conduct some market research. This would cost £350 and I agreed. It took them a month to come back as they had promised.

They sent me the report by mail and it was comprehensive – but as a data analyst I was a bit concerned that the market research seemed to be based more on the subjective responses by one individual to a set of test questions. There was no obvious evidence that they had conducted any market research involving any third parties or web searches. There is a list of current patents granted for similar designs or complimentary designs but again the list felt a bit generic and some were not close to what I had designed.

However Rick was very knowledgeable and provided me with a whole lot of detail about what was going to happen next. He thought that the next stage might cost £10,000 but that his company would be covering the cost of lawyers bills, flights to see prospective manufacturers etc in return for a percentage of the profits when they became available. I said I was interested in taking it a stage further and he promised to be back to me within a week. He called back and was able to tell me that his company would be able to do their side of the deal if I was able to supply just £5,500. – For this he and his team would work towards getting me a licence agreement with a manufacturer but that it might take up to a year as there were 300 companies to approach.

Within 24 hours I had received the invoice and a link to an online payment system to transfer the funds. However I did not proceed with this as I has asked it would be possible to pay by instalments.

In the meantime however I had a few issues that troubled me. I had only ever spoken to Rick when he called me. When I called him I got an answering machine. The only other way of sending him a message was though his site’s on line form. There did not seem to be anyone else to talk to and all the positive comments about the company on line was generated by DesignMind Group. So the next time he called me I told him up front that I had concerns. I asked him how many people would be working on the project and he told me 10. I asked if I could speak to one of them. He said he would get back to me about that. I also said that I would be happy to speak to anyone of his other prospects and let them know about my experiences and therefore felt that there must be one of his existing clients that would let me hear about their experiences. I said that I understood that they were confidentiality concerns but that it must be possible to talk about the process without revealing any data about an invention. Again he said he would get back to me. He stressed that it was important that I had faith in him as this idea was potentially worth a lot of money to both his company and mine.

He did not come back to me within a week so I sent a message through his online system reminding him of my request and asking for two further items – his direct dial telephone number and an email address that I could use as I felt that the online form put me at too much of a remove.

I have not heard back from him since. It has been over three weeks. He had said that is was important to keep moving as quickly as possible. So the current position is that I have not paid any more money and am waiting for his phone call. I will let you know when I receive it.

It is 7th November 2011.