Reagent Vendor Megathread Know Better (NOT RECOMMENDED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES) - USA -> USA

[arrall]

Know Better is the most problematic company I have witnessed in the reagent testing space by a mile.
I was one of their first orders in July 2023, and may have even been THE first order.
I received my kit 6 months later in January.

The owner repeatedly informed me that my kit would be shipped tomorrow, first thing Monday, in a few days, next week, etc.
It took 6 months of "in a few days" for me to receive my kit.
Every customer I can find (dozens) has reported similar stories.
In the past 36 hours alone, 3 different people have informed me that they never received orders or refunds for kits placed between August and October 2023.

My kit didn’t just show up 6 months late.
It arrived with some of the reagents unlabelled and the Hoffman was discoloured to the point that the owner was unsure if he accidentally sent me Mandelin instead.

The owner confessed to me that his “manufacturing facility” where the reagents are mixed and assembled is a motel room, and on a couple of occasions a motel bathroom.
There are also some safety concerns presented with providing him with your address.
To avoid sharing his personal misconduct and his legal issues, I will not detail these beyond saying that he has a publicly viewable felony warrant for his arrest in the state of Florida for violent threats, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Overall, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND you do not order from Know Better.
When they take 2-6 months to ship you a kit that you were promised would arrive within a week and mix their chemicals in motel rooms while the competition ships out on time and use professional laboratories, it’s pretty clear that you are getting what you pay for.
It’s only $20-40 more to order from Dancesafe and actually have your kit show up.

 

[snmfmy]

Know Better is the most problematic company I have witnessed in the reagent testing space by a mile.
I was one of their first orders in July 2023, and may have even been THE first order.
I received my kit 6 months later in January.

The owner repeatedly informed me that my kit would be shipped tomorrow, first thing Monday, in a few days, next week, etc.
It took 6 months of "in a few days" for me to receive my kit.
Every customer I can find (dozens) have reported similar stories.
In the past 36 hours alone, 3 different people have informed me that they never received orders or refunds for kits placed between August and October 2023.

My kit didn’t just show up 6 months late.
It arrived with some of the reagents unlabelled and the Hoffman was discoloured to the point that the owner was unsure if he accidentally sent me Mandelin instead.

The owner confessed to me that his “manufacturing facility” where the reagents are mixed and assembled is a motel room, and on a couple of occasions a motel bathroom.
There are also some safety concerns presented with providing him with your address.
To avoid sharing his personal misconduct and his legal issues, I will not detail these beyond saying that he has a publicly viewable felony warrant for his arrest in the state of Florida for violent threats, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Overall, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND you do not order from Know Better.
When they take 2-6 months to ship you a kit that you were promised would arrive within a week and mix their chemicals in motel rooms while the competition ships out on time and use professional laboratories, it’s pretty clear that you are getting what you pay for.
It’s only $20-40 more to order from Dancesafe and actually have your kit show up.

My product's from dancesafe have lasted and continued to accurately indicate substances since I want to say October of 2022.

My only issue was the Marquis reagent brown up too much to be useful for all reactions so I tossed it and I'm going to make my own.

It's easy to get a 37% solution of lab grade formaldehyde Very inexpensively. You can order it as a supply for homeschooled chemistry sets. Concentrated sulfuric acid is also as easily available.

Preparation of Marquis reagent involves adding 100 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid which is just your regular super duper sulfuric drain cleaner to a 40% concentration of formaldehyde in water and methanol. It's actually called methanal. 37 versus 40% is fine.

So the ratio is 20 to 1 which means 2 liters of lab grade sulfuric acid and 100 ml of formaldehyde would give you 2.1 liters of Marquis reagent. Considering the little bottles they give us is likely 5 ml around a teaspoon that would be 400 little bottles of Marquis reagent worth approximately $6,000-$8000

Considering You can buy 100 ml of lab grade formaldehyde for $25, and you can buy a liter of lab grade sulfuric acid for the same $25, You could make The Marquis reagent for $75. You can probably buy the little plastic dropper bottles for a dollar a piece from Alibaba and The glassware including the pipette to put the reagent in the little bottles for a couple hundred dollars more.

For less than $1,000, you have everything you need to make $8,000 worth of Marquis reagent, so it's no wonder that people are doing it out of hotel rooms considering it's not illegal.

 

[arrall]

For less than $1,000, you have everything you need to make $8,000 worth of Marquis reagent, so it's no wonder that people are doing it out of hotel rooms considering it's not illegal

Yeah, it is very easy to make these reagents.
Unfortunately, it seems like people still somehow decide to cut corners and scam people by not shipping the orders out.
I don’t know how or why someone would do that when they’re already making this much profit.
I know 2 people who ordered in August and 1 who ordered in November that still have not received their orders or a refund.

 

[snmfmy]

Yeah, it is very easy to make these reagents.
Unfortunately, it seems like people still somehow decide to cut corners and scam people by not shipping the orders out.
I don’t know how or why someone would do that when they’re already making this much profit.
I know 2 people who ordered in August and 1 who ordered in November that still have not received their orders or a refund.

Some people are just shitty human beings.