Gaslighting design agency
I started working with Duku Design on a project involving two other international partners I’d collaborated with for years without any issues. Duku were engaged to optimise an existing metal design and prepare a plastic design for manufacturing.
Over a period of two years, there were repeated mistakes and poor communication from Duku. I often had to remind them of previous discussions and design iterations that had already been agreed. They would then make the same changes again and charge for them. At one point, I was even charged £90 for a 12-minute phone call.
All meetings were held at their premises in Cheltenham, meaning an 8-hour round trip every time. Despite all the time and expense, the plastic components Duku produced repeatedly failed to work with the metal ones. Eventually, I brought in an external expert who discovered that Duku’s plastic designs could not actually be manufactured — they weren’t viable for moulding in any real-world process.
Had I gone ahead with those designs, the parts would have been unusable and the project would have incurred even more costs. By this point, tens of thousands of pounds had already been wasted. Then, completely out of the blue, I received an email from Duku’s boss on a Friday saying I should find someone else to continue the work — effectively abandoning the project.
When I did hire a new expert, every issue was resolved within three days, and we were into manufacturing within a month. In contrast, Duku had spent two years producing six or seven failed samples, each time with a complicated explanation as to why it didn’t work.
We’re now in the process of taking legal action against Duku. Based on my experience, I would strongly advise others to be very cautious before engaging with this company.