Are we the Bank?

In the posted return policy, exactly what does “collect your address for shipment” mean? That strikes me as an odd demarcation - I’m more familiar with the product being handed over the carrier as the point of no return. I’m not assuming they’re going to ship the next day, but could it be months between collecting the shipping address and the unit finally arriving? That would pull the rug out from the strategy of looking at user reviews from the first shipments.

The reason they haven’t already collected your address is because people will move between order and ready for shipment. When they ask for your shipping address that means your unit will be shipped very shortly after. I don’t usually assume things but believe that means days.

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Yeah, that’s what I figured too. So just to be clear, once they ask for your address and shortly thereafter, ship to you, you cannot get a refund. I’ve never dropped 5K on something that had a zero return policy. But the video was just so cool, and slick, and it seemed like the product was eminent. Remember: even if you hear from some other Glowforger who received their GF before you and found some huge flaw, you cannot get a refund.

With that said, I’m not saying that I want to cancel or have lost all hope, but you gotta admit that at least from the beginning to now, finding out that the R&D phase is still only beta testing, it’s kinda deceiving. As far as 50% off, nothing is 50% off until people start paying the full retail price. In theory, we are getting a discount, but I feel like I rushed to hit that “purchase now” button with that great clock counting down to end of sale price only to find that that price was extended and extended. Now there is a 20% higher price but will people actually be willing to fork over $8K for this? That has yet to be determined. I’m hopeful that this all works out. I just wish I had done a little more research. I also really wish I had my GF.

I’m assuming that once they collect your address, that means its about to go to the carrier to be shipped. As @rpegg stated, they don’t want to get your address early in case you move.

As a day-1 buyer, @rpegg is on deck to become (if not already) the most-read poster on these forums when the GF starts shipping for realzies - I for one hope they ship to you that same hour!

I usually make all sorts of assumptions to get through the day, but when thousands of dollars are involved it seems prudent to start paying more strict attention. The posting from @dan helps clarify it a bit - perhaps they can update their language for the official return policy accordingly.

So perhaps one way to game this system, is to hold back your shipping address until you’ve seen enough reviews to convince you to proceed with delivery.

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This is pretty interesting: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-you-should-hold-off-buying-glowforge-laser-printer-christian-reed

The return policy is already stated very clearly.

I almost have to stop reading at this statement, “However, I still don’t believe the full transition has occurred for a non-maker to buy this machine on impulse with no background in CNC fabrication.”

I don’t know where you fall on the spectrum of having a background in CNC fabrication, but it seems a lot (majority?) of users on this forum do not have a background in CNC fab. I don’t. I’m expanding my business and was looking for just the right tool to accomplish what I needed. The Glowforge was it.

Only a small percentage of buyers are on these forums, posting at least, but with what, $27m sold over just 30 days, I’d imagine most don’t have a Fabrication background.

Epilog? Yup. I imagine not many without such a background would buy one.

Interesting note of the day, they (Epilog) are estimated to be an $8m dollar company (annual revenue). Glowforge smashed that by more than 3x in just a pre-order campaign. A lot more than established makers are buying this thing.

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I did not really find that interesting, but rather uniformed and cranky. Every point he made has been addressed in the forums since then, all to my satisfaction (although maybe not to yours, which is perfectly fine). That article was posted on sept. 25th… on LinkedIn. :laughing:

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In addition, the grammar was really poor, which for me is always a turnoff.

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Heh, me too. My sister is an English Lit. Professor, I made this for her:

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Really didn’t get too much of a negative vibe from it. I believe the author may be a veteran of a bunch of Kickstarter or similar products. It’s great for everyone to be a little cynical and have the mindset of a realist for these types of projects. There are certainly a lot of unknowns. Still, If only 85% of the capabilities were ever delivered and the unit was six months late, I would still be happy with my purchase. Everyone else has their own threshold. If immediate gratification is the most important issue, that point may have already passed. (BTW: I’m an engineer who is very comfortable with Math/Logic and have far, far less than average communication and verbal scores. Treat me kindly, for I know not what I say)

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@ jdodds If you are happy with late fall, can I have your place in line?:slightly_smiling:

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After the “I’d be happy if I had it land in my shop by late fall”, I think you missed the
Well, proportionate to my place in line anyhow” part of that post. :wink:

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Hey, if you don’t like the risk or the terms of the deal, don’t participate. That is the wonderful thing about a free society, your money is your own to spend however you choose. I’m sure that you will be able to go out and buy a GF in a couple of years without having to wait, so you have options.

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I have to say that the most frustrating thing of this crowdfunding has been that @dan called it a “3d laser printer”, and people that don’t know how computer controlled lasers (or milling) work started throwing their wallets at the screen and impulse bought it based on magic.

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Even more annoying were those who when you tell them about it, they start heckling you about how “it’s not an additive process and therefore not 3-d printer blah blah blah blah, same as all other laser cutters and more blah blah blah blah!” and don’t bother to even learn anything more about it & see how it is actually much different from other ones.

Whatever, shake 'em off like dandruff, I say.

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Don’t wanna wait? Get a refund.
Willing to wait? Complaining won’t help.

Real bankers don’t have the option to get a refund available to them. (And, by the way, most crowdfunders don’t have the option either.)

If you’re a fan of crowdfunding I don’t see how you could have believed you were placing a pre-order. Even if you were dazzled by the slick video, you still shouldn’t have expected your laser cutter to ship in December, or even within three weeks of December.

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Perfect word. Cranky. That’s the feeling I was getting, too.

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[quote=“dan_berry, post:47, topic:1352”]
“3d laser printer”
[/quote]…This has been the description of the Glowforge since we all began this adventure…and Dan has said numerous times that it is the description given to the Glowforge by other people…not by Dan or the team. I don’t even know what to call it when I try to tell someone about it because it is rather an enigma. OK…someone come up with an accurate description of the Glowforge? A-sort-of-kind-of-printer-thing-that-uses-a-laser-but-cuts-things-out. Sorry, I digressed from the topic.

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Hmmm. Well let’s see. A laser cutter / engraver doesn’t assemble 3D magic. But it sure makes the parts that we can assemble into amazing things.
And typically an actual 3D printer doesn’t assemble anything of any particular instance either. Unless we (you guessed it probably) get involved. It looks like we are the Droid we are looking for.

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