Broken lid BUYER BEWARE!

I bought a glow Forge which is out of warranty and broke the lid during transit which shattered the entire thing. It was packaged in the box like it was supposed to be.
I have asked glow Forge for instructions on sending this in to have the lid replaced, at my expense. I have been told by the Glowforge people that it is now useless piece of junk. I have been offered no help at all other than so sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Why can I not pay to have this shipped in and repaired and shipped back? I own three of these machines and now I’m not feeling too good about customer service with GlowForge.
I have been giving no helpful information to assist my situation.
Does anybody have any guidance? I have thousands invested in a laser with no lid!!!

That doesn’t seem quite right. posting here you have alerted the folks that can help you.

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I hope so. The conversations I’ve had with email support offered no support, help or sense. All they say is they don’t fix, replace or assist with their product. Someone help

I know you’re feeling really emotional right now, but I guarantee that’s not what they said. I can believe that they said it was unrepairable so that your only option is buying a different machine. There are a lot of electronics that go through the lid so it shattering is a catastrophic repair!

If they have any available, they have in the past offered people a discounted price on a refurbished unit, but that may be about the best outcome you can expect.

A few other folks who have had unrepairable :glowforge: have used them for parts to maintain the others - possibly that’s an option for you.

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The lid broke. They don’t sell new lids??? Did not damage my bulb or anything else. Asked to pay for shipping, repairs and calibration, if needed. Not asking for anything Free.
I was offered nothing. They can care less and no Customer Service phone number to speak to anyone???
Not emotional, just do not understand how you sell a product that is made of glass and IF broken, you can’t replace a piece of it???
I don’t know anyone that would be ok with spending $7k to buy something that is useless if a piece gets broken!
I would never have bought GlowForge if I knew this in advance. I’m not ok with this.

So you have three Glowforges and this one is a fourth and is out of warranty and was purchased out of warranty and you are enraged that Glowforge is not doing something to address the broken glass that was damaged in transit? I am not sure that I agree with you that Glowforge should get in the middle of this transaction. I feel like someone that owns four Glowforges for their own use would have joined the forum before today.

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First of all, I do not believe that GF told you it was a worthless piece of junk now.

Also, you have posted no pictures so how are we to know exactly what you mean by a broken lid. If it’s just that the glue no longer hold the lid on, that can be possibly be fixed with some epoxy. If it was damaged in shipping, which is likely, contact the shipper and see if they can offer you anything. But to trash GF is wrong, that’s like trashing the auto maker because you purchased a used car out of warranty and now needs repairs…

Lastly, I agree with @dklgood,

I have had mine since 2018 with no major issues and have been here since…

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We know they do paid out of warranty repair for a lot of problems, since people have posted about that experience. The forum search is a good resource. Most cases of broken glass seem to be new machines damaged in shipping. But at least one case of an accidentally broken lid was deemed “not repairable” (Glowforge Not Repairable?).

My guess is that they’ve learned from getting machines back like that that a lid repair isn’t economically viable. It does feel like there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

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There is a picture. The glow Forge was used 2 times and looks brand new before the lid was destroyed.
I am on the other glowForge forms. Just because I’m not on this one for long does not mean anything.
I came on here because I’m not getting anywhere with GlowForge email support. They say the lid can’t be replaced. It can.

If you buy a car and the windshield breaks, what would you do if the manufacturer tells you there is no way of replacing it. Same thing…

Sorry, it isn’t the same thing at all.
I am not here to defend Glowforge in their repair and replace practices. In other instances of shattered glass, they have stated they can’t repair the machine. You are not the first. Also, it is not provable that the machine was only used two times even though it is out of warranty. It may look new, but it obviously is not new. You bought a used, out of warranty machine from someone and it isn’t going to be profitable for you. I am sympathetic to your financial loss, but Glowforge is not the villain.

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It might be a lost/stolen unit. Glowforge has a lot more information about that unit than we do.

AFAIK, they don’t ever make exceptions for units reported as lost/stolen. They are written off as a loss, and permanently bricked. Even if you replace the glass yourself, the machine will still not work with the Glowforge software.

Maybe you can keep it for parts for your other machines.

Sorry…not what you wanted to hear, I know. But it seems like a highly likely scenario to me. And they might not be able to tell you if it’s a lost/stolen unit from a liability standpoint. But since you didn’t buy it from them, there is no contract between you and Glowforge. Nothing they can do. It’s a tough situation.

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@kv2004 I’ve reached out to you via email about this. I’m going to close this ticket so we can continue working with you there.

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