My GF has been working intermittently for several weeks now. Goes into extended periods of Scanning or Calibrating and were out of business for up to 24+ hours at a time. Then without rhyme or reason it begins working again.
Back and forth with support led to this response: “Unfortunately, this indicates your unit has a problem we can’t solve remotely, so I recommend that we proceed with a warranty repair or replacement.”
To which I have the following questions:
What should I expect from a time-frame to receive either a repaired or refurbished machine?
Once you prepare a shipping label how long do I have to send it in? (I travel a lot and want to make sure if I’m out of town I have some time to prepare the machine and get it shipped.)
If I get a refurbished or repaired unit, what is my warranty coverage from that point on the repairs or the refurbished unit?
@dan can I get some help with answers to these basic questions. Its been several days. The vague and delayed communication makes me nervous to sending in a sometimes working unit only to be left without a GF for a loooong time.
Not Dan, but I can answer a couple of these for you from experience:
No way to know…if they opt for a replacement, they’ll contact you about shipping in your current unit when the replacement is ready to be shipped.
When they send you the label, just reply to the email and let them know if you are out of town. They have been fairly flexible about it in the past.
The warranty period is based on the original machine. For example: if you have an issue with your original unit, and return it for replacement with two months left on your original warranty period, you have two months of warranty on the replacement machine. (We actually tackled Dan long enough to get him to answer that one once.)
Of course, @Jules is generally correct on all counts. But I want to say that from my personal experience, the replacement process is VERY swift. We’re talking days, not weeks. Now, that was a year and a half ago for me, but I hope things haven’t changed too much since then.
While I understand that each repair issues is different they should be able to provide some type of timeline :
"It takes 5-7 business days to asses and repair most units with similar issues. If your machine will be replaced we have refurbished GFs ready and waiting to ship you. Or, we don’t have any refurbished units and you’ll be waiting approximately 1 month until there are some ready. I may decide to delay the claim and stick with a semi-working machine. Rather than no machine. After all, Christmas… its the most profitable time of the year.
That was mine just a month or so ago. They shipped the replacement just about the same day they sent me my return label. I think the machines waved at each other as they passed each other going across the country
My replacement was pristine. It’s not as accurately calibrated as my original (I’m now in the 1/4" camp) so I have to remember that when I place my stuff and I keep forgetting and end up wasting something every week. Need to retrain myself. Also need to redo my bed calibration (I’ve marked the tray with max usable size tape) and determine how many clicks I need to move things when it looks lined up on the screen but actually needs to move to be where I want it.
Oh, I lost Snapmarks too.
But although I could have kept my pretty much reliable old unit, they said it was following a pattern where one day it would stop so I decided to replace it while it was still under warranty.
We know it’s hard not to have your Glowforge, so we aim for a quick turnaround when repairing or replacing your printer. Right now, that estimate is about 2 weeks, not including shipping time to or from Glowforge.
If you travel a lot and will be out of town, let us know, but the shipping labels will be valid for at least a couple weeks. We can send new ones if needed.
Like @Jules said, the warranty coverage on a refurbished printer is the same as your original Glowforge. Our technicians have refurbished and tested these printer to our exacting standards.
It looks like we’ve replied to your email thread as well, regarding additional details of your repair. I’m going to close this thread. If there any other general questions, please either start a new topic or reach out to support@glowforge.com
