I applaud you doing this live. I can’t imagine how you must feel leading up to this presentation. I do have a couple of questions.
Are there further details on the filter you can share?
Cost for replacement?
Duration?
The lack of data on this add-on has me worried. When I saw the Tested guys are using the bare bones vent, I figured it’s probably the best thing for me also. Can we get a refund on the filter alone? If so, how long would that take to reach me?
Thanks,
Chris
I got a refund on my filter only. It was pretty quick. A day or two. Might be more right now if they have a large influx of refunds to deal with.
I read somewhere the filters are going out around the same time as the lasers. Not sure if that will change your decision or not.
at this point the basic glowforge is now valued at $3000, so your investment has increased by 50% if you decide to keep the laser order. If you do, worst case, you could sell it as soon as you receive it for a profit. And if you got referral bonuses you can tack that on in the profit column as well
One reason that some are staying (and forgive me if someone has pointed this out) is they’d lose their referral bonuses.
So @Wondergy, you might offset some of those losses if you have some referral bonuses.
Just a minor point. Does little to allay irritation with ongoing delays.
Charles
Thanks for the details Takitus. When did you get yours refunded and may I ask your reasons? The local makerspace guru scoffs at the idea of a low cost filter for a laser. He said it would be a bigger innovation than the cameras in the Glowforge to reduce the cost safely on a carbon filter system for indoor use. He’s been my reference point for real world takes. He doesn’t doubt the Glowforge is doable. He does take some issue with it being marketed as a laser printer however. Since this is the “Get Real” time, I figure we should shake the branches and get all the questions out of the tree.
What’s done is done in my book, so as disappointing as it is, the next steps is more about how things change moving forwards. Both to rebuild a bit of trust that this is actually going to land, and that it will deliver on what we expect.
So I can’t be at the Q&A tonight as it’s midnight UK time, but I’d like the following to be considered:
A few people have requested this and I agree we should see more regular updates. But whilst it’s not always good to see the warts and all in this kind of process, at least a weekly update with the good and bad that’s happened would be a step towards transparency of communication. A wrap up of what the beta testers have found, IMO would be an absolute minimum to offer. I am very nervous that we get to July and have yet another delay. A couple of weeks back everything looked rosy for Dec.
As an international backer from the UK, the $20 offer to show faith after the delays, which is commendable and I appreciate you didn’t have to do that, but it’s really of very limited use to us. If we could include any orders, based on this recompense, in the GF shipment, then that would help, but I imagine logistically that would be somewhat of a drama. Unfortunately it’s not uncommon for US based companies to only think about the US based market, which is a shame in today’s globalised world. I’m not sure what you could do, but please have a think about how international backers could be compensated differently (maybe put these offers to a discount on what we paid instead? or look to see if there are other international suppliers offering similar products within a better catchment/shipping area).
Am I correct in understanding that (other than pre-releases), machines will be shipped in the order that they were purchased? Is that regardless of Pro vs Basic and if someone ordered but later upgraded, will it be in the order of the initial purchase or did we go to the end of the line with the upgrade?
We have seen two pre-release machines go out. How many more are scheduled in the next week? Two weeks? Month?
Are there new problems continuing to crop up or is this a matter of “we are pretty much there, but we just can’t get up to speed fast enough to meet the deadline”?
The alignment feature for multiple cutting was a huge selling point that now seems to be in the “someday” category. Is there any commitment that this will be addressed within a specific timeframe? If so, what is that timeframe?
What are the outstanding issues that need to be resolved before full scale production can take place?
Can you all please record the session as well? Will be on a plane at the time of the Q&A and would hate to miss it!
Are these delays due to hardware or software issues
?
I want to say it was around march of this year that i requested a refund. I used it to buy a cheap chinese laser til the glowforge shipped =).
Will you do a staggered rollout? A run of each batch based on the timeline of when we preordered.
thx - that’s the perfect emoji - I originally meant it just for Dan who must be having a terrible day, but I extend the Glowforge Group Hug to all of us. I keep thinking of the “Year Without a Santa Claus” xmas special… but we know he’s still out there with wonderful toys in the bag. He’s just going to arrive later than we hoped.
Nice one! How has your experience been with that? I’ve heard everything from just fine to horror stories. Have you become a cutting master?
@choughton makes an excellent point! Referral bonuses brought additional funds in to GF, but we haven’t received those referral bonuses yet. At this point, @dan has made considerably more on those referrals than the $100 we were supposed to get back when the GF shipped.
If we received our referral bonuses NOW, I think that would solve some of this issue. Even if they were afraid of cancellations on paid referrals before, now they won’t be a loss given how long GF has held the cash.
We’ve gone through three major delay announcements, and each time received nothing except promises for the future. Even the gift cards in the announcement are for future delivery. Why not send them now? That is what is making this feel wrong. Changes in promises should come with something tangible at that time, not more promises.
You have some good questions here.
I suggest that the final question, regarding cancellations, is internal information and, no matter how much we may want to know out of sheer curiosity, is, frankly, none of our business.
Heres a few threads that should give you an idea:
@stilts: wrote: “can you give me a number on how many Glowforge’s that are on order that have NOT been canceled?”
@DAN: wrote " That’s not a number we planned to share, but I can look into it when things settle down. May I ask why you’d like to know?
This response to Stilts question is deeply troubling. As the CEO I would highly expect that you are fully aware that many of your customers still wants the product but is afraid that a “run” of canceling orders will leave a significant portion of us at a loss. So if the refunds exceed your current liquid cash flow then that typically leads to bankrupt company. Thus leaving all your loyal remaining consumers left out. Many of your customers are getting more concerned, and are afraid that the people with the cash will skip the country.
we are all afraid and you are not helping the situation by asking “why you’d like to know?”.
I understand “That’s not a number we planned to share, but I can look into it when things settle down” but the “May I ask why you’d like to know?” is dishonest and in my interpretation of the response is patronizing.
What if anything can you provide to us to ensure you are not looking at bankruptcy in the immediate future?
What if anything can you provide to us to ensure you are not looking at bankruptcy in the immediate future? The last time I asked this question after the first delay, you quickly responded that less than .1 percent has canceled.
Question wrt “the hopper”:
The GF team is getting lots of enhancement requests that are getting thrown into “the hopper.” I’m sure the team has regular meetings to discuss and prioritize this wish-list. From a customer stand-point, it would be great to see that Hopper prioritized list somewhere, so we’d know which features really are planned and in approx order of priority. I work in a development environment too, so I know that this can be a problematic thing to do, so I’d expect there to be major caveats wrt “this is what we are planning, but we don’t guarantee that it will be done.”
thx again to the whole GF team for your hard work