If they find a way to fix this issue with a Gen 2 model, they’re probably not going to continue this service for original machines – no one would want to buy a certified pre-owned obsolete unit, even at a discount.
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To be clear… You’re saying you’re willing to wait until 2019 to find out you need to spend another $1,000+ on your device?! Wouldn’t you rather know that BEFORE it’s too late?!
To each his own but, wow, that’s a large chunk of change for some of us.
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I’ll quote what I have already stated.[quote=“scatterbrains, post:174, topic:6369”]
before units start shipping, I hope that we learn more about this.
[/quote]
The tube replacement issue is really unfortunate and as an international customer I have to cancel my order.
I was really looking forward to the Gloforge and will definitely keep an eye out for all the online videos and photos of the amazing stuff that you guys will be making.
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I’ll say outright. I’m willing to wait until 2018 to find out what the final cost on tube replacement is. I’d rather know sooner and I also view it as late information. I’m international.
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A little late to the conversation, but I’d like to add my voice in saying I’d be willing to take a certification course for tube replacement.
And with the Trotec we have at the Idea Foundry (our local makerspace), they send out a technician when things go wrong (like when our tube spontaneously failed in what was apparently a freak occurrence a few weeks ago). In the end, it makes much more sense for them cost-wise to send a repair person out when we need it, who can then show us things we can do maintenance and repair-wise in the future (and they have shown us how to do many self-repairs, repeatedly and without liability issues, since any repairs we do aren’t covered under our warranty), rather than making us ship that beast back to them every time.
Universal Laser Systems does the same thing with their lasers (we used to have licensed techs out all the time for the units at OSU, that’d work directly with the student lab managers to do maintenance tasks).
Basically @dan, there has to be some other way of doing this, that’ll be better and cheaper for everyone concerned, including you guys.
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They won’t be available at michaels and they definitely won’t be serviceable at michaels. Don’t pin your hopes on that. It’s way, way beyond their price point and demographic (along with hobby lobby, joannes, and similar stores). The most expensive machine at your Michaels right now is a $250-300 and it’s probably a digital cutting machine. Seriously, check out your store. They’ll likely have 2 or 3 of them on shelf at most. They don’t make the bulk of their money on high end items. They do carry quite pricey sewing machines, but not in store – only online. And they definitely do not service any of those machines. They direct you to deal with the manufacturer if you have any under-warranty repair issues.
They might have colored pencils in the range of $200-400, as well.
But they aren’t going to suddenly jump to carrying $3k machines instore and having onsite repair.
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It’s even worse. Unless they’ve changed policies, UPS and FedEx don’t consider themselves liable for damage to “used” packaging. Only a brand new box counts to them. Extra liability assumed by glowforge?
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Glowforge doesn’t haveto wait for everyone to communicate for them to add items. They should do it as soon as possible to stop the speculation .
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Ah. I didn’t see that. But Dan’s schedule on that is that they have ship date + an entire year to come up with an answer. So, knowing that you won’t get an answer prior to shipping, as you desire, how does that affect your viewpoint on this?
for me it means i am cancelling when I get the request for my shipping address if this is not answered in a satisfactory manner.
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Really would love to hear something from @dan about now. I know that’s not his style (he’s a dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s kind of guy), but come on man. This is the biggest let down yet. We need to know that you are at least hearing us.
Please.
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I personally don’t believe in the “no win” scenario. I’m a strategist. Let’s turn those frowns upside down. I think the Glowforge community has the potential to be the best maker community in the world, not necessarily because of a great tool, but because of the highly talented and diverse group of individuals that make up this group. These aren’t just customers, they’re friends and assets to promote an idea and the Glowforge brand, to glowforth and prosper. Empowering these friends and assets is key to the sustainability and growth of this brand worldwide. In the interim, it seems to me that some combination of the following modes of repair are necessary to preserve our community and might actually enhance the value of it.
They are:
- Flex associated service locations worldwide
- Qualified user tube replacement
- Certified owner repair locations/regions
- Other licensed non owner contract repair organizations
I care about my GF brothers and sisters in far away lands and here as well. Make them part of the solution. When you look at the costs of creating a GF owned service infrastructure worldwide, clearly that is unworkable at present. Similarly, it seems unworkable to expect many here or abroad to find sending our delicate and heavy unit back for repair, especially for basic tube replacement, as an acceptable option. Embrace fortifying our community, empowering it to do what the company itself, cannot do. That is my counsel, hopefully wise.
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The big laser manufacturers have a sales and service business model. One of the backers of our company (totally different field) asked why we didn’t offer service contracts and we had to explain again that we offer our machines as being maintenance free. And that our customers don’t like service contracts and this is a big advantage for us. This has to be addressed, but I think the solution is elsewhere.
I think that this ended up in the misc. section of the announcement at least in part because of the perspective that the folks at Glowforge currently have and not because of some sort of attempt to deceive or something. Of course, this is working off the assumption that people in general, including those at Glowforge, are good and I believe that. I also think all of the voices here have a chance at giving them a different perspective.
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Just no Geek Squad ! Not letting them near my GF !!
(come on - smile people - take a breath - think what you need to do - wait for more info…)
on the bright side - tomorrows FRIDAY !!!
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Good point – and admittedly, service contracts generally make more sense for those customers who are larger organizations. That may be something valuable to offer to bigger clients, but yeah, probably another solution for individual users would be better. But given the ability for the other manufacturers to get customers involved in the repair process, and given the liability issues that are already being addressed just in getting a potentially lethal product to customers to use, there has to be some possible legal way around in terms of waivers or at least certification.
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Admittedly, I have officially cancelled my order. I am sad, because this was my first jump into laser life, but I couldn’t risk this anymore. I work with start up companies all the time, and I am all too familiar with scope changes. What bugs me is that there hasn’t been any word about anything after the announcement. These fire sales that erupt can be detrimental, which has been very evident if you (anyone) are reading the forums the last 24 hours. Even a ‘We are re-discussing and will be back in a bit.’ kind of message would have been enough to keep me around for a few more days. The truth is, I have had my money tied up for so long, there have been competitors that have emerged with similar products, similar price points, and slightly differing functions. I can start my laser life anywhere I guess, I wish it would have been with GF. I just don’t want to wait any longer to start it.
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Which other vendors have come in at that price point?
I’m definitely the sort of person who tries to ‘fix’ the washing machine by disassembling some of it, staring at it blankly, googling the issue, and then calling a repair person (his number’s on my fridge, and he can usually come out the next day).
But this isn’t a broken a washing machine. This is more, like, the water filter in the refrigerator. It’s something we expect to have to replace regularly. And I sure don’t expect to call a repair person every time the filter is done being a filter.
I would expect, if the glowforge breaks, to have to send it to glowforge to be repaired. But this isn’t breaking.
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