Just here to remind Glowforge you marketed this as a HOBBY laser. And some of use use it that way.
Until now I never regretted my purchase. Now I can honestly say I wish I had found something else. Being punished (because that’s what slower processing speeds are, a punishment) because I don’t want to earn enough to pay for the equal access I was told I was getting when I purchased the machine is just WRONG.
I can assure you I will not recommend to a soul at this point.
This will excite you then…It’s not getting slower!
Your machine is still going to work just exactly the same as it did before they offered the Premium Service, only faster, because everyone got a 2x server speed increase a few weeks ago. That is not going away and we don’t have to pay for it.
Something that probably needs to be explained…the Premium Service processing speed increase does not in any way impact the speed of the cloud or the internet or your wifi…and it does not impact how fast your job runs. We all got the speed increases on engraving raster images almost a year ago now …they are free, and we get to keep them whether we sign up for the Premium Service or not.
The processing time that speeds up with the higher rated servers is the amount of time that it takes between when you hit Print on a job, and the time that the button lights up on the machine. For really complex files that can take ten minutes or so…under the high speed servers, it’s down to about a minute.
If you aren’t running really complex jobs, or batch after batch, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have the high speed servers.
If you run a business, and are cranking things out non-stop on the machine and every minute counts…that’s when you need it. The time savings can add up over a day.
In the future, if anyone wants to understand what’s going on with the development, read the Latest Improvements section in the Dashboard, and check out the Announcements section of the Forum just once a month. That’s where they update us on what is going on, and what the plans are as the machine improves. And now, that will include what the plans are for the Premium Service as well.
I don’t understand how it’s being punished? Someone paying for an additional tier of access isn’t them cutting in line - it’s just you in a different line - the line you’ve always been in.
That is the case, I asked Dan about it directly. I’ve had them since they were available and they are really handy, but I don’t use them enough to justify paying a premium and will lose them once it goes live.
And I admit I can be wrong but based on the problems I and many others (purely anecdotal evidence) are having getting speeds we had before over the last week or two it FEELS like you have to pay to get what we had.
And I’m just worried about how this plays out long term. Yeah, right NOW it’s just design tools and snap marks but it makes me nervous and upset.
Look, I WANT to be wrong, I really do. But coincidences and past issues with companies change to subscription models are making me super suspicious and cranky.
I guess all I can do is wait and see, hopefully in a year we all look back and think “geez that was so off the mark”.
I think the real fear isn’t that they the non-paid servers will sudden be slower, it’s that everything non-paid will stop receiving upgrades. Assuming glowforge units continue to sell, it’s entirely possible that non-paid will get slower over time from additional load since there is every incentive to encourage people to pay a monthly fee. How long will it be before we see queues for service and a big button that says “pay to skip the line”?
Interesting “what if” but no substance behind it. The google cloud servers spin up and down to handle the load as needed.
I don’t hate paying $15 for the premium, but what happens when my machine is down for repairs for 6 weeks? Do I need to keep paying for the subscription or can I pause it to continue for the same price later?
Once we subscribe once for the discounted rate will our accounts be identified for life so we can get it again if we at any point cancel?
Also I read we can add up to 2 other users to our premium account. How do we invite them to join?
This part has been answered. If you cancel, you lose the discount.
but i think this is a legitimate question for GF. if the machine is in for service, it’s not unreasonable to ask to pause subscription without losing the discount. who knows what the answer will be, but it’s a reasonable request.
Glowforge may need to rethink this, machines go down, and especially if I am still under warranty, $35 more a month is a significant increase.
If you cancel the discount goes away.
But if the machine is down for servicing, that point has not been addressed yet.
Dan said he would look into it in response to a post earlier in the thread.
Thats separate from the challenge of doing it in Europe I imagine. Getting tubes to europe (or lasers in general has always been attributed to “international regulations” to pick up on @ade’s comment - which I do understand to be a challenge). But cleary other companies have solved the shipping/regulation thing. Probably not rocket science to find a company in europe willing to be the tube warehouse/repair depot to do it on contract (for a fee obviously but that fee has got to be way less than the insane shipping of the GF from europe to the US - i mean it’s slightly insane from MA to WA even!). Seems like in all these years this one could get solved without too much trouble.
well STOP IT!!! Give us any sort of waiver of liability you feel comfortable with. “You’ll put your eye out kid! We’re not responsible!!” I’m sure many will sign it in order to be able to turn a screwdriver or wrench on their own machines instead of sending it off. In fact there are some that simply won’t send it in to be fixed due to the excessive cost vs repairing themselves. Hate to see long time customers move on because they can buy a new machine from elsewhere for the price of shipping and repair.
The servers can spin up to whatever you’re willing to pay for. If they decide not to pay beyond a certain point except on “premium” servers, then we are out of luck. The problem is the “pay for premium” business model has left such a bad taste in our mouths, because most of the time the “free tier” is used as a way to apply small pains in hopes to squeeze consumers until they give in to buy the higher tier. It’s an established way of doing business and it earns companies money, and any business that tries it is guilty until they prove themselves otherwise.
To be clear, where I really draw the line is performance starting to get tied to the tiers. That’s a basic service and trying to make it a premium subscription is just a money grab. Now you start getting files too complicated to be made on the free tier, or queues, or other things that just don’t go with a $5k machine. I have no problems with some basic inkscape style tools being premium or a graphics library, but performance should be the same for everyone otherwise it’s time to start getting more people working on offline firmware hacks.
Got an answer! Our support team is working to pause charges if your machine is being repaired. In the mean time, we can issue credits for your subscription while your machine’s away.
Awesome! Thanks Dan. 
Second. For what the FNL’s are costing the company, with their legal talent I’d expect they would be able to craft a liability release that would cover the company.
Customer’s goodwill and satisfaction generate a positive feeling too. I’m really glad you say there is a fix in the works! This machine of yours has made a great difference in my life, I would hate to look at it and instead feel disenchanted.
Thanks for listening!
The premium banner is not showing up on my dashboard. I have logged in and out several times. When I refresh my dashboard, a yellow Trial button shows up for a split second over where my email address is in the top right corner, then it disappears. I have a new laptop, an iphone and a ipad and they are all doing the same thing. I purchased a basic but it hasn’t gotten here yet. Should be here around 10/27. I read in this discussion that new buyer who haven’t received their machine would still be able to see the banner. Help???
My concern is not $499 for a tube replacement, but I would be afraid to send my unit in for a degraded tube unless it was completely inoperable. The company’s standard practice for non-warranty issues seems to be that the repair facility does whatever they think is needed and charge accordingly. There is no transparency, no detailed invoice, and the company doesn’t seem to work directly with the repair facility. A $499 expected charge for a tube replacement could easily be a $1000 disputed charge. Has there ever been a non-warranty repair where the only charge was $499 for a tube replacement?
Please correct me if I misunderstand.