Discussion of the October 2018 update

[dan]

This is the discussion topic for the October 2018 update, found here.

October 2018 Update

Happy October! It’s one of my favorite months as we get to celebrate our twins’ birthdays, Halloween, and do some of our favorite Seattle activities like pumpkin patches and apple picking. It’s also a time with no shortage of amazing laser projects! Our family’s current laser todo list includes some Draftboard plywood pumpkin decorations we’re going to paint, acrylic organizers for our kitchen cabinets, and dolphin earrings. Software Updates We continue to roll out all sorts of amazing improvem…

[raymondking32]

Always love the updates, this one seems a little empty, but an update us an update!

I was excited to hear that the support team was growing in the last update, because the handful of people before were probably overwhelmed! I can’t imagine what it’s like on the support end when your customer base has such a large margin of beginners to pros.

With that said, I input a post/ticket about my machine a week ago, got a pretty quick response, but have heard nothing since. In the past, it would take a couple of days for a response, but the resolution would come within a day or two of the initial reply from support. I’m currently waiting for a return label for my machine, and I wouldn’t assume that would take too long to acquire, but I also don’t know what’s going on on the other end of things.

I don’t like to complain, especially over something I don’t have all the info for, but if I were to offer an opinion in the way of a solution, I would suggest putting a window of estimated turnaround time to expect in the email response. People will complain about anything, sure, but being left in the dark is worse than having some sort of expected arrival. The last time something like this happened, I waited nearly two weeks to have a clear answer with days in-between responses, so I’m grateful that the initial reply was so quick (under 24 hours).

Anyway, I’ve been grateful every step of the way for the creation of this machine and what it’s helped me to accomplish, and would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the work to get it to us! (Now if only I could get my machine fixed so I can get back to work )

[public2]

Is the tooling change for the Glowforge air filter on track? Have there been other changes with the potential to impact the timeline since the last update?

[Dunfee]

It’s good to see the update on the international inspections

Are you able to share more on international proofgrade? Does it also need to go through an approval process for each country? I am hoping to order quite a bit when the orders open up for Canada

[rdyoungster]

Good Morning,

Is the August Amazon Livestream available at this point for those of us who were having issues watching on that day?

Additionally, on the Amazon Exclusives page for the Glowforge that day, there was an assortment of items shown, such as a cribbage board, etc. Any chance we could actually see those pics again? I liked the cribbage board the day I saw it, but then everything just disappeared.

Thanks!

[jae]

I’m very sorry that we haven’t followed up with you about this yet! I followed up with the team and you should be hearing from us shortly.

[dan]

@public2

Is the tooling change for the Glowforge air filter on track? Have there been other changes with the potential to impact the timeline since the last update?

Yes and no. We’ll let folks know if we have any changes in either (although no harm in asking!)

@Dunfee

Are you able to share more on international proofgrade?

No news at this time. I believe it’s just logistics, not any approvals.

@rdyoungster

Is the August Amazon Livestream available at this point for those of us who were having issues watching on that day?

I think @bailey is working on making it available (actually I think she’s waiting on me to get something back from our Friendly Neighborhood Lawyers)… thanks for the reminder!

[Dunfee]

I am not sure if this has been asked before is there an option to have proofgrade shipped to an address in the US if our glowforge was delivered to a different country? I know I have someone that could forward the package on to Canada if I can’t get it shipped across the border.

[raymondking32]

@jae

I followed up with the team and you should be hearing from us shortly.

I got a reply, thank you!

@Dunfee

I know I have someone that could forward the package on to Canada if I can’t get it shipped across the border.

I don’t see why not. It shouldn’t take more than using a US address as the shipping address, considering you could move here and that’s what you’d do in that case. Of course, that’s just my two cents, so maybe I’m wrong

[polarbrainfreeze]

I’ve had some shipped to a US address before.

[shop]

this may or may not be an issue shipping what customs might consider lumber, at least for the wood PG. acrylic may be less of an issue.

i could be completely off base, but i know lumber crossing borders potentially has lots of restrictions.

[raymondking32]

I was answering his question here:

@Dunfee

is there an option to have proofgrade shipped to an address in the US if our glowforge was delivered to a different country?

Or at least trying to. Looks like @polarbrainfreeze had a solid answer for them, though!

[shop]

i realize that. i was just mentioning that some materials could still be an issue with the reshipping services when they go through customs. depends on the country and their laws. could either be a problem or could trigger VAT/tariffs. or both.

[Dunfee]

I’ve shipped lumber across the border multiple times without issue. Through ocooch hardwood

[shop]

fair enough. it may be that finished lumber and canada are safe. i know there are sometimes issues with some types of unfinished lumber, both with pests and with tariffs. those laws change regularly, but i dealt with some as a researcher at a lobbying firm a long time ago (and specifically with canada, russia, and the larch). so i thought it was worth bringing up.

[Dunfee]

I think the issues with import are around soft woods. Hard woods have been fine every time I have tried!

[jbmanning5]

I’m guessing they have some kind of certification process and after that you’re good.

Transporting (unfinished/uncertified) wood even from county to county in some areas can be an incredibly expensive fine if caught doing so. This is mostly a firewood thing (and the spread of various forest killing insects).

[jbmanning5]

Here’s an excerpt from somewhere on the web:

In general:

Wooden articles that are less than 1.5 cm thick and not containing bark will most likely be approved for import with no additional document requirements.

Wooden articles that are greater than 1.5 cm thick or containing bark, depending on the origin, could require any or all of the following:

• Plant Protection Import Permit – issued by the CFIA
• Phytosanitary Certificate – certified by the (National Plant Protection Organization) NPPO of the exporting country
• Phytosanitary Certificate for Re-export – certified by the USDA

[bridget]

@dan

No news at this time. I believe it’s just logistics, not any approvals.

@dan and the design catalog? Surely no logistical problems there?

[jamely]

Yay updates! I love seeing the improvements to the GFUI and have used the beta Snapmarks several times successfully.

Thank goodness that Glowforge is getting more Support people, I have a teacher that wants to order 2 GF Basic (I understand they are out of stock) but she hasn’t managed to get anybody from Glowforge to reply about getting a quote to set up a purchase order for several weeks now. Still no reply even with filling out the Purchase Order request form that specifically states a follow up the next business day on this page: https://glowforge.com/m/payment-options?

Excited that Glowforge is thriving!