Lightning Strikes Twice

Everything Else
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Hey everyone. I got my Glowforge email in late July. It shows up, I’m excited, but I start having problems immediately. Calibration is taking a long time, and before it finishes some electronic component starts burning and smoking. Contact support, I have to send it back and I receive a new one in the process. Really annoying, but fine. Clearly something went wrong.

Fast forwad to a few days ago. Glowforge #2 started showing a yellow button during the calibration process. Try resetting the laser, the wifi, and even going through set up. Nothing. After contacting support, Dan emails me last night, saying I’ve hit a hardware problem and I need to return Glowforge#2. Once again they’re going to ship me a new one. This time there’s no clear indicator something is going wrong besides the yellow light. It’s like the laser is haunted. It hasn’t been moved in 4-5 weeks, and the usage has been light overall in that span.

So within 10 weeks I’ve hit two major hardware problems and will be receiving a third Glowforge. I’m admittedly pretty pissed. Support has been responsive and understanding, but come on. Wasn’t the point of all these delays to ensure we were getting a quality product that would be high quality and robust?

Is anyone else hitting these sort of problems? Dan said I’m just the unlucky guy who gets hit by lightning twice, but I wanted to see if that’s actually the case. Has anyone else had to return their Glowforge once, let alone multiple times?

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There have been a few other reports of people going through several GFs.

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Didn’t the guy from tested go through three?

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Dan has said that their modelling suggests some people could be unlucky enough to get up to 3 dud units.

On the other hand he has more recently said that their returns are actually under what they forecast for.

Either way, sorry to hear about the bad luck… i REALLY hope that 3rd unit comes in for you

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I’m sorry that this has happened to you but on the other hand, I’ve cut more on my PRU than a lot of people ever will and it just keeps chugging along. We live in a stochastic universe.

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And for a different point of reference: my PRU has been going for more than 6 months without a single hardware problem.

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Good word! (Had to Google!) :grinning:

Hopefully third time’s a charm.

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If I can get one person to add one word to their vocabulary each week I am happy. Use it well. :smile:

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Yes, my pre-release is in the process of making its 1,400th cut and 2,800th engrave.
( 1 1/2" tokens engraved both sides). Workhorse.

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I’m pretty sure, though I haven’t looked back up that quote, it was in context to items damaged in transit, no?

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Both Transit and Manufacturing was how i read it… i will see if i can find it again and link

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Found it:

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I’m not sure if this makes me feel better (not just me!) or worse (it’s not just me…).

Fingers crossed for the next one.

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Thanks for finding it!

Yeah, i can see why you would come to the conclusion that it is just about delivery issues.
I have heard so much board-room-speak that to me it was covering both Manufacturing and Delivery.
But yours is probably the safest bet

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Sorry to hear that, super frustrating. Normally I’m the guy who gets broken glass in his food and is the only one out of a group to get bit/stung/pooped on/hit by random projectile. But, I received two fully intact and perfect units, have had nothing but good experiences. Third unit is on order.

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@dan - how would this situation play out for an international user? Would postage be covered?

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this is precisely my question! thanks for getting to it before me ade. there also comes into question, if we have to send one back, what happens about import tax?

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I don’t know, I’m afraid. It would likely depend on the particulars of the situation.

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This - right here - is one of the scarier things I’ve read so far in this forum. You mean there’s a possibility that if a roller broke on our third or fourth print, we could be out another $500 to ship the machine back?

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Yes, that is possible. For example, moving a machine without the important orange and red bits may cause a wheel to crack. That would not be covered by the warranty, domestic or international. (Whether you had to ship it back or we could send you replacement parts is a separate question, and depends on which wheel was damaged)

Since we’re talking about hypothetical cases that ultimately come down to the specifics of the situation, I’ll defer further questions to the warranty as written, with the addendum that our support team is generous and often goes above and beyond.

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