November is a busy month. I work full time, take care of my 93-year-old mom, have a diabetic cat, run errands/do laundry, etc for my disabled neighbor …
All that to say I check at the beginning of every month for the design of the month. Apparently, the Nov. design came out later, and while I was busy getting Christmas orders done, I did not go back and check the catalog every day.
This is one design that I really WOULD have made for me, but it is too late. I asked GF if there was any way to get it and they said no. As a matter of principle I refuse to buy it as I am already paying for Premium. (Plus with everything else on my plate it is an extravagance I just can’t justify).
I realize this is my fault. I did check, but the design wasn’t there at the 1st of the month. (They replied that there is not a set day the design comes out, so I guess with everything else I need to log in daily until I see the design).
Sorry for the rant, I just feel so overwhelmed with everything else in my life and I just needed a win - something for me.
That’s a bummer. I never saw the november design, but perhaps there are similar free designs on the web? What was it, maybe we can help you find something close,
It is a steampunk type design - Fantasy Airship.
I have to wonder what day they released it. 
I can sympathize. However, the free designs given monthly are a way to keep users engaged and are just one of the benefits of the premium subscription. At our age, we can acknowledge when we make a mistake and move on. I don’t think you need to log in daily, but as you now know, you must log in at some point in the month to reap the benefits.
I’m not a fan of this strategy either. It makes me anxious. Not that I ever make any of these designs, but it triggers some need in me to collect them because, as you say, “I’m paying for them” and there’s time pressure.
I have a Stadia subscription and it’s the same thing. Every month they release a few free games and you have to “claim” them by the end of the month. It feels like work and I have enough real work to do. Every once in a while I have a sudden feeling of panic that I might have missed the window to grab one. Even though I’ve never even touched 95% of these games, and never will.
(P.S. Please don’t anyone explain that this is irrational behavior. I know it’s irrational, that doesn’t mean I can easily control it.)
It’s a marketing strategy, capitalizing on the power of the “intermittent reward schedule.” Irrational, maybe, but it’s how the brains of every living creature are wired. Animal trainers use it to strengthen desired behaviors.
Basically, if a rat gets a reward every single time he presses a lever, he gets complacent about it, because he knows the lever is always there and he can go press it whenever he feels like having a treat. But if you make it random, so sometimes when he presses it nothing happens, and other times he gets a reward, he will press it constantly trying to get the reward, whether he wants it right then or not. It’s what makes gambling so incredibly addictive. It motivates people to keep coming back to the site instead of just casually checking in now and then.
I feel your pain. I have ADD and the anxiety is too much. I am contemplating just cancelling my subscription now because of how this makes me feel. I beat up on myself too much on a good day, and this now has me in tears because I hate myself for not handling everything and letting a ball drop.
The holidays are notoriously stressful as is, and I did log in and it wasn’t there then.
I am just sad they didn’t look at my history of activity during this time and SEE that I was engaged. It would cost them nothing.
I did log in. It wasn’t there. As others have said, they missed it too.
That is an interesting explanation! I don’t want to be a “rat in a cage”. Nor do I really want to participate in a program where that becomes the norm.
Many people have said they missed the November perk, which tells me it must have come out at an odd time. So I am not alone in this off-schedule release.
I have been thinking about this a lot today. I have thought of how much I spend on my subscription vs the reward I get from it. I cannot in all good conscience continue to support a program/company who, when asked for help says basically “too bad so sad”. I feel they are not sensitive to people who have legitimate disability issues. While my disability is not physical, it is non the less a medical disability. As @chris1 said - “Please don’t anyone explain that this is irrational behavior. I know it’s irrational, that doesn’t mean I can easily control it.”
There are plenty of files available to purchase from other venues. I may not have a voice but I do have a choice of where I support and spend money.
Thanks for listening.
Before cancelling your premium subscription, export the files you may not use very often as they will not be stored indefinitely without the subscription. Also note that the free files you obtained while a subscriber will probably disappear from your Dashboard.
If I were in charge of Glowforge Support, I’d have a Reputation Code Yellow going on looking for stuff like this. A tiny little policy change to “if someone misses the window and asks, we’ll give it to them” is all upside for goodwill, customer delight, and retention, and costs nothing. Oh well.
It’s sort of like many businesses will do. In the bank, even tellers who were the frontline people engaging with customers were given a ‘write off’ limit which they could, at their discretion, use to refund a customer for certain fees or charges that they felt were un-warrented or unjust. Or, when I’ve made a $5 mistake on my ATM deposit…they aren’t going to come after me for that (unless I made a regular habit of it). As you said…done within reason and good customer service.
I get an email every time the DoTM is released…I mean, I do log in frequently to the forum - but I never look at the catalog unless someone here points me to it - or I click on the link in email. If you opted out of marketing emails, it may be worth opting back in again!
I am not sure if I opted out or not - I get SOOOO many emails between my work and taking care of multitudes of doctors, pharmacy, scheduling for my mom and neighbor- it is overwhelming.
I guess I am mainly upset because they did change the “norm” during the busiest months of the year, and when asked for help they said no. I am an original owner. I joined during the Kickstarter phase and patiently waited YEARS for my unit. I am a loyal supporter.
As y’all have stated, a small gesture of goodwill that would cost them nothing would have made all the difference in the world. To quote Carolyn Flack, “In a world where you can be anything, be kind”.
It is definitely frustrating if it doesn’t drop at the beginning of the month or some consistent date. I don’t mind the monthly thing, but it’s not reasonable for people to keep having to check back, either.
Thanks for the ideas! I’m going to pass the feedback along.
I believe the reason is that we pay the artist based on how many people add the print to their dashboard, which lets us pay artists more when they create more popular designs. Then, if we add one more person in when the month is over, it would trigger a whole production for Finance for the additional payment for that one exception. (This is from memory, so I might be incorrect).
Thanks @dan . I work in accounting and pay artists on a daily basis. It would not be a huge production. Do the artists not get paid if their item is purchased? It is a simple entry for commission.
Another way to handle it would be to have a goodwill entry on your books and issue a code or credit to the individual to purchase the pattern at $0 cost.
Again, I do this on a daily basis in my job and can assure you it is not a big deal to book it.
To be fair, it’s possible their system was set up in such a way that it is a big deal - which means in the long run it would be better for them to fix it now than add a kludge to make something work, but frequently with corporations it’s hard to convince folks the importance of background fixes!
Someone on the team worked out an exception to add it for you - it should show up in a few days.