New pre owned GF owner with issues and no customer support to speak of

Problems and Support
#1

Hello and thank you to all you that have convinced us to buy a GF with all your great ideas. We purchased a pre owned GF off ebay and has been an extremely difficult journey.

1st off the original owner said he placed several request to have the ownership changed over to us. We already have the unit and has had no reply. We have also sent several request for changes of ownership as well as machine name and most importantly the email address linked with it.

The orig owner gave us his email and pw to log in and change all the info we could but we are still in limbo. With them now hitting the used market there should be a section on what to do when buying a used GF.

2nd the orig owner gave us his $ credits on his account also. We tried to use them and updated the CC info with our card to pay the difference and it charged our card but on screen had a Error 500 and now the credits(unspecified) are gone. There is no history of recent purchase and GF credited back our CC the amount of the difference. Its like they took the credit money away.

We have not even powered this up yet because we have no clue if something happens we are going to get any type of support.

With the OCT announcements there was mention of an alternative air filtration system for those that choose not to wait and stated that would be avail in OCT. Does anyone know how to go about this?

Again thank you to all who post here regularly and give so many of us great ideas and help. I wish the GF support system worked as well as the community does.

Sorry to make our first post a gripe session ;p

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#2

I can say this much, as far as the credits, they are non-transferrable. The original owner could use them and give you the material, but the credits don’t transfer.

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#3

Thanks for the info. Prev owner should have told us that. Well there goes a good chunk of change. Strange that they would do that. You would think that they would want everyone to be able to order some proof grade materials and get hooked and then order more.

#4

Previous owner definitely should have told you. I’d probably ask for a certain amount back, if they were advertised as part of the deal - but, I have no skin in the game.

The original credits were a bonus for buyers who pre-ordered, along with a few other perks, that are not transferrable. The extended warranty, a 10% founders discount for a certain time frame, etc. The base warranty is transferrable (6 months for Basic and 12 months for Pro).

They do want everyone to have some Proofgrade; every new purchase receives a starter pack of material. But, I don’t see how they could make that happen on pre-owned purchases. Either way, the Proofgrade is really nice stuff and takes a lot of work out the final products (it’s pre-masked and pre-finished).

Did you email support@glowforge.com to request ownership transfer?

I don’t know anything about the air filter beyond the updates provided publicly. I know they were shooting for October on the alternative units but no idea if they are in contact with those buyers via email.

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#5

I am sorry that you are off to such a rocky start. I cannot be of any assistance with regards to changing ownership, machine name or shop credits. What I offer is encouragement to stick it out because once these initial roadblocks are managed, I suspect you will be glad you made this purchase. There are so many people on this forum doing great work and helping other members with their diverse knowledge base. Good luck!

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#6

We did use the support@glowforge.com.

dk thank you for the words of encouragement!

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#7

I would definitely make sure you have the email address whitelisted. I can recall several instances where support emails were going to peoples spam folders (I believe because it’s sent through a help desk system rather than direct emails… so headers and all that).

Either way, posts in this part of the forum (#problems-and-support) also open up support tickets so I’m sure they will definitely get with ya soon. I know they are trying to train new support staff members, so hopefully response times will continue to decrease.

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#8

You still managed to sound very courteous and polite in your tale of woe…and for that I commend you. As @dklgood said, once you get through all this bad stuff, you will love your Glowforge. I have great confidence that it will all get sorted out by support. Just continue practicing patience…and you will achieve perfection! Welcome to the forum. Please keep us updated on your situation.

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#9

I wonder how the store would know that anything has changed hands just because info has changed. Seems odd.

#10

Welcome! You’re unfortunately a guinea pig and experiencing Glowforge growing pains first hand. Hope it gets resolved quickly!

If you haven’t (I can’t tell from your message), I’d suggest adding yourself as a user to the machine rather than trying to change the original account. Then GF can transfer from the old user to you. You can do that on app.glowforge.com.

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#11

Thank you.

#12

Thank you. We had already changed all the info over to our name for the exception of the 2 areas that we can not change which are the linked email address and the name of the machine.

#13

Right…, so I’m suggesting that you also add a new account in the machine (“add user” on the app.glowforge.com page). The account you’re in belongs to the original owner at that email address. He should not have given you access based on the Terms of service. I could be wrong, but I suspect that the correct process is to create a new account and transfer ownership that way. The new account will still have full access to the machine, but not “owner” status until the transfer occurs.

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#14

@ssincity like others have said, you still seem very calm at this point, were others have not been so in the past. Having a post here will probably help you get an answer. I had a problem with my printer and was very pleased with support. Continue to be patient and you won’t be disappointed with the machine you purchased.

Fingers crossed that @vee or one of the other support professionals see this and take care of you soon.

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#15

Thanks for reaching out, I’m sorry we haven’t gotten back to you sooner.

As other users have mentioned, credits and Founder’s benefits, including the extended warranty, are non-transferrable when selling your Glowforge or buying one second hand. I apologize for any trouble there.

Since the remainder of switching ownership over to you deals with your account specifically, we’re following up via email with more information.

I’m going to close this thread, but if there are any additional questions about your Glowforge or account, please start a new topic or let us know at support@glowforge.com.

#16