I’ve read other threads that Seattle monitors the Forum. I hope so, because I’m about to bitch up a storm. I know a bunch of you have been following my other thread about the trouble I’m having getting the ribbon of my Basic reconnected to the print head. A lot of good suggestions have been made, unfortunately all to no avail since none have solved the problem. Since I’ve been without my printer for more than a week I decided to turn to Big Brother and submitted a repair ticket on Thursday to get their help. Since I hadn’t received contact from anyone by Friday I submitted another ticket but then a few minutes later decided to just call them. Seems like they’ve jumped on the bandwagon like of lot of other companies and sent their service center to Zimbabwe or Barundi or Uranus (yeah, that one’s appropriate). I think this one ended up in the Philippines. The point is their accent is so strong, with my severe hearing loss I can’t understand them and I told the woman who answered so. I told her I needed to talk with someone whose first language was ENGLISH, to which she replied blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda. I repeated myself. So did she. I said "I didn’t understand a word you just said and if you don’t transfer me to someone whose first language is English, I. will. hang. up. And she said blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda. CLICK! And I still haven’t heard from anyone in response to my TWO tickets. What the hell am I supposed to do to get a response from this damned company and get my printer fixed? Okay, I’m done. I’m gonna go have a cup of coffee and cool down.
Glowforge staff does not monitor the forum. You are misinformed. There is an off chance that someone might see this, but really all you’re doing is complaining to a bunch of your fellow Glowforge users.
That’s really too bad. At least I got it off my chest.
You could reach them directly at 1-855-338-2122 and be sure to have the case# from any email response they have given. You will be speaking to someone in Seattle.
You know, surprisingly, it seems that venting doesn’t work. There have been several studies on the matter.
It’s a little academic because you’re mad right now but maybe interesting to read and get an idea of how it affects everyone else.
Well, I’m trying to delete this whole thread but don’t know how.
No, I think it’s totally valid and that Glowforge should see it. When you do get in touch with them you can refer them to the thread. The fact is that they’re dropping the ball with you and you need help, I hope you get it soon.
Might be worth tagging @Brandon.B for when he’s back on the clock (Monday?)
I never understood companies using these services without first demanding the operators be fluent in the language they will be required to use.
Money. Solving an expensive problem for a cheaper price. I have noticed the glow is off the rose in that now. Now they make it harder to reach a person and try to solve it with cheap AI and Faqs for the most common complaints.
I have to ask - on the ticket. You should have received an almost instant auto-response. If you didn’t then either they didn’t get your ticket, or you didn’t get their response. Check your spam folder!
If you did get the response, they ask a few (very basic) questions - respond to that email with answers. Generally email response time is slower (a couple days seems pretty on-par now) which is why they say, if you have an immediate need, to use phone or Discord.
With the hearing issues, I’d lean toward Discord.
And invariably the Faq’s never have your problem listed.
I finally did get a response to my second ticket and the question by Meence (from the Philippines) asked how he could help me). I was a little confused since I had explained my situation in detail in the ticket, so I just asked if he had read the ticket. A simple question, I thought, intended to prevent me from repeating myself and explaining my problem all over again. Must have offended him since that was Friday, 10:40 a.m. Haven’t heard back from him since!
It often took effort but I have always reached folk in Seattle.
It’s funny, because technically, the people in these countries ARE fluent in English. I’m teaching English here in Japan at a school. And there are alot of other schools and private tutors that are teaching English with teachers from the Philippines or Malaysia. The cost is lower if students take English lessons from those teachers, but many students we have at our school said they prefer not to have issues with learning the accent they use. But yes, they are technically fluent in English, just a different kind of English.
I do understand though, I’ve also been on the other end of a tech support call asking when i can get ahold of someone with a more understandable accent. Also learned that many of my Southeast Asian neighbors in California worked night tech support in the US… so again, they were fluent too and located in the US, just a different accent.
You’re spot on with that. It’s all about the accent. English is an official language for both India and the Philippines. But depending on where the speaker comes from within the country, the accent may be harder to understand for American-born English speakers. Just like some of our regional accents make it difficult for ESL speakers to understand us 
My issues is not with accents so much as the individual. When my ears were tested ay each frequency range it is almost a strait line from hearing low frequency well to the highest frequencies they test that I could barely hear at all even when loud.
It would seem that a lot of data occurs in those higher frequencies that is the difference between one word and another. With some people a lot more than with others. So to me it sounds more like mumbling while for others I can easily hear the words spoken. For one good friend I cannot make out a word he says, but others have no such issue. Some strong accents cause more problems than others, but even there some folk I hear clearly and others not so much.
A bigger problem is one of context, and much more culture related than language, the obvious conclusion or turn of phrase is not shared in both cases.
Hi @terry720 and everyone. I saw this message posted this weekend and wanted to follow up on some things to resolve this.
I understand the frustration when a support request message is delayed, not heard correctly, or requests information that was previously provided. It’s a valid emotion and I don’t want to discount.
I come from a Filipino heritage and grew up with my fair share of thick accents that can be hard to understand. I was also a member of our support team that happens to live in the Seattle area, The team is spread across many states and countries (excluding planets like Uranos) to expand support resources. That does not indicate their level of knowledge or willingness to help, but I understand it does not help when you have severe hearing loss. Respect and caring for each other are core values of communities.
If you’re willing to share the support ticket numbers, I can gladly review them for any added troubleshooting suggestions. You can also tag me directly in the message using @Brandon.B.
I guess that explains how they seem to understand me completely but all I hear is gibberish. I think some of it has to do with my hearing not being what it should be but it sure is annoying. I recently had to deal with my telephone company every month for a year before they finally fixed an over billing problem (I hope, I will find out when the next bill comes in). About 75% of the time I ended up speaking to someone who was extremely difficult to understand.
I was told that my kind of hearing issues is extremely normal as one gets older (as opposed to sudden loss) So for everyone, if everyone around you seems to mumble, but it feels like you could otherwise hear them and you are over 60 then that might be the issue.