I apologize that I was unclear. Unfortunately, we can neither share information about past customers, nor about our communication with law enforcement.
I shared the example of a late theft report only to answer your question about why the software can’t be relied upon to indicate if the unit was stolen or not. No matter how the software works, it can never guarantee that a second-hand Glowforge isn’t stolen.
Speaking of no particular case: many stolen units are stolen on delivery, in which case we mark them as stolen and replace them. In those cases, the party that’s missing the unit is us.
That’s bull. Sure, it can never guarantee a device is not stolen, I won’t dispute that. But that’s not the point here. The point is that it sure can guarantee it was. If Glowforge knew this device was stolen before the OP accepted ownership, the software better have information about that. We shouldn’t have to wait for a reply from support telling us “yes or no” about the state of a device, because the device already has that information. It’s all in the cloud, because that machine has to contact the “blacklist” somehow. So why doesn’t the device contact that list BEFORE finishing setup and report error on finding itself marked as stolen?
I find it highly unlikely the device was reported stolen in the time between the OP accepting the device, and them receiving the email from support that the device was stolen. If that was indeed the case, then I’ll stand corrected. Assuming there’s proof of that, which we the public will never see.
Since your reply style seems to be to chase only the rabbit you want, I’ll make this a simple feature request:
No reasonable person could expect Glowforge to be clairvoyant about a device you don’t know is stolen already. But a reasonable person absolutely would expect you to tell them programmatically when you know it is.
When a user registers a device, check the blacklist before allowing it. You have a blacklist in your database, you have an api call internally to check it, I’m just asking that you make that call during setup. It will cost Glowforge next to nothing to implement and it would have prevented precisely the type of obvious abuse I (and since there’s an FAQ I’m guessing a lot of others) have suffered.
I have to say I am in Josh’s camp on this. you log that sucker in and register it. it should NOT under any circumstances come back with a happy message. Also any time a unit is reported stolen there should be verification of the identity of the person reporting it stolen. to prevent somebody from ordering one, claiming it is stolen. getting a replacement and selling the “extra” one for cash.
as a side note in a transaction of this magnitude, I would damn sure take a picture of their car’s license plate. and use a cashier’s check.
Thanks. I submitted a request to support two days ago to verify the ownership of another pro that’s listed on Craigslist, I haven’t heard back yet. Can you please shake that loose too?
So… what happens to a bricked, previously-stolen Glowforge? Does it go back to Glowforge? Or the person who reported it stolen originally? Or do the police take it?
I hope they find the scumbag who sold it to you and you get your money back. Even better if they turn out to be part of a criminal ring that has been stealing Glowforges or other packages and they all get busted.
And I agree Glowforge should fix their registration process to consult the blacklist before allowing it to be registered. It kind of doesn’t make any sense – if the unit is blacklisted, but you were able to set it up… what happens, does it just fail to print?
Right now, it doesn’t work at all. I tried resetting it and it won’t make it through setup anymore. It appears to me that after registering it, the next time it started up it bricked itself.
They won’t find the scumbags. Despite having a live license plate number and two phone numbers that I’ve interacted with, the police have given me zero hope of recovering any money or seeing any justice done. $3k flushed down the drain. “Congratulations” “It’s time to start making some magic”
A cynical person might think that Glowforge appreciates (and heartily benefits) when people purchase (supposedly) stolen printers so someone else’s money pulls them off the gray market, and then they get filtered back to Glowforge through various police departments…
Strikes me that glowforge has the opportunity to do the right thing here and work out a solution where Joshua, who was clearly let down by the order in which your blacklist is applied, is not left with this bitter end. Could not not work out a deal where his machine is removed from the blacklist? Why the digging in of heals?
Shipping insurance typically covers theft during shipping. Seems like Glow Forge is not out anything on this particular unit assuming they had shipping insurance. ( which would make sense given how it is mentioned in glow forge policies). Given the opportunity to be a hero, what exactly is stopping you from doing the right by Joshua?
The situation definitely sucks, but think of the precedent this could set. What happens when someone decides to pretend they were scammed and since glowforge set the precedent of “making it right” they must do so again.