Schedule update (December '16)

What model did you choose from G Weike?

I went big. The 1390, which is 130cm (51 inches) by 90cm (35 inches) with all the features. I believe the Glowforge would fit inside the bed of my machine, haha.

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I think everyone just needs to cool down…

1st (by my understanding) they are starting to ship, but they are are going to start off at a very slow rate, so that they can catch any issues, and they can get people that are manufacturing these more experience with this product. (It is always better start off slow learning how to improve and then gradually increase the pace once comfortable)

2nd there is no way this can be a scam, To many people have seen this product and what it can do, therefore it exists. What would the point of scamming (trying to sell someone a product you don’t intend on delivering) if you actrully got a great product and can charge anything you want for it?? Not to mention they will give you a refund if you ask for one if it was a scam they wouldn’t…

We all need to be understanding, patient and thank full. this product is a big deal, so the quality matters. I funded a lot of products, and lot of them failed in my opinion, cause intead of thinking about the people like glowforge did. All they cared about the money so they rushed the process and delivered a peice of junk on the schedule…

Yes the communication was off but they apologized for that (big time)…

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They had clearly stated that they would start to ship then, but “the majority” of the units would be sent in the first half of 2016. I had no expectation to receive mine in December 2015.

Not that it matters now, but I believe that Dan’s commitment was that all early orders (don’t recall the cutoff date off the top of my head) would ship by end of December. The later orders would be delivered by June. And ‘shipped in December’ wouldn’t mean ‘delivered in December’ - add shipping time.

Of course, now we’re operating on a different scale.

Did you have to pay duties or taxes on the laser?

Yes, both.

GD it @Dan, I’m so pissed right now. And really glad. Thank you for making sure my huge investment (in my world) is right and working properly before you send it to me. I hate you. LOL
p.s. both those emotions are real

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That’s fair. I’m sorry we couldn’t get you the product good enough, soon enough.

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@dan Please review my beta application :slight_smile: Happy to demo one for you you guys in Phoenix at local makerspaces like TechShop we’re I’m also an instructor. Or at local universities and schools like ASU, U of A, or UAT where we do STEAM outreach and host 3D Printing workshops for kids.

Happy to help. Also happy to wait for a product that’s ready and not pushed out the door too soon regardless of how tough it is to tell that to your customers. You made the right call, most of us know that. Keep marching.

Cheers

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No worries from me, just trying to lighten the mood a little. Frustrating, yes, but overall I appreciate your honest effort to build me a great product.

Thanks Dan.

Greg

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And 75% of statistics are made Up! :grinning:

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Dear @Dan,

I waited a bit before writing this message, because I did not want to come off as rude, but now it is time.

I don’t want to cancel my order because after 422 days of awaiting for the Gf to arrive it seams stupid to drop off, but we need Assurance of receiveing it by July.

No more BS and travelling the States to try to get new customers, please, take care of the ones you have had for a long time. PLEASE!

I will swallow this bad news and I will try to keep myself positive, but I have to ask to be fair to the international customers as well as the US based ones.

I have just checked in the Inventables Products website to see what I could buy with you 50 Dollars Gift certificate… and it turns out that I can buy pretty much nothing… To ship the smallest piece of wood to Italy there is a minimum fee of 30+ Dollars for shipping…

So where is the good for us?

Don’t reply “if you don’t like it than cancel it” because we are all tired of this pushing technique and give us some usefull details and choices.

Thank you!

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I think he was pretty clear with what he wanted. You just don’t particularly care to hear from crowdfunders with that point of view.

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I do have some sympathy on the Inventables voucher. It is essentially useless to us overseas customers.

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Yeah. I’ve heard that. I wonder if they can do anything about that. It was a decent idea, but I don’t think they thought it through enough regarding overseas.

  • Tom
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Assuming that they pay for them upfront, it’s an awful lot of money to spend on vouchers which will never be redeemed. Just seems a bit of a waste to me.

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Everyone wants Dan to look into his crystal ball, predict every possible glitch that could come up, and plan for how to overcome that glitch, so he can commit to deliver the Glowforge on the (most recently) promised schedule. Unfortunately, the evidence to date is that Dan is definitely a ‘glass almost overflowing’ guy (way past ‘glass half full’) when it comes to schedules :wink: That’s fairly typical of people trying to create a business like this. We can hope his staff is feeding him doses of reality so that the latest schedule is achievable.

As a guy driving a business, Dan doesn’t have the luxury of spending all his time with his engineers making sure all the problems are solved; but we have to have faith/confidence that he’s hired the right people who WILL do this. And his VC backers expect him to continue to travel the world generating buzz, so once the product does hit the market, all those people who weren’t brave (foolish?) enough to pre-order will spend the cash for a Glowforge at general release.

With respect to the communications issues, I agree with everyone that it’s been a bumpy ride. We hear one thing in mid-November, and then in December we hear something that tells us the November update was, if not a lie, then at the very least misleading in what it doesn’t say (but we know he already knew). Since I’m not sitting in his board room, I can’t comment on what led to this. But the optics are bad; I’m sure he’s aware of this.

Another thing everyone who’s asking to be in the inner circle regarding details of Glowforge production should think about is the fact that there are manufacturers out there riding his coattails and trying to either beat him to market or be a fast follower with this kind of device. Do I think they’ll be able to deliver all that Dan has promised? No. But can they learn from his mistakes, avoid pitfalls, and thus shorten their development cycle if he publicizes some of the internal workings that individuals on this forum are asking for? Absolutely! You just can’t give your competitors that kind of leg up.

I’m NOT a backer. I’m a pre-order customer. There’s a huge difference between those two. Backers have a right to expect more information on the development process; pre-order customers do not (IMHO). Backer’s have made a commitment, and may lose their investment if things go wrong. Pre-order customers have the right to withdraw at any time, and get their money back. The only risk we customers take is the opportunity cost of the money we could have spent elsewhere.

With regard to International customers, the perks announced do have limited value - unless the success of Glowforge results in Dan opening additional distribution outlets internationally; which he hasn’t committed to, but could happen. A possibility would be that international customers could offer their gift certificate (at a discount off face value) to a U.S. customer that would be better able to leverage it. Not a perfect solution, but at least an option if the international customer has no intention of ordering off the website.

In summary, I’m extremely disappointed at yet another delay. I would tell Dan that he’s on his last strike. But the product still looks promising, and I’m hanging in there. I would definitely like to see, in future updates, some numbers on quality coming out of production (without any details on where the issues lie, since that would be proprietary data that could advantage a competitor), more videos/use cases in the field (which would make this community more excited about getting their unit, and open our eyes to how people are using the Glowforge), and a better view of the shipping schedule once the QA numbers reflect that the production issues are being solved.

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I’ll take a non completed GF and fix it myself. This will be the last time I will wait. Any more push backs, even if it is out of the GF Team hands I would have to withdraw. The good news is that GF has been a bank holding my cash. If this becomes a flop at least I can get my money back. Until then out of sight out of mind.

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Yes, it was brought to their attention during the Q&A that the Inventables thing might not be as good a deal as they thought - the shipping is high everywhere, but it is ridiculous for the poor international customers.

So they know about it…they might not be able to do anything about it for a while though, since that’s going to be one of the last things they are going to be able to get to.

I don’t know what they’re going to do. I’m sorry, it’s a sad position for the international buyers to be in. :confused:

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@thomas.alessi.jr , money back guarantee covers most, not all.

We’ve already heard from people looking to start a business, those who’ve bought it for specific time sensitive projects and people like myself who’ve shared their excitement with others having to apologize to them for @dan missing his second promise on delivery dates.

I’m glad that works for you but it may not for him. Maybe you shouldn’t step between him and a question for @dan.

@confezioni_clever I feel as you do, thank you for expressing how you feel. @dan has been forthcoming and shown effort beyond due diligence in response. I wouldn’t be surprised if he responds to this personally.

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