I am wondering if anyone else has had an issue with getting a repair on your machine. I have tried to get an answer on my problem now since Monday. I had one email from customer service telling me to run some tests and answered immediately as I had run the test cut several times before contacting them. I believe it is an issue with the power supply. I haven’t had my machine a year yet and it seems I already have a major repair bill.
What concerns me more is that if they are this understaffed now, what’s it going to be like next year as I see a lot of advertising for these machines on the internet, tv, etc. I didn’t realize this at first, but there are few owner serviceable repairs that can be done without having to pack up the whole machine and sending it back. If it takes more than a week to get any contact, how long is it going to take to get the repairs done?
I was looking at the lasers on eBay, but decided on glow forge for the reason that they are based in this country and was basically a plug and play laser. Now I am losing money daily as I can not fill my orders and the holiday season is here, I may have to get another laser (not glowforge) and determine if this machine is worth the trouble.
I was having a “lid open” error sporadically and went to get a replacement cable and they are out of stock. Naturally if you have that error the machine won’t run either. Maybe they are outselling their services with new machines, but there isn’t much sense in selling more machines if you can’t service what you have out there now.
That is extremely rare, at least what I have seen here, but there are a great many other issues that might look like it.
Covid has made all manufacturing crazy, The black cables have been available but the frequent outages have been made worse by folks buying them to have on hand in case their machine goes out
Some Jo Ann fabric stores have them available to rent time on and it looks like Michaels may do so too. Otherwise, you might find someone local that could help cut to your needs.
I can understand issues, but there isn’t really a good excuse for letting a customer hang for days without even an update on the issue. As far as renting time, I don’t have a jo Anne’s fabric shop in less than an hours drive and then pay to rent a machine I have purchased 10 months ago.
I am an operations manager in a manufacturing facility and understand COVID as I have been dealing with the same problems for over a year.
If I have issues, the first person that finds out about it is my customer. An explanation is given and substitutions are offered. This is only common courtesy. If you don’t have the people, parts, etc. you can at the very least inform your customer. I have a $3,000.00 paperweight right now, and it seems like I have been put on the back burner.
Its funny my interaction with service has been stellar, in 3 days I had another machine heading out to me, after the first issue I had,
which machine do you have?
and what are the symptoms?
Jonathan
I see this comment often. Part of me just wants to ignore it and let the poster find out the hard way about the other companies 
seriously, go for it. Try any other laser where if you have issues you just get as far with email and cant even reach out t to an extended support community.
I have a ‘she shed’ that is a personal maker-space (my husband has a sailboat and so I think that balances out ) I currently have 4 laser systems. My two glowfroges are actually the only reliable ones. I just happen to be someone that researches well into any equipment and always own a spare of each part available. I use my glowforges to support a ‘small business’ that is actually a give back based business (I use profits to give back to the community and support things like silent auctions and wedding decorations for front line medical workers). These machines have been able to pay for a ridiculous amount of giving back projects. So they certainly are capable.
Why do so many people think that if a company grows, it wouldn’t hire more people…
Let me just call up my handy dandy laser repair guy (he is my AC repair guys brother)…If you are looking at other repairable machines, are they CO2 systems? My diode laser is certainly more easily serviceable compared to the glow forge, but its also not as good of a laser. Are the lasers you find on Ebay diode? They certainly are more repairable but just not like CO2 in the raw energy you get.
Honestly though, if you feel they need to do more to offer repairability, are you also part of actually helping move policy for that? I just wonder if you are complaining about repairability without expending the same amount of time to do you post and instead, look into what actually is required to make these changes. If you are not already a part of writing standards, let me know if you want to get involved. So often people rather post and complain about repair but just not expend the effort to actually make a difference and show up to change things.
I can understand what you are referring to when you compare the glowforge to the ebay lasers. But I also realize that the ebay laser is a fraction of the price of a glowforge. Also, there are basically no spare parts other than lenses and the lid cable (out of stock) that you can purchase.
My complaint is the lack of communication I have received from the past week. I realize it must be nice to have 4 lasers and not worry about making a profit from what you make. I, on the other hand wanted to generate income from my investment. Which is why I thought I was purchasing a machine that would be trouble free. I haven’t had the laser for a year yet, my 6 mos. warranty has expired and now I can’t get any updates to my ticket.
Communication doesn’t cost a thing. As I have said I am an operations manager and have had to deal with covid for over a year now, we have supply and labor issues as you can see across the country, but we always notify the customer. We may not be able to react as quickly as we want, but we at least explain it to them. Jus to know we are aware of it.
I am not here to solve glowforge’s problems as I have enough of my own, this is something that should have been thought out in the beginning of the process, not chasing your tail at the end of the process.
All I ask is for someone to tell me what is going on.
That’s a easy one! An online forum therapy session
But in all seriousness, I hear you and get it.
I have had amazing results from glowforge support but then again, when I reach out to them I include in my email:
- Photo of the results of a recent run of the gift of good measure
- Timestamp of when I printed the gift of good measure
- Copy of my wifi logs
- Documentation/writeup of all patterns/issues I have seen (not kidding, I have actually sent them an annotated power point presentation)
- Any supportive video or photo evidence
My issue ended up being one of the few power supply issues but I was back up and running in no time because I gave them everything and more that they could have wanted in my starting email.
Whenever I have an anomaly occur with my glowforge I write down the time stamp and note what it is just incase.
I will do whatever they need me to do. My issue is no one is responding to me.
I remember someone was desperate for a replacement lid cable, I saw this on ebay.
Other than an initial auto response that they got your first message they don’t respond until they have something to say. It may feel like you’re in the dark, but that’s how it’s always been. It doesn’t mean nothing is happening behind the scenes. I’ve had responses that came in less than an hour and some that took several days. In the end they do always take care of things.
OEM black cable… Wow. $299 not including shipping? Bought a spare for $18 from GF more than a year ago. The greed and cruelty of humans continues to amaze me.
desperate people pay $$
people take advantage of that at the worst times.