I’ve been sold stolen goods by Glowforge itself, according to their support!
I doubt that. Can you be more specific? Did they supply a refurbished machine that they now say is stolen?
This is their email. It’s supposed to be a brand new machine!
This unit has not been paid for, and as a result, it has been marked as stolen and disabled. Even if it powered up, it would not work.
You can read more about second-hand Glowforge units here: Buying a Used or Second-hand Glowforge.
The most likely explanation is that you have this unit because someone committed fraud by obtaining this unit without paying for it, and then sold it to you. I’m terribly sorry to tell you that it is stolen property. I suggest you file a police report against the seller. Once you do, please send us a copy, along with as much information as possible about the seller to us so that we can follow up with the proper authorities.
Again, I’m sorry you’ve been taken advantage of in this manner. When we get that info from you, we’ll follow up with the authorities to try and ensure that the perpetrator does not do this to anyone else.
In the event that that’s not what happened, please let us know right away how you obtained the unit so we can straighten things out.
There is some obvious mixup. They sold you this brand new machine? You ordered a new machine from Glowforge and this is what they sent you?
3 Likes
I bought a brand new machine from their website directly. They are now saying it won’t register as it’s stolen goods!
They will straighten this out. Call the sales line where you can reach a live person and tell them what happened. Have your receipt ready.
4 Likes
Just provide your order number, they will sort it out.
2 Likes
No point in calling, it’s just a recorded message so that can email you back. They’ve had my order number for 2 days, still waiting…
1 Like
Correct, they don’t offer phone support and replies can take several business days - although there have been reports of a faster response lately.
2 Likes
Plenty of people have had some kind of delivery or out-of-the-box problem. I have seen all kinds of stuff on this forum, but I have never seen someone with a new Glowforge get screwed by the company. Resolution will almost certainly be slower than you would like, but I am confident you will be taken care of somehow.
4 Likes
It’s been confirmed that they send me stolen goods after all. To have been accused of handling stolen goods sucks though, especially when you make a genuine order. A bit of research before responding would have had this solved instantly.
1 Like
It sounds like you might have bumped into a fraud site pretending
to be Glowforge. If you can find the URL that you bought it from and document each step they will either help solve the mixup or atleast if it was fraud have clues to pass on to the authorities.
If it was fraud I am sure Glowforge is most interested in putting a stop to it. If some mixup I’m sure they will make it good. A Glowforge is theft proof in that any sort of criminal break in a chain of custody gets a non-working brick, but passed off to an unsuspecting third person leaves them holding the bag.
Afraid that’s incorrect. This is from Glowforge directly, and they even confirmed it was their mistake! The only bad actions here are by Glowforge for sending me a device they have marked as stolen. I am now awaiting them to send a replacement and collect their one marked as stolen.
1 Like
I would think that they could just change the software on their end to allow you to use it. If somehow a stolen (or unpaid-for) machine was sent for refurb and then sent out, I would think that someone in authority could just change the designation as there is no physical thing in error on yours.
We have seen some folks go a bit nuts not understanding the situation, so it is not beyond the possibility that the machine was sent back, and payment canceled. In which case it would go to referb, and checked out and any problems fixed, so the machine would have a real minimum use. There is no actual telling from outside though.
Those of us who have been around for a while have found them to be more honest to deal with than about any other company, though sometimes patience is needed.
I would’ve thought the same thing, as it’s just a software block. But they deem it necessary to replace the entire hardware unit instead. Seems very wasteful!
2 Likes
This has come up before, and there was no remote recourse.
I suspect they just disable the kernel or similar, so there’s no way to access the machine remotely once done.
Doesn’t matter. The OP said they bought a new machine. They deserve a new machine, not a refurb or returned or otherwise used machine that has a known questionable provenance.
Fortunately it looks like GF is going to make it right - but it does point to a continued issue with their support staff appearing to be rushed and just tossing off canned responses to reported issues.
4 Likes
This also goes directly against previous statements that every machine is tested before being sent out.
5 Likes
Maybe they need to specify who tests the machine before sending out. 
This one just was not GF staff…
5 Likes