Wow. If I were an international customer, that would be a deal breaker for me. Maybe we can rally behind the cause and get that policy reversed like we did with the tube replacement policy?
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Especially with the rate at which they have been needing to be sent back.
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What is the rate – the percentage of those shipped back versus the total number shipped?
As everyone knows I am super pro 
but yes, this or the tube replacement would be a deal breaker for me.
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If the rate is small, we’d have a better chance to reverse the policy!
I would like to know how «om arrival» is defined: is it just actual damage to the forge or does it include faulty performance “on arrival”. We have always known that shipment is not part of the warranty once we have started using the GF. However, I would really appreciate if support could say: do the following test cuts&engraves so we know all works as it is supposed to. I would hate a situation where I only use A few features in the first couple of weeks only to discover that some crucial function had not been working all along and I was too late to find out…
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I can’t speak for them but I’d think that anything before cutting the founders rule should qualify as “on arrival”.
That’s my point: I think the founders rule should be included - you should be able to confirm that the equipment actually works!
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I would hope so too. I would expect that the machine would have to work ever in order for it to be considered working on arrival. What if everything looks fine, but then the factory forgot to, like, put any mirrors in it. You would never know just opening the box, and that issue would only be discovered when you attempted the first print.
If I were international, but I would concerned about this, but it wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me. I think the forum gives us the impression that there are far more problems overall than there really are. The people who have problems have them quite visibly. The people who don’t have problems don’t. If there were tons of returned units, wouldn’t they be, like, sending refurbished units to people who got duds, rather than brand new ones?
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Reading the P&S, it seems around one a day.
I’m guessing this is rhetorical in regards to the percentage, because you have been here long enough to know that we will never know that…
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Maybe there’s a compromise, like Glowforge pays return shipping and the buyer pays return-return shipping? It’s not ideal for anyone, but no one loses totally, either.
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It depends how they end up handling repairs. So far, it seems that many repairs require a return to base. For me that’s an additional NZD$1300 in shipping alone, and I’m simply not willing to accept a product if that’s a possible outcome.
On the other hand, if their normal repair procedure was to simply supply spare parts and instructions for installing them, and they only suggested a return to base for devices that are literally un-repairable, I would feel far more comfortable about accepting my Glowforge.
I have seen them supply spares in a few instances, so I know they are at least experimenting with the idea. We won’t know how they handle issues in practice until a few international units have failed.
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Regarding the ratio of working vs. those with problems, in a production environment if the ratio were problematic, I think they would stop shipping because you can’t allow the problems to scale with higher production rates and remain viable.
We don’t know the numbers, but because they are still rolling out tells me the company is comfortable with the ratio.
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How they handle this will define their international sales. Customers that have to pay an extra $1000 USD to get a manufacturing fault fixed won’t go quietly. If the fault is self inflicted it is another issue.
I am in Norway and I have had good experience so far with manufacturers in the US. I expect Glowforge to just do the right thing. I am probably deluding myself and being naive though 
Fault at delivery I would recon is up to and including first prints.
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…and they haven’t, so why not extend the same courtesy to our international friends?
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I think this is a powerful observation.
My understanding is that a number of OS purchasers are well placed to effect Brand development as this tech enters a new marketplace. It will be interesting to see how it goes
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Some faults don’t show themselves until you try to use the corners of the work space. I would advise testing all four corners on day one.
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Somehow I would hope that the GF team can come up with a couple of test prints which the internationals can use to eliminate known issues immediately.
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I’m yet again thinking I will have to cancel my order I’ve been looking forward to receiving my Glowforge since the Kickstarter. I’ve been concerned about the number of reports of defective units being reported on here but thought I would be protected by the warranty.
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I would be very interested in such a test file to check my machine. I’ve run a number of tests to confirm it is operating well, but never any to test extreme movements.
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