We are going to need phone support

Community Support
1

Hi All,

"We’re currently experiencing higher than normal volumes of questions, so unfortunately some of our answers may be delayed. If you’re a current Glowforge customer having problems using your product, we’ll get back to you within three business days - and we’ll try for much sooner. "

I was one of the first backers and have been loving my GF. I am a huge fan and supporter. Hardly a day goes by where I don’t use it. I had a big problem about a year ago and had to go through email support and sending it back. The troubleshooting took a week of back and forth, each time waiting a day or two for a response. I have to say, as an owner of a slew of technologies, it was not a great experience.

I have a paying customer and a deadline. I always have this fear in the back of my mind when I take on a customer… what if I have trouble with the glowforge? My HP computer, as an example, can be troubleshooted with a rep online… they can even connect to my machine. For some extra dollars, they will overnight me a replacement.

This morning, as my deadline approaches, my trusty GF is insisting that the lid is open. I troubleshooted using the forum. I cleaned it, rebooted it, rebooted computer, took out the crumb trey, wiggled and jiggled everything, futzed around with the black ribbon cables… nothing. I did this all on my own with the sinking feeling that I would have to go into email discussions with a rep. Deadline approaching.

So, I sent the email. I included pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one telling about it. Now I sit. Deadline approaching. Not knowing if I missed something or if I need a new unit.

What do I tell my customer with the deadline?

A hobby machine can work this way, but I am using this for a business. I would even pay for a higher level of support so that I don’t have to worry.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

1 Like
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Unfortunately, you paid for a hobby machine. Business support comes with business-priced machines, that cost significantly more.

I know it doesn’t help, but that’s the reality.

If your business is based on tight deadlines, you might need to invest in a business-oriented machine.

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It may be marketed as a business machine, however it’s a hobby machine. The cheapest solution is to buy a spare. :wink:

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First, you’ve now opened a second support ticket by posting in Problems and Support. Duplicates have to be hunted down and consolidated, which (judging by the number of people who do this) probably takes a huge amount of time which could otherwise have been put toward actually supporting people. (Not slamming you; just FYI. I did the same thing before I finally read the pinned posts and discovered how I’d been mucking up the works.)

Second, whether you’re using it professionally or not, you paid a hobby machine price. The laser companies that can afford enough support staff to do voice support (which, on their end, takes orders of magnitude more manpower) have much higher price points for their machines. As my old EE prof, Dr. Beasley, used to repeatedly pound into our heads, “you don’t get something for nothing.” More support = higher cost.

Third, yes, support has been abysmally slow lately. Glowforge apparently sold more machines and had more support tickets opened in the month of December than in the entire year of 2018. They’ve been completely overwhelmed. And they worked straight through weekends and holidays trying to keep up – I actually got a support issue resolved ON CHRISTMAS DAY. And no matter how overwhelmed they are, they are always professional and gracious in their interactions, for which I give them kudos.

And fourth, although it should have come much higher in the list, this is still a startup company. It takes a while to get the gears all turning smoothly and get staff onboarded and adequately trained to manage all the functions this relatively small staff is handling while they work out the kinks of rapid growth and expansion. It’s definitely frustrating for us, but I suspect just as frustrating for them.

So hang in there. And post over in Everything Else with your location, because there’s a good chance another Glowforger in your area would be able to pitch in and help you keep your customer happy. I’m in south-central Texas, and would be happy to help if there’s anything I can do along those lines. :slight_smile:

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I’m so sorry you ran into trouble! I see you already emailed us about this and we’re working on it there, so I’m going to close this topic.

If you run into any other trouble in the meantime, feel free to start a new thread or email us at support@glowforge.com.