If you’re printer is having issues, whether its the laser, the galvanometers, or whatever else – we’ll stand behind you, 100%. I know that many of you have experienced that first hand. **If your printer is having issues, contact us at support@formlabs.com, and we’ll take care of you. **If your printer is defective, you do not need to purchase an upgrade to have your repaired.
Many of you have experienced the quality of our support, first hand.
I know that it can be tedious and frustrating to go through the support process, but to Fabien and everyone else – know that we’ve got your back and we’ll make sure that your printer is working, whether you have a Form 1 or a Form 1+. If there are detective components in your machine, we’ll replace them at our cost – and in most cases, shipping inclusive.
We know that there’ve been some challenges as we get up to speed – and that’s why we’ve been trying hard to provide plenty of upgrade and support channels. I appreciate that it’s frustrating to have waited so long – only to hear about a new product – but we’ve been dedicated to iteratively improving the Form 1, and many of the improvements in the Form 1+ exist in one-way-or-another in the Form 1, so if you’ve received your printer recently, you may be a beneficiary of some of the most important improvements.
We’re making the upgrade program available to all Form 1 owners – regardless of their warranty status – which upon upgrade, also includes a comprehensive one-year warranty (http://formlabs.com/store/us/buy-upgrade/).
Thank you for this quick and clear response Sam. I am more confident knowing that there will be a European servicing center. I truly appreciate your hard work!
I see Sam cleared this up pretty good this afternoon. I had opened a support ticket early this morning asking about the lasers going back into the repair units. Not only did Meagan assure me they are using the improved parts for future repairs, but she got back to me in 13 hours, which is the same day! Both were a huge relief. I am feeling more optimistic. Hope this makes some others users feel better too!
@ Josh: I agree with you. Formlabs team did a great work by responding quickly on this thread. This shows the high level of attention Formlabs brings to clients. This is really professional!
I’ve had a very positive experience with the formlabs support team! They have always been very responsive and helpful. I received my replacement early March and it’s been printing like a champ. I’ve been having a great success rate, for large and small prints. I don’t know if my new printer has some of the newer tech, but it seems to be going strong!
I have had a very mixed experience with the support team and feel like others on the forum about the trouble shooting ‘merry go round’ 1. post a ticket 2. wait ‘x’ number of days, not ‘within 24hrs’, before someone gets back to me e.g. placed an order on the European Store for a resin tank on 30th of May still not arrived even though said it would ship immediately so started a ticket (#38196) on the 10th of June as tracking doesn’t work on the European Store and I am still waiting for an answer!! A support Team without a telephone number? mmmmm!!
Back to this particular thread, I am having 60% print success rate which is well below my expectations. I am going through the process of problem solving my print failures, I say ‘going through’ (ticket #36819) but it has been 13 days since I have heard from Ford about diagnosing my problem. Thats not my idea of support .
I have bought a place in the queue for the upgrade but I am not happy about it as I have only had the machine for 6 weeks (4 working ish), but I want stop the feeling of uncertainty of ‘will it or won’t this print succeed’ and crossing of fingers as I set the print off, so will pay the extra for more reliable and faster parts.
From what I see here on the forum though is that I am lucky as many people seem to have had many replacement machines and very ‘beta’ machine experience.
I am hoping that the upgrade to Form 1+ will resolve my particular issue of reliability though I feel going through the upgrading process will come sooner than solving the trouble shooting my failed prints.
The Form1 definitely is a beta version of the design with reliability and performance issues. Also, it was apparently never designed and tested for printing large, solid objects. I bought the Form1 specifically to produce a clear baby head model to demonstrate the physics of Shaken Baby Syndrome and after 2 machines, 5 liters of resin, and 3 trays, the Form1 has never produced a successful print for me. I sent the model file to Formlabs and challenged them to print it there. The print failed on their machine as well (photos attached)! For background, see https://support.formlabs.com/entries/62260817-The-Form1-and-large-print-failures.
I have been waiting for my 2nd replacement printer and told the support team not to send out another printer if it can’t print my model. Then the Form1+ was announced and they said that they would be sending it out soon as the replacement. I told them that they need to prove that they can print my model first at Formlabs on the Form1+. The Form1+ is obviously a fix (attempt at a fix?) for the inadequacies of the Form1. The question in my mind is, will it print large, solid objects successfully and not break down? They are going to try printing it again at Formlabs this week. We’ll see…
So I emailed on the 11th complaining about this whole thing and they just said sorry for any inconvenience and asked if a had a current issue with my printer which had little to do with my complaint but I went ahead and replied on the 12th with the problems I am having: the last parts of the center of my prints falling off and shifting areas in my prints. But I didnt get any reply Friday, so its the same old email conversation process. I’m recoating two trays that were torn up from print failures, so maybe I’ll get a reply by the time they’re ready. I just can’t get over gull of the $750 price tag etc.
Just had my 2nd printer collected by UPS for return to a UK address (my first failed printer was returned direct to USA). My experience to date with support is that they get the job done, at times yes its frustrating waiting for a reply but reply they do and they are always attentive and polite.
Both returns have been at Formlabs cost in terms of shipping which is excellent.
Like many on here I asked for a free of charge upgrade to a form 1+ components as clearly the old components are prone to failure and as they offer a 1 year warranty on the new parts then it is clear they have solved the problem else they are going to burn through a huge warranty cost! So providing uprgrades to more reliable components makes perfect business, commercial and customer satisfaction sense…
I am now at the point of either asking for my money back or risk receiving a new printer… as while support never committed to providing a free of charge upgrade to 1+ components I did receive this from support which is very promising and has tipped me to wait for a new printer if I am to be honest: Also this should indeed solve many issues others are facing on here… I hope support does not mind me sharing this as I think its important:
“The machines currently shipping as refurbished replacement units contain a mix of Form 1 and Form 1+ components; many have the upgraded laser systems in place already, but lack the galvo control boards or the reinforced peel motor (for instance). We’ll be working through those this week, and by the time your machine arrives at our UK facility, we may be shipping machines containing entirely second-generation components. Regardless of the mixture of parts, we stand 100% behind our printers, and promise to provide the warranty coverage listed in our terms of service as an absolute bare minimum.”
Just so you’re all aware, Formlabs does not accept “returns” for money back. I was informed of this when I suggested I might do it inside the 90 day warranty. They will not give you a refund** IF YOU EVEN USE IT ONCE**. You’ll have to go through your bank or credit card company. I don’t know why someone would try to return an item they’ve waited 6 months to receive, only to open the box, have a look, and then decide they want a refund (minus a 10% “restocking” fee, mind you).
In disbelief I looked through their terms, and you can see it here: The item must be unused, undamaged, complete with all parts and accessories, in the same condition you received it, and in its original packaging. Consumables, such as resin and resin tanks, will not be accepted if packaging is opened.
Vince, Meagan replied to your ticket request last night. Apologies for the long delay…we are experiencing a large increase in inquires and we are doing our best to get to everyone as quickly as possible.
I sent emails to customer service on 11/06 asking if the printer that was being sent to fill our 6 month old order was a Form 1 or Form 1+ . I also clearly stated that if it was the older version you should cancel the order and issue us a refund. We know that we will be doing the type of big volume prints that have been causing problems on the original printers. (At the time of sending, the products had not yet been collected by DHL.) You are also currently not even offering the paid upgrade to Australian customers, so it is highly likely that if you’ve sent us an original printer we will be getting an useable product.
2 weeks later, I still have not yet heard from anyone, and now I get a call from DHL telling me that my printer is stuck in customs until I pay the duty. Happy to do so, on a Form 1+! But I don’t know what I am getting, so I won’t be paying anything. The printer will stay in customs until I get an answer to my questions from Formlabs. If that doesn’t happen, it will be returned to Formlabs at its expense… And we’ll have to be offered a refund from Formlabs or raise a dispute with VISA to get our money back. I hate thinking about resorting to these options, but what choice do we realistically have???
Hopefully Formlabs did the right thing and set us a Form 1+, but I won’t know until someone answers my emails… I’ve opened a support ticket, so maybe that will warrant a more timely response.
I appreciate that you guys are really busy and running a manufacturing business takes some practise to get the logistics and customer service interfaces right especially at times when things aren’t going 100% smoothly with a new product. I know because that’s what we do ourselves. From one manufacturer to another - you haven’t handled this release of a new version very well!.
Rules we run by when releasing a hardware version:
If it is a bug fix or improvement that applies to basic functionality, it isn’t chargeable to anyone that requests it. We tend to share shipping for requested upgrades - they send it back on their account, we return it to them on ours.
2. Once a new version is available, all back orders and new orders are automatically filled with the improved version unless we know for a fact that they won’t need the improved functionality. If there is any doubt, ship the better version. Whatever it costs you in terms of scrapped parts, you will save in terms of reduced support overhead and disgruntled customers.
If you must move old stock, either offer it at a discount price or monitor it where it goes very carefully (even proactively if possible) so that you can respond quickly if the customer has issues and then swap it out for the new version at your cost.
Increase your customer service response capability at the time of the upgrade and thereafter. You are going to get questions and requests for returns or swap-outs.
Hopefully, you guys will at least learn something from this upgrade debacle and won’t lose too many customers in the process. At this end, the jury is still out…
I’ll update this thread when I hear one way or the other.
excuse it please
