Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Glowforge's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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• 

  Glowforge

  Seattle, WA 98134

• 

  Glowforge

  2944 1st Ave. South, , 98134, Seattle, WA 98134

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/15/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased a Glowforge plus and took delivery in October 2021 for $5000. The machine wouldnt cut on the right side. Glowforge immediately replaced the machine with a refurbished unit. I thought I was getting a new unit. Then after the 1 year warranty expired, the exhaust fan broke apart. I followed the recommended cleaning process. One fan blade completely came off and thankfully didnt damage the tube. I use the machine on weekends and certainly not full time. Glowforge said I could not purchase a replacement fan and instead would have to send the machine back and purchase another refurbished machine for $1500 plus shipping. I love the ease of use of the software and how easy it is from a plug and play perspective. However, I didnt realize this was a $5000 investment for one year of use.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/14/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Bought the Glowforge and was excited to make back my money. After using it less than 3 months it broke . Each time it happen 6 to be exact they sent a refurbished one. It lasted each one a little more than the last. No new renewed warranty and now after #6 I am completely left with a half working machine. It will work and stop so we can hardly use it . Id like a brand new machine to start over. Or a refund to find a reputable company. Attached you will find so many emails with one replacement after the other. My MAIN problem is it shouldve been a new one not refurb each time and we may couldve gotten a few good months out of it .

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/29/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased a Glowforge pro in June 2021 and it suddenly stopped focusing during the calibration when you turn on the machine. I emailed support and with extremely limited help I was advised I would have to spend $556 USD + shipping, customs, taxes, etc to buy a new printer head. I have read through the Glowforge complaints and for a $10,000 machine (with shipping, customs, etc) I would expect it to last without needing expensive replacement parts for a machine that is well taken care of and hardly used. Definitely doesn't live up to the expectations and will never order a machine through glowforge again.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/24/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased this laser machine a little over a year ago. It has sense expired in its warranty. The last machine started having issues focusing, on which I reached out to glowforge support for help. The problem was identified as being a major design flaw. There is a cable that runs to the glowforge laser head called the white ribbon laser head cable. Just above this cable is a black piece that is covered in textured paint. Overtime, after regular use, the cable will wear as it rubs against the textured paint (poor design choice by glowforge) and once the cable is worn enough, it will expose copper wiring-causing the cable to short out and the laser head will not function properly. This is a design flaw by glowforge. They offered to fix it-but I would have to pay $1,600+ and send my $7,000+ machine back to them in exchange for a replacement machine. This is an issue because due to their design flaw-every glowforge owner at some point will be faced with this problem *** tot heir design error and will have to pay the same amount. Appears to be a large money scandal to keep giving them money because of a design flaw they did.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/13/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The $6000.00 glowforge I purchased plus an additional ******* for an additional warranty does not work and I cannot get anyone on the phone to help get it to work. I get an unexpected error message just looking through the catalog and when I try to upload something to print. They just updated the software and now nothing works and I have an expensive but useless sculpture taking space up in my house.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/13/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Bought the glowforge Pro.Even though almost no use, just after one year of ownership the machine started not working. Laser couldnt cut through anything and engraving was faint. Then the laser tube started flashing all together. Support wants me to send it back to them, said it would be 1500-2000 to fix likely. Terrible support. They can see I only have a handful of hours in the machine and will not do anything to support the machine without huge money. After researching on the internet, seems there are MANY people with similar issues and experiences. Buyer beware.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/08/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased a new Glowforge Plus in January 2021 for $4,007.15, order number G1055159406. The company stated in email communications to me that their units are expected to last for years. On their webpage ********************************************************* the company states We guarantee that prints on Proofgrade material always work. An electrical component in my first machine stopped working properly in 11 months, and was replaced with a refurbished unit that is promised to be of equal quality as a new unit. This unit, received in January 2022, never performed comparably to my first unit. It was less powerful and the companys fix was to adjust the back-end settings manually to slower speeds. This machines laser tube stopped firing after 10 months, the company would not tell me what was wrong. The company has a known electrical problem but does not offer a free repair for machines out of warranty. I was forced to pay $1,607.15 for another refurbished machine. I was told this was the equivalent cost for the repair required, but they would not tell me what the issue was or the required repair. This is the same cost quoted to nearly all customers regardless of the actual issue; so it does not appear to be truly dependent on the repair. I paid for the replacement unit. It stopped cutting through Proofgrade material in 3 weeks. I was told by a support team member: I am shocked that this happened to your printer so soon. I'm afraid we'll need to replace it. I received another machine and it also does not cut through Proofgrade material. I asked for a refund or a new unit and the company refuses. I was told: Im truly sorry for the way our policies in this situation have impacted your trust in us Ive passed a report to our team with your comments. We are always working to improve, and your feedback will help us make our processes better for everyone. They acknowledge their policies are negatively impacting customers but are unwilling to budge.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/02/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Good Afternoon,I purchased a Glowforge laser on October 18th 2022, by the time i received the machine, I did not have a proper place to installed it, so since I was made aware of the important of transporting the machine inside the box, I didn't removed the machine from the box until December, were my office was finish. The first time I tried to use the machine, did not work. He head of the printer was moving, but the laser was not visible and wasn't cutting the materials. I was using the materials that were included on the moment of purchase. When I tried to get tech support I received my first surprise. Even though, there is a phone line to tech support no one ever answered my phone calls, when I wrote an email requesting tech support over the phone, I was told that there was not possible, I tried my best to follow all the troubleshoots there suggested, nothing make the machine work. I was told them, that i was under guarantee and that they will send a refurbished unit to replaced my brand new unit. I told them right there that I did not agree with this, that I needed to speak with someone about it. Nobody ever contacted me, I tried customer service and it's doesn't exist. Same experience with the nonexistent tech support. The only way I got to speak with a person was after i choose the sales option, instead of tech support or customer service. They lied to us, making us believe we count with the assistent over the phone, but I wasn't able to get anyone on the phone or get a call back after many intents. When spoke with someone in sales, I requested a call back, that was 3 weeks ago. They sent the refurbished unit. I was desperate to finish my kids Birthday party favors and decorations, I was running out of time. The replacement worked, but it also has stains, and it's clearly no new. I paid $5.000 for a machine that never worked, and I got instead a used one, that I can easily purchased in Craglist, or **** for much less. My trust in the company is gone. They never offered credit back or anything to me to compensate the waste of my time trying to make the first printer work and later waiting for the replacement, and the fact that they send me a used unit. I purchased this laser printer to build a business around it, but I don't have any confidence in the company anymore. I think I deserved a brand new unit, I paid for it, It shouldn't be me the one paying the consequences of Glowforge sending me a fault unit. Find attached pictures of the condition of the refurbished unit.Sincerely,**************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/30/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I ordered their Pro version machine for a full price of $7,500 back in August of 2022. I paid the full price upfront. And since then, the machine has been used for less than 100 hours. I detected an issue right from the start, but was unsure of how to properly go about it. I did research online and decided to put off the matter until recently when I realized the issue was seriously effecting my work. Burn marks were being left on materials (various types of acrylic sheets) thus I made the decision to contact Glowforge directly. There was a lot of back and forth of me breaking down the issue for them and them guiding me on how to help them better understand the matter. Images were even sent of parts of the machine upon their request. They decided the machine could not be repaired thus they sent me a replacement machine. However, the machine that I received was an old refurbished model with much rust on the inside and even a spare s**** lying on the inside. It is not in decent condition whatsoever. I took several images of the replacement and sent it to Glowforge with words of disappointment. Their response was not helpful. They basically said the appearance does not and should not matter and it is in working condition. I paid $7,500 and originally received a brand new machine with an internal manufacturing defect. The error did not develop from my use. It was there from the beginning, but I did not pay much mind to it as it was my first time using a laser printing machine like theirs. They have a 1 year warranty and are refusing to send me a better replacement and have already denied trying to repair the original machine.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/26/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  when I requested information from the sales associate and the support on how to return a product, I received contradicting feedback. Had no problem paying the 10% restocking fee. I was told I had to pay for shipping on one email, on another email I was told I had to pay for shipping both ways. When I reached out to request the return policy I waited for a response in a reasonable time because I was going out of the country. I paid to have the merchandise shipped and sent the tracking number, insured. I asked to direct me in the return policy where it addresses the shipping for returning merchandise. I read the policy **** and it mentions return damaged merchandise. Once I did not hear back from support in a reasonable time frame, I paid to have the product shipped. I want the money I paid for shipping because as it is I paid shipping charges twice. I am requesting reimbursement in the amount of one hundred and sixty-two dollars and eighty-nine cents