Want your money back? Raise your hand

I would be happy to actually have my device. I ordered my A350 in November of last year. We are now in October and I cant get the SM team to answer when I will get my shipment. After seeing all the issues I am thinking about calling it quits and ask for my $ back. What advise can you give?
Thank you.

We backed the Kickstarter May 30, 2019, it shipped in July 31st, 2020, and received it mid September, 2020.

Yours should be shipping soon. All of the Kickstarters have been shipped, as of August.

Thereā€™s like 7000 Kickstarter backers out there, and Iā€™m seeing a few dozen posts a day. Doesnā€™t seem like a catastrophic failure rate. Mine has no problems, yet at least :smiley:. Wonā€™t stop me from tweaking and upgrading it until it breaks.

I think thereā€™s definitely a selection bias - people who are moderately pleased are generally not going to go onto forums and make posts. Also, thereā€™s a couple people who had faulty modules that last week updated to say support is sending them new parts, after support returned from holiday.

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also keep in mind that a lot of the issues people are having are not due to manufacturing defects. but SM is replacing most of these components anyway. i believe the majority of bed gouging issues are a result of user error or just poor documentation on how to properly auto level. and as some have eluded to, Iā€™m beginning to suspect that some of the linear rail failures are the result of improper assembly and again poor documentation on the importance of certain assembly steps. so if your familiar with 3d printers you are likely not to have an issues.

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Agreed on the assembly - I assembled it with a 2nd person, and we caught so many assembly mistakes. Lining things up in the wrong hole, etc. Also, not leaving some screws loose until later, had to go back and loosen and retighten a bunch of screws. It went fast, but thereā€™s a lot of places to go wrong if youā€™re not careful.

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Were there any actual errors in the assembly instructions?

None I recall, Iā€™m just bad at following instructions.

I need to speak up. I am one of those customers who are happy with their product. It is a sturdy machine for what I use it. It is my first of every kind so I canā€™t say how other 3dprinters, laser cutters or cncs are on their own. I am aware that there are way better machines out there that do one of these jobs but I was looking for a combination. Since I am a jack of all trades I wanted to do everything and not focus on method exclusively.
So if you are looking for a top tool in each of the three areas get a tool for each of them. When playing with the laser last weekend I thought if I should get a better laserā€¦ but then I saw that a glowforge is ā‚¬ 5.000ā€¦ soā€¦too much for what I need.

So again: from my POV the machine is working as expected.

Luban is pretty bad though, I would go so far and say it is shittyā€¦ not too bad for the 3D printing and acceptable for laser engraving, a mess for Cnc. And some nasty bugs in general

I have not been in contact with their support but I agree that you canā€™t see too much of them in this form.

Would I back the Kickstarter project again: yes

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THANK YOU @ml1140! I have also not run into any critical problems, though I have had a few close calls with gouging and such. I know Iā€™m a pretty critical poster, because I do think SM really needs to up their customer service game, but Iā€™ve had 3-in-1s before, and the build quality is pretty damned good on the SM2, and so far, Iā€™ve had a lot of fun with a number of projects.

So thank you for the reminder - letā€™s see some cool pictures of what you made. :slight_smile:

And yeah, Luban sucks. Part of the reason I backed it was because they said they would open source the tools, and I really am looking forward to contributing. It looks like they walked that back, though, so oh well.

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Yes I there are a few minor ones, at least for the 350, they tell you to install the laser plates in the wrong order. I think their leveling instructions are poorly conceived and there are quite a few confusing bits.
Check out this thread:
Comments on Quick Start Guide and Laser User Manual

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Wow, so Iā€™m reading through this and I didnā€™t realize some of the other issues people were having. The thought of getting my money back has definitely crossed my mindā€¦ After two mats gouged (one DURING the auto calibration process) I am definitely starting to think my machine is defective.

Itā€™s also incredibly obnoxious the snapmaker decided to implement their autobed leveling in a custom manner that does not support the G29 command, at least Iā€™ve been entirely unable to use autoleveling before a print, which I feel like would have prevented the issues with mat gouging.

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Mat gouging has been occurring for several yearsā€¦ it is not your fault.

To be fair, mine isnā€™t just mat gouging :stuck_out_tongue:

New here. Rather than just lurk I thought I would ask. I ordered mine in Dec 2019 and I was notified it should arrive in Sept 2020 because of COVID delay. It is well past Sept. Do they send out a notice of shipment or some kind of heads up. I feel like I am totally in the dark. After reading some of the above will I win the sweepstakes and get a decent unit?

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They send tracking information, for me I got the tracking the day before receiving my A350. It can take a little more than a month from when they ship it to when you receive it. And when they say they will deliver it in September, what they mean is they will send it in September. So give it another month, then if you still havenā€™t gotten it send an email to support.

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Tired-Retired:
Theyā€™ve been sending big batches on boats. When they say shipped itā€™s on the boat.
30 days or so after that it will (go through customs?) arrive at the importer. I have no idea if the importer gets a lot of them and labels them or if theyā€™re already labeled. From the order of people getting them I wouldnā€™t be surprised if theyā€™re loaded into a container and then unloaded by importer so that itā€™s luck when yours gets shipped. (like waiting for your bags at the airport)
So bugging them asking where yours is just bogs down support.
Yes, in this day and age they should have better tracking and all that should be automated, but they donā€™t. (the original plan was to ship by air, so maybe they werenā€™t prepared, even though thatā€™s a lame excuse) So just be patient, people are getting them.

If youā€™re US or Canada theyā€™ve mostly been using Fedex.
So if you have (or create) a fedex account you can look and see when a label has been created to your address. After that it may be 2 weeks before it ships, but at least you know the importer is getting ready for it.
Youā€™ll probably get an email from Backerkit a couple days after you receive it letting you know itā€™s been shipped. :wink:
As far as getting a good unit, I think the odds are in your favor. Most people are having no problems.
Itā€™s hard to know right now the extent of the linear module failure issue. Was there a bad batch or is it a design problem? I would recommend checking for the silicon pad on the ic chip.
On here Iā€™ve seen a lot of problems that were caused by user error combined with some early firmware problems, along with a lot to learn.
Itā€™s definitely frustrating for the people who are having real problems and and then dealing with slow support.
-S

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@Tired-Retired - just wanted to respond to one comment:

Remember there is a certain amount of selection bias going on here. The folks on the forums are (largely, these days) people with issues or questions.

Theyā€™ve shipped 7,000 machines. The ones with no problems are off happily printing and making, not posting on the forums.

The reality is, we donā€™t know what percentage have problems. Mine doesnā€™t, for example. It could be 1%, 10%, or 90%, but I think thereā€™s at least good reason to think the vast majority are mostly if not totally OK.

The biggest problem seems to be that if something does go wrong, their customer service is sorely lacking.

Keep the faith - and be ready to tinker. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the replies! After 10 months with only one email from them about a delay due to COVID I began to wonder what exactly to expect. I am encouraged by the response from the forum. An active group of helpful users sometimes is better than anything the company can provide. I guess I have to remember the old days and the saying ā€œa slow boat from Chinaā€ rather than next day air!
Looking forward to tinkering. -Mike

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Just wanted to say goodbye. I ordered mine when it was still on discount, but after watching the forum I asked for and received my money back. It was for my business and if I had to go through what some of you have been through It wouldnā€™t have been worth it. Anyway Iā€™ve enjoyed watching this for the month or so Iā€™ve been here but time to find something else to do with the $1400 I just got back.

Ira

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Itā€™s a great hobby machine, but itā€™s definitely not a pro machine.
I havenā€™t had any real problems but I wouldnā€™t want to be relying on it to make a living.
It has taught me a lot and enabled me to get a feel for the 3 different functions and figure out which one I want to pursue more.
-S

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Sorry, my 12 year old son have done it. Without any instruction from me. It was not perfect but it worked. Sometimes you have to think by yourself a little bit. Where is the problem??

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