Trouble with customer service regarding Ultimaker 1/Ultimaker 2

[Daid 306]

I chose to ignore nothing...there were no "hints" or "clues"

 

Talk to Dave Head. (Also known as Kibble on the google groups) He has been bugging me for the last 2 months, because he did see hints about something new.

But we did not drop a lot of hints. We where too busy arranging everything else. One of the hints could have been my activity. I'm surprised that nobody noticed this really, but my "visible" development of the last few months dropped quite a bit. Just too busy with firmware development, testing the direct drive (of which we printed shitloads before we got the final injection molded parts)

Also, take a look at our stand at San Francisco: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jabella/9898859083/in/set-72157635805387163

See that we still have UM-Originals on there? We still see this as an important machine, will keep supporting it, it will get upgrade kits.

On a totally unrelated note. Some quick math made us aware of the fact that you could buy 61750 lego bricks for the price of an Ultimaker2. If you buy 95 of these boxes: http://shop.lego.com/en-NL/LEGO-Basic-Bricks-Deluxe-6177?s=4514049

 

[joergen 2]

To be honest, one needs to be deeply immersed in this community to see any hints (or rather interpreting the absence of activity as a hint). UM made a good decision: the 2 machines are very distinct, and both have their merits: UM1 is a perfect machine for tinkering and really learning a lot about 3D printing, and getting really nice results, while the UM2 is more geared towards normal consumers who want to print something (it is not as open to tinkering as the UM1 was). The UM2 was released at a conference in NYC (I was there) and it was a good event, and many were able to see it. I think this strategy was far more honest than announcing a new printer, and not delivering for another 4-8 months, plus having to deal with all the changes that could happen in those 4-8 months, and potentially 100's of unhappy, waiting and nagging customers (usually a PR nightmare). accusing UM employees for being dishonest is unfair as well: they have to follow the rules the company sets, or risk loosing their job. having only a handful of remotely unhappy customers isn't so bad in this context.

I think the UM strategy around the UM2 release was fair.

 

[gr5 2,167]

Also, take a look at our stand at San Francisco: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jabella/9898859083/in/set-72157635805387163

See that we still have UM-Originals on there? We still see this as an important machine, will keep supporting it, it will get upgrade kits.

 

Lol! :smile: That was New York. I know Americans get Holland, Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark confused so I forgive you for confusing New York and San Francisco :smile:

Especially since you got stuck in The Netherlands while half your company was in New York City.

 

[nancy 8]

I know Americans get Holland, Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark confused

I sent this to my friends at Shapeways, and I think the Ultimaker employees/community might find it amusing as well:

 

[Daid 306]

Lol! :smile: That was New York. I know Americans get Holland, Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark confused so I forgive you for confusing New York and San Francisco :smile:

Especially since you got stuck in The Netherlands while half your company was in New York City.

 

Doh, my mistake. Must be because the other makerfair was in SanF. (And you know, we did have the idea once to show the UM2 their, but it was not quite finished)

 

[joergen 2]

I sent this to my friends at Shapeways, and I think the Ultimaker employees/community might find it amusing as well:

 

Awesome, thanks so much for sharing... you destroyed my favorite quote about the Netherlands: "Everything is 1.5h away by car" (now that I know the Caribbean are included, I can't say that anymore)

 

[calinb 11]

Haha, but yikes--plenty of scary reminders of statism and nationalism in that lesson , but then, one of my favorite movies is Jean Renoir's 1937 film, "The Grand Illusion."

By the way, the "empty" U.S. Dakota states are full of freedom and liberty (at least as much as our masters and rulers empowered by fed.gov permit them to enjoy, which isn't much these days). The Dakotas offer the most fiscal sustainability of the entire 50 and are now ranked #1 and #2 in Mercatus Center's "Freedom in the Fifty States" rankings!

http://freedominthe50states.org/

As you can see, even if you've visited New York City (or San Francisco), don't judge the entire U.S. from that experience!

I sent this to my friends at Shapeways, and I think the Ultimaker employees/community might find it amusing as well:

[SandervG 1,521]

very amusing!

I have never been this confused about my own country!

But very entertaining to watch, for sure.

 

[nancy 8]

Glad you guys enjoy it. I'll give you more funny videos if you help me http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/3037-ultimaker-2-printing-issue/ I'm printer sitting for the week.

 

[Daid 306]

Awesome, thanks so much for sharing... you destroyed my favorite quote about the Netherlands: "Everything is 1.5h away by car" (now that I know the Caribbean are included, I can't say that anymore)

 

It's 2 hours to get to Groningen from my place. And Limburg (or Limland as we call it, as we would rather split it from The Netherlands) is also 2 hours away.

And that's without the usual traffic jams. You can easy spend 1.5 hour in a traffic jam and not going anywhere :-)

 

[nancy 8]

According to my Dutchie friends, half the times they don't consider Limburg as part of the Netherlands as well. So the feeling is mutual.

Oh... have to rant about something since I'm giving up on the U2 for now. What is up with the train that SPLITS?! I get on a train to Maastricht, but the last half of the train starts to randomly head to another city! What the?! Nobody warned me about these splitting trains when I visited. They just kind of giggled when I told them the story of me getting stranded in a random town in Limburg. Sigh...