REALLY disappointed...

[brianfarish 0]

I am EXTREMELY dsappointed with my Ultimaker experience thus far...

I ordered an original Ultimaker on 12/31 and fourteen hours into the build I discovered that the kit that had been sent did not include a Bowden tube.

I contacted Maker Media, Inc (who had sold me the kit) and they pointed me back to Ultimaker because they (Maker Media) supposedly didn't stock replacement parts [strike One].

When I finally got a response from Ultimaker the next day [01/14/14], Simone emailed "I just contacted our logistic deparment and we are going to send you the missing bowden tube. I want to resolve your problem as soon as possible, so you can start printing."

When a week passed with no update and no sign of the tube I emailed Ultimaker again [01/20/14] for an update because I am [understandably, I think] anxious to get started. The response... from Simone again... "I just checked for you. It will be shipped today."

As it stands now, obviously I'll never buy from these guys again, but more importantly I will share my story... often. It was shameful that the kit got out the door [with a completely checked and signed "Quality control" picklist] when they are charging this kind of money for the kit and it is unacceptable that upon discovering their error they didn't care enough to make it right immediately.

 

[SandervG 948]

Hi Brian,

Thank you for your post.

I am very sorry to hear you are experiencing this level of frustration.

I can imagine that with 12hours into a build it is frustration to find out not all parts are included.

We check every Ultimaker Kit very strict to make sure all parts are present, but unfortunately with an item that

holds so many parts, on occasion it does happen that 1 part is missing.

In the end it is still checked by a human being.

Luckily we have our support department to be there and help our customers and users.

In our communication system I see you have contacted us on 01/13/14 in the evening (at least, it was evening here in NL) and Simone got back at you the very next morning.

She also immediately created a support order so your missing bowden tube would be send to you asap.

Now this part of the process could have gone down a little bit faster because your support order was not send out until after a couple of days. I am not yet sure why but I will look into it.

I just want to apologize for the delay of these couple of days but I am happy to inform you that your bowden tube is on its way and should arrive at your doorstep within another couple of days.

I hope your frustrated feeling will fade away when you can continue your build again and you can finally start your first 3D print.

If you have any further questions down the road during the build or afterwards, please feel free to ask.

 

[illuminarti 16]

Brian -

I'm sorry to hear about your poor purchase and ownership experience, so far. I do hope that you'll stick with the printer, and the company, and give them a chance. Excuses are all well and good, but I understand that you just want things to be right. Hopefully now Sander is involved, things will go smoothly for you.

FWIW, I think that Ultimaker is working hard to ensure that they are in a good place, and able to consistently offer the best quality, and the best customer service. I've heard repeated rumors that one of the things that they are working on is improving their supply and support capabilities for users on this side of the Atlantic - so I'm hopeful that the ownership experience will only get better for us this year. I hope you'll stick with them, because I think the experience will ultimately be a rewarding one.

 

[nick-foley 4]

Just order a replacement from Mcmaster Carr. It will arrive in 2 days or less. Cost will be trivial relative to the time you've already spent stressing about it. There's a thread on here will all the part numbers.

 

[gr5 897]

There's a thread on here will all the part numbers.

 

A little help? I've never seen this thread - must be more than a year old? Do you mean this?:

https://github.com/Ultimaker/UltimakerOriginal

 

It doesn't have enough information to order stuff - just dimensions of parts.

I hope Ultimaker (some day) lets someone in the US "warehouse" several sets of spare parts for extra fast shipping.

Although DHL is pretty fast - 3 days to the USA - even weekends count as days.

 

[brianfarish 0]

Three successful small prints with icemaker feeder tube as a substitute. It's fairly stiff and the correct OD... If I have feed issues I'll swap in the Bowden tube that arrived on 1/23. Thanks for getting it sent out, Sander.