Not happy with the Prusa UX  

RE: Not happy with the Prusa UX

I am sorry to hear about your troubles.  Post questions on the forum before you order and it will save you some heartache.  Support has been dead on for me.  It allowed learning with every problem I encounter.  I would recommend that if you this rilled up that you might want to take a break.  

RE: Not happy with the Prusa UX

Posted by: @deeznutsnbolts

This is more of a rant, and I know I'll get some people saying negative things about me for this, I just have to get this off my chest so that the people at Prusa knows that there are ways to improve.

First off, I got my Prusa because it was highly recommended. Some people said that the extra cost (compared to some other 3D printers) would be worth the support. The printer itself has been fine for me (except for the Power Supply that went out with less than 100hrs of printing).

But where Prusa has been lacking is in Support (which is what I thought I was paying for with the extra cost). I got the textured plate WITH my printer, so I later ordered a smooth plate. Shorty after I received it, I noticed a gouge on one side of the plate (which I didn't notice until after I did a calibration). As soon as I noticed, I reached out to support and provided a picture. They basically told me that it looked like it was my fault and it was created by the nozzle and that I did it when calibrating it. It was on the opposite side of which I calibrated it! And so, even after spending over $1000 on their products, they're arguing with me over a $35 plate. Whatever, I just ignored them and have only been printing on the good side.

Now, that my PSU blew out, I had to upgrade to the new BLACK power supply. It comes either as part of a whole upgrade kit, OR you can buy the pieces seperately. I had the old power supply, so I figured, I just need the power supply itself. I can use the cables from the old power supply. So I only ordered the power supply itself. Keep in mind, I've never done this before; I didn't read the whole instructions first -- I went along with the instructions as I read them. I can't believe that out of the hundreds of printers out there, that no one else has run into the same issue I had. Basically, when it came time to install the new power supply, I realize that I just simply cannot use the old cables. My heart just dropped.... when I purchased the power supply there was NO warning that I wouldn't be able to use the old cables.

So I went ahead and ordered new cables. Again, not reading ahead, I ordered 1 set of power supply cables, and 1 set of the power panic cable. I get them. I load up the manual to continue where I left off, and BOOM. Again, I realize, I need 2 SETS of power cables. Why can't there be a warning on that page as well?!?! Something simple like, "2 SETS OF POWER CABLES ARE NEEDED IF YOU ARE UPGRADING FROM SILVER TO BLACK".

Now here I am, having paid shipping twice and now realizing that I may have to pay for shipping a third time. And the shipping will cost 3 times the price of the actual item that I need.

For a company that's making a lot of money from us, they seem to be skimping on the UX of the site. I'm sure they have people looking over orders before the orders are actually processed. They could easily just shoot out an email and say, "Hey, I noticed you ordered just the power supply. We want to make sure you didn't forget the cables." or something like, "Hey, I noticed that you only ordered one set of power supply cables as well as a power panic cable. If you're upgrading/replacing your power supply, you'll need two sets of cables. Would you like to keep your order as-is or change it to two sets of cables?" Small changes like this can have a profound effect on the experience that users have of the Prusa brand.

TLDR;
"Support" overrated. If you're going to be going through the manual, read ahead, don't just read along. If you're going to be ordering from the store, double-check and triple-check the supplies you'll need (by reading ahead) and order the correct quantity.

This is very annoying in this case and in fact you can improve the instructions as you can always improve something.
Fortunately there is this forum here, where I also always clarify with the professionals here how I can fix a mistake properly.
Regarding the printing plates, I can only say that Prusa does not guarantee them unless they were damaged during transport or there is a verifiable manufacturing defect.
If you need help installing the power supply or have any questions about it, you're in good hands here.

RE: Not happy with the Prusa UX

I have at agree with Karl.  I have had several plates I may have damaged during my first couple prints and one sheet of glass (Creality) that print remove pulled off shards of glass on the first print (talk about adhesion).  It is upsetting.  I have had to replace a number of PSUs in 3 years.  We can help if you have problems.