Customer Service?  

Re: Customer Service?

Derek,

That sucks. Sometimes process can get overwhelming and a waste of time. Anyway, Josef said on facebook that he requested his reps to follow this process. They said that it helps them in a few ways like learning more about problems and see what they can do to improve.

Re: Customer Service?

I think I understand, and this new policy will make me find printers elsewhere after my pending orders are fulfilled. I don’t have time to help PR out, and they're not asking me to; they're forcing me to. Worse yet, most of the critical parts that can’t be sourced elsewhere are always sold out. I can’t build a business off of that kind of unreliability.

Re: Customer Service?

Welcome to the new Prusa. This has been my life with them since October. Michele is actually a HE and he's about as worthless as they come.

I've got 4 prusas myself and I won't be getting more. They've went way downhill and FAST.

Re: Customer Service?

I went through the video thing as well for proof that my rods were not hardened and that my power supply was indeed clicking. When I got over being pissed at the request, I simply took a video on my cell and shot the link to them. It really didn't take more than a few minutes, but this was easy to demonstrate with a floor pickup magnet, and the audio of the power supply. If the problem/issue was more intermittent I could see that being a problem. In any event, I hope they read this forum and see the dissent being generated. One thing to keep in mind is that there are most likely folks who took advantage of their previous policy and simply received replacement parts for items which may not have been warranty related, or user error. The shipping cost is really the killer, unfortunately. The parts are all really quite reasonable.

I have 6 MK3s myself as well as an MK2 + MMU which works perfectly (lucky me!), so I am in the same boat. I would hope that this one bad exchange won't put you off, Prusa. To be honest I am not certain who does actually have good customer service in this space and price point. I have heard Robo3d, but I'm not sure their product is really the same in terms of evolution and development. I guess I am happy that all of my exchanges have gone well.

Re: Customer Service?

I've has a similar experience. I had a very fruitful email back and forth with Peter Mencák, but he couldn't figure diagnose my problem, so he sent a final email saying he would have an "associate" contact me. After 3 days of no contact, I got on the chat line and had a frustrating experience with Marina. I described the "clicking" sound I was hearing while the filament stopped advancing in some detail. She wanted a video of the clicking and filament not advancing. (I don't know, maybe she thought it would make a great background for going to sleep with)? Then she sent the following:

MarinaI'm sorry, I thought you mentioned a video. I see you have sent several emails. I can tell you we require 3 business days to answer emails due to the amount of emails we receive daily. If you send an email every day it will jump to new emails, that is why my colleague has not yet replied to the latest

Marvin HelphreyOk, now what? Read

Reconnecting…

Connection lost. Please check your internet connection and then try again.

Start the chat again

She F---ing hung up on me!

So, my thoughts are this.
If they can't put current owners to the top of the list for email response, where is CUSTOMER SERVICE?
If they have so many customer emails that it takes 3 days to wade through them, then we are really just BETA USERS!
I would think someone who sends an email every day that isn't answered to go to the front on the line as WORK PENDING PRIORITY!

The bottom line is that a friend who is wanting to purchase a new Prusa 3 sent me a forum link with my problem and that seemed to have fixed it for the time being.

Another thing that bothered me is they require my order number to make sure I'm a current owner. But when I talked with Marina, I had to tell her if it was a kit or home built, It seems they should know everything about my machine by referencing my order #. She also had no idea about my email conversation with Peter. It also seems they should have a central depoitory like other companies to referring my communications in a chronological order.

Re: Customer Service?

it scary if this is now the norm I thought I was the only one. My emails after 4 weeks where never answered. I had over 15 chats sent videos pictures ect.. to replace defective part. Now someone else is having a similar issue here https://shop.prusa3d.com/forum/hardware-firmware-and-software-help-f64/been-waiting-3-weeks-for-a-reply-from-infoatprusa3-t15813.html

Re: Customer Service?

This is more about the TOTAL LACK of customer service. For the last three weeks I have had a problem where when I go to Preheat PLA most times the printer reboots and returns to the Home screen. Both temperatures show 0 degrees. It appears there is problem with the bed heating system even after checking for continuity and grounding. This started when the filament sensor failed. Now the LCD says check the connections even though it is unplugged and sensor removed. There is no option to Turn it OFF.

I have had many chats, emails, videos, and photos with Michele M with absolutely NO satisfaction. He keeps telling me that I have damaged the heating bed even though I sent him photos that showed it was in perfect condition. At this point I believe he has no idea what to do and he can not offer any troubleshooting procedures.

I have been left on my own. To date I have replaced the LCD panel and cables, the bed heating wires, the Rambo board. These are only after preparing new feet, replacing the 10 bearings, and repairing the cabling structures. My next step is to replace the heating bed.

Also, in the beginning he offered me a new filament sensor and bed power wires. It was ordered but never shipped. In my last chat with him he denied that he had made this offer. I then ordered a new one on my own.

The greatest problem with all these chats, photos, and emails is that no one ever reads them. I have asked several troubleshooting questions but I never get a definite answer.

As a new 3D printing user I am sorry that I ever got started down this path. For sure, it was a huge mistake to have ordered this piece of junk from Prusa Research. I have come to the conclusion that once this company has your money they could not care less.

Re: Customer Service?

wow my disappointment was waiting for 5 months then getting a email saying it(mk3) was sent, Tracking it all excited, lol,
then wondering why it was 40 miles away but not moving, then nothing ????emailed Prusa R., they do a investigation and they say it was lost.
they decide to ship me another through UPS, and 4 days later its in new jersey usa, ok cool, 2 days later it comes (tracking #) in and out of canada in 1 day then back to europe ???? email prusa R. and they tell me theres problems with ups's new system...ok i say nevermind ups and sent it to me by dhl. a week later i get a call from dhl saying i have a package for me but need to pay 143$ first, weird i thought i paid delivery back in Nov 2017 when i first bought it...bit the bullet and finally got my mk3.
a week later a bill from ups for the printer that i never got.
so i paid 3 times the shipping cost for 1 printer
after building it ,i get another call a few days later from ups saying the have my lost printer and i told them to return it to sender because i have my printer now(finally) and i have not paid for 2 ( theft in my eyes) . i again emailes them to tell them about the lost printer being found and return....they tell me thank you for being honest..ok, but what about me paying 3 times the shipping, i say, they tell me its probably canadian policy
not happy. but i love my mk3

Re: Customer Service?

Sounds like Customs was charging you an import duty.

Re: Customer Service?

I think Prusa have been so successful, that they have and are expanding so fast that the support structure has fallen way behind. Making something from a kit typically will be demanding of the support staff, who must work out what is wrong, and iterate attempts with the customer to solve issues.
My exchanges can be seen in the thread "calibration problem." I was going to start whining to Michele after a week of waiting, but somehow the problem went away. I never got a word from Prusa about the meaning of an error message that was not listed on the site. A long time ago answers even came in from Josef, or Jakob. I will be examining the situation carefully when the time comes for another machine.

Re: Customer Service?

folowing this thread, also some bad expereinces

Re: Customer Service?

whilst many of us have had poor experiences at times.. how many have also had good experiences

particularly Shane and Peter menkac.

I have had support in the middle of the night for no additional cost

that's better than any other 3d printer supplier that i have experienced

regards Joan

Re: Customer Service?

whilst many of us have had poor experiences at times.. how many have also had good experiences

particularly Shane and Peter menkac.

I have had support in the middle of the night for no additional cost

that's better than any other 3d printer supplier that i have experienced

regards Joan

I cannot lean, or say what their support is like either way as I have not had to use it yet (I am still in the group of people waiting for my printer to ship! lol)

BUT I can say that your "middle of the night support", is actually middle of the morning support for them, so it is not out of the norm or unexpected/above, and beyond honestly.

Re: Customer Service?

where is Joan from?

Re: Customer Service?

Not 100% sure, but based on use of English, and spelling of words I would say US based?

Re: Customer Service?

Halifax England,
about one hour behind Prusa time! 😈

regards Joan

Re: Customer Service?

This will be long, so I apologize. But I think it shows the significant differences in the quality of support depending on who you get in chat. I've been dealing with two issues (1 since the 18th of April). Here is a synopsis of my experience:

4/18/18 - Contacted chat regarding the MK3 part cooling fan. Chat support was great (unfortunately can't remember name of tech). Said a replacement would go out right away.

4/19/18 - Notification from DHL that a shipment was on the way. Delivered on Monday 4/23/18. HOWEVER, THEY SHIPPED A MK2 part cooling fan. I immediately contacted support (again didn't save chat and can't remember techs name). I was informed they would get a MK3 fan out and I would receive it within 5 days.

4/27/18 - No notifications from DHL so I contacted support again. By now, I have had a 623H bearing/pulley go bad and have introduced that into the conversaton. In addition, I've sent to e-mails to [email protected] and have yet to hear back on the emails. Here is a portion of the chat:

Bobby Phillips 07:42:03 am
Ok.. to summarize.. it's been almost a week with no help. I have a defective part cooling fan, Prusa sent the wrong one, I'm still waiting for notification of the correct one being shipped. Also, I have a Y-axis idler pulley that has gone bad and need it replaced.

Martin 07:42:20 am
OK, minute
Y-axis what do you mean?

Bobby Phillips 07:43:15 am
The belt that moves the bed back and forth... on the Y-axis. The pulley installed at the front of the printer has gone bad.

Martin 07:43:24 am
The pulley is loose ok?

Bobby Phillips 07:44:12 am

No it's not loose. The install is good, the printer returns good values for the belt tension. The bearings have gone bad. It makes a grinding noise and pops very loudly.

Those videos demonstrate the issue.

Martin 07:54:18 am
OK, I will check)
the sound of clicking by y-axis pulley could be from plastic 07:55:09 am
OK I saw second video 07:56:11 am

Bobby Phillips 07:56:31 am
It's not. If you watch the videos I sent links to, I have isolated the bearing (removed it from the printer) and it's obvious it is defective. I have also replaced it with the bearing/pulley that is on the X-Axis (they are the same part) and the popping/grinding moves to the x-axis with the bearing.
It's definitely the pulley
bearing

How can a technician not know what I meant by Y-axis?????

4/30/18 - Chat with Pavel. Pavel originally confused the delivery of the original MK2 fan. After correcting him, he said it was set for shipping back on the 25th. He couldn't give me any additional information.

5/1/18 - I'm becoming persistant :)... I chat with Semsem. He says that he can see the order and it will be shipped real soon within 5 working days. I express my disappointment that it hasn't been shipped, He apologized and said it was due to unexpected technical difficulties.

5/2/18 - I chat with Peter today... His response: " I see and I apologise for that. However we don´t work during the weekends and yesterday we had a bank holiday. So the only business day was the Monday there 🙂 " I ask when can I expect shipment. He says it takes 2-5 days to process an order. When I tell him I've been waiting on the fan to ship for almost two weeks all I get is "I apologize."

5/2/18 - An hour later... I chat with Douglas. A few minutes with Douglas and he has contacted support and taken care of everything and supplied me with a tracking number.

5/2/18 - 30 minutes later... DHL e-mails me with a tracking number.

RE: Customer Service?

I'm currently struggling with Michele. He's not providing any constructive troubleshooting advice. Is there a way I can elevate this issue within Prusa?

RE: Customer Service?

Hmmm the original post dates from 2018, I wonder if Michele is the same Michele. ?

you can use the email address [email protected]   although my experience has been that the emails take a while to be responded to!

Or the could try the 

https://www.prusa3d.com/page/ask-us-anything_482/

page, 

there is an interaction section at the bottom of the page... 

Or you could try Prusa Chat, at a different time, and hope to get a different agent... 

regards Joan