MakerGear Forum

Noticed the charge for the M2 made on my credit card over two weeks ago. Still not even a ship date provided.

I didn't think the credit card companies allowed charges for non shipped product??

The M2 page says 2-3 weeks for shipment of a preassembled printer. You get your notification the day it ships and it arrives like 2-3 days later in the US.

And where'd you get the idea that merchants can't charge before shipping a product? Doing it that way sounds rife with fraud.

MakerGear has been around a long time, you'll get your hardware. Do you have the rest of your environment set up and ready for the printer yet?

bignordique wrote:I didn't think the credit card companies allowed charges for non shipped product??

First off that's a myth but if you read it on the internet it must be true.

I'm sure there is a order queue, and I'm sure you wouldn't be placed in the queue without actually first paying for an order.

Lead times are stated right on the order page.

"An assembled M2 3D Printer purchased today is expected to ship in approximately two to three weeks*. An M2 Printer kit purchased today is expected to ship in approximately three to four weeks*."

Along with the reasons....

*M2 Lead Time

"Please understand that these kits consist of many parts and require a complex supply chain. We do our best to meet the shipping estimates listed above but sometimes shipments are delayed, damaged, lost or we receive wrong or unacceptable parts. If a crucial component is delayed, we may not be able to meet the estimated shipping date. If there is a delay, you will be informed via email so please be sure you provide a correct/working email address with your order. If you do not receive an order confirmation within 24 hours, please let us know."

Just be patient the wait is well worth it...

-Steve

bignordique - the lead time is due to the the current backlog. The lead time is clearly stated at the top of the M2 product page (in bold).

Amazon does not charge your credit card until the order ships (but it also costs a lot more for us to sell through Amazon).

Thank you,
Rick

I wonder why a kit is 3-4 weeks while an assembled printer is 2-3 weeks. You'd think that would be the other way around no?

We need to limit kits to people who really, really want to put the printer together (and accept that we can't test a kit before it ships). If kits have a shorter or even the same lead-time, some will be purchased to save on cost and/or shipping time. Getting a kit without really being prepared to assemble it can result in very intense support requirements and unhappy customers. We try to avoid that scenario.

Rick

As proof of that, go look at the /r/3DPrinting subreddit. It's an alternating set of:

[*] Best printer for under $300?
[*] My $299 printer doesn't print well, why?

I marvel that you do sell kits. I wouldn't be surprised at all that a sold kit cost you more than a sold built-machine. I think you guys are heroes to offer a discount for the kit.

Support calls can be like some of the ones I used to get in my CAD-CAM VAR days in the late '80s. We used to compare some of them to a situation where a kid has broken into a Boeing 747 and somehow horsed it into the air. Now he wants me to teach him how to fly it over the radio.

We did have a solution which for reasons which will be obvious was never implemented

We were looking for another tech. I interviewed a PhD post-doc from the local engine school (he wanted part-time work) who grew up in Shanghai. He was very good, but apparently I was the only one who could understand him. Our plan was to have two levels of support. In the first level you got to talk to Lee. In the second level which cost ten times as much per minute, you got to talk to Dave, a southern boy who we discovered was called simply to listen to him, especially by women.

This was in 1988, well before the discovery of off-shore support.

we didn't do it because we supposed the concept was inherently insulting to Lee.

You guys might want to ask kit seekers to take a little test to establish whether they have the essential prowess to assemble a kit. That might be legal. In today's overly regulated business environment, refusing to sell a kit to a potential customer who makes you nervous probably isn't.

I don't think the kits are limited by any sort of mechanical ability. If you can turn a screwdriver and follow instructions, you can build the kit.

Rick, that is genius, though. Would never even have thought of that explanation.

yeah i dont know if i would go that far jin. easy for you, me and most of the others here but most average people do have trouble using a screwdriver "the right way" and if they went on makergear's website and saw the kit had no lead time and was cheaper.... thats like bait and could get many people that cant put a kit together into a situation where they are over their head and now rick has to bail them out by hand holding them through the entire build.