"In praise of, and my frustration of, Bambu Labs" Topic

I upgraded my Ender 3 to a Bambu Labs A1. It i like night and day, and I pretty much love it. It's like Magic!

However, a part on it broke, which I had written to them about how to fix it. I can still make it work, but I have to fudge when it wants to auto cut a filament. Their customer service is frightful.

Every few days I get yet another message asking me for more proof I actually bought it. One day it is where did you buy it (amazon), then what was the order number. Then where was it shipped to. Can you send up a copy of the actual invoice?
etc. Not ONE WORD about the actual problem, which I have suggested that I think it just needs a part swopped out and I would happy to do it myself.

They are making me feel like I did something wrong by not buying it directly from them.

But, the prints it makes are just spectacular. I can make passable 28mm figures with it, IF (and this is the key point) the figure does not need supports. Like dead figures lying on the ground. With supports most figures get broken or scarred trying to remove them. But for scenery and widgits it is really amazing.

Congratulations on a happy upgrade! If only everything were improving as much as FDM printers…

And thanks for reporting on customer service, that's important information that's hard to get. I had a very hard time getting a warranty replacement from Elegoo. Creality was much better when I needed a part.

I went from a pair of upgraded Ender 3 Pros to a Ender 3 V3 a month ago and like you said, night and day. Faster prints, better prints, more reliable prints, more convenient prints. I loved those Ender 3 Pros, but this is a new world.

Have you tried setting your slicer to generate resin-style supports (sometimes called "tree" style)? They are easier to remove than traditional FDM supports, and will probably provide enough support for most models.

@Panzerdillo may be on to something.

I only have a resin printer , Anycubic, and supports are easy to remove. Generally I just give models a wash then slip a scalpel blade between the support tips and the model, a wiggle back and forth separates the model from the raft support.

Best point out I'm using ABS-like resin.

This happens with Amazon orders. My wife bought "expensive" sneakers sold by the company but shipped via Amazon. The soles started literally shredding within weeks. She contacted the company. The emails from their CS were the same as yours in the same order every few days. Don't sweat it. She did get a replacement pair sent to her eventually.

I think it's to protect themselves from scammers. It's the world in which we live.

The amount of fake product sold on Amazon is frightful. I am not saying that is the case with your printer, but that might be why you are getting the third degree. Not sure why they didn't just ask you for a serial number, as that would verify if it is genuine or not.

A company I used to work for lost millions each year due to fraudulent product sold by unscrupulous Chinese vendors on Amazon claiming to be the real deal. Amazon frankly didn't care as they got paid either way.

On customer service for resin printers, my Elegoo 5 started doing weird stuff and stopped printing. I emailed them, and got a response, it was relatively clear but not wonderful.

Anyway, after a couple of emails they ended up sending me a new sensor and a link to a video to install it. There were issues but their support was pretty good and eventually I managed to complete the installation.

Next thing it started loosing the USB drive while printing! They told me immediately I needed to replace the mother board. Gulp!
But that was even easier and I got it done quite easily. Machine is working fine now.

So, remote support does work, but you need a bit of confidence when it comes to working on fiddly bits. I didn't have any, or the required dexterity, so it was difficult for me. But, the support guys were helpful via email and I got it done.

It can be done, but one good experience hasn't fully replaced my concerns.

What's funny is that when I bought my resin (Elegoo mars 3 pro), it had an issue. I wrote to them, they asked for a photo of the problem. Upon seeing it immediately just sent me a new one and said to just ship back the one I had at their cost.

update- many back and forths- and they decided not to accept a print out from amazon- My own research is that I can get the part i need for $32 USD, so I am just going to do that.

I considered just returning to Amazon, but to be brutally honest, the thing is so great I don't want to look at other printers. I just printed out some 1/56th scale armor with the .2 nozzle, and thin height, and it looks pretty amazing. With no smelly cleaning.