MakerBot Tech Support - How is it?

[Yancy]

Can anyone provide any feedback on how good MakerBot's tech support is? Are they the best when it comes to 3D printers, like I've heard?

[jimc]

email support and you will receive no reponse. phone support people give good reviews. the new gen5 printers....terrible.

[JohnA136]

There was a very informative, thorough and helpful user's forum on Google for years. Unfortunately, Makerbot shut it down recently. Perhaps they did not like all the posts about their utter failure with their fifth gen machines that just don't work as advertised.

[exit]

Can anyone provide any feedback on how good MakerBot's tech support is? Are they the best when it comes to 3D printers, like I've heard?

It is terrible!! I have been trying to get Z-18 back up and running and they are no help!

[Zhall]

Greed is... bad... Makerbot bad!

[DragonXtreme]

I bought my Z18 through Dell for my business. Initially support was slow but over the last several weeks they have been very responsive and helping me with the issues I have been having with the Z18. They have called and corresponded through emails on a regular basis so I am pleased with that. I purchased 2 years of Makerware support when I bought the printer as I knew there would probably be some issues with the new design, so I can't speak on the side of the standard warranty service.

Makerbot 3.4 helped several of my issues and the revised extruders were shipped on Friday, excited to put one of those in as I have been told they are a major improvement on print quality and the pictures they have sent look great using the revised version. The extruder that shipped with the system was pure junk. They shipped 2 more a couple of weeks ago and I have had very little issue with the one, the other is still packed but these are also the old style.

I am attaching some prints I did over the weekend. The Elder wand was printed vertically and is 17.5" tall. The only issue it had is past the last ball the wand was flexing when it was printing so there is a small wobble in the part.

I am giving Makerbot a chance as I believe they are improving each time I talk to them.

[Mouser]

I had heard bad things about Makerbot customer service, specifically people saying they won't respond to emails. I had an issue with a Rep2 I had just purchased and thought I'd at least give MB a shot so I emailed my problem. To my surprise, within 2 hours, I had a response. The answer half way solved my problem and this forum answered the other half. So,based on my one and only email to MB, I'd have to say they answered quickly and accurately.

However, this doesn't seem to be what the majority of people would say.

[WayTooManyHobbies]

I find their customer service friendly to work with, but very slow. I contacted them shortly before Thanksgiving, and it took a week to get a return e-mail - OK, that's understandable with the holiday. However, it then took them a week to acknowledge my response - and my response was just to confirm my serial number and mailing address. It then took them ANOTHER week to tell me that the parts were going to be shipped. Finally, it took several days after that to actually receive a shipping notification.

If my machine was non-functional (fortunately one extruder is still working), or if it were the only machine we had (Lulzbot Taz has been picking up the slack) this would be completely unacceptable for an extra-cost warranty.