GlowforgeReviews of glowforge.com

I am in Australia and bought a glowforge aura. The machine is great but the subscription price is very misleading. It says it’s $239 a year but got billed $337 plus $11 for exchange rates. Am not happy. Will not be renewing next year

I bought a glowforge Aura Ater less than a year it broke down, they sent me another one, Now this one they sent me broke down after using it about 10 times. I tried to troubleshoot it with glowforge and they could not fix it, telling me it was a hardware issue, and they could not repair it. nor would they send me a new one. but, they where willing to sell me a refurbished one.I spent $1,300 on this piece of junk, now they want to sell me another one? no thank you. I am now stuck with a laser printer that does not work.

Bought an Aura around 2 years ago from Hobbycraft. It's difficult to get the materials and beware, you can't actually make some of the items on the Aura box as the materials are not available in the UK. (Confirmed in e-mail by Glowforge) There is no UK help phone number, you have to wait for an e-mail response which they say is 24-48 hours. You cannot do anything without a subscription, which annually is now $720. Even if you have the Aura and can't use most of the features. I cancelled as it was no longer affordable, but needed one of my designs. The subscriptions page is blank so you have to e-mail them. They assumed I wanted an annual subscription, not monthly and took my money without authorisation as I deleted my payment method as soon as I saw the cost. To date they have not repaid the full amount and have given no reason why. I wish I'd never bought it, I can't afford the subscription so basically it's useless. I tried to return it as you can't make what it advertises you can, but they refused and wanted me to upgrade! I have all this on e-mails from Glowforge.

Non-US customers be warned! I purchased a Glowforge Pro for use in a STEM education business in Canada, expecting premium-grade support to match the premium price. Unfortunately, my experience has shown a serious gap between Glowforge’s brand positioning and the reality for international customers. When my machine failed outside of warranty, I discovered there is no viable repair path for Canadian customers: - Glowforge does not sell replacement internal parts - There is no authorized repair partner in Canada - The recommended U.S. service provider cannot service international units - Self-repair is explicitly unsupported In short, once a major component fails, the machine is effectively unserviceable outside the U.S. I am now the proud owner of a USD6K paperweight! I made several reasonable, good-faith requests to keep the unit operational or to fairly offset the lack of repairability, including: - Purchasing replacement parts - Sending the unit to Glowforge for repair - Receiving a deeper accommodation on a refurbished replacement All were declined. The only option offered was a discounted replacement that still required paying a substantial portion of the machine’s cost again — essentially a partial repurchase to overcome Glowforge’s support limitations. In short, their solution was for me to give them MORE money. Customer service was polite, but rigid and policy-bound. Despite escalation, no commensurate remedy was offered, even after acknowledging the absence of any local repair option. It was all hollow, empty words and no action. For U.S.-based hobbyists, this may be an acceptable product. For non-US customers, schools, or businesses that require solid support, it represents a significant risk: high upfront cost, limited service life, and no practical repair path. Save yourself the headache. I’m sharing this experience so non-US buyers can make an informed decision. It goes without saying that I ultimately chose to NOT repeat the same mistake by giving Glowforge my money again. I'm going with one of their competitors (Xtools, OMtech, etc).

I have had my glowforge Pro, a 6K puchase, for nearly 2 years now. In the past two years, I have been able to make only four items because the laser on the machine continues to malfunction. Earlier this year I sent in the model for a refurbished model. That machine came in, worked once, and then again the laser went out. I reached out to Glowforge Support yet again, and they never offered any reason this happened; they just offered to send another refurbished model, which I accepted. After receiving my second replacement unit in a 6 month timespan, it worked a few times, and then a few weeks later when I went to use it, one again, the laser is not firing. Now I have tried to reach out to them by calling and leaving voicemails which is all you get when you call into customer service, you can never actually reach an agent. I have called their sales line, thinking that they would be happy to try to sell this machine and again you just hit a voicemail. I have reported them to the Better Business Bureau with no reply and at this point, I believe they have no intention of working with me to make this machine usable now I have a 6K piece of garbage sitting in my work room and hundreds of dollars of material I intended to use. I am highly disappointed with the product itself, but even more disgusted and frustrated with the customer service or lack there of. With numerous other machines on the market now I highly highly recommend looking elsewhere for your laser cutting knee unless you want to sit on an overly priced machine, that even one wanted if it doesn't work, you have no ways of reaching the company to get it replaced or your issue addressed.

Purchased the Glowforge Plus 4 years ago. Laser head failed almost immediately. Free replacement (warranty). Last month, the laser stopped firing. Replaced the red high voltage wire (a COMMON) failure. Didn't fix it. Now, we will ship it to Wiregrass for repair. Estimate is $1100. They suspect the Power Supply. We use it very few hours per year. Maybe 10 hours per week June through November. VERY disappointed that a $5000 machine only lasted less than 48 months. DO NOT BUY! Use AI to search for a better, more reliable machine.

DO NOT BUY A GLOWFORGE. My machine has broke so many times, luckily I know how to fix laser machines. I've had no support from Glowforge to help me fix the machine. I am based in the UK and parts are unavailable in the UK, unless you spend a fortune on delivery. The app is absolutely crap, its very slow and complex designs do not load. Constant errors saying the page is unresponsive. I have had to refund so many orders due to the website app not responding. It takes hours to do one easy job that should take minutes. DO NOT BUY THIS CRAP.

I'm so disappointed. I've not been able to use because the smoke and odor is so bad. I also bought the 400.00 filter that is said to allow you to use in any room. Well not if you want to continue to breathe. In less than 4 minutes we had to leave the room. I called customer service and after hours of conversations, many emails, photos, videos and being told my matter was being escalated, the person I was dealing with falls off the face of the earth and I have to start over. I've run the set up procedure 3 times, cut 3 times and had to stop the machine those 3 times. They will not accept returns. They play call center games I guess in hopes you'll give up. It says in their marketing 30 day returns, but if you dig into the fine print, once you open the box - literally just break the seal, no returning! It brags the 400.00 filter allows you to use in any room. Not true. I'm pretty sure there is a truth in advertising law...I wish someone would look into these misleading claims. I have the new Spark and I would urge others to go a different route. A company that doesn't stand behind their product is not good!