Hey everyone,
I did some searching around the forums for talk about 3DProShare and from what I saw people seemed to like them. I wanted to post this though to share what seems to be like my never ending problems with them.
I placed my first order with them around March of this year. First order was for black and white ABS. This one went smoothly. No complaints so I figured I would keep ordering from them.
Next order was in early May I believe. After almost 2 weeks of waiting for the status to update to “shipping” I decided to give them a call. Turns out they went on vacation and the person/people they hired to fill shipments missed several orders. That kind of annoyed me since it’s not that hard to see what orders shipped and what have not.
I decided though since they have the best pricing I would give them another chance. This order I placed in early July. This is where it’s all been fun. I ordered a blue, android, white and black. Apparently the machine Zortrax uses to produce black broke so basically the whole world was out of black. Not a big deal, I understand stuff happens. On my first call about a week after ordering he told me this and said the shipment of black was in customs and he would have it early next week. So about a week later, last week of July, I get one package with the blue and android. I call up to see where the black and white is. Turns out it for held up in customs due to being such a large order of plastics. Again I understand, I’ve been running a reselling business since I was 15 and its happened. He said though it should only be another few days.
At this point though I’ve already bought a 3rd party filament that works decently and I’ve already lost the business I needed the black for anyway. So now mid August rolls around, I call him again to let him know that I’m moving and you can no longer ship my remaining package to the original address. I also ask just where it is, he said he wasn’t home to receive the shipment but would have it tomorrow. That kind of annoyed me. Your a business. Even if it’s just a one man show you got to be their for your business.
So I figure great, now I’ll finally have my material right? Nope. I call up last week and he sounds confused as to how my order hasn’t shipped and he assures me that it will be out the next day. I even double check to remind him I changed the shipping address.
I got a tracking number on Monday or Tuesday and was excited to finally have material again. Delivery was set for Friday. Friday rolls around, no package. Turns out it was still shipped to my old address. Now with the long weekend I will wait to Tuesday to contact him but this is ridiculous.
I just wanted to share this on the Zortrax forum to show Zortrax how their main US distributed is handling business. I am heavily regretting putting my trust in a close sourced setup with only 1 main US distributer. From what I understand 3DProShare is just one guy trying to fill what seems like a lot of shipments and might be a little over his head.
As for 3DProShare, if you come across this, I want to continue doing business with you because your pricing is good and I’ve been there trying to run my own online business. It can be tough but you need several improvements. Main one being your website and communication. Your website is in need of a lot of improvements such as a account page to track and manage orders and a better store page.
If you want I would love to talk with you about better ecommerce and help you set it up. There are much better options for shopping carts that are not expensive. I’ve tried several of them and have experience with them and it seems like you might need the help on the web side of things.
As for communication it really annoyed me that there was no communication of delays or issues until I called you. If your out of stock your website should display that. If your missing shipments you need a better system to manage that. The fact I had to call you every time is rediculous.
So I hope my next order goes better since you have the best pricing and I have no other option.
Josh R.