Zortrax official policy about warranty coverage is that it is limited to Europe only.
Does anyone else think that this is somewhat myopic?
I am located in Canada and as I consider purchasing the Inventure, their warranty policy does affect how I think. My view is that if you wish to market and sell your product in the global marketplace, then adopt a warranty policy that protects your potential customers globally.
Octave offer a one-year U.S. warranty. They suggest contacting them directly for arranging coverage for printers in Canada.
Any private individual in Europe gets 2 years warranty, business warranty is 1 year. I would be reluctant to buy any product (if in the USA) sold without a warranty due to the fact that how can you trust any product, if the supplier won`t back it up? The Octave warranty seems pretty useless if you ask me. NONE of my issues with my printer would not be covered by Octave (perf. board(s), heating plate(s)). I think it is fair to say that these two items are the Achilles heel of the product. How often do the stepper motor or platform distance screws fail? Seems like they cover only the stuff that rarely fail. I get it, if it was my company, I wouldn't like to pay for product failures from my supplier either.
I think Zortrax should do what is decent and provide ALL customers with a full warranty.
The perfboard is a consumable, like an extruder nozzle or brake linings on a car. People damage them with scrapers, they put all kinds of adhesives on them, plastic melts into the holes, etc. I'm sure if you bought a printer from Octave and you received a defective perfboard they would replace it - they're honest people.
I've never heard of a bed heater going bad; it's certainly not the "achilles heel" of the zortrax.
I just had to deal with octave for the first time. I sent in a support ticket with a quick description of the problem, the part I thought might fix it and my purchase info. No questions asked I got an email saying the part was in the mail.
Cant ask for much more, pending they also support Canada of course.
@motordude:
As the representative of Octave Systems on this forum I must interject. Our warranty Is only meant to cover the majority of parts for the full 1 year. There is a consumable category for parts that can be bought because these parts tend to be the most abused parts on a 3D printer in general. There is also a category for parts that are not covered at all (most of these are parts that should never break in the hands of the end user).
Our warranty is meant to cover all parts that are either damaged in shipping or defective out of the factory. If a customer calls or emails us with an issue we will do out best to resolve it as quickly as possible. I my self and another co-worker take care of 95% of the RMA's and tech support sent to Octave. We do our best to ensure the customer gets their printer working if it is down or answer any questions they might have. If we do not know the answer we always find it as quickly as possible, if there is a part we do not have in stock we get it shipped directly to the customer ASAP. There are many people on this forum alone who should be able to attest to the quality of our service and responsiveness.
-Michael
@motordude:
As the representative of Octave Systems on this forum I must interject. Our warranty Is only meant to cover the majority of parts for the full 1 year. There is a consumable category for parts that can be bought because these parts tend to be the most abused parts on a 3D printer in general. There is also a category for parts that are not covered at all (most of these are parts that should never break in the hands of the end user).
Our warranty is meant to cover all parts that are either damaged in shipping or defective out of the factory. If a customer calls or emails us with an issue we will do out best to resolve it as quickly as possible. I my self and another co-worker take care of 95% of the RMA's and tech support sent to Octave. We do our best to ensure the customer gets their printer working if it is down or answer any questions they might have. If we do not know the answer we always find it as quickly as possible, if there is a part we do not have in stock we get it shipped directly to the customer ASAP. There are many people on this forum alone who should be able to attest to the quality of our service and responsiveness.
-Michael
Michael, don't get me wrong, I think it is great that you reach out and offer, what I would call "limited" warranty, compared to the full Zortrax warranty we enjoy in Europe. I have had 2 or 3 perf. boards replaced by Zortrax under warranty, even a heating plate. According to your warranty agreement, I would not be covered. Why do you not cover these parts? If the perf. board breaks down due to abuse or stupidity, it would be quite evident and as such void the warranty.
Why are some parts covered 30 days, 3 months and a year? Isn't that due to statistics of repetitive breakdowns? Again, I still think Zortrax should take responsibility of their products in all countries, even if not obliged by law.
Thanks for your response,
Best regards
John Tangerås
I am finding this conversation about the Zortrax warranty to be very informative.
As it appears now, it seems that Zortrax (Poland) covers Europe and other resellers, for example Octave in the USA and Octrom Technology in Canada offer warranty coverage for their individual territories.
I am still waiting on Octrom Technology for a copy of their specific warranty but have to say that my dealings (non-warranty) with them in the past have found them to be very fair.
Zortrax covers any DOA cases outside Europe, but warranty itself is, exactly like Renny said, offered by resellers.
Octave on many occasions has waived parts under warranty when they are not covered based on a number of factors. We always do our best to make the customer happy by the end of the exchange.
You are right, Europe can enjoy a full 2 year warranty, but for all of us in the US and beyond (including myself as I own an M200) we only get what a company can deem worthwhile. As I helped make up the warranty I can tell you why it is set up with 3 sections. Here is the break down:
30 Days: These items are considered consumable and/or shipping issues. They are the most commonly broken by the end user or damaged in shipping. With proper care these items do not break even when rerouting the cables.
12 Month: Everything that tends to wear down differently then the rest. The Extruder Cable, or Ribbon cable, Is quite honestly the most often broken part on the machines. The 12 month category covers some of the more expensive parts, most of the parts in the 30 days category are half as much as the majority of parts in the 12 month.
Not covered: Black heating plate, If you manage to break this by putting the build plate in up-side-down you did not read the instructions included with the machine (and yes it has happened a few times). Perforated boards, sometimes we will wave this based on the issue at hand. If someone calls us up and said they scrapped off the small connector because they were not careful, are we obligated to replace it when we have to pay the parts? SD card, well if it stops working it is easier for the customer to go out and buy a new one rather then waiting a week for us to send one out. Power supply, and metal frame are not covered because if these managed to get damaged by the end user... well what did they think would happen?
As to a Motherboard issue, since December of 2014 Octave has only seen 1 Motherboard problem that required a replacement. It is an issue so rare you could find it at the top of the endangered problems list.
-Michael
With one M200 over two years, and a second one over a year, and god knows how many hundreds or thousands of operating hours, the component I've had to replace the most times by far is the extruder heater. You'd think someone could make this more reliable, as it's just a coil of wire and a ceramic core - I guess the wire gets stressed by expansion/contraction cycles as it heats and cools.
But overall these machines have been wonderfully reliable.
With one M200 over two years, and a second one over a year, and god knows how many hundreds or thousands of operating hours, the component I've had to replace the most times by far is the extruder heater. You'd think someone could make this more reliable, as it's just a coil of wire and a ceramic core - I guess the wire gets stressed by expansion/contraction cycles as it heats and cools.
But overall these machines have been wonderfully reliable.
Hi Julia
May I ask where you get your replacement extruder heaters from? I like to have a spare so I am not without a printer whilst waiting for it to be delivered.
G.
Hi Julia
May I ask where you get your replacement extruder heaters from? I like to have a spare so I am not without a printer whilst waiting for it to be delivered.
G.
I buy from Octave. Not listed on their website, you need to email or phone them.
Thanks Julia. Forgot you were in USA. Found a supplier here in the EU now.
G.