I really liked my A1 ( my first Bambu printer ) combo colour printing for the few short weeks i had used it but then as we all know the recall happened.
I decided to return the A1 and use the refund as part payment for an X1 combo and dropping £1300 for the privilege, that was before Bambu started ignoring my messages regarding some un used hot ends i had also returned that were packed inside the A1 carton as Bambu had instructed me to do, I had followed Bambu’s instructions to the letter.
I didn’t get any refund for those hot ends ( but did get refunded for the A1 ) and Bambu have not responded or given any reason or any acknowledgement to my repeated messages regarding the hot ends not being refunded.
In the grand scheme of things the hot ends don’t represent a lot in value terms, but it’s the principle of this matter that’s at stake. If Bambu had at least notified me that my hot ends had been overlooked/lost or something, but to just leave me hanging in the wind is winding me up, some of you may say I’m cutting my nose off to spite my face and that may be true, that may be true to some of you but after being totally ignored for around 20 days I’m done with Bambu labs purely on the basis of a piss poor customer support structure.
So Bambu you have lost me as a customer, I’ve lost all confidence in how you have dealt with this issue and just ignored my messages.
I was really quite excited to treat the family to a new A1 printer and I was even willing to ignore the disappointment of being told to stop using a 10 day old printer but FOUR MONTHS later, having a printer that we still can’t use, Bambu can shove this thing up their arse. On principle alone I can’t spend any more money with Bambu ever again. All could have been avoided with even an attempt at good customer service but not responding to support tickets, apparently shutting off live chat, and not having a telephone number for customer service tells you everything you need to know about Bambulabs as a company.
I agree that Bambu has some distance to cover with their customer support, and I think that there should have been more consideration for those that opted to return the printer and still had accessories for that printer.
I’m now kind of in the same boat. The A1 was that only Bambu printer I ever bought from someone other then Bambu, at the time I thought since I was in Dallas on business I’d save some time on shipping and buy it at microcenter. I applied for the heat bed replacement and have been patiently waiting. Now Bambu apparently will not be supplying microcenter customers replacement heat beds. My only options are return to store for exchange or return for full refund, however both options also include $120 microcenter gift card.
So now I have to pack the printer back in it’s box and return it to the store but it’s tempting to just get another p1s combo. But I have multiple hottends in various sizes and silicone socks.
But part of me is wondering if other printers might use the new quick swap hot ends but reguardless I have about $120 bucks in A1 hot ends and silicone socks.
I can’t say I’m swearing off Bambu, after all the core xy printers are better than the competition, the only real issue is the build volume. I am getting wary of them teasing a bigger build volume printer but no idea of when that actually might be. At this point other manufacturers are catching up, sorta, to the Bambu offerings which will eat into their market share. Heck even creality has an AMS system coming out now. And the K1 max has a larger build volume for about the same price as a p1s, though not near the print quality.
Bottom line they had better start moving forward sooner rather then later. They shook up the hobby but now the other guys have figured out they had to compete to remain relevant. It’s not gonna be long before people get tired of being locked into a 256 cubed printer and just move on, then that is a lost sale, at least for a while. Why they didn’t want to upsize the x1 or p1 I have no idea, but it could be a pretty significant mistake unless the next gen printer really brings some ground breaking innovation. I doubt it will do much other then offer larger build volume, likely better flow rate and slightly improved print speed which is the bare minimum they have to bring.
Yeah, BL’s CEO said as much in a couple of interviews with a few YouTubers, that they’ll be launching something new sometime this year. Though, considering BL’s recent history with similar statements last year, which raised many users’ hopes for a 2nd gen printer (i.e. X2 and/or P2 series) only to come up with the A1 bedslingger, I’d rather wait and see what they’ll come out with (if anything), and even then I’d rather wait several months to see the users’ feedback before considering a possible new purchase… However, no matter how novel and technically ground breaking the new printer might be, or how attractive the price might be, as long as BL doesn’t step up their customer support, improve their business model , firmware issues and distribution chain, I won’t buy BL again.
No. I have every intention of receiving a full refund for everything ordered from Bambulab including the original shipping paid.
Thanks for the reminder 'though - don’t recall if I paid sales tax so I’ll have to look at whether or not Bambulab collected tax and, if not, I’m sure my state Division of Taxation will want to speak to them about it.
If your state’s tax division is like mine (Florida, US), I’m sure they will be wrestling each other to determine who gets the all-expense paid trip to China to claw back the $24.50 USD.
I think you have odd ideas of how business payments and taxes work. I assure you that the US staff and office expenses are not paid for from an account in China. Every time you have a transaction involving any branch of the US government you have to state clearly that the funds do not come from an overseas account.
I apologize that my attempt at humor wasn’t obvious. The thought of bureaucrats taking a junket to China to resolve a $25 sales tax issue made me chuckle
I really think the release of the A1 series has been their downfall.
They had a couple of great selling printers and should have concentrated on selling and supporting those.
There’s just no excuse for bad customer support.
A1 ain’t that bad as a printer…at least from what various A1 users are saying…it’s just that it’s a bedslingger, and in my humble opinion, in a core xy “era”, bedslinggers are obsolete. However, I do agree that instead of launching A1 series, BL should have focused on developing 2nd gen (i.e. X2 and P2, or X-XL, P-XL). bringing a novel approach to 3d printing… Instead BL chose to monetize on its X1/P1 acquired reputation and come up with the A1 series to maximize sales and expand their customer base to cover all price ranges: high, middle and low priced, and as result they’ve disappointed many…and instead of allocating adequate resources to customer support and replacement parts, they’ve cut corners to reduce costs…in the detriment of the end users…Bad choice.
While you are at it will you get my money back from creality for me? I’ve got a small truck load of their junk collecting dust in my garage. I could buy a couple more bambu’s with the money I wasted on them.
Personally if they had not released the A1 series printers i would have gone straight in on an X1 combo so i’m happy i found out the easy way ( or hard ) that when the $**t hit the fan Bambu have buckled at the knee and customer support has taken a back seat in importance.
Creality aren’t that bad, i still have an old Ender 3 that my Son now uses and if you treat it nice it plays nice in return and for less than the £120, it may only print slowly compared to an A1 but print quality is excellent for what you have to pay.
Actually I meant that they might not be collecting tax when they’re required to so the states would be after them. Turns out they did collect it and I misunderstood your joke anyway so it’s all good, lol.
I will say that the A1 isn’t that bad of a printer as far as bedslingers go. I’ve used several and the A1 is the only one I took out of the box and had going within about a half an hour to 45 minutes with zero tuning or calibrations other then the start up calibrations. It still suffers from the same issue all bedslingers have and that is moving mass on the bed. I think it’s a great beginners printer, but for our needs is lacking.
I also don’t condemn Bambu for developing and releasing it. Actually from a business’s standpoint it made sense. The problem Is the issue with the A1 boils down to it popped up during Chinese new year and they have been suffering for a long time with support issues since the company exploded far faster then anyone would have thought they would have. And due to the A1 issue and its timing I’m positive it has eaten into any development for any next gen printer.
what is confusing to me as a business owner myself is them saying we aren’t simply going to upsize the x1 we will wait until we release the next gen printer. That in my opinion is a huge mistake. Rat rig said that the v3 500 was the best selling printer they have ever released.
Seems to me that there is a demand for a large format fast reliable printer. In a way I feel ignoring the customers who want a large format printer from Bambu is not only leaving customers out in the cold but forcing customers to purchase elsewhere, dollars that likely would have been spent with Bambu, because honestly if Bambu had released even a 300mm build volume printer even though it’s only a bit larger then the x and p current build volume it is bigger. Bambu also faces the real possibility that if they take too long coupled with the events surrounding the A1 they have permanently damaged their reputation.
I have also seen rumors that people think Bambu is developing a series of resin printers, and frankly if that is true then I will be beyond mad because I talk to people every day that are eager for the new large fdm printer.
I’m done waiting, since I now have to travel to microcenter to exchange or refund my A1 combo I searched out and found a rat rig v3.1 500, negotiated a deal and will be picking it up the same time I return the A1 for a p1s combo. And moving forward I like what I see coming with the rat rig v4 so I may add one of those after the pre sale wait list is filtered thru. Basically, while I haven’t written Bambu off, I have moved to a company that will suit my needs better than Bambu currently is.
Yeah, that’s what usually happens; people get fed-up waiting, that is, waiting to be heard, waiting to be answered, waiting for orders they’ve already paid for, waiting for spare parts, waiting for adequate and reliable troubleshooting of technical/firmware/software recurring issues, waiting for a reliable and always available customer support, waiting for an improved product, waiting for their wishes and expectations to be heard and taken into consideration, waiting to…continously and for ever waiting. Then suddenly, people have enough and move on to the best next thing that promptly, continuously and reliably delivers what they are waiting for…End of the story and of the line for the thing left behind.
The A1 reminds me of the Note7, it has been a nightmare for those who own one for sure. Some had really bad experiences, some got to bail out early and move on. Both were handled reasonably well when you consider its a fairly big bite out of a company’s bottom line, but they have both stepped up and done the minimum expected.
Consumer protections and general warranties aside, there is always a risk involved and failures are going to be inconvenient. Buying into an eco-system is a gamble for the consumer, some of us go all in with fanboy dedication and others who buy the basic kit to get moving. It’s half the attraction basically, the main bit of hardware is only a conduit; I have to have this… I fall for it as many do. Choosing to bail out if a product doesn’t suit, or an issue like this, is bad luck and stuff goes to landfill if you haven’t got use for it. The company is not responsible for accessories, just like the array of covers, screen protectors, etc for my Note7, these were purchased by us and not forced upon us as requirements. My X1C over 2000hrs has consumed 1x nozzle, and 1x AMS feeder, if I chose to buy the menagerie of spares you see offered they’d still be sitting there unused. The A1 is the same, backup parts are ordered as necessary.
I personally think the A1 Mini took them by surprise and the big brother was a gap filler and cheap enough to gear up for. There is nothing wrong with the A1, though I don’t think it would’ve existed if the Mini didn’t take off. Moving forward I don’t think its going to evolve, the A-series will probably go the way of the ender3 and exist to cater for a niche.
Well to be completely fair I’m totally happy with my x1c’s P1P’s (after enclosing them), and p1s’s. The noise doesn’t even bother me. As far as firmware issues, I never update any firmware on anything until I see how it goes for others. Those printers have been the backbone of the fdm side of my buisness for well over a year. But I may have made a mistake when I got rid of my reliable but slow cr-10 printers because I’ve been stuck at 256mm cubed for a while. I find I turn a lot of larger work down because I dont want to fuse lots of parts and post process the seams.
500mm cubed might be overkill, or it might not but after tomorrow I’ll have one and that might open up the option of more. I have been hesitant to build a voron or a rat rig but the k1 max was a turd and the QUDI tech x max 3 is ok, but while it’s larger I am not as pleased with it as I’d like to be. It certainly isn’t on par print quality wise as the Bambu printers. I’m sure whenever Bambu does release its large format printer it will be great but I can’t wait forever.
While I personally don’t know anyone with a rat rig or voron I’ve been in contact with several people that do have them and they are pleased. And there is a huge online community and loads of support it seems from the developers of these machines. So while it may seem like taking a step backwards to move forwards it’s a step I personally need to take whether I like it or not.
I’m not abandoning Bambu, I’m just not waiting for them anymore. I’ve been patient but with vague announcements on a few interviews and no official announcement coupled with the A1 problems it’s probably gonna take them longer then I’m willing to continue to wait.
And for what it is the A1 is a good printer. If I had it 5 years ago I’m sure I’d have been pleased with it. But sitting in a room with racks full of the more superior core xy brethren it’s just not up to the task I need it to take. Couple that with the extended and delayed replacement followed by Bambu at the last minute not supplying microcenter with replacement heat beds and only replacements or refunds it makes the choice obvious for me what to do. Replace the A1 with a good known printer for my needs.
The hope I have with the current problems at Bambu is that they learn from it and improve their offerings and beef up their support. The cable issue is a problem that printer should have never had really. And companies make mistakes, we all do. While I’m disappointed with the currrent direction I certainly don’t wish them ill will. And if I need another mid sized printer I’ll be happy to purchase another p1s as I already have lots of spare parts for that platform. The x1 is not that much an improvement over the p1s for my needs.
