Reply with QuoteIf you are suspicious and have already got an excuse that is not acceptable to you , and the CC company advise you to cancel..then CANCEL.
Full Spectrum Laser Kickstarter a scam ?
Hello,
I'm new to this forum !
I've bought a laser off kickstarter 2 week ago from full spectrum laser and they still haven't shipped it yet. They said they withholding the shipping until they get the fund transfered from the credit card processor. I've bought a lot of hardware off the internet worth more than this and never was made to wait for that reason.
I was a bit worried, so I called Visa to check if the transaction was correctly processed, and it has. I told them why I called and they told me the seller are not allowed to do this, it against credit card policy to withhold shipping for the transfer of the fund to them.
They told it a tactic used in some credit card fraud. They delay with excuses to the point they get their money and they don't ship, limiting recourse afterward for the consumer and the credit card processor.
Visa wanted to cancel the transaction right away, but I said I do more research and will call them back early next week.
Have anyone ordered from Full Spectrum Laser before and got delayed shipment for that reason ?
And more importantly, did receive your laser in the end ?
Anyone in the same boat as I am with the kickstarter ?
I hope my worries are for nothing and waiting a bit more will get my new laser cutter at my door step.
Thanks
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If you are suspicious and have already got an excuse that is not acceptable to you , and the CC company advise you to cancel..then CANCEL.
Rodney , Cape Town , South Africa
[url]www.tokerbros.co.za[/url]
There is nothing suspicious here, it's part of the whole Kickstarter process. This is a copy-paste from Kickstarter.com regarding funding of a project...
"If funding succeeds, funds go directly from backers' credit cards to the project creator's Amazon Payments account, where they are held until the creator withdraws them.
Amazon will hold funds for 14 days after payments are collected. Once this hold is released, project creators can transfer funds to their bank account (which can take up to five business days)."
You can read it for yourself here: Creator Questions » Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) — Kickstarter
And while Full Spectrum Laser has gotten a lot of mixed feedback, one thing for sure is, they are a real company and you should have every reason to believe they'll follow-through on their promise.
I'd be the first one here to bag Full Spectrum for being asshats , but what .TJ said is correct.
Full Spectrum will send you your laser soon.
[Edit]
Did you call or contact FSE before you posted? (Or is it still Sunday there?)
Last edited by Bec Weir; 09-24-2012 at 01:10 AM. Reason: further thoughts
IMHO
Craig,
Although FSL is a competitor I can assure you they will ship your laser to you in short order. Their KS was very successful, probably more than they thought it would be and are having trouble assembling all of the units. The other post is correct that they will not see the funds for a minimum of 14 days from the project end.
I am not sure what their stated delivery was in the KS but I would assume that they budgeted a later date to cover this.
John
Hurricane Lasers
What is sad about this is that a competitor to FSL was the one who took the time to post a positive comment to a worried backer of the FSL Kickstart program.
But then FSL took their nurf ball and stomped off the field a while back so I guess they do not follow any comments made on this forum. Whoever is running FSL should grow up and provide answers/comments to people interested/concerned about FSL products no matter the source.
Another reason why I am glad they did not get my money.
I don't think you have to worries either... I am also waiting for my laser cutter from the kickstarter. I'm disappointed they hold off on the delivery but there not much we can do than wait...
I even offered to pay again using a different credit card processor they do pay them right away so they can ship it quicker and just send a refund when they get the ks fund in, but they refused
Sit back and wait like the rest of us
Exactly, it an amazon policy and it similar to a lot of other online payment portal. We have the same at the office, but we don't wait before we ship the goods to our customer. Actually, we do not bill them until we ship it. I understand kickstarter would be a little bit different since they charge right away at the end, but they said they are holding the shipping for that reason, and this is what seem wrong.Originally Posted by TurbineJesse
Well that what I wanted to hear...
Thanks
For future reference, Kickstarter isn't a store (Kickstarter is trying to make this clear: Kickstarter Is Not a Store » The Kickstarter Blog — Kickstarter), and hence you don't buy anything off Kickstarter—you're choosing to back a project with a pledge, with some reward often associated with your pledge. Often the backing is necessary to fund the manufacture of the award, so there can be some delay between the charge and when your reward is delivered. It looks like FSL had a pretty quick estimated ship date for their awards, though.
Sorry for the semantic quibbling.
In my opinion and after reading all the bumpf , it all seems like a form of "dodgy" marketing or venture capital investment. I would never buy a laser marketed like that.
Buy a machine that actually works well right now and don't pay for either vapourware , future development or to be a Beta tester.
Caveat emptor...
Rodney , Cape Town , South Africa
[url]www.tokerbros.co.za[/url]
I'm sorry you purchased a FSL.
I noticed that Kickstarter offering just after the first 10 folks sighed up for the $3000 unit. Then watched the count for the $3300 unit pass 40 then 50 and almost made 60. The same unit was also advertized on the FSL website and on ebay for $3500.
The Kickstarter model really seemed to work well, because I wouldn't have expected close to 60 folks to pay over $3K for a 40W unit. Especially considering that there was no independent reviews of the unit. Everything I found was produced by FSL.
I hope it all works as expected. I'd love to see comments from end users who get these units.
At one time I thought I saw a picture of a man assembling a machine and they are using extruded aluminum sections which are connected to each other by brackets. May be wrong on this, as I can no longer find the picture. If so nothing wrong with that, the people at buildlog.net - CNC Laser Buildlogs have been doing the same for quite some time and it works well. I am still gathering parts to build one and will also use extruded aluminum for the frame.
The first thing I think FSL will hear is "my machine is out of alignment". Now that will be no problem if the person buying the machine is a DIY type of person and understands this is most likely to happen and does not mind getting everything lined up again after the carrier has managed to knock it around some and the frame of the unit has moved a bit or the laser/mirrors turn out to be a bit out of alignment. A lot of first time users who build the 2x or similar machine say aligning the laser mirrors was not hard but took some time the first time around and you have to understand how to do it.
People thinking all they have to do is plug it in, turn on the water cooling and go for it may be a bit disappointed depending on how the machine was treated in transit.
Last edited by lovebugjunkie; 09-26-2012 at 10:44 PM.
Yes FSL is a good Laser but there software is the worst I have ever seen anywhere. This software program should never have been released , it locks up, there's very little editing capabilities, You have to buy corel draw to really do any editing, at the cost of about $500, then you have to learn that program. Retinaengrave has problems problems problems.
I personally used Retinaengrave and it does have lot of issues, and really wish it were open source so I could help making it better... But it does the basic job.
I do lose setting all the time, thing reverse back to different mode, but I never had it freeze on me... What bug me is the low quality of vector output using their print driver... PDF or Inkscape print give the same result and that is really disappointing. I did try corel draw once and the dimension out of the print were 1/8 of the real size display in corel draw... I didn't try to use it further since I much prefer use Inkscape.
I might end up writing my own software to control the laser. I really don't care about drawing capability myself inside it, so it rather easy to do. And since this model is controlled over ethernet, it make it even easier to program for it than if it were USB. I'll let them a few month to try to resolve it and then I'll get working (I'll also make it Linux compatible since it where I work 99.9% of the time)
This is the new 40 watt hobby machines. I will be receiving one in the next couple months as a replacement for my 4th gen hobby laser. I will do a full review on the machine when I get it. I'm in line behind a lot of the Kickstarter units though, so I'll have to be patient.
How can you give a reliable review on a machine that you plan on selling according to one of the posts you had on a different topic.
In all honesty he can't. If he documents any problems with the laser he will be dropped very soon after is my guess. The owner does not like people that buy his machines to post problems, guess how he will react if a contracted support/sales person does it.
But if he does get dropped he can go over to the buildlog.net site and sale his stock, people on that site are building what amounts to the same machine for quite some time. Only major difference I can see is they pay a lot less for a machine they know how to fix, adjust and upgrade without having to rely on a company that does not seem to want people asking for help on a forum when they encounter problems with what they sell.
In my country there are quite strict legal controls on reviewing products you have a financial interest in.
Even down to goods you receive at discounted prices are subject to scrutiny.
In most cases ANY review written by somebody who has a financial interest, receives advertising revenue from or gets any form of payment because of, I tend to totally ignore.
It's simple economics, no business could afford to slam a product they actually sell themselves.
Sorry TL, but to me, once you announced your connection with FSL anything you say about the machines one way or the other I would treat as biased and ignore. That's no slight upon you or your own company but just a simple policy I have always adopted.
best wishes
Dave
