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Topic: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

After help from you lot, last week, I got my XYZPrinting DaVinci 1 going. And it has been doing quite well since then, I've done a 4 or 5 hour print every day since then. http://www.owenransen.blogspot.it/2015/ … e-eh.html.

I'd sent them an email saying that they could easily put up a web page on how to fix this problem (0040 SD card falling out of its socket). So, imagine my surprise when I got an email from them after a few days saying, in effect, that advertising problems is not good marketing. While hiding them is, apparently.

Their reply to my initial email suggesting a few easily findable pages of ways to fix problems:

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S> Having a good website like that would be perfect, but that is not up to me. Also when you have a
S> website dedicated on errors, that doesn't really show good quality smile. So I can understand also
S> that our sales would like for you to send emails instead of a forum or website where everything is out in public.
S> 
S> The error code 0040 is very rare, in total less than 10. And that’s on a total of around 8k sold
S> in the EU. So again, dedicating a website on that might not be the best marketing smile

Here's my reply to that email:

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Dear Name Deleted,

I think your reply is totally misguided.

In summary you want to hide errors rather than helping customers.

XYZPrinting could not give me a quick reply. The web page told me what was wrong, but did not tell me how to fix it.

SoliForum solved my problem in minutes.

You underestimate how much damage a disgruntled customer can do. Had you honestly told me
what I had to do to fix the problem I would have thought: "Hey, things happen, but they certainly
gave me good customer service, and helped me fix the problem."

The stats are not important. It is the perception, and I now doubt your stats. 10 out of 8000 get the 0040 error? So 0.125% have had this problem? So how come many people in SoliForum knew what it was?

Your marketing attitude is 20 years out of date. Customers are not isolated individuals relying only on the company. Customers can broadcast good and bad experiences immediately. And customers trust other customers more than they do companies, unless the companies are honest with them.

I was suggesting a web page on your site with suggestions about how to fix problems. I don't know how to phrase this but: THAT IS A GOOD THING. Fixing customers problems is a GOOD THING. Hiding them is a mistake. And anyway it cannot be done.

Now, since I (and soliforum but NOT XYZprinting) have fixed the problem I've been having good results with the printer. But my satisfaction would have been 99% had XYZprinting been honest and helpful initially.

Author of  PhotoToMesh, for making bas-reliefs and
lithophanes from your photos and images
http://www.ransen.com/PhotoToMesh

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Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

http://i.imgur.com/KBGEHVU.gif

Repinci 1.0 + Repetier host

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Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

Can't really say I'm too surprised tbh, coming from a company who seem hell-bent on chaining their customers to their own products.

Davinci 1.0 with repetier firmware & E3D V6 Lite
Anycubic Photon DLP printer, Einscan-S 3D scanner
Simplify3d, 123D Design, Meshmixer
http://www.thingiverse.com/scobo/designs

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Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

scobo wrote:

Can't really say I'm too surprised tbh, coming from a company who seem hell-bent on chaining their customers to their own products.

But the strangeness is that they could do that better with super happy and loyal customers.

The DaVinci V1 seems a good deal for the price, after a weeks work with it...

Author of  PhotoToMesh, for making bas-reliefs and
lithophanes from your photos and images
http://www.ransen.com/PhotoToMesh

5 (edited by scobo 2015-01-30 16:48:15)

Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

Totally agree, the hardware is excellent for the price. The software is a bit ropey but enough to get started with.
But when they sell filament that isn't very good at nearly twice the price of other brands, they can't blame people for looking for ways to use 3rd party filament.

Davinci 1.0 with repetier firmware & E3D V6 Lite
Anycubic Photon DLP printer, Einscan-S 3D scanner
Simplify3d, 123D Design, Meshmixer
http://www.thingiverse.com/scobo/designs

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Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

I'm not making excuses for XYZP, but you have to look at where they'r coming from to understand their reasoning.  Asian companies follow a culture that suppresses anything negative.  You don't have to look very hard to see it with Toyota, Honda, Takata airbags and how they've handled their problems.

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Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

If they really have only had 10 support tickets on it, in 8000 units, it truly is an uncommon issue.  Your argument is purely philosophical... how many companies publish their internal resolution database, to every little problem?
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/7a/7a2add73451638e1c8eb8a617f7a58228bfaa041017bf0c13b50871c27f54f92.jpg

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Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

awesomeness wrote:

If they really have only had 10 support tickets on it, in 8000 units, it truly is an uncommon issue.  Your argument is purely philosophical... how many companies publish their internal resolution database, to every little problem?
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/7a/7a2add73451638e1c8eb8a617f7a58228bfaa041017bf0c13b50871c27f54f92.jpg

They say 10 but there are atleast 6 of the same issue listed here. So their numbers are not accurate and based on the occurrence rate here, are wrong. They are just playing damage control like most Asian companies do.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

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Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

You only have to look at apple to appreciate such tactics are not a monopoly of asian companies.
IMHO the short-sightedness of their approach is that, unlike apple, they are a startup. Any potential purchaser doing due diligence is going to check out boards like this, read the raft of problems, check out XYZ to see what kind of response the company has, and then draw the correct conclusion that there is no support from the mother ship.
The most galling thing as a consumer though is to appreciate that (even if their numbers are factual), they're saying that if you're one of the unlucky ten that gets an error 40 then good luck, because we (XYZ) don't care about you, SUCKER!

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Re: XYZPrinting marketing lives in the 1990s

boxcarmib wrote:

The most galling thing as a consumer though is to appreciate that (even if their numbers are factual), they're saying that if you're one of the unlucky ten that gets an error 40 then good luck, because we (XYZ) don't care about you, SUCKER!

Actually they do care about you, I think, but they don't want to handle your problems publicly.

But internet and forums exist in the East as much as they do in the West.

Author of  PhotoToMesh, for making bas-reliefs and
lithophanes from your photos and images
http://www.ransen.com/PhotoToMesh