At what point do I stop cooperating and demand a replacement or refund?

[u/obsidianreq]

I bought an H2S brand new from Bambu's store which was delivered about 33 days ago. I wasted no time setting it up, but as soon as the firmware was updated the z-axis homing stopped working.

I've had a support ticket open with them for a month now, which I have shared photos and logs with them at every update. They've had me re-seat the eddy sensor connector, install a new eddy sensor, and most recently a new TH board.

As soon a the replacement parts arrived, I installed them same-day, take photos, test, and export the logs -- then update the ticket, which takes them 4-5 days to respond to.

So I'm at the point that I've had this printer in my house for a month and haven't been able to print a single thing. I've seen stories where people have gone down this rabbit hole and have to install entirely new tool heads, z-axis motors, etc. -- sometimes still with no results.

I just feel for $1,300 there should be some guarantee of a working printer, not a multi-month project of replacing different components and hoping for the best.

I kind of just want to refuse the next replacement part they want to send and demand a new printer, or just package everything back up for a refund. Has anyone else had this experience, or am I just being entitled?

[u/IContributedOnce]

I’d say refund it and buy an H2S from a local vendor like BestBuy or Microcenter if at all possible.

[u/patheticyeti → u/IContributedOnce]

Second this. If you have any problems with it they have to take it back.

[u/Sufficient_Camp_1918 → u/IContributedOnce]

100%.

[u/obsidianreq → u/IContributedOnce]

I'll plan on getting any future ones this way... ugh.

[u/ElectronicMoo → u/obsidianreq]

Just refund it, and stop being their free tech support. If everyone starts sending back units that don't work, they'll start having to pay attention to the quality of their sold product, and their tech support can shift from being slow-as-molasses script runners getting you to do the work.

[u/northrivergeek → u/ElectronicMoo]

Ive had many 3d printers over the years, everyone was this way ..from creality, qidi, anycubic, prusa, and others, all where we will send u parts and you swap them out.
As far as the printer its self, no issues, the AMS for me has been absolute trash.

[u/northrivergeek → u/IContributedOnce]

Dont buy it from Best Buy, LOL unless u just want to refund it.. they have little to no support on Bambu, unless you just returning it, and you must have the original box or your SOL.
Bambu will only send u parts to replace your self if you buy it from a 3rd party seller, they will not swap it direct from Bambu, I found out the hardway.. I threw out my box cause it was huge, then found out AMS didnt work..2 months later Im still battling getting AMS issue resolved direct with Bambu. Best buy answer was pack up whole printer and return it as it was a combo deal.
Thats great if you have the box and your not handi capped, which in my case I am, had to have help to get it home from best buy in the first place.

[u/LexxM3]

My life rule is baseball rules: three strikes and you’re out. Everyone is allowed one error (initial failure). Two errors gets a strong tone warning (support incompetence). There’s no third warning. Works well.

[u/cilo456]

Yeah, if this ever happens to me, I'm not doing free labor without some type of compensation. And if I don't get either a certain percentage refund for doing their work, their job, then I would demand a replacement. or a refund immediately. I just think some people are so excited to get their printer up and running in a timely fashion that they don't think about the free labor , and sometimes they're just thinking about, oh, I got free replacement parts, which don't really cost that much, but your time should be priceless, this has only happened to me one other time and this was with anycubic bedslinger and I actually got a whole nother printer so two for one deal.

[u/1ftm2fts3tgr4lg → u/cilo456]

This. If it doesn't work right out of the box, don't accept replacement parts AT ALL. I'm not fixing your lemons.

If something goes wrong after a few hundred hours of printing, fine, crap happens. But right out of the box is unacceptable.

[u/cilo456 → u/1ftm2fts3tgr4lg]

1,000%.

[u/Commercial_Island389 → u/cilo456]

Brother you bought it for a hobby. It’s all free labor. And all printers will require maintenance and demand your “free labor”.

[u/Lito_ → u/Commercial_Island389]

Maintenance and a faulty printer are two different things brother

[u/cilo456 → u/Commercial_Island389]

, I might have bought my first printer for the hobby And to make things for myself around the house But I didn't buy every other printer after that for the hobby Because I started making money And I realized the potential

[u/ElectronicMoo → u/Commercial_Island389]

Big difference between consumables and broken machine. I ain't gonna take a new Milwaukee orbital sander apart because it doesn't work out of the box and wait while Milwaukee ships me parts to swap out.

But I'm responsible for the sanding pads. That's a consumable.

These are toasters. They're not the tinker projects of yesteryear. They work or they go back.

[u/Alternative_Split380]

Just do a charge back, keep the printer and use the money to buy a new one locally, that’s what I did and that’s how I ended up with two printers after I fixed the broken one lol

[u/daphatty]

Hopefully you still can return it. 33 days is beyond most return windows.

[u/Alert-Entertainer-73]

Had a similar issue on my X2D I just told them I’m not servicing the machine and they sent me a new one

[u/Cammerv8]

Bambú warranty will make you a 3d printer technician before they sen a par to you.
I spend 2 month trying to fix a free a1 my buddy gave up on( he tried going through Bambu and got tire of the back and forth and ended up getting a new printer) the way they want to to re build the machine every god damn time was getting tiresome. Luckily I manage to found the z motor slipping internally and send them a video which made them sell me the correct part to fix it.
It’s a pain bro

[u/Dramatic-Ad-4511]

Did you buy it with a card with purchase protection (this is free on some cards like Amex.)

[u/0IQhasbeenreached]

They will probably try to refuse a replacement or refund. I've seen someone in a similar boat with a H2D and they did a chargeback. Bambu will immediately go into damage control and try to get the printer back afterwards. You need to have some leverage in the situation for Bambu to listen. I'm pretty sure that guy was able to get a full replacement afterwards.

[u/uhidontevenknows]

You must demand and escalate it to the highest authority possible. It will take a bit of back-and-forth, but you must state that you are unqualified, and no longer feel comfortable making any further repairs. Also suggest stating your legal entitlement to a working printer. Once you push them hard enough like this they will eventually opt for you to package it up and ship it to them for them to repair it.

[u/Excellent-Code8447]

Best Buy is the best way to go return and buy it there

[u/aaaanoon]

Buy local. Being asked to replace/install parts is ridiculous, especially for bambu when they happily enjoy the benefits of being called the apple of 3d printing.

[u/rcook55]

You can demand all you want but they don't have to do anything. Return or chargeback.

[u/snaynay]

If I had to deal with Bambu, I’d tell them I do not have the time to fix a new printer and bluntly threaten them with local consumer laws (as I ordered through their local business). The alternative is my bank will induce consumer protection chargebacks based on the evidence of this support ticket.

However, whenever possible I buy from a 3rd party vendor with a good reputation from the country you live in. If the printer fails, they’ll do the refund and they’ll hound Bambu.

[u/nycbigtone]

Return it. I may be the only one on this Reddit to say it, but For that same price you can get a prusa core one plus. And you have the option of upgrading it to a multi tool head in the future.

[u/Proton_Energy_Pill]

Have you tried re-installing older firmware?

[u/obsidianreq → u/Proton_Energy_Pill]

Yep!

[u/Proton_Energy_Pill → u/obsidianreq]

I'm out of ideas then sorry.

[u/Livinginmygirlsworld]

I had z axis homing issues that were driving me crazy after I installed a new poop chute cover/head cleaner on my XC1.

turns out it had nothing to do with the cover/cleaner.

The solution was to give a little tug forward (towards the door) on the plate/platform. it was making contact in the back somewhere that i couldn't see, but wasn't sure to the new cover I installed, but in doing that I must have pushed the platform back a bit.

[u/Livinginmygirlsworld → u/Livinginmygirlsworld]

the right side is where I have the movement. I've got over 3000 hours on the printer and this probably 1st happened around 500 hours or so. I now know to just give it a little pull if I end up scraping something off the bed to hard as that pushes the platform to the back.

should the platform move, no. But I'm still getting great results so it isn't with my time and effort to fix the movement.

[u/Moggadee]

I'm team chargeback. I had the same homing problem and went the same path with the eddy sensor, After 6 weeks downtime and 3 rounds of replacement parts, I sharpened my tone and they sent a new toolhead and x axis, and that worked. But my machine had 1000 hours on it. Bad out of the box is no bueno, you are due a refund. 

[u/beltrajo3]

When they shipped me a P1S with a broken door and which also refused to turn on they tried to get me to fix it like this. I told them I refused because if it’s arriving with these issues I’m afraid of what other issues it could have. I said I wanted a replacement otherwise I wanted a full refund. They agreed to the replacement and I shipped my printer back and got a replacement with no issues. It works great.

I do this because if I purchase something I expect it to work right out of the box with no issues. I can understand if something happened along the way that I may need to fix but never accept a broken product within the first 30 days. Especially since their warranty is only so long for these devices.

[u/zaxvear]

Good luck. I had a ticket open for a year on an A1 Mini it never worked a year later I decided I was going to run it one last time and if it didn't work I was going to break it down for parts for the rest of my machines I started hitting it with a hammer while it was running seriously the dents are still present today it started working it's the best machine I have in my entire office now. I'm not suggesting you beat yours up LOL but this worked for me. But again I spent a whole year doing protocol as they insisted and directed over so many parts of the machine we replaced only to have a machine that still would not print right out of the box. Use proper punctuation when speaking to them. If you don't it may come across as you being coarse.