Wrong material delivery

Discussion in 'Customer Service' started by 64997_deleted, Mar 30, 2011.

  1. 64997_deleted
    64997_deleted Member
    First off let me say that i sincerely appreciate Shapeways and wish the company nothing but success. I plan on being a lifelong customer. With that said..

    A moderate to large order of parts that i ordered in stainless steel were delivered but they were made of a crusty, ridged "gold like" material instead of stainless steel. After further investigation it looks as though this is the "gold matte" option that Shapeways offers which i didn't order.

    Ive ordered from shapeways prior to this order and following with no problems but its was the largest and most important order that happened to run out bad :(

    I've reported this to Customer Service complete with detailed photos and while customer service admits they are unsure as to why the production error happened on their end i haven't made much headway with regard to a credit so i can reorder the parts or simply having the correct material parts shipped to me. I'm already behind schedule due to the this.

    Has anyone else had a problem like this before?

    Again.. i *love* what Shapeways represents and appreciate the service they offer,. I just want to have this resolved and move forward with future orders.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2011
  2. Youknowwho4eva
    Youknowwho4eva Well-Known Member
    That's no good! lets see what I can dig up.
     
  3. RalphVdB
    RalphVdB Well-Known Member CS Team
    hi,


    Sorry that this took a bit longer, but I have got a feedback about your complaint. Please see the email we just sent you.

    You have designed your models too small and a little bit too thin, it is very hard to polish them. Because due too the size it is nearly impossible to polish them. We can polish them, but the chance that something will break of is huge. Please keep in mind that Stainless steel has a minium wall thickness of 3mm

    We have created a voucher for you in return. Please accept our humble apologies on this one.
     
  4. 64997_deleted
    64997_deleted Member
    Thank you both for your replies and an additional thank you to Christel for her assistance as well.

    A bit of clarification please as im unclear on this point: Are the stainless steel parts covered in this gold matte material to begin with and then polished removing the gold matte revealing the "polished stainless steel" appearance ? Or are there occasions when a batch of orders in stainless steel with the gold matte option are printed with steel parts without the gold option and the latter are then polished?

    I'm asking as i've ordered stainless steel parts before in this size/scale both before and after this "incorrect" batch and they were received polished (thank you !) without a hint of this gold covering/ crust.

    Either way...i sincerely appreciate the replies, the service, the company and the effort . :D

    As i said before..life long customer !

     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2011
  5. Youknowwho4eva
    Youknowwho4eva Well-Known Member
    Could the gold appearance be excess bronze in the infusion? By Ralph's message it sounds like you ordered in polished gold, but by your messages it sounds like you intended the order to just be stainless? Maybe some pictures so we can see what's going on and instruct what is polishable for others to follow by?
     
  6. stop4stuff
    stop4stuff Well-Known Member
    I have a vairety of very small stainless parts that Ralph saw in person at the Newcastle Maker Faire. His explaination of the colour variation is down to a combination of the oven used and the polishing (or lack of). My parts varied between firescaled steel, firescaled with a slight polish and fresh bronze colour - all ordered and delivered in the same batch... atm, I'm not too fussed about the variation as it adds variety without any extra ordering hassle :)
     
  7. RalphVdB
    RalphVdB Well-Known Member CS Team
    Paul is correct here:

    His explaination of the colour variation is down to a combination of the oven used and the polishing (or lack of). My parts varied between firescaled steel, firescaled with a slight polish and fresh bronze colour - all ordered and delivered in the same batch

    Your models were too dificult to polish, therefor they have a slightly lighter color.This is the reason behdind the color differences.

    Hope this clears things up for you

    Cheers, Ralph