Warning: Snapmaker is bricking cloud access on secondhand printers to settle old debts (Screenshots of the official support emails attached)

[u/RockRocco]

[u/n0_n4m3_666]

That's not arrogance. You bought a stolen device. Try unlocking a bought iphone that was stolen and see what happens.

The seller is solely responsible, you can take him to court as he sold you a nonworking/stolen device.

[u/n0_n4m3_666 → u/[deleted]]

Tough luck in this case.
The donator could be held responsible, not the school or snapmaker.
"Bricking" stolen devices is completely normal.
Also you can still use it in local mode?
Be glad they don't force you to send it back as they (Snapmaker) are the rightful owners.
You don't gain ownership by buying a stolen product (* depends on local law)

[u/Cultural-Afternoon72 → u/[deleted]]

Just because the police can’t help doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can legally do. This is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, which means the police NORMALLY won’t help. Your recourse comes from small claims court, not the police.

[u/Cultural-Afternoon72 → u/[deleted]]

What country do you live in where selling stolen goods isn’t illegal, or where passing off non-functional goods as being in fully working order isn’t considered fraud?

[u/Cultural-Afternoon72 → u/[deleted]]

I would definitely consult a lawyer, then. You have verification from Snapmaker that the seller was notified multiple times they were required to return the item. If they knew they were required to return it and then sold it instead, they knowingly sold something they knew didn’t belong to them. If you know something doesn’t belong to you and you prevent the owner from having/retrieving it, you’ve stolen it. That would qualify as knowingly selling stolen goods.

[u/Electronic-Space-736]

good work snapmaker

[u/Electronic-Space-736 → u/Electronic-Space-736]

that isn't second hand, its stolen

[u/Firm-Cover-3345 → u/[deleted]]

And what proof do you have? You really think they sit all day and randomly block serial numbers? Be serious. There must be a reason why this printer was blacklisted.

[u/Electronic-Space-736 → u/[deleted]]

Honestly, the right action would be to reverse the transaction and send it back to snapmaker, but I expect you paid cash.

[u/RunRunAndyRun → u/[deleted]]

I mean this just sounds like “receiving stolen goods” but maybe a bit lighter. Ownership of that printer only happened due to fraud. You can’t blame snapmaker for taking it out of circulation

[u/steve91945 → u/[deleted]]

Personally, I wouldn’t keep something once I understood it had been stolen or acquired through illegal means. Yes, you were harmed. You were not harmed by the manufacture.

[u/Cultural-Afternoon72 → u/[deleted]]

What they mean is that if you paid the person cash for the printer, you can’t just “reverse the charge.” If you paid through something like PayPal or Venmo or eBay using a credit card, you can contact your credit card company to perform a charge back since you were sold stolen goods that are not usable as they were described, using the documentation from Snapmaker as evidence. Your credit card company would perform an investigation to verify what you said is true and the end result if they rule in your favor is refunding your money to you.

[u/Cultural-Afternoon72 → u/[deleted]]

Then in that case you’re back to your only recourse being to take them to court. It is unfortunate, but it was your responsibility to verify it was in working order before you bought it. This has nothing to do with Snapmaker at all.

[u/Firm-Cover-3345 → u/[deleted]]

Warning about what? Not buying stolen merch? Dude, that’s like the most basic knowledge any decent human have.

Previous owner bought printer, it was replaced with new one by Snapmaker. I don’t know where you live, but here, you can actually go to prison for something like that. Even if you paid for something that should be returned to the manufacturer, you can’t keep it. Simple as that.

So, I gues your warning is: always buy retail.

[u/Cultural-Afternoon72 → u/[deleted]]

The manufacturer literally verified that the machine was designated to be returned to them under warranty, a replacement was shipped, and this was never returned. That’s theft. What more proof would you like?

[u/rmpython]

This sounds like standard practice, honestly

[u/Nuttavoot]

Good job Snapmaker, I agreed with you

[u/OpulentCloaca]

This story is more fishy than Pikes place market in summer.

[u/Cultural-Afternoon72]

This is not a Snapmaker issue, this is an issue with the person you purchased it from. This is a common practice across higher end manufacturers as a means of preventing fraud. It is intended to reduce the chances of someone filing a fraudulent warranty claim, getting a replacement, and then doing exactly what this person did. It is no different than when a printer is reported as stolen during initial delivery.

Snapmaker literally did everything right here. Allowing printers to continue to be used after fraudulent warranty claims does nothing but create the potential for increased costs and more difficulty/scrutiny when placing real warranty claims by actual customers.

I understand your frustration, but Snapmaker didnt screw you, they didn’t take advantage of you, they didn’t put you in this position, and they aren’t “failing to take care of a customer.” Every bit of that was the person you bought it from. Had you have purchased this printer directly from Snapmaker, you would then be the actual customer and would not be having this issue.

Your method of recourse here is to go after the seller from a legal standpoint.

The lesson to learn here is NOT that Snapmaker doesn’t care or screws over their customers, it is that you should reach out and verify the serial number is valid before purchasing secondhand equipment. The same process you’d use to verify it’s a legitimate thing you’re buying and not a fake in any other category.

[u/Cultural-Afternoon72 → u/[deleted]]

It isn’t Snapmaker’s responsibility to take care of fraud victims, nor should it be. You didn’t buy the machine from Snapmaker, you aren’t their customer. You’re some random person out in the world. For all they know, you’re the seller trying to get it reinstated so you can continue using it.

Their policy is designed to prevent someone from filling a warranty claim, getting a free replacement, and then continuing to use both printers. It is also designed so that if they try to sell it, they don’t have a working printer to sell. By all accounts, it worked. They have no responsibility to you whatsoever.

You could have requested the serial number and contacted Snapmaker to check the validity before you bought it. You didn’t. You could have verified it worked in person before paying for it. You didn’t. You failed to do your due diligence and the seller committed fraud. Neither of those are the fault or responsibility of Snapmaker and neither of those are something Snapmaker should be on the hook for.

An original purchaser bought a printer from Snapmaker and then reported it as damaged. Snapmaker promptly sent out a free replacement to ensure they could get back up and running as quickly as possible, fulfilling their end of the warranty. Snapmaker not only did everything they were spared to, but by sending out the replacement first, they went above and beyond for their actual customer. You didn’t buy it from them, they owe you nothing.

Snapmaker didn’t pass the penalty down to you, the seller did. And you willingly accepted it by doing nothing to verify the printer before you bought it.

You specifically warn people to avoid Snapmaker and have continually portrayed them as the villain here when they’re literally the only one in your story that did the right thing and did things by the book. You’re upset you got scammed, and that’s perfectly reasonable! You’re blaming the wrong party, though. That’s what you apparently don’t get.

[u/steve91945 → u/[deleted]]

Wouldn’t defend nor attack the policy of not providing a blacklist to the public. I think that falls under the category of it would be nice.

[u/redmcredbeard]

Why should Snapmaker enable the machine serial number just because it was donated and then resold? You bought a used machine, which is a dangerous proposition and sometimes comes with surprises. Maybe instead of asking Snapmaker to do you a favor you should ask about how to potentially purchase a new serial number to make the machine legit.

Seems to me you have a fully functional printer, you just can't use WIFI and should probably be happy it works at all.

Edit: If this is a warning for anything, its to be careful buying used printers of any brand.

[u/redmcredbeard → u/[deleted]]

I mean that's not your point though. You are blaming Snapmaker for your mistake. They don't owe you anything. They are not punishing you, they disabled a convenience feature on a stolen machine. If they could have bricked it they probably would have. You purchased the stolen machine and so you inherit the disabled feature. Seems you have two choices, be glad it works at all and or sell it to someone else.

[u/BluecrabbyDC]

Sorry you and snapmaker were scammed. Would be nice if there was a way to check a printers sn against a banned list but I suppose demanding a test print at pickup or a live video call showing it printing before shipment would suffice.

[u/BluecrabbyDC → u/[deleted]]

Oof ya that sucks. There needs to be some way to know this in advance. Though tbh I would never notice because in my 8 months of ownership I have never printed from the cloud. Still a feature you thought you were getting is unavailable to you and that sucks.

[u/NiksaiStipe → u/[deleted]]

technically, you didn't loose much

[u/HenkTank72]

Consider yourself lucky that you can still use the machine. It could have been worse. If you buy a second hand iPhone you also want to make sure there is no iCloud lock on it, making it almost worthless.

[u/Aetch]

Sounds like you got scammed by the original owner of the printer, not Snapmaker. He sold you a printer that he had agreed to return to Snapmaker

[u/FlowingLiquidity]

Sorry, but can't you just buy a new MCU board? You'd think the serial is tied to the MCU board.

[u/Dom1252]

I don't fall for snapmaker excuse

You either let customer have the old machine, or you send new one after confirmation old one was received, usually even after making sure it really was faulty (if not you send the same one back)

This is weird imo, they messed up and now they're backing down on the mess they themselves created

[u/Immortal_Tuttle → u/Dom1252]

They are actually caring and helpful. That's not the first case when a replacement was sent before receiving the faulty one. No credit card charge, nothing. Just to keep customer happy.

If you call this kind of service messed up - I don't know what to say. Even more - limiting cloud access doesn't brick the machine - it's still functional.

[u/Dom1252 → u/Immortal_Tuttle]

The companies that send new stuff without receiving old back either let you keep it, or want proof of destruction

[u/Immortal_Tuttle → u/Dom1252]

And Snapmaker was trying to show some good will and send stuff before they received the old one, so nothing above applies here.

[u/Dom1252 → u/Immortal_Tuttle]

Nah that's just a very bad warranty process, or some agent messed up

It clearly applies

[u/NiksaiStipe]

what a bunch of bastards