X-Carve Order Experience and Fulfillment Improvement Opportunities

Hi Inventables!

Today I received the first (partial) shipment of my X-Carve! I’m really excited and anxious to get started to say the least. I want to provide some feedback that I.believe will help deliver a better overall order and fulfillment experience.

  1. While I appreciate the shipping date expectation was set earlier on, it would be great to get even automated updates once a week confirming the status of the order

  2. If shipping a partial order, it would be great to get the details ahead of time of what’s shipping and what’s not, and an ETA on the remaining of the shipment. so I don’t have to guess or contact you for an update

  3. The shipping box could use some re-engineering to make it more sturdy. I received mine damaged (see photo) but fortunately all items in the manifest appear to present.

  4. Inside the box, better packing would definitely help protect the parts, especially the aluminum extrusions from bending. No bubble wrap or Styrofoam packing material was used to protect these items to help absorb any impact to the parts inside. Shipping products like these, especially during the busy holiday season, it’s asking for trouble. I’ll inspect the extrusions again to make sure no bending occurred during shipping.

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Based on what I’ve researched so far, it’s a great product with a great support community. I hope this feedback helps and look forward to getting the rest of my X-Carve soon so I can get started.

Best,

Julio

This is shown in your online account, complete with tracking number(s).

I bought all the same stuff that you did - except the dewalt router. everything arrived yesterday. My box was perfectly intact. I’m guessing the added weight of the router caused your issue. Regarding the damaged box, keep in mind that this is the Xmas shipping season. Tons of boxes are dealt with. One was yours. This was most likely a shipper problem rather than an Inventables issue.

The online order information in my account has the tracking number information but not the details or mention of a partial shipment. However, my bad, the Inventables shipping notification email did have details of what was included in this shipment but not what was pending and an ETA. Many online vendors offer this detail in the order status notification and it’s very useful/valuable to me.

When purchasing aluminum extrusions, fiber glass or carbon fiber tubes, I get them in an individual protective plastic bag to prevent them from rubbing against each other and scratching the finished surface. I like that.

While the carrier most likely miss-handled the box, a well packed box (little/no voids-air) tends to do better in most reasonable shipping scenarios.

@AngusMcleod I am not sure where your located, but I live in Canada and ordered my X-carve to be delivered to a mailbox in Ogdensburg, NY. (This was just before the Free International Shipping offer.)
My Order came in multiple boxes. The first shipment went out with 3 items back ordered. I had an email that showed what was sent, and a separate email showing what was back ordered and an estimated ship date. Due to travel time, tolls and customs, I decided to wait and hope the rest was shipped soon. One of the back order items (X controller) shipped a couple of weeks later. Since the other two items are not critical (dust collector and clamps) I decided to go pick up the partial shipment.

Customs was great. I showed them all the emails, explaining that the rest of the shipment was delayed for an unknown period. They charged me the taxes for the full shipment (No duty), but made a note on my file and the invoice stating that the entire shipment was paid and that I only had to show the paperwork to prove it. He did recommend that I stop in on the way down to pick up the rest, just to give them a heads up and to make sure the paper work was all good.

The clamps are at my mailbox, I am just waiting for the dust collector to ship. I only want to make one more trip.

If the next trip goes as well, I will be very happy.

I see. My policy, is I take every piece of paper I can think of.

Good luck with the shipment.

Hi Inventables!

I asked, you listened and responded! I was thrilled to receive today an order update with an apology and explanation about the component delays, details on the partial shipments and estimated time of arrival for the remaining parts. Simply awesome.

Thank you!

J

I just ordered an X-Carve last week. I built my own machine about a year ago, but got tired of fighting its imperfections, and the X-Carve components could be had at a great price (I’ve also got a SuperPID-based controller I built with my CNC, so I’m only buying basic). I’m fully expecting a 3 week wait, even though I’m in the States, but I’m crossing my fingers that I’m pleasantly surprised and get it early. I’ve got a project that I finished several stages of R&D last year, so I’m really ready to get back into CNC again after taking several months off to figure out if I wanted to keep hacking away at my homebuilt machine.

Keith, congrats on your order. I did research the possibility to build my own but glad I decided not to.

Three weeks wait is probably not an unrealistic expectation. That’s the estimated lead time posted on their website.

Mine, I believe, has been delivered completely except for the dust collection option. I received an order update a week or so ago with an explanation and a new ETA.

Happy carving,

J

FYI, my package shipped yesterday! That’s about a 4 day lead time, which is excellent. I’m pretty excited, since I set my homebuilt down about 6 months ago (needed to make yet another Z adjustment that I never finished) and have a stockpile of materials ready to go.