It is frustrating that a phone number does not exist for customer service issues. I have requested a return of my DIY build and received what appears to be an auto-response that my request has been escalated, but this has been a few days now. What is the timeframe where I can get some instructions on how to return the laptop. The contact forms seems to go nowhere so I thought I’d try here.
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Unfortunately Framework is still a fairly new company and don’t have enough employees to handle a customer service phone number. I understand your frustration, but I’m sure that they will get back to you as soon as they can! If not I know there are a couple of support workers who look through the forum and will likely catch your post here to help you out.
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Currently dealing with the same issue. Quick to take the money but drag their feet when it involves a return. It feels intentional and it will factor into any decisions to buy future products.
@Pancake - my experience has been the opposite, and I think that the implication of ill intent is misplaced and uncalled for, rather than giving a new, small company the benefit of the doubt.
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Thanks for the reply. Hopefully it’ll help bump the topic and draw attention to the poor customer support people are experiencing.
We’ll have to agree to disagree though. I do feel that it is called for. At this point I wouldn’t call them “new”, they’ve had enough time to get every aspect of the business running smoothly. Being a small company also isn’t much of an excuse either. If you’re going into business you can’t neglect customer support and only focus on getting the stuff out the door.
@Pancake - I believe that you haven’t gotten a response that you feel is reasonable. Hopefully that is resolved for you sooner rather than later. What I questioned was the following assertion: “Quick to take the money but drag their feet when it involves a return. It feels intentional…” I believe that assumes the worst and is not a fair characterization. I had a few issues with my machine that were addressed very promptly and giving me the benefit of the doubt. In one case the issue was on my side, with a faulty UFS card, not on Framework’s side at all. My experience could not have been better. I do believe that as they have gotten busier they have struggled to keep up, and I hope that they address it. I don’t see it as them taking the money and running, so to speak.
In closing, I hope that you get your issue resolved quickly. Have a great day.
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@Pancake I am sorry to hear that you’re dissatisfied with our support. The group that handles returns is separate from our team handling support tickets which is why tickets are escalated for return/replacement handling. We’re dealing with an uptick in support requests for this team, hence the extended wait for return processing.
To provide more detail on the entire returns process, escalations can take a few days (sometimes more) as our 3rd party repair center partner has to review all returns and provide updates on them individually for processing. Once our returns team has received confirmation of receipt, that everything is accounted for, and of the proper quality, they enter a queue for processing. We’ve seen a significant uptick in the queue recently, and we’re working through it as quickly as possible, and in the order in which returns are received. We appreciate your patience!
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@FrameFarm I checked on your return request and it was processed yesterday (2/15) and a return label was provided to you at 12:51pm PST. Did you not receive our email?
Also a note, we will not be providing phone support. We will likely be adding live chat at a later date, but we have no plans to provide inbound telephony as it is not cost-effective and does not provide the customer experience we’re aiming for.
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@TheTwistgibber - Thanks for this info. I feel as though including this info in the ticket escalation response would be beneficial. I do think many people, including myself, are fine with a wait as long as it is communicated and expectations can be set. Being told a ticket is escalated and then not hearing anything isn’t a pleasant support experience.
I apologize for being rash and jumping to conclusions. My only goal was to draw attention to the issue a few of us were coming across during our attempts at support.
Thanks again, appreciate it.
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@Pancake Thank you for the valid feedback. We’re taking another look at all of our automated messaging over the course of the next couple of weeks as we’ve just started shipping to the UK, France, and Germany, and there will be some learnings had there that may also shape what needs to be covered (and also translated). We’re trying to avoid needing to rework messaging on the fly given that it’s sent out hundreds of times per day.
As someone above mentioned, Framework is still a very small company (we’re hiring!) of 35 employees, and the Framework Laptop is our very first product. We definitely have some growing to do, and we’ve made tremendous progress in a very short amount of time. We thank you for hanging in there with us, and one of our returns staff will be with you soon to process your return and provide a prepaid shipping label.
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I would like to thank everyone who contributed to my topic. I would also like to conclude that the same day that I posted my question here about wait times, I received information for return instructions. I’m not sure if this was a result of my community post that “hurried” things along or if this is how long it would have taken if I would have simply been more patient.
I considered starting a new topic for this explanation, but thought it may be more fitting further comment on this same thread. I believe I may be a Framework Laptop anomaly (in some ways, not in others). Life-hats that I wear include healthcare worker, backyard mechanic, beekeeper, woodworker, and farmer. I am a hands-on individual and enjoy a challenge. I can research with the best, but have some limitations. I think many of these areas is where I may be “normal.” Perhaps where I differ is that I did not grow up with technology (at all). I figured out enough later in life to be a basic technology user, but without much care or concern with behind-the-scene workings. As privacy and tracking issues started to become increasingly reported in mainstream media, even a “normal” technology user could start to find reasons to be alarmed with big data (privacy… perhaps a more creative Framework user name should have been in order!?)
With this background, I decided to plunge into the unknown. I found this upstart company that could, in theory, be indefinitely upgraded and allowed for replacing parts as they were broken or became outdated. As a frugal farmer, I like to make things last (currently on a Thinkpad T430). While I’m at it, why not improve some privacy and try to make a clean break from Windows. What’s this Linux thing? Maybe try out some “Ubuntu”? I think that’s an operating system, right? Wait, what’s an operating system? Maybe I can even learn to do some coding - YouTube makes that look fun. The internal dialogue continues. The research continues - scouring this Framework community for information. I think I can do this - well, I’m pretty sure I can at least DIY build it and can probably figure out the rest from there, right?
And here comes my laptop return - I realized that I was way in over my head. I did manage to get my laptop put together; I did manage to get Ubuntu installed; but then somehow I messed something up; I couldn’t get it to boot. And the problem is, I couldn’t even tell you what I messed up. I don’t even know what question to ask a forum like this because I don’t understand the language. I read community topics ranging from BIOS to Operating Systems to hardware to software to firmware, to… well, just some really mind-boggling concepts that could make a “normal” user get lost. What on earth is firmware anyway!! There’s only so much Googling a person can do before they realize that without some real-live help, there is no coming back. Perhaps if I can just call customer service… oh, a phone number doesn’t exist.
So in the end, I returned my laptop because I couldn’t figure it out. Would there have been a different result if I would have simply installed Windows? Sure, but that wasn’t my end goal. Perhaps I was just trying too many new things at once? But where do you go for help if you don’t have the vocabulary to ask for help? I realize there are some advanced-level computer people on here, but is there a way to start a bit more basic? I’ll be keeping an eye on this community continuing my research toward a modular laptop as well as platforms that can increase privacy - perhaps someday, I’ll even jump back into another Framework order. But for now, I need more customer service help that what is (perceivably) offered.
Thanks for reading my story.
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@FrameFarm Sorry to see you go, but I totally understand your frustrations. As someone who grew up with computers and got deep into it all I mostly learned through trial and error, but it does sound like you may have gotten a little too far out of your comfort zone this time around. I don’t have the perfect answer for how you could learn all this stuff, but it couldn’t hurt to go check out YouTube channels like TechQuickie or Explaining Computers if you wanted to go find some videos on the basics! Either way, I wish you the best in your future endeavors, and I hope that you’re able to come back to Framework once you feel more comfortable with all the advanced terminology that comes with it!
P.S. I agree with you on the username privacy. I was always taught not to use my real name as a username, and have been Azure online ever since.
Nice try, I’m usually not early enough to other platforms to get just Azure, so I have a couple different usernames that have Azure in them, then I just tell people to abbreviate it to Azure so it’s easier haha I do my best to keep them isolated enough, but I also don’t have that much to hide.
I had to return my Framework 12th Gen Batch 5 as, unfortunately, the battery life was less than 3 hours on Windows 10, 11 and 3 Linux distros. I am concerned by how long it takes Framework to process the return and reimburse my payment. I had the laptop less than 10 days, I shipped it the same day I received the return documents. I was told that it would take 5 business days for them to inspect the laptop for damage and assess whether they would charge a restocking fee and then a further 5 to 10 days to process my reimbursement. It has now been 4 business days since it was received by Framework without any news. In today’s world where Framework is able to process payments same day when they ship a laptop I find it interesting that reimbursing a dissatisfied customer takes up to 15 days…
Hi @Dean_McGrath,
After digging in, your return was received on December 1st in the afternoon. We state that we will process returns within 5 business days of return and today would be the 5th business day, so we are still within the period stated. That said, we’ve seen an increase in return processing, and are a little delayed on some returns. I’ll make sure this is reviewed today.
Thank you.
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This likely has more to do with Framework’s payment processor than Framework themselves. I highly doubt that Framework does all the billing themselves, and if I’ve learned anything about companies that work in finance, they are much more efficient at taking money than they are at returning it!