Adafruit Industries Reviews 

I wrote a review on the Better Business Bureau (that as of the moment is still going through review) regarding Adafruit not responding to my customer support request within 30 days (from October 12th to November 11th 2023) and only received a response the day after posting it. The support request was regarding a Feather RP2040 ThinkInk microcontroller by Adafruit and a WaveShare 4.01-inch 7-color e-ink display that they listed as supported on their GitHub page for the drivers. When they were used together they would heat up and not function correctly, potentially posing a fire hazard risk, especially when used in conjunction with a rechargeable lithium battery. I made sure prior to purchasing the product that the display was compatible by looking at the schematic that both companies provided on their websites. The response they gave me essentially stated that I should check the pinout and the power requirements of the product. They then locked the forum post preventing me from asking further questions. I don't seem to be an outlier either with this treatment, this seems to have happened to multiple users but typically results in a ban in their cases. This is a company that aims to also provide educational tools and projects, lacking customer support could be detrimental to the safety of children and novices using these products. In comparison, The company of the display I used, WaveShare, reached out to me within two days of my customer support request with them. They didn't help me resolve the issue but at the very least urged me to use a product they support the display with. I have taken screenshots of Adafruit's site and forum regarding this incident, should they decide to delete any evidence of what happened.

I have been buying all sorts of Adafruit's sensors and peripherals for years. My favorite is the Trinket M0. It's a postage stamp sized micro computer with 5 I/O, one of them a DAC with a true analog output. It cost about $8 US Dollars and some change. It comes with Circuit Python installed on it. You plug it into a USB port on your PC and it shows up like a tiny thumb drive. Then you copy your Circuit Python code (a subset of full-up Python) in a text .py file and it runs the code. No complier, it runs automatically. I introduce my Summer STEM students to microcontrollers using it. It is very easy to use, versatile, and inexpensive. If you want more power from the Trinket M0, you can write code in ArduinoC/C++ and use the Arduino IDE to program it.

Long time customer (since 2010), infrequent orderer. Finally got my hands on a Pi Zero 2W at Adafruit and checked out so quick that I used an old address from 2010 that was still on my online account. No worries, I noticed the mistake quickly and contacted Adafruit. Adafruit suspended my order before it was picked but could not update my address or do anything further for me - they would only cancel it. I waited after sending the cancellation email and the Pi never went back in stock, or someone else snatched it.

The “customer service” even had the audacity to say at the end of the exchange “Please be sure to update your information in PayPal.”

Thanks for nothing. I don’t know what happened to this company but I won’t be back. I deleted my 13-year old account after this incident.

Very first impression. I was hoping I would have a good experience with the product I purchase. They don’t stand behind their products and have a great deal of trouble admitting a product is defective. So they always put the onus, the fault on the user. This was the first product I purchased from them and it will also be the last. Their products could never be defective, oh,no. The product was very defective to the point my pc could not recognize it. I asked too many questions, very BAD customer service. They seemed to have decent products, so I give them 1 star only. My very first experience with them has been much less than impressive a now I’m going elsewhere, like Sparkfun, et In a way they did me a favor a will waste no more time with them. I in good conscience cannot recommend you shop at Adafruit. Adios Adafruit I let them know I was having trouble with the forums, but it doesn’t seem that they give a dawn. There are plenty of other choices out there anyhow. If that is the way they continue doing business and treating their clients, they won’t last much longer. I”m just glad that it’s not my problem.
Ill treated client on very first (defective ). They make you feel like they think you’re lying. You have to prove that’s a defect beyond reasonable, then they don’t respond, block you or pretend you don’t exist on the forum. They can’t take critiques, they just ban you. That is how I’m being treated. I just wanted to share my experience as a forewarning.

Void your order for no reason and never answer you as to why they did it.

DO EVERYONE A FAVOR AND POST YOUR REVIEW ON BetterBusinessBureau AS WELL.

Terrible company!

- Voided orders & no notification at all till you wonder why it hasn't shipped and check on it
- Nor a reason for the voided order until you press them on the issue repeatedly
- Horrible customer service
- Policies in place not specified on their site...anywhere
- Charging credit card when they no intention of fulfilling orders

I know this is a small company with a maker type focus, but it is obvious these people have absolutely no clue how to run a business. I say this as a business owner myself. They have cost me a lot of time and hassle.

It is pretty obvious from the reviews here and on BBB that you should avoid this company like the plague.

I've been a customer since 2009, and they used to be a really great company to work with. Lately, however, there are serious problem with their support, and the way they handle Raspberry Pis. I suspect Limor is no longer involved as much in the company, or she just doesn't have an eye on how customer service is behaving towards their customers.

After trying for months to get a Raspberry Pi, I finally was able to order one about two weeks ago. When UPS delivered the envelope, it was torn open in transit and the Pi was missing. Fortunately, the UPS driver noticed this, and I caught it on my doorbell camera. Unfortunately, support would not reship my order, and they forced me to take a refund.

The next day, I lucked out in a huge way. The tracker sites didn't pick up that Pis had come back in stock, and I managed to order another one! Two days later, I find my order had been VOIDED, without even an email to notify me. Two emails to support went unanswered (I noticed when I had the UPS problem that they also ignored some of my emails). The third try got a response from support:

"Thanks for the note. We are sorry for the confusion. Your order was voided in error. If you place a new order once this item goes back into stock we will allow it to process."

It's fine if a company makes mistakes. It's good when they admit they made a mistake. It's unacceptable for them to not correct their own mistakes. There's no reason I should be spending hours of my time attempting to order a Pi, only to have it all wasted by their algorithm erroneously voiding my order or the product lost in shipping, and their customer service not having a better solution than "tough luck, try again next time".

I'm beyond frustrated with Adafruit, and extremely disappointed that a once great company has fallen so far.

It seems you have to be a raspberry pi scalper to actually purchase any raspberry pis through adafruit. They never send in stock notifications despite having the option on their site, and they run out of stock before you can even place your order.

Went to buy a gift card for my brother who is very into building his own tech... Received an unbelievable amount of pushback from AdaFruit.

The "Support Team" needed me to confirm my name, email and phone number through email (which I did) in order to complete the purchase. The reason they gave for this was to "make sure it wasn't a fraudulent order".

After I responded, they then proceeded to ask me for front and back photos of my credit card I used...AND proof of address "such as a utility bill, that includes your delivery address and name". Why in the world would any company need this information to sell me a gift card (which is literally just sent to your email)? Quite the invasion of privacy just to purchase a gift card, I'd pass.

As most folks who tinker in the electronic maker space know, Raspberry Pi's are hard to come by. Adafruit has a channel and regularly releases batches of around 100. The policy is one Pi per customer for some unspecified amount of time. For weeks I waited and was finally notified by their system "We have restocked a product you asked to be notified about!". Awesome, right? Well no, not so awesome. The order got cancelled. I can respect limiting access to prevent hoarding and reselling, but not when folks follow the rules.

Adafruit the "No soup for you!" company.

I ordered a board, there was a defect, they pointed me to the support forum which wasn't working, they banned me from accessing the site after I opened a PayPal dispute

Many great products, but so woke they promote BLM and anti-police messages in their newsletters and on their website. Very disappointing they can’t just run their business. I recommend Sparkfun for similar products without their political views being forced on their customers.

Overpriced and preachy company. I like the idea of their learning material but it's so woke that it turns me off. I don't want to give my money to a company that is fixated on hiring an promoting everything that is anti-"theoldthing" and for whatever is "thenewthing".

I just want to buy some boards and build stuff.

Shipped a pic that stopped working after half a week, as soon as I made a support ticket they reached out. Amazing service, and they replaced it at no charge with offers to pay for whatever shipping most suited my needs. Would order from again!

I wish I could go lower than one star, and before anyone tries to discredit this review by claiming the company is getting negative reviews due to "wokeness", I'm as left as they come, this has nothing to do with that. This was probably the worst experience I've ever had with an online retailer. Was sent a defective Raspberry pi board, was very kind and patient with their ridiculous requests to try to solve this on the forums, noone answered their forums, and when I patiently asked if they had any further suggestions before I contacted my bank, they got very hostile and rude with me and accused me of threatening them. When I contacted my bank and was granted a charge back, they immediately permanently banned my account. This company has no idea how to conduct business like professionals, or even adults for that matter. Childish, ridiculous behavior that should be straight out illegal. Do not shop here, you're likely to regret it. Disgusting behavior.

Very deceptive regarding shipping. 3 day shipping nearly exceeded the cost of the order. Then AFTER placing the order, received an email indicating that the item would NOT be shipped in 3days. Total fraud. Don’t do business with them.

I am an engineer at USC and I am already having problems with getting the pis. Please tell your administrator to stop cancelling my orders or me and our faculty gonna leave negative reviews for your company! This is going out of hand!

We had a very terrible experience with this company. My husband ordered an item from them. Got it but it wasn’t what he thought so he wanted to purchase the CORRECT one and they blocked us from the site. Now we aren’t sure how to order the correct one but it’s very unfair that they blocked us. We reached out to someone to see why we couldn’t get on their site and they said they blocked our IP???? What does that even mean? NEVER AGAIN!!!!

And by the way, yes we went through the headache of the “two factor authentication”

Terrible company. Will cancel your orders and won't refund you. What kind of business is this? Will never purchase from again

Echo everything said on poor customer service and the terrible practice of banning customers for providing feedback or expressing their rights as consumers.

In my case, a customer for 14 years and thousands of dollars, I was 'cancelled' for providing feedback on their RMA process (if you can call it that) and disputing a charge for a product I got that was DOA after being ignored by their support function for nearly two weeks.

You might get lucky like me and never have to deal with their apathetic support function.... but if you do and want to stay a customer, you'll have to accept whatever atrocious level of support they can muster up that day and keep your mouth shut about it if you want to keep your account.