iRobot Corporation (IRBT)

[caravan]

Wow, people hate their Roombas and the lack of response they receive from IRobot. Check this out for scathing reviews:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/irobot.html

"I join the ranks of thousands of others who have had problems with their product after a short period of use. My Roomba was used about 12 times over the course of 2 years and the battery went punk. The company said to go punt essentially. I'm out of $300.00."

"I have had problems with iRobot systems and customer service for several years. I have bought about 4 different robots and all of them only worked for a couple of weeks to a maximum of 3 months. iRobot does not have a repair center therefore they make their clients troubleshoot this poorly engineered vacuums over the phone."

"I have spent numerous hours going over troubleshooting and nothing was ever fixed. They have gotten to the extent of sending me what I believe was a refurbished unit that did not work either! All of this happened when I lived in California with my family. I'm now in PA and after opening all the boxes from the move, I found the bad Roombas and sparked the interest of trying to see if any of poorly made machines worked, after a full charge given, one went into circles and another went really slow and so long. No carpet or floors were cleaned as usual."

"I called Roomba Customer Service and kept an open mind, thinking that maybe I can exchange the four I have for one that works, but now they are out of warranty and conveniently they only have records of what they wanted to keep with only one machine registered. However, they mentioned that one was sent to me in 2007. I told them that it never worked so they asked me again to troubleshoot the unit and of course after using compressors to blow out the dust, it still never worked. The unit is brand new, why should I blow dust out of it? Nonsense In case someone wants to file a class complaint, please let me know. I believe just by reading this post there are thousands of people with similar issues. I will be willing to talk to an attorney if anyone would be willing to pick up the case and get a new system to the people that have similar problems or whatever is necessary to do."

"I am astounded that Colin Angle, as the CEO of a large consumer products manufacturer, would not list an email address so that he could receive emails from his customers. Perhaps, it is because of the point of view engendered by an engineering background that puts things ahead of human beings. When my Roomba 560 began to whine and thump, despite regular careful cleaning after only five months of use, I called Customer Service and was told I needed to replace the brush assembly. When I mentioned that one user on a complaints website mentioned that to clean the 560 thoroughly, the brush assembly has to be removed, the customer service rep told me that iRobot discouraged such a disassembly so I did not do it.

I was then sold a replacement brush assembly, which it was claimed would cure the problem. Upon receiving it, I removed the old assembly and found dog hair around the gears. Instead of installing the new assembly, I cleaned and reinstalled the old one and found that it worked fine and that I did not need the replacement (at least, not yet). In addition, the front wheel fell out of its housing because the plastic gave way after twenty or thirty removals of the wheel to clean it, as the instructions required. I was told by a customer service rep, after complaining that I should not remove the wheel, but clean the axle with it in place. Lots of luck with that! So I had to buy another wheel assembly!"

"I purchased an iRobot Roomba 535 brand new from Woot.com in March of '09. About six months after the warranty expired, the Roomba started malfunctioning with the "9 beep error." This is a very well-documented error for this particular model (the 500 series) as evidenced by over 200 posts here: **. Same as the other complaints below regarding this model, I also attempted the "fixes" listed on the website to fix the issue, but to no avail. iRobot stated that there is no way to repair it. I only have to buy a new one for $150. What's a real kicker here is that iRobot refuses to offer an extended warranty for the replacement. I can understand that this is barely out of warranty. However, because this is such a well-documented design defect, I believe that my Roomba should be repaired free of charged or replaced with a non-defective model."