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IRobot Corporation Informative - Customer Disservice - Roomba
Roomba
I purchased a roomba nine months ago. It ran for about ten minutes, then started making a horrible grinding noise. It took them one month to send me a replacement (refurb).
The refurb unit did not function: No little beeps and boops, it wouldn't dock with the recharger, it wouldn't respond to the remote control, it would mostly just go in reverse in little short bursts, one of the rare times when it went straight it went bouncing down the stairs without ever slowing down.
Multiple emails and phone calls resulted in the diagnosis "The battery needs replaced." A week later, the replacement battery arrived. No change.
Several phone calls and emails, later, the diagnosis became "Well the battery wouldn't cause all that. The unit needs replaced."
Despite telling me it was still a warranty exchange, it took me sending them emails and making phone calls to them to finally get an RMA number, which I plastered on the box.
I emailed them the tracking info the second it was on the UPS truck. Two hours later, they replied to the email. With a note that said "OK. Your RMA number is:....: and this was a completely different RMA number.
I called and explained that the unit was being returned with the RMA number they gave me the first time.
I was told that the RMA number they gave me was incorrect, as a result they have lost the unit I returned to them (despite a delivery confirmation from UPS), and their system does not have any record of a unit having been returned on the 'correct' RMA number, so they cannot send me a new unit.
After 3 weeks of getting a runaround from everyone I spoke with in customer service, they turned me over to the sales department. Who said they were unable to help me at all, and that I needed to speak with the customer service department.
After however many months of fighting them, I have finally just given up completely. I faxed a letter to their corporate offices, politely telling them exactly what I think of the way they treat their customers, and told them that they can keep my money and my merchandise and have a nice dinner courtesy of me, and pat themselves on their backs because I give up, they win.
Never heard from them since.
Great concept, but shoddy hardware, lack of consistent diagnostic skills, complete contradiction between customer service people and between departments.
Avoid this product and this company.
The refurb unit did not function: No little beeps and boops, it wouldn't dock with the recharger, it wouldn't respond to the remote control, it would mostly just go in reverse in little short bursts, one of the rare times when it went straight it went bouncing down the stairs without ever slowing down.
Multiple emails and phone calls resulted in the diagnosis "The battery needs replaced." A week later, the replacement battery arrived. No change.
Several phone calls and emails, later, the diagnosis became "Well the battery wouldn't cause all that. The unit needs replaced."
Despite telling me it was still a warranty exchange, it took me sending them emails and making phone calls to them to finally get an RMA number, which I plastered on the box.
I emailed them the tracking info the second it was on the UPS truck. Two hours later, they replied to the email. With a note that said "OK. Your RMA number is:....: and this was a completely different RMA number.
I called and explained that the unit was being returned with the RMA number they gave me the first time.
I was told that the RMA number they gave me was incorrect, as a result they have lost the unit I returned to them (despite a delivery confirmation from UPS), and their system does not have any record of a unit having been returned on the 'correct' RMA number, so they cannot send me a new unit.
After 3 weeks of getting a runaround from everyone I spoke with in customer service, they turned me over to the sales department. Who said they were unable to help me at all, and that I needed to speak with the customer service department.
After however many months of fighting them, I have finally just given up completely. I faxed a letter to their corporate offices, politely telling them exactly what I think of the way they treat their customers, and told them that they can keep my money and my merchandise and have a nice dinner courtesy of me, and pat themselves on their backs because I give up, they win.
Never heard from them since.
Great concept, but shoddy hardware, lack of consistent diagnostic skills, complete contradiction between customer service people and between departments.
Avoid this product and this company.
Comments:
Posted by DigitalCommando on 2008-06-10:
Maybe you should give up trying to live the "Jetsons" lifestyle, and start pushing around a vacuum cleaner like everybody else. This task is really quite simple and only takes a few minutes to do what a rhoomba couldnt do in a week. And do you rhoomba owners honestly believe that the 1 milliwatt "motor" in that thing is even 1/10th as good as the cheapest vacuum available?
Posted by LoisMustDie on 2008-06-10:
Who am I to judge how somebody lives their life or the consumer choices they make. Heck, my grandmother lived in fear of microwaves until her dying day. Didn't understand why people didn't do it the old fashion way. Eh, to each their own.
Excellent review Snurfle.
Excellent review Snurfle.
Posted by DebtorBasher on 2008-06-10:
I'd get more done with a broom...and when my sweeping is done, I hop onto my broom and go for a ride...can't do that with a Roomba...though, I'm sure it hums and vibrates better than my broom when you sit on it.
Good review!
Good review!
Posted by KenPopcorn on 2008-06-10:
Actually DC, I do. Our Roomba works like a charm, and I was way more skeptical than most.
Posted by old fart on 2008-06-10:
How long does it take to have a roomba do what a conventional vacuum does in 5 minutes...I doubt if it could pick up anything more than lint to begin with...
You probably could have bought 2 vacuums for the price of the Roomba..
You probably could have bought 2 vacuums for the price of the Roomba..
Posted by DebtorBasher on 2008-06-10:
I like the name, "Snurfle"...LOL...reminds me of that skit they did on the Carol Burnett show...when Tim Conway was talking about he siamese Elephants who were joined at the trunk..."Snurfle"...LOL.
Posted by DigitalCommando on 2008-06-10:
Hi Ken, When the rhoomba can deliver me a beer, then we'll have a product that I can understand! I am a gadget freak but I just dont see the need for this product unless your physically disabled or something. It's kind of like somebody inventing an automatic toilet paper dispenser, you push a button and it rolls out 5 sheets at a time. Yeah, it would be a neat gag gift but it's simply not really needed, and certainly not an activity that is so labor intensive that it needs to be automated. Thats how I view vacuuming. And yes, you are allowed to have a different viewpoint!
Posted by Sparticus on 2008-06-10:
I'm totally wanting one of these. Are they worth it? We have a dog and a cat that shed constantly... I'm hoping this might help cut down my vacuuming from daily to every other day... =)
Posted by DebtorBasher on 2008-06-10:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqE_WmagjY
Posted by fanback on 2008-06-20:
I sent the following letter to the CEO and Board of Directors at iRobot, as well as to every snailmail and email address I could find for iRobot. I just read that iRobot now outsources its customer service. It was once excellent, but my recent treatment has completely alienated me.
____________________________________
I have been a customer of iRobot since the introduction of the first Roomba, have owned many of the models subsequently introduced, and have been mostly delighted with iRobot’s products (with the notable exception of Scooba, which I bought, but gave up on after much effort...an expensive and much-regretted buying mistake.) Although the vacuuming robots often needed either service or exchange after limited use, I always found your customer service department easy to contact, responsive, and polite, so I was willing to deal with the hassle of my various Roombas’ frequent failures, relying on the hope that reliability of future models would be improved. To compensate, I routinely kept an extra unit to use when one or more of the early models was nonfunctional.
In December of 2007, I bought two 500-series Roombas, largely because they were advertised as more durable than earlier models. Recently, within the same week, both units quit working properly, and close observation of their separate malfunctions allowed me to diagnose the problems, it was later proven, quite accurately.
I used your website’s contact information and telephoned. I discovered that your telephone customer support system has changed and now involves multiple time-consuming steps while it concomitantly and repeatedly urges customers to instead use email rather than continuing with the telephone contact effort. If one persists, I later learned, however, a customer support person can eventually, after an extended on-hold time, be reached by telephone…but that person, located in the Caribbean, is capable of offering only rudimentary advice. Any consumer of iRobot products with basic common sense or who has even superficially read Roomba’s instruction manual is more knowledgeable than the “support” person at this first tier. At this stage of the process, the customer has spent a minimum of an hour on the phone and has accomplished nothing.
The customer is then, if lucky, put on-hold for the true customer support person, and another long wait ensues.
When I called the first time about my two nonworking Roombas, I gave up within the first hour and, as advised by the automated system voice, emailed Roomba with the serial numbers, my contact information, dates of purchase, detailed description of the problems, and the other detailed extensive requisite information. The online multi-page form malfunctioned after I had fully completed it and I was forced to rewrite the entire email, filling out, again, the several pages on the website. The process took quite some time…which was, of course, doubled by the failure of the first effort.
I immediately received an email acknowledgment of iRobot’s receipt of my email. The next day, I received from iRobot a survey form asking about my level of satisfaction with Roomba products, but I never did, although I waited a full week, receive any response to my request for customer service. It would appear that email requests for service never reach technical support personnel, but instead generate only automated advertising.
After a week, with no email service forthcoming, I again telephoned customer support and completed the entire telephonic obstacle course, which took me, first, to the Caribbean, then finally allowed me to talk to a US-based representative who could address my problems. After that call, I found that the representative’s initial advice did not work for one of my units, and I was forced to again navigate the entire horrible system that day.
I was advised that I would be given an RMA number and an e-tag for the return and exchange of one unit, and that I would be sent parts to fix the other. I have received the RMA number, I have received the repair parts, but after 10 days, I’ve not received the e-tag.
Several email inquiries later, (which have resulted in multiple colorful and cheery HTML responses urging me to recommend Roomba to my friends) I’ve received no email answer to my questions about the e-tag. Again, it would appear that my emails reached only the advertising section of iRobot’s system…and that no actual living human is involved in answering any of the emails received from consumers.
Yesterday, for the third time, I spent over an hour navigating the horror that is your corporation’s telephone “support system”. I hope that the e-tag problem will now be solved so that I can return my nonfunctioning, in-warranty, unit…but I have serious doubts that I will ever see any resolution.
Although it was eventually proven that I had, myself, accurately diagnosed the malfunctions with my two units before I ever initiated contact with tech support, the several attempts to obtain in-warranty service for my two newest Roombas has taken in excess of six hours of telephone time and an additional futile several online hours.
It appears that the true goal of your customer support system is to limit the availability of customer contact with your service personnel, and thus prevent the in-warranty service promised by your own advertised policies. I consider this a breach of good faith on iRobot’s part, and I no longer trust your advertised warranty.
Is this the level of customer service that iRobot Corporation truly intends? I have willingly spent many hundreds of dollars on iRobot products over the course of many years, (including the money I wasted on my nonfunctional Scooba) but I am no longer a satisfied customer. Further, based upon this series of incidents, I cannot continue to recommend your products to my friends. This saddens me, because I’ve been an enthusiastic advocate of Roombas for many years.
____________________________________
I have been a customer of iRobot since the introduction of the first Roomba, have owned many of the models subsequently introduced, and have been mostly delighted with iRobot’s products (with the notable exception of Scooba, which I bought, but gave up on after much effort...an expensive and much-regretted buying mistake.) Although the vacuuming robots often needed either service or exchange after limited use, I always found your customer service department easy to contact, responsive, and polite, so I was willing to deal with the hassle of my various Roombas’ frequent failures, relying on the hope that reliability of future models would be improved. To compensate, I routinely kept an extra unit to use when one or more of the early models was nonfunctional.
In December of 2007, I bought two 500-series Roombas, largely because they were advertised as more durable than earlier models. Recently, within the same week, both units quit working properly, and close observation of their separate malfunctions allowed me to diagnose the problems, it was later proven, quite accurately.
I used your website’s contact information and telephoned. I discovered that your telephone customer support system has changed and now involves multiple time-consuming steps while it concomitantly and repeatedly urges customers to instead use email rather than continuing with the telephone contact effort. If one persists, I later learned, however, a customer support person can eventually, after an extended on-hold time, be reached by telephone…but that person, located in the Caribbean, is capable of offering only rudimentary advice. Any consumer of iRobot products with basic common sense or who has even superficially read Roomba’s instruction manual is more knowledgeable than the “support” person at this first tier. At this stage of the process, the customer has spent a minimum of an hour on the phone and has accomplished nothing.
The customer is then, if lucky, put on-hold for the true customer support person, and another long wait ensues.
When I called the first time about my two nonworking Roombas, I gave up within the first hour and, as advised by the automated system voice, emailed Roomba with the serial numbers, my contact information, dates of purchase, detailed description of the problems, and the other detailed extensive requisite information. The online multi-page form malfunctioned after I had fully completed it and I was forced to rewrite the entire email, filling out, again, the several pages on the website. The process took quite some time…which was, of course, doubled by the failure of the first effort.
I immediately received an email acknowledgment of iRobot’s receipt of my email. The next day, I received from iRobot a survey form asking about my level of satisfaction with Roomba products, but I never did, although I waited a full week, receive any response to my request for customer service. It would appear that email requests for service never reach technical support personnel, but instead generate only automated advertising.
After a week, with no email service forthcoming, I again telephoned customer support and completed the entire telephonic obstacle course, which took me, first, to the Caribbean, then finally allowed me to talk to a US-based representative who could address my problems. After that call, I found that the representative’s initial advice did not work for one of my units, and I was forced to again navigate the entire horrible system that day.
I was advised that I would be given an RMA number and an e-tag for the return and exchange of one unit, and that I would be sent parts to fix the other. I have received the RMA number, I have received the repair parts, but after 10 days, I’ve not received the e-tag.
Several email inquiries later, (which have resulted in multiple colorful and cheery HTML responses urging me to recommend Roomba to my friends) I’ve received no email answer to my questions about the e-tag. Again, it would appear that my emails reached only the advertising section of iRobot’s system…and that no actual living human is involved in answering any of the emails received from consumers.
Yesterday, for the third time, I spent over an hour navigating the horror that is your corporation’s telephone “support system”. I hope that the e-tag problem will now be solved so that I can return my nonfunctioning, in-warranty, unit…but I have serious doubts that I will ever see any resolution.
Although it was eventually proven that I had, myself, accurately diagnosed the malfunctions with my two units before I ever initiated contact with tech support, the several attempts to obtain in-warranty service for my two newest Roombas has taken in excess of six hours of telephone time and an additional futile several online hours.
It appears that the true goal of your customer support system is to limit the availability of customer contact with your service personnel, and thus prevent the in-warranty service promised by your own advertised policies. I consider this a breach of good faith on iRobot’s part, and I no longer trust your advertised warranty.
Is this the level of customer service that iRobot Corporation truly intends? I have willingly spent many hundreds of dollars on iRobot products over the course of many years, (including the money I wasted on my nonfunctional Scooba) but I am no longer a satisfied customer. Further, based upon this series of incidents, I cannot continue to recommend your products to my friends. This saddens me, because I’ve been an enthusiastic advocate of Roombas for many years.
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