What to Expect from ProTech Robotics Customer Service?

When I previously contemplated getting a Li battery for my wife's Roomba, everything I read indicated the OEM charger could not be used with them.  When I visited the ProTech Robotics site, it was unclear from the "Details" about their Li battery whether a separate charger or the OEM charger was required:

   "Each cell has is own PCB to protect against over charge, discharge and short circuits" 

I wrote to ProTech customer service asking if a separate charger was required as I couldn't find one on their site.  I got no reply.  A month later I wrote again and got the following reply:

"since the question is covered in the details for the Li-ion battery we did not feel a reply was warranted.   http://www.protechrobotics.com/proddetail.php?prod=4565445-LI"
-
Elayne S.
Customer Service Representative
cs@protechrobotics.com

Apparently, my question was still too stupid to "warrant" a polite or curtious reply.  I can only guess at the reception of ProTech's "customer service" if I had a question or problem with a purchase from them.  Are there any other suppliers of Li batteries for the Roomba or am I stuck with the original?  Damned if I will deal with a company who can't answer a simple question or treats me the way ProTech did.

Comments

Sorry to hear that you had

Sorry to hear that you had that poor service with Pro Tech. If you were to ask in the Roomba/Scooba chat, we have some very talented members who are very knowledgeable with batteries and can give you information as to where to purchase one.

 

Regards, Chris

Questions? Check out the READ FIRST section. Your question might have been answered already. It opens up in a new window.

Protech Robotics

maximzodal, its regrettable that you feel that Protech Robotics treated you badly and please accept my apology if Elayne in CS came across that way. I'm sure It wasn't intended.

We try to accommodate all customers but we do ask that as a customer you research what you are looking for as much as reasonably possible before submitting a question to our staff, the email-us page on our site specifically deals with trying to assist our customers in finding what they are looking for before emailing us.
Most all questions are covered on the site and as Jim T. on our support staff stated to you, we would rather all customers be informed when making a purchase from us and that the information that they get be "written" on the site and available for future review instead of what was relayed through an email reply.

Your Q: is a separate charger required for a LI-ion battery

http://www.protechrobotics.com/proddetail.php?prod=4565445-LI

From the site detail page link above: Can be charged with both the roomba Standard(black) and APS fast charger(Gray). Compatible with all 41XX and 42XX Discovery series models.

I hope this answers your question.

The other question is concerning availability. No, there are no other suppliers for the Li-ion Roomba Scooba cells worldwide.

--
Regards,
Chris
ProTech Robotics™
C. R. Home Improvements inc.
repairs@protechrobotics.com
//////////////////////////

Chris ProTechRobotics.com 

A bunch of smart-@$$#$.

Don't be surprised if you're too stupid for anyone in the customer service department of Protech. They answered me in circles concerning a problem I had with the battery I unfortunately had to buy to learn the lesson you did. It works great... when it works. I got passed around the customer service department, including Elayne S., and am now dealing with Brian R., the supposed head of customer service, though I hesitate to call it "service". None of them are very helpful. Do yourself a favor and don't buy anything from them that you might ever possibly need help with.

Protech Robotics review

Moderator Edit - We have received a report that this comment was altered by someone other than the original person who posted it. Comment removed.

Protech lack of customer service

I wish I had seen these comments about them first..... My experience has been deplorable with them as well. If you are reading this and are searching for Roomba repair service...look elsewhere. I wish I had. Timely and honest communication is the most important part of any customer support.

A scam for them to get dirt-cheap parts they can sell

To have ProTech just look at your Roomba will cost about $100 - $125: $50 for the diagnostic and $40 for shipping. They say they pay for return shipping, but only for repaired Roombas (which when I agreed, I originally read to mean repaired as opposed to the new ones they sell, i.e. mine would be covered - but no they mean only if you pay them to repair the Roombas), so that's an extra $25. So $125 just for them to look at the freaking thing. Then their quoted price for fixing it is crazy expensive, way more than it would cost to buy several Roombas brand-new! I wasa quoted $350 for the required work and $470 for the required + recommended work (and some of the required work was because it *might* break in the future, not that it was actually broken now - but they refuse to do half-cocked work because well they're so virtuous). My Roomba cost $400 new when I got it, and now is selling for $220 with S/H. So total cost at ProTech Robotics (including S/H) is $600 - for which I could buy just under 3 whole Roombas. They offered a trade-in value of $25. Meanwhile their salvaged parts at RoombaRecycle.com are going for 3/4 their original price. So they assume human nature will make most people balk at spending 100% - 300% of a new Roomba just to get a refurbished one back, and will further balk at the further S/H cost, and they'll get a whole stack of Roombas for pennies on the dollar, from which they can pull out all the working parts and sell them. Nice work if you can get it. I'd avoid ProTech Robotics.

ProTech Robotics is a SCAM - do not use!!

I too was scammed by ProTech Robotics. I sent in my roomba 500 series to have it cleaned and tuned. It was working but not optimally. After reading their website, I figured for $50 dollars I couldn't lose. Was I wrong. Right away I had a feeling I was being scammed. Transaction details; Feb 10, I created a transaction and paid $50 via paypal - up front. Feb 17th, I've not received any indication that they received my order or money. Feb 17th, I send a status request. Feb 20th, I've still not recevied any communication from ProTech. I send another status request and forward the tracking information that shows my roomba was delivered. Feb 21st, I receive an email that says, "The status of order id ******** has been updated to Repair-Received on 21st February 2011 07:46" Feb 28th, I receive their repair estimate. They say my working roomba needs $283 NEEDED to repair. This includes a $45 power supply because it was "missing from the evaluation". I didn't send in the power supply because it didn't require cleaning nor service! They said the needed and recommended service parts required $465!! Mar 1st, I sent an email reply that this was crazy and to return my roomba. This is when they sent me to their website to close out the repair as non-repaired. They are requiring me to pay $10 for NON-repair roomba repair and shipping, AND then another $25 for shipping and handling!! THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! I plan to find a website PER day posting my experience so maybe others won't get BURNED like I and others have. Calling BBB now...

Same Experience - Avoid this scam!

I actually feel better that someone had an equally horrible experience with this "company". They are extremely rude, make you agree to a ton of restrictions (basically kidnap your vacuum and force you to repair it), and charge you a MINIMUM of $100 labor for any evaluation/repair ($50 just to send it in + minimum of $50 labor for the repair). Then they tried to claim my battery was completely dead when it was working fine before I sent it in. I couldn't refuse their overpriced replacement battery or I'd have to agree to even more restrictions like no warranty and paying for return shipping. Trust me, you'd be better off just buying a recertified roomba than getting caught in this racket. AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ANY COST!!!!

No customer service and overpriced

I emailed them a question about the lithium ion battery they sell here which I have from them:
http://www.protechrobotics.com/proddetail.php?prod=4565445-LI_500&cat=39

It has been a week and still no reply. They state about that battery; "If your power supply is below the manufacturers rated 22.5v needed you may experience an Err5 code", which is a lie. Not "may", you WILL experience Err5 no matter what. Even with the standard charger which measures around 22.55v like mine. I simply asked them which power supply would stop the error and still no response. Now that I found this list of complaints it is clear that they are a scam and liars. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM. All their parts are close to, if not more than double the price that they can be found elsewhere.

Hopefully more people find this before doing business with this company. Note that you will rarely find any product reviews on their site lower than 5 stars. That should throw a big red flag to anyone.

I was going to buy a Li- Ion Battery pack BUT NO WARRANTY

They want you to put out a hundred plus for Li -ion pack then no guarantees? They also claim they use fresh cells? Their is absolutely no such thing! What they picked them right off the tree? Go to Newegg.com I got myself a replacement battery pack six months ago for about fifty bucks. Then I got a two year service contract for complete product replacement. My 560 refurb runs over one hour on dock mode with the dock taken away. Never do any Bussiness with Protech ever!

Protect Robotics is a RIP OFF

We recently bought a rebuilt replacement part for an IRobot vacuum cleaner. Well, when the part arrived, my mechanic husband replaced the part and it did not work. We requested a refund, or a replacement and were told; No refund or replacement! We then bought the same part from irobot, and it worked. So protech robotics basically sold us a bad part, and then offered no replacement. So we are out 50 dollars. Do not purchase anything from them go right through irobot. I wish we did. When we googled them, protech was the first one that came up. That was a huge mistake!

My experience

BUYER BEWARE when dealing with Protech Robotics! I agree with all negative comments listed on this blog! On Feb. 28th, Protech Robotic received my Roomba 4225 that I sent in for diagnosis and repair. I sent an email on Mar. 7 requesting an update, as I had heard nothing. I received an email on Mar. 8 (7 business days) saying the unit had been "logged in". On Mar. 20 (8 business days) I sent another email and received a return saying the unit had begun evaluation. After another 11 business days, on April 4 I filed the claim with Paypal. On April 5 I received an email saying the evaluation was completed and due to be sent to me that afternoon. However, at this point they could do nothing without the claim being dismissed either by me or PayPal. Of course, once you dismiss a claim, it can’t be refilled! On April 6 I requested the unit be returned and was told that was not a problem; however, the claim would still need to end before they could do anything. Unfortunately, due to my filing a claim I would need to pay the return shipping by certified bank draft or money order (Paypal isn't good enough?). The return shipping would be $28.15 (it cost me $21.16) Really? I felt like I was being blackmailed in order to get my property returned. I paid $49.95 for the eval, but I had no right to see it? In addition, all emails I received seem to be a response to mine. Coincidence? Paypal investigated but evidently felt I was on the wrong side. I’ve since decided this is a lost cause. The roomba was dead, as was the battery I sent with the unit. I’m out $75, but I’ve learned a valuable lesson even at 60+ years. “Stars” on a website don’t necessary mean anything, especially if there are only 24! If I had checked further, I would have found the truth. Hint! Shop eBay for a replacement robot! Lots of good deals and much cheaper than Protech Robotics. I picked up two new robots for $160!

Online forum users

Who is online In total there are 44 users online :: 2 registered, 0 hidden and 42 guests
Registered users: Bing [Bot], Google [Bot]

Poll

What is the best Robot Vacuum Cleaner on the Market?:

User login

Subscribe to RSS Feed

Syndicate content

Show your support

   

Twitter

robotsadmin