Neato customer service, any suggestions?

[stevematlbch]

On dealing with them? I am on robot 4 in 14 months. #1 had endless navigation errors. #2 was great for about 8 months until it wore smooth spots on the drive belt - which is not a user replaceable part, go figure that one. #3 was DOA and had to haggle a month to get replaced. #4, never ending navigation errors - imaginary objects, just stops dead, often very close to base and was only looking for base for 30-60 seconds. Goes under chairs and attempts to climb backwards up onto framework (all it needs to do is move forward and it would be free). Object in path but no effort to change course (clear my path). Taps an object once and 'bumper stuck'. Enters small u-shaped area, turns 360 over and over, trying every direction except the open one, finally says 'clear my path'.

I have documented every run this month, many are flawless including 9 straight. However in 12 runs I had more than 15 interventions required for above reasons. Many of these ended in simply killing the run, as it would go a minute or 2, then have another issue.

Neato had me run 'small BR test'. It passed. So they say there is nothing wrong with it. Suggest I use it in that BR. That is not what it was purchased for. Robot #2 ran many months, requiring intervention maybe once in 15 runs. Why does this one not do that?

How can they say nothing is wrong?

Finally I tried to update software - just getting error msg. This same PC had updated #2 robot just fine. I have read all the issues with this - it's ridiculous, this is something that should simply work. There are plenty of companies that would handle this for Neato and have it flawless, they just have to want to admit they have an issue and then want to solve it.

I have a square trade warranty for another 2 years but honestly, I'm sick and tired of this and ready to just toss it out the window. Neato is just a collection of scam artists.

Anyone been thru all this stuff and come to this point?

[invenio]

Sorry to hear your troubles. If you have the 2 year warranty, and it seems your pretty much fed up with the Neato, why not just ask for a refund?

My personal experience with the neato (although I have only had mine for 1 month) has been really good. As long as my room is "prepped" (essentially blocking off some furniture which is almost the same exact height as the neato's body) it runs fine doing my entire two floors of the house, each around 1500 sq ft. I also usually move all my chairs out of the way, it still does it, but it is so much faster if it doesn't have to navigate around the legs of the 8 chairs in my dining room!

I did have to call neato tech support for something and it was a 5 minute phone call and they took care of the issue. In 14 months maybe i'll feel differently (I do have a 3 year warranty), but for now i'm pretty happy.

[stevematlbch]

I guess I will soon be using the square trade and not the neato warranty at which time I will state my preference for a refund. I doubt I'd get it, most likely another cosmetically restored, untested, un-updated, 'refurb'.

I am not going to lay down mag strip all over the house by the yard (wife would nix that anyway), nor am I willing to move all my dining chairs 2x a day (where exactly is 'out of the way' - I expect the robot to vacuum the entire room). Funny you mention dining chairs, it will work around those chairs w/o incident for weeks. Then one day it gets stuck in some fashion, and over the next week or so I'll free it 15 times from these chairs. Then it will do fine with them but exhibit other issues elsewhere. Sooner or later it is back to the chairs, but these issues, at least with the chairs (and some others too), are definitely occurring in clusters. Same thing with bar stools, only about 5 issues in 14 months but all 5 in a 3 day period. It's fine with them again. Keep in mind that the robot does the house many days with zero issues - so it certainly can. However, that is less than 50% and many days there are 2-3-4-5 issues before it is done, or, you just say to hell with it and cancel it out.

Again, Neato says that because it does a small BR and docks - 1 time - there is 'nothing wrong with the robot'. I have a significant gallery of photos of it wanting path cleared when nothing is there, of it's butt end climbed up on chair superstructure, etc etc that I would share with them. I guess they design it to function in these ways?

To solve problems you must first be willing to acknowledge there is one or more problems. Then you need the will, and the means, to address them. neato has not yet reached the first stage, so, these issues are unlikely to ever be addressed, at least by Neato as a company.

yeah it's fine........

[Phane7]

You're not alone

[stevematlbch]

Today it goes out and does part 1 and 2 of the cleaning perfect. Part 3 is only about 5 minutes, it does that and then comes back to base. It turns and starts backing to dock. Suddenly with 8 inches to go, veers off to the right, goes 2 ft, and just stops and dies. At least it did the house.....typically I start it in the am and leave. If it's off the base when I return at light I really do not know how much was done - and I mark that as 'incompleted run'. Over 50% of my runs are incomplete. I may not be able to force them to provide a working robot but I can do my best to kill sales for them. Wait until Woot puts one on again.............

[invenio]

Today it goes out and does part 1 and 2 of the cleaning perfect. Part 3 is only about 5 minutes, it does that and then comes back to base. It turns and starts backing to dock. Suddenly with 8 inches to go, veers off to the right, goes 2 ft, and just stops and dies. At least it did the house.....typically I start it in the am and leave. If it's off the base when I return at light I really do not know how much was done - and I mark that as 'incompleted run'. Over 50% of my runs are incomplete. I may not be able to force them to provide a working robot but I can do my best to kill sales for them. Wait until Woot puts one on again.............

Have you tried putting the charging station to another location. Make sure it's at least 3 feet from any corner, door, or obstruction. Then try different places around the house, for some reason there are "bad charging locations" that the neato does not handle well. Also, make sure there are no throw rugs right in front of the docking station, I have had the hardwood floor/carpet transition give docking problems. Hope this helps.

[stevematlbch]

Actually my base is in the middle of a 9 ft open wall. It could not be any better. It can't really stay here. My #2 robot that worked at about 90% success (belt wore out and neato has built the only belt-drive vac in the world w/o user replaceable belt) had base in laundry room in a very tight area. Plus it was at extreme end of the 1600 sq ft area to be worked. These things can work well if a unit has 'good' software and hardware, there is just such a high rate of defects. Yesterday it backed toward base to charge, then stopped, and a new message: make sure base is plugged in. It was, and inside connections were also good - unit charged ok. So that is yet another variation of navigations issues. But it cleaned the tiny bedroom and docked, one time, so, there is nothing wrong with it, says neato.

[invenio]

You may still want to move it around. I find that even though it appears that the docking station is optimally placed, sometimes for whatever reason it is not good for Neato. I have this situation in the bedroom, that the most open area actually gives the Neato difficulty with re-docking. I would suggest moving it into a completely different area and see how it goes.

[stevematlbch]

I am going to put it back in laundry room a while and see how it goes. That location grossly violated every rule in their book, yet #2 had about 90% success of total missions. Each "mission" is actually 3 departures and 3 docks due to size of room. Thus in a month, that might be 30 missions/90 dockings, and only 3 or so failures total. Keep in mind if I return home in evening and find it out in room, little in the bin, it cleaned very little and no more run that day. Sometimes the bin is quite full so I know it cleaned most of the house. Wife has been home sick for a week and hates to hear it run, so basically it's had the week off.

Regardless, most failures have nothing to do with docking at all. Mostly it strikes something while backing and refuses to go forward, backing up onto chair frames and even the wall sometimes. Or it enters a U shaped area and does 360's, and tries to moves in 270 degrees of that circle, which are all blocked, but not the 90 degrees that is wide open. Or it's cleaning and suddenly 'sees' some object that is not there. Or just bumps a chair leg or similar one time and immediately declares 'bumper stuck'. Moving the base is not going to help any of these issues. They can tell me this is 'normal' functioning all day, but #2 ran for months with virtually none of these issues, instead it actually cleaned the house, so, if you can get a properly functioning unit it will work. The defect rate seems to be at least 80%.

They sell these at $300 and I would happily pay twice that for a unit that actually worked reliably. It's a great concept, hopefully another outfit will pick up on these basics and produce a machine that performs as advertised.

[stevematlbch]

Stuck twice yesterday. It rolled up a rubber-back walk-off mat by the doorway, it has an issue with that at times, the Roomba has never ever had an issue with it. Then it found a floor lamp and backed up onto the base of it. With butt high in the air just went dead - no noises, no nothing. Upon turning on it says 'clear my path'. Does it mean in front or in back? Is it supposed to go backwards routinely, indeed, be hellbent on going no other way but backwards? It climbs things like this all the time. All kinds of things including the wall. All it has to do is decide to move forward.

hey Neato, you're always ready to explain why the lights are a certain color at a certain time, etc, but never have anything to say about these kinds of things? Just wondering why. My guess is, you can explain the lights but you cannot explain this.

I'm going to put a new CHM and bin into the 5 year old 570 Roomba I think, as my days at home are ending for a while, I will not be here to extract it, and I need the dog hairs kept under control.

[stevematlbch]

Update: Relocated base to laundry room, in a way that violates every rule of base placement. It's all the way to one side of the 1600 sq ft area that gets cleaned, back in a corner. And under a table with 30 inches between legs, and little room in front of it. First few days it would return to area but die - not even try to dock. Last 8 days or so it's docked every time. I am now having it see objects in its path which do not exist, and today it insisted on backing up into the framework of a chair. But overall success rate is way up and almost acceptable - at least for now. History says it might be near-flawless for 10 - 15 days, then have near-zero success for a prolonged period.

So who can tell?

Put one of the new aerovac bins in my Roomba 550, 3+ years old. Huge improvement. Highly recommend this bin. This thing now smokes the Neato imo. Always, and I mean always, on it's base when I get home. Cleans great.