Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a mechanical engineer with a background in control systems and I thought this would be a fun entry model for my thirteen year-old son to begin robotics. For the most part the components are decent quality and the assembly straight forward with a couple of notable exceptions: - Instructions are rudimentary and not very good, but they were enough that my son was able to assemble the model without my help except for seating the plastic rivets properly. - One of the four wheel hubs was flatened on one side making it oblong. - Motor connectors were off by 90 degrees causing the wiring to either rub the ground (pointing down) or hit the control board (pointing up). We fixed this by rotating the motor mounting bracket 90 degrees when attaching it to the model. It looks a little strange but works. - The robot bluetooth would sync successfully in the app but the controls failed to run the robot. After researching, we updated the firmware program with another version that worked and gave us control. This wasn't a trivial step. It involved downloading different software packages as well as compiled source code which we had to search out online at the makeblock site. If you're computer savvy and into robotics, it wasn't insurmountable, however my son needed my help and direction to make this happen and I would say is beyond your typical introductory modeler's skill. - Once we got the robot to respond to commands we found that the motors were underpowered. After more research, we found a notice on the makeblock site stating the following: http://forum.makeblock.cc/t/notification-replacement-of-25mm-defective-motor/917 Dear Makeblock Customers, Hereby we inform you that today we are voluntarily replace limited quantity defective 25mm DC motors which produced during Sep.2014 to Oct.2014. We are providing replacement action freely after learning that some of 25mm motor can’t provide enough torque to run the tank successfully. Please follow below steps to fix whether your motor can work well: i. Please confirm whether the motor can rotate by hand or not. Please also confirm if both motor is defective or just one. ii. In the full voltage condition, the robot can goes forward and backward just fine, but refuses to turn around. Then issue an email with below information to support@makeblock.cc. The replacement will ship out within 3 working day. 1.List out the defective item name and quantity. 2.Describe the defective with photos or video. (If file is too large, please upload to Dropbox or Google Drive) 3.A photo or screenshot of your order. (If you did not save the receipt please tell us which store you bought it and when) 4.Shipping address. (Postcode and telephone number should be included) We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this situation has created and we promise that we will continue to operate our business in a way that lives up to the high standards that you have always expected from us. Makeblock Team This is where things really went downhill. We followed all the steps in the notification from makeblock including providing a video. Here was their response: Thanks for your contact, Seen from the video, the problem should come from the motors, which is lack of torque. But after searched, we haven't found your order, your order should be fulfilled by Amazon, not from Makeblock directly. According to the policy of Amazon, you have to contact the seller for replacement directly, thanks for your understanding. So basically Makeblock is saying you're not our customer even though you bought our product. No help there unless perhaps you bought your kit directly from them. I had contacted the seller through Amazon but got no reply until I utilized Amazon's A-Z guarantee to open a dispute (thank you Amazon). The seller replied: I can send you a different wheel and motor if you send back the ones you said didn't work properly? I'm not a dealer or a store but I have an extra robot with spare parts. Not a dealer or a store? I should have just bought this off of ebay instead! So basically no warranty from manufacturer, no guarantee of quality, and definite problems with the model. The product has issues, the manufacturer won't stand by it contrary to their claim, even when it's a known problem, and little support from the resellers. Can't give this one a good recomendation - steer clear.