Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased my first Botvac 85 in July 2014 after reading editors’ reviews on another website. I was skeptical since I had never heard of the brand before and there was some concerning information out there about poor customer service but decided to go with it anyway. The good: - Amazing with pet hair! I cannot praise this vacuum enough when it comes to suction power. We have a Great Dane and 3 cats, all of which shed like crazy. You’d never know it though after sending the Botvac around on both a low pile carpet and tile floor. At the beginning, we would run the Botvac daily and vacuum with an upright every 2 weeks. However, the Botvac does such an excellent job we stopped using the upright all together. - Very organized cleaning path. This little guy maps out grids, zips back and forth until a grid section is finished, and then moves onto another area. - Not terribly loud. I had no problem sitting in a room while it was vacuuming but I wouldn’t use it at night on the same level I sleep on. - Side brush: really helps keep the dust off the base boards - Easy to clean the brush and empty the dirt bin The bad: - I have noticed that after 9 months of the vacuum going around my chair legs, the legs have gotten scuffed on the corners from the Botvac backing up when navigating around them. - If anybody living in your house has long hair, be aware that the Botvac never manages to get any into the dirt bin and only seems to wrap it around its brush. Not a huge deal, just make sure you clean the brush regularly. - Terrible customer service - Not very reliable. See below…. After 6 months of using my first Botvac, the battery completely died. The thing wouldn’t even turn on anymore. One day it was fine, the next day dead. I called Neato and after a brief conversation, they offered to send a replacement. The new vac arrived super fast, and they sent a return label to send back the dead one. All was not well however. The new Botvac was noticeably louder than the first. It always sounded like there was a loose rattling part somewhere inside. Additionally, the navigation on this one was off. It got lost frequently and would sometimes have to charge 3 times to finish what the old one could do on a single charge. So back this one went too. Botvac #3 arrived. After the initial charge, it began beeping intermittently (about every 15-30 minutes or so) to “please put my dirt back in.” No amount of jiggling or pushing on the bin could shut it up. Additionally, after using the vac for a week, it now makes a horrible whining noise and no longer moves more than a foot off the base. After talking with customer service AGAIN, they are now sending a refund since it is their policy to send refunds after 2 replacement vacs. Though I’ve had to be persistent with follow up phone calls to be sure my issues are being taken care of, I can’t say that I’ve had a bad experience with Neato customer service at all. In fact, I would say that they have been very easy to deal with. I have to admit, despite my issues, I’m still considering buying another Neato with my refund money. When it was working well, it was amazing. *UPDATE 4/30/2015 I have reduced my rating by one star on the Botvac due to my recent customer service experience. After writing this review, I was told that it would take 2 MONTHS for my refund to be processed after receiving the returned vacuum. I asked them if they would simply send a replacement vac since the latest replacement arrived non functioning and since the replacements arrive within days rather than months. They basically said "Nope sorry. You only get two replacements" despite the second replacement arriving DOA. I feel as if I am being penalized for Neato sending a product that didn't work right out of the box. Additionally, someone from Neato has replied to this review and stated "we can confirm your refund is currently processing and will be mailed to you soon." That cannot be true as I haven't even sent in the defective vacuum yet. So there is someone out there from Neato posting misinformation to make themselves sound better. *UPDATE 5/26/15 I bought my original vac from Bed Bath and Beyond and I HIGHLY recommend anyone considering buying the Botvac to do the same. I decided rather than wait forever for a refund from Neato I would just do an exchange at BBB. Even though it had been 9 months since I purchased the vacuum, they exchanged it for a new one with no hassle. I've now had the replacement for almost a month and it has been working flawlessly. *UPDATE 8/28/15 I've had the latest replacement vac (now named Ultron) for little over 4 months now and I am still very happy with it. Battery life remains excellent. We've even expanded the area it cleans on one charge without any difficulties. As another reviewer mentioned, periodic cleaning of the laser sights is needed but it is very easy with 2 minutes and a few Q-tips. Of note, we did have to replace the combo brush when one of the silicone blades cracked in multiple places for no apparent reason. I'm not sure if that will be a reoccurring problem or if we simply had a bad brush. As the brush replacements are nearly $40 each, it's not a part I want to replace frequently. *UPDATE 2/8/16 My Botvac has now started alarming "Please open my dirt bin and switch to ON." That would be all well and good except the switch was already turned to on. So I called customer service. Apparently, that alarm is a signal that the battery is dying. Keep in mind this vacuum is less than a year old. I was informed that the battery warranty is only 6 months, so I was welcome to purchase a new battery for $50. I asked how often I should expect to replace the battery and was told that expected battery life is 6-9 months. 6-9 months! For a vacuum that costs $400. So after many phone calls, and follow up calls, I finally got them to agree to replace the battery. They told me that it would take 10 business days to arrive. So low and behold, 10 days pass and no battery. I call back again, and the customer service rep proceeds to tell me that that battery has not shipped and that I need to send in proof of purchase that proves my Botvac is less than 6 months old. I told him that I had been approved for a battery replacement to be sent even though my vacuum is older than 6 months. The guy then says that he does see where it was approved that my battery was to be replaced and he would follow up on it in a few days to see if it got shipped. I asked him politely to follow up NOW and make sure it was shipped TODAY. We'll see if it ever arrives. Long story short, Neato customer service is HORRIBLE. It takes at least 3 phone calls for any problem to get resolved and you need to be clear on what was agreed upon in previous conversations. Otherwise the customer service reps give you wrong information. Because of the unacceptable battery life and the sub par customer service I have reduced my rating by another star. *UPDATE 12/9/16 I finally did receive the new battery and the robot worked well...for a few months. Now it is showing error code 3000, which in an internal mechanical error that cannot be fixed by resets and code clearing. Neato has told me that since the vacuum is out of warranty (by 6 months) there is NOTHING they can do. So now I have a dead vacuum and no recourse to get it fixed or get my money back. Even though this vacuum is great when it actually works, with their horrible reliability I would have no hesitation to say buy a Roomba