So….I have a Neato Botvac Connected. When I first purchased it, I was extremely happy with how quickly I could connect the robot to my network. Then….I ran into my first issue.
Before I go any further. I am 100% satisfied with this product. I would absolutely purchase this again if I could go back in time. Ok….back to the story.
Once the robot was on and connected to the charger, I noticed that the robot was not charging! I tried everything. I moved to a different outlet. I checked that the main power switch under the dustbin was turned on. I even opened the panel for the battery to ensure it was properly connected. Nothing seemed to work. I called customer service (and actually spoke to a person) and they immediately put in an order for a new charging base. Being a “fixer”, I took apart the charging station. Unfortunately I do not have pictures (maybe I will add them later…). Looking at the circuit board, the solder connections for the 110VAC socket were only soldered on one side. The board has additional points to solder for “mounting”/grounding that were also not fully soldered. I broke out my ol’ pocket, gas-powered soldering iron and went to work. That was about 5 years ago. The charging station has been great ever sense. I never did open up the new one to see if the same problem exists. Maybe some other day.
NEXT, after about 13 months of service, the robot completely stopped sensing it’s surroundings. A quick visual check of the LIDAR and I noticed that it would not spin. I checked if it could spin freely….yes. I took it apart to check the belt….belt seems good (replaced anyways). There is a possibility to connect to your Neato for some diagnostics using “NeatoControl” (do a quick internet search to find it). Per the NeatoControl, I was not seeing any feedback from the LIDAR. The motor was not spinning and was not taking any readings. Checking voltage, the motor was seeing voltage, but the motor was toast. There was no physical impediment to the spinning, so replacing the motor and potentially the LIDAR board seemed to be the best option.
At this point, my hope was that I could simply make a call to a repair center or to Neato and order the parts I needed to avoid sending the entire vacuum to the landfill. Man, was I wrong. To get the unit repaired both Neato and the repair center said I must pay to ship my robot to them for repair, pay for diagnostics, and then pay for repair. The repair was estimated at $200 (US). The shipping (each way) was roughly $40 due to the size and weight.
$200.00
+$40.00
+$40.00
$280.00!!!!!
You have to be kidding me! I paid close to that for a NEW vacuum. This is why things like “Right to Repair” are so important. The motor couldn’t be more than a $2-$5 motor. The LIDAR board might be $8-$15. All in all, I already had the vacuum torn down at one point, so replacing components should be easy! To wrap this up, I called Neato and spoke with customer service which got me no where. They were all polite but were not able to offer me any solutions. I eventually called an executive to request becoming an authorized repair center. The result was Neato offered to repair the vacuum for free. This cost me time and Neato time. At the end, I have a working vacuum, but it took tons of work on their part and my part. The simple solution would be to make aftermarket accessible repair parts! They already sell batteries and brush bars. Why not add parts for resale?
To close this out, please research the Right to Repair movement.
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