Littermaid - New Customers

Consumer Complaints & Reviews

James of Oro Valley, AZ on July 3, 2005

Product is a very expensive ripoff with huge sales because public doesn't know how badly it is engineered. Supposedly when your cat leaves his waste in the litter, a rake automatically scoops the clump of litter 10 minutes after the cat exits the box. The litter is dumped into a tray that closes once the rake retracts. Littermaid claims this sequence works as advertised as long as high quality clumping litter is used. This is utterly and patently false.

No matter what quality litter is used, what usually happens is the rake jams against the clump of litter, because the clump sticks to the floor of the box. Then the rake gets gooed up in the clay litter clump, rendering it fairly useless for later activations.

The problem with the design is threefold:

1. The box is not deep enough to hold enough litter to prevent the waste from sticking to the floor of the box.

2. The clumps of litter then stick to the floor of the box, and

3. The rake jams against the clumps repeatedly, sometimes dislodging them, usually not.

The rake then becomes stopped up with the mess, which creates a worse and worse mess with each subsequent activation. I paid $150 for a deeply flawed product. What's worse is Littermaid's antagonistic and aggressively offensive customer service department. Calling them leads to nothing but stonewalling on returning the product, admitting to the defective nature of the product, or getting money refunded.

These products are displayed in nearly every major pet store and variety store, from Wal-Mart to PetSmart and all in between, as the answer to a cat owner's prayers. And for pregnant women who are warned against even getting near cat litter waste due to the dangers involved to the unborn child, this product is especially enticing, which would explain why one would pay $150 for a litter box! The Littermaid as a very lucrative and heavily promoted scam.

Laura of Nicholasville, KY on Feb. 10, 2004

I purchased the Littermaid unit at Wal-mart on 1/4/04. It is a very disappointing product. The thing gets bogged down at time and cannot finished scooping the petwaste into the receptable. I called Littermaid's customer service and all they can do is tell me what is on their scripted notes (very argumentative people, will not listen to your complaint).

I have not had any problems with the motor, it just is not a very good product. I lost the receipt and could not take it back to Wal-Mart. Today I have disassembled this unit and am going back to the original kitty litter box. I feel that this product does not live up to what is advertised and should be taken off the market. This thing makes more of a mess and is more time-consuming than a manual cat litter box.

Vesta of Scammon, KS on Jan. 16, 2004

I bought a Littermaid self-scooping cat box at Walmart for $89.00 on Sunday, Jan.11, 2004. On Friday, Jan. 16, 2004, the plastic guides on both gears broke off. The rake goes all over the litterbox. Of course, the trash man picked up the carton and all of the paperwork, so I have no recourse. The only damage is the money I am out for buying it, unless you count the time I spent cleaning up the mess when it flipped the contents of the rake all over the laundry room.

Beverly of Trout Run, PENNA. on Dec. 23, 2003

Bought 2 Littermaids from a local department store. I set up one and within 4 days it broke. The bar that rakes went sideways and stuck so I looked at the end and there was a broken piece sticking out. I took the second one back and I may take this one back if they will accept it after it had been used. $90.00 down the drain.

Jim of San Diego, CA on July 14, 2003

As far as I'm concerned the Litter Maid is the biggest piece of junk I've ever bought. My wife who watches infomercials convinced me to buy it. It requires as much if not more work than a regular litter box. I've tried everything according to their book and troubleshooting. Cleaning, different litters, you name it, it doesn't perform. I constantly have to scoop it and clean the rake off.
Speaking of the rake, that's another thing you have to clean along with the carrier and the disassembly of the whole thing. I wish I had some of the problems of some of the others here stated that the motor quit and wouldn't run cause that's what I'm waiting for to trash the darn thing. Oh, one more fabulous thing is that when the thing bogs down and if it does almost reach the end of it's stroke, the rake likes to stick and then once it becomes unstuck, litter and little droppings shoot out all over your floor, ENJOY.
Well the only thing I can think of is if you believe in infomercials and all the great things they show you, buy one but if you're an intelligent person, stay away from this one, simply continue to scoop your cat's box, it's much easier and a whole lot cheaper. I just hope this site publishes this report. I'll be checking back.

We spent quite a bit of time cleaning up Jim's report, into which he had childishly crammed every four-letter word he learned in third grade. We feel sorry for his cats.

Greg of West Allis, WI on April 9, 2003

I purchased a Littermaid Mega on 11/21/02. The electric eye that operates the rake quit working on 3/14/03. This was 2 days before I was to leave on vacation. I called LitterMaid and they said they do not offer internal parts to fix their units.

Ulises of Joliet, IL on Oct. 10, 2002

We bought Littermaid auto-maid litter box and one month later it no longer works. It was $99.99 -- that's a lot of money to spend on a cat box so you would think it would work longer then a month. We tried to call the service number given on the box for assistance and it says this number has been disconnected and is no longer available and that no information is available. My wife is pregnant and can't touch cat litter or cat waste and that's why we bought it. Now we are back to scooping the poop again.

Yolanda of Cape Coral, FL on April 18, 2002

Following is the letter I e-mailed to Littermaid: I am so disappointed with your company. My cat box doesn't have the oomph it used to (it can only pick up the little do-do's now), so I called your 800 number and spoke with Andrea. She suggested I take it too a repair shop. Are you kidding me? A cat box? Put a visual on that! I asked her if I could get a discount on a replacement for this one that is about 2 years old (out of warranty). She said there are not any discounts available.

I have 2 spoiled cats very much used to this thing. One is starting to tear up the house and he is 3 times older than the cat box is. I'm not just out the 200 bucks for the first Littermaid, I have to replace it ASAP or replace everything else. I can't be home every time he needs to use the cat box!

Ken of Titusville, FL on July 27, 2001

My daughter received a Littermaid cat box for her birthday in Feb of last year. Unfortunately, it was one of the ones that had the weak motor installed and would barely go through the litter much less pick up anything else, but it worked OK for a few months until the motor burned out.

We called Littermaid and they said that without the sales receipt that there was nothing that they could do. We tried to explain that it was a gift and the receipt was not available. We enjoyed the Littermaid so much that for Christmas last year, I bought my daughter another Littermaid that was supposed to have the new and improved/stronger motor installed. Well the unit worked for about 6 months and now the electric eye for indicating when a cat has visited the cat box is not operating, which causes the rake not to move at all, unless you manually turn the unit off and then back on again, thus negating the term "automatic."

P.S. of Cincinnati, OH on July 27, 2001

I purchased a LitterMaid self-cleaning litter box at a local Complete Pet Mart in April of 1998. I paid $149.95 for the unit at the time of purchase.

My cat used the box for three months when a guide wire for the scoop became entangled around the scoop. This caused the unit to malfunction and it never worked again.

I returned the unit to LitterMaid with a full description of the malfunction. They sent a replacement unit which only worked three weeks before the motor burned out. At that time, I returned the second unit with a full explanation of the malfunction, my regrets that their product failed to perform as advertised, and requested a refund of $149.95.

They refused to give me a refund and have not offered to replace the unit. Other than a stock refusal form with no signature, I have received no response from LitterMaid or their parent company, Windermere. I just want my money back since it was a considerable sum and the product did not work as advertised.

I also think the public needs to be aware of the lack of support and service LitterMaid has for a very expensive pet item.

I have lost my initial investment of $149.95 for the product (this does not include Ohio sales tax). I had to spend time wrapping and returning the product. It cost me $36.00 to return both units. It also caused me a great inconvenience to switch litter boxes when this occurred.