iRobot

iRobot Reviews

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Overall Rating1.5 out of 5
See all 197 reviews & ratings

About iRobot Reviews

IRobot is a technology company that specializes in autonomous robots that clean inside and outside the home. Designed with ease and performance in mind, their products include four Roomba vacuum models, two Braava mops and the Mirra pool cleaner.

iRobot Reviews

ConsumerAffairs has collected 197 reviews and 297 ratings.

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Reviewed Sept. 19, 2023

I called to discuss if there was a new product to replace the useless brushes on the i7. Even a small bit of dog hair causes the brushes to break in two. The woman just kept saying “it’s the environment”. Just rude. Of course it’s the environment. The product was advertised for pet hair my old iRobot works so well and the service use to be so good. Too bad this company has sunk so low.

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Reviewed Sept. 17, 2023

Had this ** for less than 12 months before the service code 26 popped up. Disassembled the unit to only find out it was clean as a whistle, meaning no debris. Sent iRobot an email to CEO, but no response. I would never buy an iRobot vacuum or product ever again. Over-priced piece of junk and looks cool for a few months and then dies out. Good luck if you are thinking of buying one, I certainly would not if I had the option again.

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    Reviewed Aug. 25, 2023

    I sent a request to iRobot requesting them to please enhance your website allowing customers to administer their devices and update online maps instead of having to use the iPhone app. The customer service representative responded in an email "...we do not accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions, or materials other than those iRobot has specifically requested. Accordingly, we must request that you not submit or send any original creative materials, including but not limited to submissions of suggestions, ideas or concepts related to current or future products or business ideas."

    I responded with the following in an email - I am very disappointed in your response and especially your request not to submit suggestions, ideas, or concepts. This is ridiculous and will definitely make me rethink my ongoing relationship with your company and impact my ability to recommend use of your products to others. Maintaining an open dialogue with customers is typically a trait of successful companies and it appears your company is changing directions. I am so sorry to hear that and definitely will not make any requests or offer suggestions, ideas, or concepts to iRobot again. I will also share your response on social media so others may receive the message too and possibly not disturb iRobot in the future.

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    Reviewed Aug. 21, 2023

    I would not recommend it. I barely used the I3. For a small house we do not use that often. It keeps breaking till it went out of warranty and they refused to do anything about it. I feel it is a waste of money. They refused to extend my warranty.

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    Reviewed July 13, 2023

    iRobot did a bait & switch when I ordered the I- 4 EVO roomba. Wirecutter review had Amazon & IRobot having the same Prime day sale. I choose to go with IRobot so I would have a future account for replacements. Their delivery was quick, but they sent a cheaper model I - 4 that connects to wifi, instead of the EVO that self empties. I'm 70 yrs. old, not technology minded and have a bad back. It would have been great to get what I ordered, so I wouldn't have to continue to bend over to empty roomba. Now I have the hassle of returning product, and the disappointment in a USA company that I thought had a good reputation.

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    Reviewed July 12, 2023

    I've had my S9+ for 6 months and it has never been able to finish a job. Error after error. I feel like I am spending more time babysitting the Roomba than it would take for me to vacuum with a regular vacuum. Have had error 8, error 1010, multiple other errors, or it just stops and can't find its way back. I e-mailed iRobot and the support person said maybe it was the filter that was dirty, so I changed the filter, then it ran for 2 minutes and died again. He said error 8 meant that the blower was bad and wanted me to return it so they could fix it. I told him to send me a new one.

    When the new one arrived, it wouldn't charge. I found out that the new Roomba was not making electrical contact with the new base, so I swapped out the new base for the old base and it charged up. But after charging up and resetting multiple times to factory reset, it still would stop in the middle of the job or not be able to find its way back. I contacted iRobot again and they sent me a canned reply with reset instructions. I bought the Roomba so I could just push a button and let it go and not have to worry about vacuuming. I did not know I would be spending more time troubleshooting a different issue every time I use it. I would not recommend getting a Roomba until they come up with technology that will allow the Roomba to overcome normally encountered challenges of vacuuming.

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    Reviewed June 23, 2023

    Don't buy an iRobot if you have pets and or allergies. Even if you don't have pets, this is probably a lousy product. This robot is better at telling you to: "empty the bin", "clean the rollers", "clean the green rollers", "clean the brushes" than it is at cleaning. Once you've done all this multiple times, it will pause after 5-10 minutes and issue one of the above comments. This is very hard for those of us with allergies. It creates A LOT of dust. NOT WORTH THE $$$. Would not even take one if someone gave it to me.

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    Punctuality & SpeedStaff

    Reviewed May 24, 2023

    I purchased the Roomba to help me keep the house clean of cat hair, etc. When emptying the Roomba automatically, it makes a loud noise before and after the suction. The noise is very loud. It noise doesn’t sound normal. I called customer service and they sent me another base. Once, I turn on the suction to empty the Roomba, again it made the same strange noise but not as loud as the other. It’s frustrating when you pay $500 for a product and it doesn’t behave the way it should. The base still makes the strange noise like the vacuum is going to break down. iRobot is not giving enough attention to this model since it’s the cheapest model you can buy. Do not buy the i3 Roomba, buy the expensive model j7 + combo ($1300 on sale for $900).

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    Reviewed April 27, 2023

    We're on our 7th Roomba and our last. The 7i has never worked properly and the self emptying never worked well and stopped completely 4 months ago. The spinning brush literally fell off. Worst part - customer service stalled and stalled and asked for the same thing over and over. Said they would call, didn't. Called when I wasn't available despite asking for a specific time and date to speak (Why did we need to speak anyway, they had all my info.) Then after lots of stalling - what do you know? He said it took too long, marked as solved. I know a scam when I see one. NEVER AGAIN ROOMBA.

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    Verified purchase
    Srinivasa increased rating by 3 stars.
    After a positive interaction with iRobot, Srinivasa increased their star rating on July 17, 2023.

    Updated review: July 17, 2023

    I have received a replacement unit. Though there is room for overall product improvement the performance has no comparison with the returned unit. It is doing acceptable performance, will definitely update this review if anything changes down the line.

    Original Review: April 27, 2023

    Recently I purchased S9 product, for ~$1000/-, I did lot of research before purchasing. Now I feel like lot of fake online reviewers made this product and company looks like genuine. Unfortunately, so far, the experience, both product and with support team is so bad that, for the first time I felt, it should be either a defective product sold or it must be having bad cloud influence, as it is cloud enabled product or it is a pure gamble product. Here are the list of issues with the product I faced in short time. Firstly, with great deal I was able to put together the map run after that

    1. After doing couple of sloppy jobs one day it suddenly forgot that it is a cleaning robot and started roaming around without cleaning and coming back to dock station. The best support advice I received was remove and recreate the maps or factory reset and recreate the maps because Roomba got confused. 2. Consistently, it shows the job time as 15 min but runs forever, until it drains all the battery, some times I have to stop and send to dock station. 3. While vacuuming, on the edges, it never does it on circular brush side and leaves debris behind. 4. With-in 3 months, the wheels worn out so much that Roomba is stuck in the places where it used to move without any issues. 5. At times, while mapping and vacuuming, suddenly, in the middle of the room, it leaves message as “stuck” and need help, when I go and check I find nothing, moving a bit and pressing "Clean" it will start again.

    6. While mapping it finds 2 disjoint spaces in a single room, not sure how to deal with that “virtually created” room. 7. After running map for 6 to 7 hours, when sent Roomba to dock station; in the night, the app considers it as cancelled and will not update the map. This 6-7 hr run is a pure waste of time. 8. When I re-run "map run" and waits it to finish the job, it runs again for 6-7 hr and creates a map which it can not update to existing map. And it created space like “Transformers”. 9. Without any seeming obstacles, it stops job and marks as struck while doing map run.

    These few very obvious and big issue with the product. It has been ~6 months I own this product, I spent more time fixing its problems, sending mails to support team, recording videos for support team, emailing videos for support team to look, mapping, remapping, factory resetting, deleting maps and unsuccessfully trying to recreate maps.

    Issues with Technical Team, I called 2 times reporting these issues and sent 10+ emails with photos, the best advices I received are “Factory reset”, "Remove & recreate map”, clean the camera, turn on all the lights in the house, open windows, clean bumpers; the worst support I have ever seen. Now I am very confident that issues are no way related to the support advises.

    Worst of all, I was asked to record and send emails with videos, while Roomba is vacuuming and I have to wait for Roomba to do the bad job. It is like “Roomba Sitting” job for customers. Do not even have a way to upload these videos, you have to trim and email. What a pitiful product support? At times I wondered, are these issue common with this product?

    In between I sent email to publicrelations@irobot.com, investorrelations@irobot.com, partnershiphs@irobot.com; thinking some one in this company care and love their product and company, so that I get proper support. It proved that no one care about either their product or company or customer. I normally restrain from giving bad reviews, reason being “respecting" the fact that people are working in that company and considering "benefit of doubt". But this company products must be pure gamble.

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    iRobot author review by Sandy Baker

    iRobot is an American robotics manufacturer founded in 1990. The Roomba is one of several autonomous cleaners made by the company.

    • Advanced technology: iRobot continues to improve its Roomba vacuums to clean more effectively.

    • Convenient cleaning: The Roomba is an autonomous vacuum robot that docks and recharges itself between cleanings.

    • Prevents jams: Brushless extractors help prevent tangles that can jam most vacuum cleaners.

    • Responsive navigation: The Roomba responsive navigation technology helps it clean houses of all sizes and shapes.

    • Scheduled cleaning: Owners can program the iRobot Roomba to clean their homes on a preset schedule.

    by Sandy Baker Contributing Writer

    Sandy Baker has written for ConsumerAffairs since 2021. Along with the advice and information her articles provide to consumers, she’s written several books that focus on topics such as retirement planning, bankruptcy, business finance, estate planning and personal credit health.

    iRobot Company Information

    Company Name:
    iRobot
    Year Founded:
    1990
    Address:
    8 Crosby Drive
    City:
    Bedford
    State/Province:
    MA
    Postal Code:
    01730
    Country:
    United States
    Website:
    www.irobot.com