What is your experience with HS returns

Guest

I got my Roomba for Xmas from Hammacher Schlemmer and it died today. Its goes in circles, stops, starts and quits. Tried vacuuming it out with crevice tool and blowing it out with compressed air to no avail. Anyway, what is your experience with H/S and returning roombas? Would I be better off to just go through IRobot technical support?

JJ · Guest

Returns to Hammacher are extremely easy, but in most cases you are better off dealing with iRobots customer support during the warranty period.

The reason is simple. First off, If you call Hammacher, all you can do is return it for a replacement or a refund. They will do either for you with no problem, but if you call iRobot they will troubleshoot it over the phone and possibly fix the problem. But if they can't fix it over the phone they will send you a brand new replacement with all new accessories,without having to return the old one! So if you go through iRobot you will get a second battery, home base, wall mount, remote, etc. Spare parts are always nice to have with the Roomba, so go that route first.

If, after 1 year, when you are out of warranty with iRobot, that would be the time to start dealing with Hammacher. They sell the Roomba with a lifetime guarantee, so you can return it for replacement or even a refund at ANY time. (Yes, some people have returned items to them after many years and still gotten a full refund!)

Guest · Guest

Thanks, called this morning and they didn't even have me run diagnostics. Said to send back the brush guard and noted it was a "Drive stall error".

Still curious though, how do exchanges work with Hammacher? Do you have to mail the entire unit back? Who pays shipping charges? How long does it take to get the exchange?

Guest · Guest

Anonymous wrote: Thanks, called this morning and they didn't even have me run diagnostics. Said to send back the brush guard and noted it was a "Drive stall error".

Still curious though, how do exchanges work with Hammacher? Do you have to mail the entire unit back? Who pays shipping charges? How long does it take to get the exchange?

I believe you typically have to send the unit back yourself (at your own expense).

You could either ship the unit back, the upon receipt HS will send you a new one to replace it. I could see that taking up to 2 weeks (1 week each way if shipped by UPS Ground).

You could expedite this by doing a new purchase and ship back the defective one for a refund. That would cut your time in half as the 2 units are shipped concurrently.