@elroombadelgreg gets a new body
About two months ago, my Roomba's side brush (the proboscis-y thing) gets caught on a wire. I stupidly pick up the little guy without untangling him and the brush rips out. I can still screw the brush in, but the seat for the screw is messed up and now it falls out easily, much to the cats' joy. It is their new fav toy and I start finding it in stranger and stranger locations when arriving home.
Over the next few weeks, I notice a decline to near total stop in dirt being picked up by Roomba. I doubt that it's because of the side brush always being out, but I figure I'll go online to see what we can do about it.
As it turns out, iRobot has modularized the Roomba and I can just order a new side brush module and install it myself. When the module arrives just a few days later, it comes with a simple set of instructions for unscrewing Roomba's undercarriage, unscrewing the old motor and screwing in the new one. iRobot must have done a load of research on their customers to figure out that most of them could handle fixing their own bot. I am impressed.
Needless to say, the side brush doesn't fix the "vacuum robot doesn't pick up dirt" problem. Back on the iRobot website, I read a few FAQ answers on cleaning instructions and even find a few videos on how to diagnose one's robot patient. After troubleshooting for an hour or so, I find that the main brushes aren't working. This is surprisingly hard to do, since Roomba automatically turns off if you flip it over and is too low to the ground to see the brushes when right-side up. I write to iRobot through their website and within a few hours they email back. After a little back and forth to explain that I'd already diagnosed the problem, they say they'll send me a new main brush module.
In less than a new week, I receive the new main brush module and install it (this being only slightly more complicated than the proboscis install). Once again, no dice. I write back to Roomba on the same thread and within two days they write back to tell me they're sending me a new bot, with instructions on how to use parts from my old bot to complete the new one (really just the battery).
Yesterday, I get home from work and the new guy has been delivered. I flip over my old guy, perform the transplant and boom. Back in business.
The only reason I bother writing about this is that I think it's important to highlight customer experiences that deserve it. In this case, I appreciated that all communication could be done over email. I wasn't stuck having to fill out online forms in some unfamiliar system, sitting on the phone, or *shudder* responding to letters. I also never had to mail anything to iRobot. They just sent the parts that I needed and trusted me to be able to salvage the old robot for the good parts. Even better, I've got a half-Roomba with brand new brush modules that I can use for parts in the future if I ever need them. Of course, I can also put it in the storage room and forget about it until we move and then bitch about how I should have thrown it out back in March of 2010.
The only downside here is that the new guy is going to have to relearn the apartment layout. (Well, that and the fact that old guy wasn't working for two months.)
