Popular Robot Vacuum Manufacturers Don't Honour Australian Consumer Laws

LIbz on 10/07/2024 - 11:54
Last edited 10/07/2024 - 14:13 by 1 other user

TLDR: The popular robot vacuum brands don't honour ACL, and even normal warranty claims are challenging.

For the past few years now, we've seen deals upon deals for robot vacuum brands at amazing cheap prices. However there has often been limited discussion on their quality and customer service.

I just wanted to bring to light my recent experience with Dreame, but this extends to other popular brands such as Roborock.

Recently my Dreame vacuum failed at just over one year. Despite 30 back and forth emails now explaining what ACL is and why my vacuum should be covered, they are only offering a paid repair. This prompted me to look further into other customers' experiences. Here you'll notice they repeatedly engage in behaviour that makes warranty claims challenging, they deny ACL, and even if you send it in for repair they often will not repair it correctly.

This is not unique to them, Roborock has similar feedback. The issue is similarly around poor customer service, but their key issue is they never seem to have parts available. They will also charge you for repair, and warranty claims are similarly challenging

So where does this leave us?

For now, the best thing you can do is to buy from a reliable brick and mortar store. It will cost more, but it's worth it. Consider other ways to further extend the warranty like credit cards as well. The main takeaway is DO NOT buy directly from them as you will be forced to engage directly with their basically useless customer support.

Electrical & Electronics Dreame Roborock Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

Comments

  • Dollar General on 10/07/2024 - 11:55
    +2

    So it wasn’t a dreame purchases

    • Ibz on 10/07/2024 - 11:56

      Lol, it was a nightmare

  • altomic on 10/07/2024 - 12:07
    +5

    thanks for posting Gerry.

  • jugsy on 10/07/2024 - 12:13
    +2

    You gotta punish them. Chargebacks, ombudsman, escalations

    • Ibz on 10/07/2024 - 12:48

      I know you mean in general, but currently for my predicament I feel quite defeated. We will raise it to the ombudsman, but we can't charge back as it was through ebay. Not even sure who to escalate to at this point as all the Dreame customer support have not been any use

      • jugsy on 10/07/2024 - 13:32

        Raised the ebay/paypal dispute at least?

        • askbargain on 10/07/2024 - 15:05

          it's been over a year :/

  • Sammage on 10/07/2024 - 12:48
    +1

    I had the same experience with ecovac, so buying brick and mortar isn't necessarily the solution as you still have to deal directly with manufacturers for warranty claims, however having a retail store to fall back to that will likely fight/honour/take the hit for a bad manufacturer is definitely helpful

    • Ibz on 10/07/2024 - 12:50

      Yeah of course. But the reseller has to offer the ability to make a warranty claim through them per ACL (sometimes you have to nag them for your rights). They will also have to offer ACL for products that do not meet expectations

  • ihbh on 10/07/2024 - 13:03

    So you want cheap and cheerful?

  • Ibz on 10/07/2024 - 13:12
    +1

    @Baysew I see you removed the links to the product reviews from the post. Any reason for this?

    • Baysew on 10/07/2024 - 13:56
      +1

      Gross incompetence. Sorry, I mucked it up when I was editing.

      • Ibz on 10/07/2024 - 15:36
        +1

        No worries! Wasn't sure on forum rules so I left it to you to update :)

  • spc12go on 10/07/2024 - 17:07
    +1

    Always try NCAT if you feel like you are hitting a brick wall

  • Shaneeo on 10/07/2024 - 20:23
    +1

    Many of these deals are via a 3rd party reseller like gearbite etc. So you don’t need to deal with the manufacturer, just make the reseller solve your problem. A retailer or reseller can no longer push you back to the manufacturer as per the ACL. You bought from them, so they are the only person you need to deal with. Many major retailers have tried to push me back to manufacturer as they have very poor training on acl, so you have to stand firm and have read up on the acl to know your rights. If you bought direct from the manufacturer and they are not honouring ACL then that is harder. I would suggest writing an official letter to their complaints dept reminding (educating) them of their obligations under the acl. “Reasonable person would expect $xxx product to last for more than x time etc etc. Give them a deadline to respond, after which time you will be lodging a case with ncat, qcat etc( depends what state you are in). Then if they don’t respond raise a case. It costs very little, and the ncat notice generally gets the issue resolved without actually needing to go to a mediation session. These type of companies use the squeaky wheel concept. Only 1 in 50 disgruntled customers will bother to raise a case, and for the 1 in 50 that do, they will send a replacement unit. To show up to the hearing will cost them more in lost time than just giving you a product to shut you up and go away. Good luck!

  • ForkSnorter on 11/07/2024 - 08:55
    +1

    You should just be like me: Buy cheap stuff. Never use it so it never dies. Then you never get pissed off and everyone lives happily ever after.

    • ihbh on 11/07/2024 - 10:11

      and everyone lives happily ever after

      Except the environment, which means future generations.

  • Mshy on 13/07/2024 - 22:25
    +1

    I had issues with Dreame too. Told them I thought the vacuum was missing the mesh screen as my older model had it. They said this was normal for the model I purchased, even after I sent them clear photos and asked them to double check. 4 months later when I was on a trip to Malaysia, I walked into their physical shop and showed them photos of my unit. The salesperson confirmed the part was missing. Emailed Dreame support and after multiple emails, they agreed to replace the part but never shipped it. After mentioning Australian Consumer Law and the fact I have emails showing they obviously intended to mislead me, I finally received the replacement part. If I didn’t walk into that physical store and ask, they would have gotten away with it.

    • Ibz on 13/07/2024 - 23:05

      Yeah it's really a terrible company. I feel like products which don't meet ACL without significant hurdles should either be banned or come with a warning on this site as you can't possibly tell based on the incredible number of up votes they get.

      I'm now pursuing the methods which another poster listed, raising a complaint to fair trading and pursuing NCAT. Let's see how it goes

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