I am really surprised Catgenie does not have any positive reviews. I have four and I love them. Well not quite. I purchased two Catgenie 120s. The first one died on me after more than a decade of trouble free service and the second is cruising past 15 and shows no sign of any trouble yet. It was because of this I tell every cat owner I meet they need one of these and I had ranked the machine in the top 10 of mankind's greatest inventions. Okay yes I love my cats and anything that makes my life and theirs better is great in my mind. Fast forward to 2020, that is when my first Catgenie 120 died. I went to order a new one, but the 120 is no longer made. you can only buy the AI. It has some neat bells and whistles. They include: 1. The app notifies you when you need to replace the cartridge. 2. The app notifies you of a problem and tells you what it is. It doesn't just beep at you. 3. You can set up notifications to order supplies based on the AI status. Or something like that. Maybe its just a timed reminder, but all this comes with the app.So that is nice, but at more than $100 to me, so not worth it. Well the tried and true is no longer available so I bought an AI. At first, I loved it just as much as my old 120s. But them the key pad stopped working and I sent an email to tech support or customer service, I don't really remember which. No response. That should have set off alarm bells but the Catgenie still worked and I had full control through the app. No big. Then I bought a second for the guest bathroom. It arrived and I stored it in the garage as I was remodeling the bathroom. I did all the work myself to save money, came out beautiful just took longer than planned. So I got the second one out and set it up. Everything goes perfect, or so I thought. My wife tells me a couple of days after I set it up that it is not running. She has to press the button to start the cycle. After multiple tests and trouble shooting, I place a call to tech support. This when disaster entered my world. I got a call from a tech who identified herself as Ashlyn. Now I know these people just read from scripts, but you still expect a bit of professionalism and empathy. None of that here. She tells me that the Catgenie is not meant to be stored and should be taken out of the box and set up immediately. This is because the sensors and electronics can corrode. Huh? The units are placed in washrooms and bathrooms. Two places with notoriously high humidity. If the will corrode in the box, they won't last long once set up. So after paying $50 to send the head unit back for "inspection" I am starting to get annoyed with the horrible service I am receiving. And what I think are either made up facts or out right lies. Setting my doubts aside, the head unit is on it's way. I almost expect to receive notice that it is not fixable and I have to buy a new AI. Not going to happen, but we will see what Catgenie does. So on the the next disaster. My working unit. Well except for the buttons. No big. Ashlyn advises a factory reset to clear the issue. So we do the reset, and the buttons still don't work. Worst of all, it is no longer visible on the app. I have to reconnect it to the network. Okay I have done that and its easy. Step 1. press and hold both buttons to put it in setup mode.. When I ask Ashlyn how I do that she nonchalantly tells me well you can't do that if the buttons don't work. That scene from the movie Ghost Dad flashes into my mind where a boy calls and asks to talk to the Dad's daughter and when questioned gets really rude so Ghost Dad goes through the phone line and chokes the punk. I really wish I could have that power. Would have been nice here. In the end it is clear Ashlyn knew what she was advising and that it would turn my functioning Catgenie into a dead Genie. And would now be forced to pay the $250 to get it fixed. It was also clear she could not care less about the trouble she caused me. Extremely unethical. I now see why they have no positive reviews. I know I wrote one years ago when I got my 120s and customer service was stellar. When the unit I sent in for repairs gets back, if it gets back, I may have to do a revision of this review. My extremely low opinion of Ashlyn won't change but my opinion of Catgenie might. Time will tell. The other part of this that makes Catgenie suck, is if your head unit dies, sorry no replacement parts. You have to buy a new Catgenie AI. Final thoughts: Catgenie was a great product. But the new AI is not so great. Two units and two failures. That is a 100% product failure rate.Update: Catgenie called this morning and they want $200 to repair, for what should be covered under warranty. No warranty coverage.
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