I'm on Tilt.

Dear Readers..for people who like to think they own more automated devices than most - I don't understand why my husband and I aren't less exhausted. I was sure these products were going to let me have the deepest ass groove ever. But.. not so much.

It was a busy weekend and sadly - I am full of gripe'ing material.

We started out the weekend by wanting to run our new Scooba that we just bought over Christmas, and have run - probably 5 times. I was actually all set to write a great review about it even.

But - when we set it loose so we could go about the business of starting our weekend projects - it wasn't dispensing any liquid.

Somehow I think we should know by now that if the very first thing we start with screws up - we should just go back to bed. Instead of thinking we can persevere only to wind up in the fetal position mumbling and rocking back and forth.

So anyway... my husband goes to the iRobot web-site. Goes through the online debugging. Complete with the time honored technical remedy of hitting the machine. Think I'm kidding? Its in the FAQ. Nothing of course fixes it, and this means a call to customer support. Fuck. Did I mention this was a Christmas present? Used 5 times...? It doesn't even have to work that hard for christ sake. We walk around in socks 90% of the time.

I of course was filled with dread. I'd been reading stories about customer support. It seemed to me that it had really degraded in the 4 years we've owned products from iRobot. So I wasn't happy at all about having to talk to a tech support rep. As if I ever am.

A full 27 minutes on hold later, we did reach a support rep. He was really nice, and really knowledgeable. Although the prescribed remedy turned out to be not hitting it - but turning the Scooba on its side and dropping it from about 6 inches off the ground. Yes.. you read me correctly.

This did actually make the Scooba start dispensing liquid. While I must say much more than it previously did. Leaving little sudsy trails.



And it became louder and made a rattling noise. Especially when it turned.

The solution also was short lived. Within about 15 minutes the Service light came on and it stopped moving. So I suppose you could say I'm a little unhappy. I'll keep you updated on what happens with Tech Support.