Dear Rovio,

I really wanted to love you, I did.  Your wifi enabled webcam, your omni-directional steering, your programmable web interface.  You were going to be my little remote sentry to keep an eye on my lair and keep me company on a long winter’s night.  Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be…

(hit “read more” for the rest of the story)

I bought my Rovio back in March when two of my favorite sites, Hackaday and Woot teamed up to show me a little of the awesomeness that you can do with the little robotic Rovio from Wowwee.  There was even a 50% off deal on woot that day for Roborealm, a really powerful realtime video processing software designed to let you quickly set up Rovio to drive and avoid obstacles while moving.  It even has preconfigured controls for the Rovio drive system!

Just check out this list of yummy bullet pointed goodness:

• Easily control Rovio remotely 24/7 from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. Use any web-enabled device: PC or Mac, cell phone, smartphone, PDA or even your video game console.
• Rovio detects your computer settings and guides you through the setup process.
• Its head-mounted moveable camera and wide range of vision enable you to see and hear exactly what Rovio sees and hears, on your screen.
• Set waypoints so that Rovio can navigate itself around your home, without having to control each step yourself!*
• At the click of a button, send Rovio back to the charging dock using its self-docking capabilities – even when you are not at home!*
• Guide Rovio through dimly lit locations with the aid of its built-in LED headlight.
• Rechargeable NiMH battery included
• 1 x Charging dock with built-in TrueTrack Beacon
• 3 x Omni-directional wheels
• 1 x Head-mounted VGA camera
• LED illumination
• 1 x Speaker and 1 x microphone for 2-way audio
• USB connectivity
• Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11b and 802.11g)

The problems start soon after I opened the package, charged the Rovio overnight and started to play.

Using a web browser I drove the Rovio off it’s charging station, looked around my office a little steering left and right, panned the camera up and down and then, nothing.

The Rovio shut down.

Thinking maybe I bumped it off it’s charger before I went to bed I carefully placed it so I was sure the contacts were in the right place, the lights came back on and I left it for another day to charge up fully so I could start to play.

The next day, same thing.

Hey, these things happen.  I’ve received many parts DOA before, no biggie.  I called Wowwee, the manufacturer and get the standard “Our normal phone hours are 9am to 5 pm est, all of our lines are busy.  Leave a message and we’ll get back to you” except I’m calling at 11am and it’s not a holiday.  I leave a message and wait.

Not hearing back, the next day I go to their website and fill out an online ticket, and wait.

And wait.

Over the next week I called (during normal business hours) no less than 20 times and never got a person on the phone nor did I ever get a call back.

I did some online research and found out many, many people were having this problem, especially the other people that bought them from woot.  At least I’m not alone. (yay?)

After several days I finally get someone to return an email and they say they’re going to send me a new battery (great!).  A week later I follow up (again) and they say it’s slated for shipment the following day.

Over a week later I get a package from Wowwee and it’s….a replacement wall adapter, not a new battery.  I try it anyway and of course the Rovio still doesn’t hold a charge so I write back (having long since given up trying to call them).

After another week and a half I get a reply that they’re going to ship out a battery and that it will take four (4?!) weeks to arrive.  Ok, I’ll wait.  I *really* want to play with my no-that-new-anymore toy so I’ll stick it out.

Guess what?  It’s four weeks later, no battery, no response via email and of course no one is answering their phones (still).

I really wanted to love this toy, it has so many features and so much possibility however the company behind it and many other products couldn’t care less about the end user and will do anything they can to make you go away.

In short, if you want to take your chance and buy one just pretend that the company that made it went out of business.  If you’re OK with receiving absolutely no support what-so-ever from the manufacturer then you can try your luck and hope you won’t get a lemon.  As for me Wowwee won’t be seeing a dime from me for a long time.