catgenie.comReviews of catgenie.com

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.

I care deeply about animals. That is why I bought the Cat Genie. And it has been one of the biggest regrets of my life. Since 2022, I have been through four separate CatGenie Units- all failing from faulty malfunctions that were not user error- all internal issues that were out of my control. These machines break done within 6-12 months at most, and their support team does everything they can to blame the customer and avoid accountability. My most recent unit failed catastrophically: it was full of urine and feces would not drain. When I contacted support, I was told I would need to pay over $200 for a repair they diagnosed over the phone. If they are identifying the same issue so easily, that sounds like a recall-level failure, not a customer problem. $200 for a repair? That is half the price of a brand new unit- which comes with a starter park, all new parts, and warranty. I had done everything right- cleaned the unit properly and often. I just do not have $200 more to keep dumping into a faulty product- when investing in something so expensive you do not expect it to be so costly to simply upkeep. So I tried to avoid more conflict and decided to order another unit on my own. I had been contacting support since January and realized they were not going to actually help me- at this point even the repair would not suffice as the urine and feces has ruined the other parts of the unit. I could not let me cats use this at this point- it was just cruel. My cats took a long time to transition to the granules and were not wanting to use regular litter- so lack of support and quality of this company really impacted my life at home. The company refunded my order 3 times in a row- without a single bit of communication on the matter. Then, after months of SILENCE, they finally sent me an email, not to help, not to apologize, but to tell me they were permanently refusing me service- including support. Their email specifically stated "we will no longer be responding to your support claims needed". *my initial response was to laugh- what support have you provided anyway? The crazy part- when I bought my unit the website stated they would provide support to you for life when buying a unit. That email was the ONLY response I EVER reveived after months of waiting for calls or emails that never came. My mental health was suffering. My cats were stressed and urinating inappropriately because their toilet was constantly full of a urine/feces soaked bowl. It was heartbreaking. And the company never once asked how my pets were. Never once apologized for what I have gone through- and my messages to them were very specific. No compassion. The company claims they took care of my by replacing faulty units under warranty but ignores the fact that they never should have failed in the first place- especially that many times in that short amt of time. Not when you have spent neverly $1000. Let's be honest, when you send in the unit for repair, you only send the core unit, not the full litter box. That means you are left with a bowl your cat urinates into that has no way to drain, forcing them to step into their own wet waste, which the granules do not absorb. The smell is aboslutely foul. The process takes weeks, during which your other unit part degrate and your cats suffer. When I voiced this concern to the support team, I was told: Just scoop it out. That is not support- that is cruelty disguised as customer service. They accused me of sending too many emails and threatening legal action. Yes I followed up, because they ignored me. I asked for help. I was desperate. They never took responsibility. Instead, they defended the employee who told me specifically (when I asked to talk to the corporate office) "no one is going to care"- sadly, that checks out. I am not alone in this terrible experience. Please do your research. Check martketplace- you will see MANY posts of people selling parts for their cat genie. I have screenshots from SO MANY people that were selling parts that suffered this same story from the company- all out hundreds of dollars and upset at the poor customer service. Marketplace is full of frustrated cat owners who were told to pay hundreds for repairs on failed units like mine- all having the same errors my units had. Be aware of their 90 day "free" trial- it is NOT free. If you return the unit they charge you shipping and a cleaning fee. Their support process is terrible. You call and leave them a VM; wait for a call back, and are expected to be standing next to the unit like it is your job. When I did get someone on the phone-I was talked over,dismissed,and then ignored entirely. I cried so much over this. I spent money I could not afford to lose. I even sent a certified letter to the corporate office w copies of the emails-hoping the support team was the issue. I received silence in return. AVOID

CatGenie doesn't honor their warranty terms. I purchased a new unit in March of 2024. It's already been replaced once due to an issue with the arm. Now it's having issues again. They tried to tell me they couldn't replace it because it was "almost" out of warranty. All they could do was look at it and decide if they would be willing to repair it. And they were clear that if it didn't arrive before the warranty end date, they wouldn't help at all. However, I purchased an extra two year warranty, so the machine is covered until March 2027!! I finally was able to prove I purchased the warranty, so they had no choice but to replace it. They sent me a used processor that was covered in cat urine! And to top it all off, the used replacement doesn't work either!

I like the concept of the cat genie, but don't expect your machine to last or them to stand by their product. I have a cat genie 120 and it stopped dispensing liquid after owening for a little over 3 years. I was told I would have to pay $275 plus tax to repair (which is not too much less than the original product). I expressed my displeasure with the fact that a product should last longer than 3 years and they just repeated that stuff sometimes needs repair (it should not after 3 years and should not cost close to the original price of the product). I asked about a one time discount or something to purchase another because again, it should last longer than 3 years. The service manager just repeated the same line about repair and they could not change the price of the repair and she hung up on me. They don't stand by their product and are downright rude. I also noticed you can not submit a review on their website (hmmm, that itself is suspicious)

The CatGenie is a great product. However, the one star is for customer service and refusal to repair/replace the machine...that is still under warranty. I even bought the extended warranty, thinking it would be helpful. When I contacted customer service about the issue, I felt I was patient in taking the multiple steps (ie, putting the drain tube in a "Hot Wheels" loop, as it was explained to me) to address the issue. However, it still would not drain properly. Here it is 6 months later, and I am writing this review, with no resolution to it. I even sent a letter, as stated in the policies, requesting a resolution. Not one response. I sent the letter a second time with signature confirmation. Not one response. So, I now let every cat owner I know not to invest in the company for this reason.

I contacted Cs regarding a displeasing experience during checkout buying my second cat genie unit today. I have been a customer over 11 years. It was about wanting to use rewards but because not being able to remove the promotion that was automatically applied on the other item this was not possible. It is not like I wanted to use both promotions or anything in that nature. So I ended up ordering the unit without the side walls. CS on the phone was respectful but I didn’t get needed help. I need to give feedback and I did. When I emailed about this experience I was mocked. The reply was basically You can cancel your order if you want them to ship together. NOT I am sorry to hear about your experience. I can offer a free shipping OR I am sorry about your experience. I will relay the information to my supervisor. Nothing. I am surprised as I always was impressed with the service i received with this company. When I replied again stating my disappointment of his/her approach to my email The reply was “have a great day and a smiling emoji “

I need to order a replacement part: a rubber seal for the waste chamber. The original seal became loose and would not seal properly. When I called to order the replacement, I was told that I could not purchase it because I have not ordered enough from them in the past. Do not buy anything from this company due to their blatant anti-consumer policy.

I had my catgenie for about a year now. It has never worked properly. Drainage issues kept recurring, forcing me to take apart and clean the machine almost weekly—which can be a disgusting and cumbersome process. Very troublesome. Don't waste your money. I ended up throwing mine out in the garbage. The telephone support service is not very helpful either. When you call the support service, they often tell you to ship the product back, on your dime, for their engineers to take a look. (Parenthetically, I almost never write reviews for products, but this time I wanted to prevent anyone else from making a major mistake like I did.) I bought the catgenie to make it easier for my family to deal with cat litter, but it made things 10 times harder for us.