Complain about a product or service

LitterMaid

Littermaid • Fire hazard • Feline entrapment • Unhappy new customers • Unhappy repeat customers • Accessory problems • Customer diagnoses • Privacy tent • Slow order processing

Who likes cleaning out a litter box? No one we know, so it seemed like a great idea when LitterMaid came up with a self-cleaning box. Only trouble is, it doesn't seem to work very well. Despite that, even the most ravenously dissatisfied customers keep coming back like cats to catnip, buying one derelict pooper scooper after another.

A few of the more recent complaints ...

Barry of Miami, FL July 31, 2009

I had a Littermaid cat box for years and years. It finally broke after about five years of two cat use. I bought a new LME5500 almost a year ago and it works fine.

Lori of Kings Mountain, NC July 18, 2009

I purchased the Littermaid self-cleaning Litter box at Wal-Mart in Shelby N.C. The device stopped working less than 60 days after purchase. The device is plugged in and the on/off indicator lights up when it is turned on and goes out when it is turned out. However the motor on the device does not function it will not even make a sound like it would be trying to engage. I am very dis-satisfied with this product. I have purchased Littermaids in the past and they have lasted for at least 2 years before malfuctioning. I always keep the litter just below the full line yet well above the fill line. The previous products I purchased had the Ionic Breeze built in yet I believe this part of the product did not perform well. So this time I purchased the LitterMaid without this extra feature. I would hope the company would replace my device since I have had it so short a time.

Evelyn of Oakdale, PA July 5, 2009

I know of several people who have this product. I only wish that I had consulted the above complaint web site before I purchesed this product. It is a piece of junk Not only was it difficult to put together but it just doesn't clean the litter box like it says I still have to remove the urine and fecal matter. what good it it anyway.

sue of coleridge, NE June 18, 2009

I purchased a littermaid 500 in November of 2008. It was the second machine that I have had. Loved the first one. This one has been nothing but trouble. It will run continually until turned off and then I have to take it apart to get it all straightened out. Since I am gone all day this is not good for the cat not to have his litter box all day long.

Tom of Selden, NY June 16, 2009

We had the previous LitterMaid self cleaning litterbox(es) all of them worked with a few hitches every now and then. We had been buying their product since 2000. After our last MultiCat box broke we decided to go to the store and buy their Elite product figuring newest product would be an upgrade. Boy what a mistake! The first machine that we bought from Target had the motor installed backwards. Once we completed assembly and plugged it in, it kept making a noise that the motor was starting but wouldn't go anywhere.

I looked at it carefully and found that the rake was trying to go backward. I called customer service and they told me to return that to Target and get a new one. We did that. After assembling it we found that not only the new product was horrible, it seemed like they stopped doing quality assurance on their products. I am not sure if their engineers are still working at their company because no one can go from a good working product to the P.O.S that we bought recently. The new product was horrible even with their recommended special litter. It never cleaned the box if one of our cat passed a lot of urine. The Motor had no power, it would hit the clumpped up litter and start going back to reset, you all know what I am talking about. So I resorted to cleaning big clumps with a hand rake, but then in less than 30 days of buying the new one, the motor decide to quit altogether. When we called the Customer service rep. (very pissed, I might add), he was so rude. When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he actually said to me, "Why? What would you like to say to him." I was so mad, I informed him that

I will never ever buy another of their product because I essentially bought the most expensive manual litter box ever. He basically said, "If you don't have anything else then I have reported your incident. You can return it back to Target." At which time I informed him that my cats have been using it for the last month and that I can't return a used product to Target. To which he replied, "Well then I can't do anything about it." DO NOT BE FOOLED. If you had their old product, it was good. This new product is made with cheap plastic parts that break within days of use. Maybe they sold the company to some mainland Chinese operator who is making cheap, worthless products and selling them here.

Gerald of Manassas, VA May 25, 2009

The product does not work. Did research on line and found hundreds of complaints concerning the product not working like it should.

Bob of Oviedo, FL May 25, 2009

We had a Littermaid unit for several years with no problems. Once it wore out I had no problem buying a new model, the LME5500. It is a horrible product. It started to bind up and we experienced the same problems other hear complain about. There was no response to two e-mails and I too got just voice mail. I kept trying and finally got a live person that was very nice and agreed to replace the box. The new box arrived and it is simply a lousy product. Everything sticks to the rack and tray. It is extremely noisy. It is nothing like the origianl product we purchased years ago BUYER BEWARE!!!

ROCK of NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR May 17, 2009

Purchased LitterMaid Litter Box as a Christmas gift for our cat. We got a new puppy that was constantly eating from the cat's litter box and we wanted to get something that would regularly keep the box clean and keep the contents away from the puppy.

It has now been five months. I broke a few scoopers trying to pry the clogged, urine soaked, premium clumping cat litter out of the machine. Finally, I broke down and bought a painter's scraper. Now I don't break any more scoopers. Second, I noticed that we were going through the plastic disposable trays way too quickly. As a solution, I found that the Wal-Mart white plastic grocery bags make a perfect size liner for the trays and we can increase their longevity by about 4 times longer. Also, the Tidy Cat Premium Clumping Cat litter that we use comes in large sealable bins. They are perfect for containing and sealing away the large amounts of waste when I have to go in and clean out the box. If you're throwing those tubs in the trash please stop. This is a great way to recycle!

Our main complaint about the machine is that the motor is simply not strong enough to get the rake to scoop through the now-hardened litter that is congealed to the box. I think it has to do with the 10 minutes that goes by before the rake will activate. I have turned the box off and then immediately back on right after the cat uses it and it scoops everything out of the box perfectly. But the ten minutes that the machine gives the litter to harden is too long. So either Tim T needs to a *ahem* modification on this machine or the manufacturer needs to adjust the time delay. I think that will solve most of the complaints that people have.

We have issues with the rake not reaching down far enough and there is usually this very hard layer of hardened litter at the bottom of the box. Again, the painter's scraper (the kind that they use to take gum off of walls and stuff) works beautifully to break it up. I also don't use the small scooper that comes with the machine. I went out and bought a very large heavy duty scooper that makes it much easier to clean out the box. I put that waste into the old bin and seal it.

We haven't tried using non-stick cooking spray on the box or the rakes yet. But, we have tried lining the bottom of the box with wax paper. I should warn you though that this technique doesn't work. Another useful thing we do is to put the machine on top of the bottom section of the puppy's old kennel. We're currently looking for something that's a little higher than just a tray because our cat doesn't just bury his waste. He flings mountains of litter on top of it. In fact, after he uses the bathroom there is litter flung up to 10 feet in all directions. The tray works wonders for helping to catch the majority of the litter that's found on the floor right next to and underneath the machine.

The ramp is a total and complete waste of time. My cat is an eight year old male tabby that can not only jump on top of the couch from the floor, he can jump over it. So the little ramp that he's supposed to walk on to get the litter off his feet simply doesn't work because he just jumps over the ramp. All in all, definitely not a perfect design but with a little ingenuity it can be quite a practical investment. Thanks by the way for the heads up on their customer service (or lack thereof). We won't bother calling them.

Michelle of PHILADELPHIA, PA May 15, 2009

I just wanted to say that I have had two units for years and have never had the problems all you people are experiencing. I use Tidy Cat Clumping Antibacterial Litter. Occasionally it gets clogged, but that is what the cleaning brushes it comes with are for.

Even with this minor issue, I would still never go back to using a manual litter box. You people are crazy!

Mandy of Merkel, TX April 23, 2009

I love Litter Maid litter boxes. I've had about three over the last 10+ years. I'm about to buy one for my grandmother for mother's day. I don't use the clumping litter, but a harder-to-find, specialized kind. It's about 5 for 4lbs, lasts about 2 months and I clean the litter box every other week, but it won't actually get full for a full month with one cat. This is the only litter box my cat has ever known and he's perfectly fine with it. I currently have an older model, at least 5 years old. It still works perfectly.

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