This feels like the time when my Yarbo 2023 won’t start anymore rendering me to be a former Yarbo customer. For the last two/three weeks my Yarbo has started failing on starts, blinking for days not being able to load the firmware, to then finally start working again for a few days just to go through the same route again. Then during the 25th of May it was cutting grass and suddenly an error popped up and the unit stopped: communication unit failed or similar, please restart. And since then it doesn’t start blinking on start. And now it is without battery. Charging it in the middle of the yard will be a nightmare and then most likely it won’t even start.
The YarboTool, previously been the tool of choice to fix issues (deep clean to the rescue) cannot connect to the unit anymore (probably due to ssh being locked down). And without YarboTool it is impossible to maintain a 2023 Yarbo imho.
This is so sad. The rest of the hardware is still in perfect order. Neighbours asking and wanting to get into the life with Yarbo, and now I have to tell them to stay away. 3 years for something this expensive is simply not acceptable. 7-10 years and I could probably accept it but it is built like a tank and the rest is in perfect order so it is so hard to accept that software probably killed it.
I am constantly nagging in the support but get of course no actual reaction on this blinking issue, no transparency and no indication that any action has been taken on this topics. And I get it: it is not supported anymore but then you need to provide tools such that we can at least maintain it. We were the backers that made the journey possible. Is it supposed to be a punishment that some of us early adopters refused to pay $6000 (I have all units so the price was around $4000 and the upgrade was 1800?) for a unit that never really had worked? Today I would probably done the upgrade when it was offered since I’ve seen it working for a few years, (the 2023 unit wasn’t bad, it was primarily software) but at the point it was offered, it hadn’t really worked yet at all.
Could someone from Yarbo, please explain how this is how you want to treat your customers.
I’m really sorry to hear about your frustration and disappointment. Please rest assured that we are committed to supporting all our users throughout their Yarbo journey.
Regarding your support ticket, I’ve already asked the team to review it as soon as possible and provide you with guidance. We apologize for the delay in response, as our support team has recently been experiencing a backlog of tickets.
As for the YarboTool issue, I have asked the relevant team to investigate this further and help resolve the connection problem.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sorry for whining. I hate when a predominantly positive experience. (it is a great machine) Is intermixed with this super bad experience. I can take that it takes time, I can take that I need to potentially have to do complicated steps to get this resolved. What I can’t take is the zero transparency. I have simply nothing to go on. If I can do anything to support your support I am more than happy to do it. Thanks for your support.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts—we completely understand your frustration.
I’ve seen your latest update in the support ticket and have already asked our team to review it and respond as soon as possible.
We really appreciate your patience and willingness to help, and we’ll do our best to get this resolved for you quickly.
Well, 5 days ago I did get: this is unit is not supported for repair services anymore, please upgrade message. And then a suggestion of upgrading for big hefty sums. My issue is: 1) The prices are way too high, and 2) I have had no one from Yarbo telling me it is actually broken beyond repairs. Explain what is wrong, and I can decide to upgrade. It does not start, but I guess some more information needs to be shared if it is terminal.
This really irritates me. I am as I wrote previously not against upgrading. BUT, only if it is really broken. After all this is not like buying a toy. Come on, you have to be more transparent than this.
Is your 2023 still under any warranty? Or has it completely expired?
The 23 would be expired at this point.
I am ok if it “expired” but as with ANY locked down system, you better produce tools so that the persons out there can maintain it themselves when you expire it, or it will result in very bad sentiment. I am a VERY technical person and I am happily doing all the management / debugging myself provided I had the tools for it. And please Yarbo, you have to have spare parts…
Out of support is one thing, letting it die due to no way of getting replacement parts and no way of maintaining it is another completely. I basically see it as buying a car. You built it, you supply parts and repair services. Then you might decide not to support it anymore, but you have to provide a way to maintain it by the individuals themselves. And given for instance motherboards was a common failure, it would not be that surprising that it would continue to be a demand for a few years after you end your “repair service”. I am not asking Yarbo to repair it. I can accept to tear it down and replace parts or have someone doing it for me, but the parts need to be possible to find. They might not be cheap, and with delays to get but no supply is a crazy business model for a tool like Yarbo.
If you get the info what’s wrong with your unit and do need some spare parts, then I have a 2023 model just waiting to be cannibalized
Hi there, according to your ticket #203302, our team has applied a remote fix for the issue. Could you please check and let us know if the problem still persists?
I am happy to report the unit is finally operational again after 13 days of blinking and not starting. I was pretty sure this was a hardware issue since it died mid-plan which never happened before and since it seemed to break all rules from previous “hickups” but the 2023 was well built. Software wise it wasn’t super stable but hardware wise I have so far not much to complain about. This is a big relief. But the key points about ability to get spare parts, and the ability to take over the responsibility of maintaining this complex beast is still valid. As well as lack of transparency. If I had any feedback that you were actually looking at this, I would not have complained about the time it took. I am very grateful Yarbo for your ongoing support. It is small niggles that makes the journey challenging but the fundamentals are really good. (even with a 2023 version)
And @merkswood, I am interested in parts. The only real hardware issue I have right now is some broken plastic at one of the antennas on the main body but the electronics is what I am mostly worried about.