Jim T.
Yelp
Beware of the Black+Decker outlet!
As we live nearly 90 minutes from the outlet, I was hesitant to buy something there but was convinced by staff that the 2 things that I hesitated on: that supplies were indeed available in the Netherlands and that if I didn't care for it, and that there was a working iOS app. If I wasn't satisfied, I could return it in 10 days, so my objections were quelled.
I should have known better. Both were non-truths - first, the robot:
On supplies: here's the result when you check their page for the vacuum:
https://www.blackanddecker.nl/nl-nl/products/product-stories/robot-vacuum
Yep, the robot was removed from their European site, likely around the time we bought ours (the website search initially found it, but no page remains). The robot DOES exist in the US, which means if you want supplies you need to order from B+D in the US, not anywhere in Europe as far as I can tell from their EU website, and have the items shipped over.
(Update: I found their parts section - see below)
Onto the app: the bot ran firmware version .5, and no updates to the bot were available. The B+D app kept crashing-out completely back to iOS when you pressed the button to tell the bot to go back to it's base or pause operation.
...and you'll do that a lot as the stupid robot prefers to wander down dark hallways instead of cleaning in bright areas. For 6 straight days I was pulling it out of a corner it continually wandered into, every. single. time. we used it. Also, it took on average 30-40 minutes to find its dock to recharge, when placed a few meters from it; the robot also never once returned to it after a cleaning cycle.
So back to the outlet it went - we drove another 90 minutes to the Roermond, Netherlands outlet and surprise, no - you can't have a refund. You can have a store credit, which isn't what was offered by the sales person. There are NO signs at the register to note this but on your receipt, once you've bought it, it's there in small print.
When I spoke to the young salesperson I bought it from and was told no refunds, he went off to find a manager to approve it. I was still trying to understand it -- printing it on your receipt AFTER the sale is not good -- that's when he pointed to a Dutch/German sign on the doorjamb as you try to walk in amongst the crowd, but there are no other signs in the entire store. You can't even read it from the register. If you miss it as we did, you're screwed.
By then the manager (I can only assume so: older, balding and quite the talker). I tried to make my point that there are no markers at the register and that the salesperson offered a refund ... he wasn't listening. Whenever I tried to ask a question, he immediately spoke over me and then quickly became sarcastic "Yeah we hear this a lot. We can't have it written in every language... english, polish. chinese..." - he was dismissive and really insulting, I have to add (later, my Indonesian wife wondered if the "chinese" reference was directed towards her, but we decided not to pursue this.)
By the way - check out Black+Decker's site: There are NO ways to contact them on this. No contact email, and no phone number besides sales.
So we drove back home, a few hundred euros poorer and generally insulted. So - can I recommend Black+Decker? Unless you just need a hunk of metal like a hammer, NO - I can't. We won't buy any more appliances from them out of principal, and so we're making an effort to alert other shoppers from doing business there on anything but the most simple things you absolutely need.
(Update: I found their Dutch robot parts section for two robots they sell (http://service.blackanddecker.nl/BD/NL/nl-NL/Part/PartsForProduct?productId=12921 & http://service.blackanddecker.nl/BD/NL/nl-NL/Part/PartsForProduct?productId=12907) and all the parts for all their vacuum robots have been discontinued as of 2017. You can not get parts here, so their claim is not true)