Hoser768 wrote:Got mine today as well. It stunk as well for about about a 1/2 hour but 2 hours in it's much less noticable. It smelled like it was going to let all the smoke out and die after about a minute of running, but it seems OK now.

Faint chemical smell warning on this is like the NyQuil "May cause drowsiness" warning. ("BAM! You're in the coma!")

hmmm i ordered one for a friend as a gift. now i wonder if i should run it for a couple hours to make sure it works and to get the smell to go away a little bit before giving it to her. it still doesn't smell like anything good... i feel like it's burning through some of the plastic parts or something, and that can't be good. :-\

This smell sounds really bad...are the units defective? Or do we just have to deal with this? Mine hasn't arrived yet...

ok, ive had mine on for at least 20 min. and feel no heat coming out... and yes i have the heater side turned on (red button side)

anyone else getting cold feet with this heater

Update, i just turned on the "fan only button" and i got heat.....

The way the switches look is when you have on "fan only" you get no heat.... but obviously not true... Its pumping heat now, seems like it will help in these cold buffalo winters

Slickpappy wrote:We have been trying to address the issues with shipping. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience we have caused with the bad packaging. We have made the warehouse aware of this issue.

Thanks! I'm just happy it finally got here and in one piece.

bannus wrote:This smell sounds really bad...are the units defective? Or do we just have to deal with this? Mine hasn't arrived yet...

Mine had a pretty strong smell the first day I used it. By the third day of use the smell is almost completely gone. So if the smell bothers you alot, run it for a few hours in the garage or outside until the smell has subsided.

Did anyone else's not look new? Opened one of my two up and the thing is dirty! Covered with finger prints, scuff marks etc. Need to look at the other one....

... and my delivery date has now moved even further out to the 21st. Come on Woot and USPS. My feet are frozen!

BrianPeschel wrote:Did anyone else's not look new? Opened one of my two up and the thing is dirty! Covered with finger prints, scuff marks etc. Need to look at the other one....

Mine has some sort of a white powerdery residue on it...I cleaned that off and it looks like new now.

Got two (one as a gift) and love it!!!! Did not have any issue with the smell (normal new heater smell). I love it has a fan only to help with the heat at my desk. Cosmetically the white residue and all the fingerprints put me off for a second but after wiping it down no problem. My tootsies are toasty but not overcooked.

Woot, you're killing me here! This was a little gift for my popsicle-toed wife but I got home from work and sitting there on the kitchen table was her foot warmer in the retail box! Where's the famous and beloved Woot monikered box? Christmas is approaching, dudes ... how did you not think of that? Bad Woot! Bad bad Woot!!

heathere3 wrote:... and my delivery date has now moved even further out to the 21st. Come on Woot and USPS. My feet are frozen!

Yeah, mine was scheduled for today, but I logged into check this morning and now it is tomorrow. This has been a very disappointing experience. Two full weeks for delivery.
---
Edited to add:
It showed up today per the original schedule. White powder, lousy packaging, no packing material, but the fan is on and the thing is putting out a faint amount of heat (on HI). Minimal smell.

So far I like it, but would be disappointed in the packaging if I was planning to give it to someone else.

Horrible smell - Check
White residue dust - Check
Red button on - Check
Ship in retail box - Check

Fan working - No
Heat working - No
Faint smoke - Check

How do I return this piece of scaffolding? I was expecting a little more than this.

Here's my email to rma@woot.com, use parts or all of it if you are too lazy to write one for your RMA.

The foot warmer I received does not work: The heater button lights up when I switch it on, but the fan does not start in any of the modes (fan-only, low, high). Finally, it started emitting a horrible smell and some smoke, so I gather it will not ever work.

I also would like to mention other minor points: It was shipped in a retail box. Normally, I would not mind this if the retail box had any padding inside to protect the unit. Also, the unit has residue white dust all over it. And it is missing 2 of the 4 plastic plugs that stabilize it on the floor, which I wouldn't mind if the unit were in otherwise working condition.

I would return it to the manufacturer, but the manual says they charge $20 for shipping and handling of the replacement. So I would appreciate if you could issue an RMA for my purchase.

Got my heater yesterday. Very, VERY disappointed. It had the same white powder, scuff marks, and fingerprints on it that everyone else is reporting. It was shipped in a normal product box, so there was no padding or anything -- it wasn't even sealed! The unit smells horrible when turned on, and is giving me a headache.

I'm not sure how warm this thing is supposed to get, but it's barely pumping out any heat at all -- the airflow from the fan is making my feet colder, not warmer. I just picked it up to move it (it had been on for about 20 minutes), and 3 of the 4 plastic feet on the bottom dropped off. It looks like the glue holding them to the unit was old and brittle, and the slightest temperature change caused them to fail, so now the unit slides all over the place on my carpet.

Normally I am very pleased with the products I get from Woot, but between the slow shipping, and all the problems listed above, this has by far been my worst experience with woot ever.

I will not pay the $20 to ship it to Vornado to get a replacement.

This thing would be better off in the trash.

BrianPeschel wrote:Did anyone else's not look new? Opened one of my two up and the thing is dirty! Covered with finger prints, scuff marks etc. Need to look at the other one....

Mine is the same. Totally used/repackaged. Even the package was taped up as if it were returned by someone and thrown on a shelf. Not to mention the packaging is totally beat up from shipping. This was a gift for a friend, how can I give someone something like this?

Okay Woot staff moderators ... nice of you to post about the shipping problems, but what's the deal with the condition of these things? These weren't refubs, they're supposed to be new. Covered in dust and fingerprints and missing packing materials sounds worse than a refub!

Will Woot back these products with refunds or replacements or do we really get stuck having to pay the manufacturer another $20? I know the happy buyers don't always come back to the forums to let us know things worked out, but this is a lot of unhappy campers singing the same sad song.

Tshirt2 wrote:Horrible smell - Check
White residue dust - Check
Red button on - Check
Ship in retail box - Check

Fan working - No
Heat working - No
Faint smoke - Check

How do I return this piece of scaffolding? I was expecting a little more than this.

I also have received a POS that makes me think I am SOL. First and only woot purchase I will ever make. The box was conspicuously taped and there was no packing at all! The header was rattling around in a plastic bag inside the box before I even opened it. This leads me to believe I was sent a refurb or even just forwarded someone's broken return.

okay so i ordered this thing 2 weeks ago. i come here to check on the status - not due to receive it until monday. not cool at all.

then i read all of these comments. i should prob just refuse the delivery. i am outraged by these comments. this was supposed to be a gift for my mother. if woot will not do the right thing by its loyal customers and take the hit for this by refunding our money, there is only one thing to do - dispute the charge with your credit card company. take a picture of the package and e-mail it if necessary. not only am i outraged by what i have read, but even more so by what i have not read - no woot apology, no promise to right the wrong - essentially no customer service. i have been wooting for 2 years - no more.

Just for the record, I'm happy with my Woot. The shipping was slow and the retail box had no styrofoam, peanuts or padding whatsoever...and it was pretty badly banged up. I was disappointed that Woot would send an electronic device this way. Amazingly though, the thing works...and about as well as I expected. I didn't have the white powder or fingerprint problems that others have mentioned, and the minor smell burned off after about 20 minutes. I will think twice, however, before buying another electronic item from Woot...I consider myself lucky there was no damage to this one.

Just unpackaged mine. Filthy. Grease all over the bottom. Only slight burning smell, about what you expect from anything like this with a heating element. After five minutes was much better. Heat distribution is a joke ... it's all at the middle of the foot bed so toasty arches, cold outer sides of feet.

Final assessment ... shame on Woot for selling refubs as new products. This thing ain't new. Quality of the product is pretty crappy ... shoulda put it in the BOCrappolla today.

not only shame on them for selling refurbs as new. it is criminal. i am not giving a used product as a gift and never would have bought it in the first place. do me a favor woot and credit my c.c the $24.99 you stole from me. save me the trouble of disputing the charge. hopefully i'll get the effen thing before my bill is due. i am furious.

I received two today and have the same issues as everyone. It's just disheartening that every time I buy something "new" from woot, it is CLEARLY refurbished. And every time I buy something "refurbished", it is DOA. I think the only genuinely new things I've gotten were the Excalibur items. Actually, no. That Excalibur Mini Cooper did not look new. I also have to mention the slow shipping speeds, both from the woot shipping department and smartpost.

It will take a lot to get me to buy stuff from you guys again.

Wow, I guess we got one of few good ones. It did come in the retail box, but come on, it's not s sensitive electronics or anything. I had a Westinghouse repair guy come the same day to replace the mobo and power supply on my piece of scaffolding TV and the spare parts came in a box roughly the size of in cabinet microwave for mobo size of ATX.

I'm very happy with this woot. It pumps out a lot of heat and is reasonably quiet. My wife has happier with this than some of my more expensive gifts. She worries now that she may have to lock her office when the words of this heater gets out!

There was bad smell for a while but I don't think we've had any heater that did not have some smell initially. But we'll air it out before she puts it in her office next week. She's pretty excited since it is her first actual office. I hope the charging station/speaker set I got during wootoff comes soon too.

Hey.
I was just checking to see if anyone else got a POS too. These things are used! The two I brought look just like the ones described here. I just wrote Woot about it. Everyone write them, and they should do something about it. I hope. I'm not paying another $20.00 each to send back to the company. I purchsed it from Woot, although you would not know it from the crappy pack job!!

Woot are you listening????

Like others this is not new, heck not even refurbished. The one I received has the fan completely broken from it's mounts. It was obviously never even looked at by anyone. Looks as though it was just taken out of Vorando's junk bin and thrown in a box.

This thing is a piece of dung. These things should have gone directly to the to the landfill.

Woot do the right thing and start refunding money my feet are cold!

I just got mine today. Ran it in the garage for a little while to get rid of any 'new plastic smells'.

The box it came is was banged up pretty bad with tape holding the top down. The warmer itself was just in a thin plastic bag with a knot tied at the top. Mine was also covered in white residue which makes me skeptical that this is "new".

That being said, aside from what sounds like a broken piece of plastic rattling around inside when I pick it up (not a surprise because of the horrendous packaging), it is working as I expected.

06z71silvy wrote:ok, ive had mine on for at least 20 min. and feel no heat coming out... and yes i have the heater side turned on (red button side)

anyone else getting cold feet with this heater

Update, i just turned on the "fan only button" and i got heat.....

The way the switches look is when you have on "fan only" you get no heat.... but obviously not true... Its pumping heat now, seems like it will help in these cold buffalo winters

RTFM...

The button is a little confusing, but if you read the directions it states, use the High for High Heat, the Low for Low heat, and the center, Fan Only, for the fan only. It isn't a Fan on High, Fan on Low button, there is only one speed for the fan, the High/Low indicates the heat.

I really hate this smell, but it keeps my feet warm without any socks. Hopefully the smell will go away, only had it on for half an hour.

I consider myself one of the lucky few. Mine is still working and I believe it to be new.

It's scary how many junk items were sent out with this woot. Scary.

Hope woot reads all of the unhappy posts and makes sure this stuff doesn't happen again.

Sorry for all that got c.r.a.p.

I can't get the dern things to get better than tepid. I hesitate to call it "warm" even. The smell isn't so bad, but I did let them run out on the porch for over 1/2 hr each.

What woot does about this will drive my future decisions here. If there hadn't been a ton of comments, or if it was only one of the two I ordered, I probably would shrug. But this is clearly a pattern with this item.

I'm really disappointed and I feel suckered at this point...."scam" comes to mind.

Still, I'll be interested in what woot does.

This was my first, and last woot (unless woot decides an alternative to fix this issue).

I received mine like the others (white residue and crumpled box) and on top of that the unit is defective. The fan is constantly on (no matter the setting), so the foot warmer never actually gets warm. It feels more like lukewarm air is being passed through...(quite lackluster).

And I am not forking over $20 to fix a $20 unit (through the manufacturer's customer service). Woot you have always tempted me and when I actually decided to nibble, I get a POS.

So...it's sort of a comfort that I am not alone with a poorly working model. White residue? Probably part of manufacturing. That doesn't worry me. And I was lucky that the smell was minimal.

BUT...the heat works on Low but not High. High and Fan Only are just cold air.

Should be wsy to fix though -- it's a very simple setup. Six screws hold it closed; I just need an extra long Phillips screwdriver to get in there. If I get it going I'll post what I found out.

numps wrote:So...it's sort of a comfort that I am not alone with a poorly working model. White residue? Probably part of manufacturing. That doesn't worry me. And I was lucky that the smell was minimal.

BUT...the heat works on Low but not High. High and Fan Only are just cold air.

Should be wsy to fix though -- it's a very simple setup. Six screws hold it closed; I just need an extra long Phillips screwdriver to get in there. If I get it going I'll post what I found out.

Hey Woot! We shouldn't have to be breaking into products we ordered as "new" to get them to work! I haven't received mine yet but I'm scared to see what state it's in based on the comments. Is anyone even listening?

i am rendered speechless by the amount of negative posts on here and absolutely no customer service or solution (i.e. refunds) offered. absolutely speechless. sounds like quite the swindle they have going on here misrepresenting refurbs as new and then not even bothering to properly package these products. can't wait to get mine.

numps wrote:So...it's sort of a comfort that I am not alone with a poorly working model. White residue? Probably part of manufacturing. That doesn't worry me. And I was lucky that the smell was minimal.

BUT...the heat works on Low but not High. High and Fan Only are just cold air.

Should be way to fix though -- it's a very simple setup. Six screws hold it closed; I just need an extra long Philips screwdriver to get in there. If I get it going I'll post what I found out.

FOLLOWUP

Now I'm ticked. Six screws are Philips, one is a split flathead (slot with the center filled in.) Specialized tool required...JUST TO OPEN A DADGUM MALFUNCTIONING HEATER!

So -- I can't even try to open it. I'll have to request an RMA instead. Sad.

Hey,
I wrote Woot to complain. They gave me two options. Number 1, They were sorry for the items condition. Asked what I wanted. A better wrapped product, or a refund? Going to try a better conditioned product. Woot is standing behind their stuff. Thats cool with me.

No answer to me yet.

So far the only warmth I'm getting is the slow burn I feel about it.

I ordered 2. They were supposed to be gifts but after reading all the bad reviews here I thought I better try them and see how they are before giving them away. The first one stunk so bad I got a headache from it and one of the rubber foot things fell off right away. After that first headache I've been afraid to try out the second one. Don't think I'd give these as gifts.

Now I see they're in the Menards ad this week for $14.99 after $5 rebate. Ugh.

Mine finally arrived and it is nowhere near the quality of the Vornado "Heat Rest" that I've been using for many years now! The Soleaire has been running in the garage off and on for two days and still stinks too much to bring inside. It appeared to be new, but the design or manufacturing is faulty. The air intake on the back of the unit PUSHES cold air OUT!! This works against the small amount of heat coming through the holes in the footrest surface, so the overall effect is lots of moving air that isn't actually warm. Does anyone else have cold air out the back vent like that?

This product can't possibly replace my 8-year old heated footrest. It's mind-boggling that they'd re-design it and make it useless as a heater!

I too am interested in woot's response to the dissatisfaction with this product.

UPDATE - Mine came in a plastic bag which contained the Owner's Guide/Warranty. It had no finger prints on it, and I suspect those units which had no documents are NOT NEW.

Have received, deployed my Vornado footrest.
I like it a lot- it's comfy and bumpy and warm.
One of its feets was grotesquely twisted, adrift in the packaging, but I'll get around to that later. Even maimed, right out of the box, it's a wii-less balance-board.

I got mine last week and am very disappointed. The heater was shipped in the retail box with no padding, the heater was just rattling around in there.
Took the thing out of the box and it looks used. Fingerprints all over as well as scuff marks and scratches. Even went back to look at the description to see if this is a refurb. This is something I would expect to see from some no-name deal site, not Woot.

To top it all off, 3 of the 4 plastic feet have fallen off. One was laying in the box when I received it, the others have fallen off in the last couple days.

Very disappointing Woot...not what I have come to expect from you guys.