Ecovacs Deebot 711 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Bought this on Christmas Day 2023. Paid nearly $450.00 w/two sets of extra pads. Too cold to clean windows when it arrived. So, I put it in the back closet and completely forgot about it. Remembered it last night when I was cleaning house. Box was still taped up when I opened it. Was looking forward to using it. Installed iPhone app and followed set up instructions. However, when I went to use it, it said "please connect to power source" over and over again. It was plugged in (and had been for a few hours already). Thought maybe it just needed additional charging, so left it plugged in overnight. Same thing this morning. I then got to looking for help online and found that this is a frequent problem. Many others reported that their cleaner also did not work out of box. I called Ecovacs customer service and explained the situation. We did some trouble shooting and the representative confirmed that the robot was defective. She then said it was not their problem because the product (although brand new out of box) had been purchased more than a year ago. I could send it to a third-party for repair and my own cost. Absolutely less than helpful. Amazon has a (no exceptions) one-year limit on returns and exchanges. I understand and appreciate that it is not necessarily their problem. But, you would hope that a manufacturer would stand behind its product -- especially when they admitted that the product was defective and that this appears to be a known problem with other customers. Apparently, however, Ecovacs conducts business differently. I never wanted (or requested) my money back. I simply wanted them to replace it with a non-defective item. But I guess that is too much to ask. Buyer beware.