Sorry about the redundant postings of my previous message. I don't know how this happened since I submitted that message only once (I swear)!

Anyhoo, I'd like to submit an update of my continuing woes with the Petmate Performa Plus litterbox.

As I mentioned previously, the first iteration I purchased was indeed defective out of the box per my conversation with Petmate's customer service. I exchanged it at Petco. Lo and behold, I noticed slight differences in the packaging: improved documentation regarding the functionality of the sensors was provided as were a few stickers regarding first-time usage warnings, and the disposable litter bag is now pre-installed.

I assembled the product (I've become as efficient as an Indy car pit crew member by this time) and upon power-up, immediately perceived that motor sounded "healthier" than my previous defective purchase. Sensors triggered at specified time interval. Okay, off to a good start!

Or so it seemed...

Despite the healthier sounding motor, it still lacks the horsepower to reliably rake litter. To exacerbate matters, I noticed that the lower hood was more ill-fitting than the first version I had. As this hood serves as a quasi-railing system for the raking mechanism, poor alignment will cause a jam. Despite my best attempts, I can never get the hood to properly align as the rake would often cause the FLIMSY hood to shift off its alignment notches.

After one month of frustration, I still cannot get this product to work.

I called customer support on Tues., 12/23 at 2:30 PM PST but they closed early due to the holidays.

This was the final straw that broke this camel's back.

I'm returning the product and hereby forwewarn anyone contemplating the purchase of a Petmate Performa automated litterbox.

In my opinion, this is a case of trying to build a better mousetrap. All this technical complexity to save you, the catlover, a few minutes of cleaning time, will instead cause hours of aggravation and bring out the mechanical engineer inside of you that you never knew existed. You will find yourself saying, "Geez, I could've come up with a better design!"

On an anecdotal note, Doskocil, the makers of Petmate products, also makes plastic cases for rifles and pistols. I happen to own a large pistol case that was split in two by a burglar a few years ago, rendering the case useless for its intended purpose. Interestingly, the pistol case is about the size of two litter boxes put together. I'm going to take out the foam padding and replace it with litter.

Thanks again for reading...