Lomi Reviews 134

Subscription pirate! I am beyond frustrated with their cancellation process—it is intentionally difficult, misleading, and predatory. While I initially loved the product and recommended it to others, this shady subscription model has completely changed my view.

My machine has never worked right. It doesn't create the soil they tell you it will. It's sticky and I spend days trying to clean the bucket. I only put in what they say to and the recommended amounts and it still comes out unusable. Waste of money. I signed up on kickstarter and I regret it. Customer service was zero help. They manipulated me into staying signed up for the subscription refills and neglected to tell me I would need to spend over $1000 to get the new machine replacement. This company is corrupt and I do not recommend. They will steal your money like they've stolen mine. I cannot wait to throw my machine in the dump where it will never decompose and I bet they don't even care.

I received a Lomi 2 January 22 ,2025. It would not connect to WiFi and would not allow cycle changes. I tried to read FAQs and tried everything I could, but needed a person. I emailed on the site and got an automatic response that they would contact me in 72hrs. I continued to send emails and even found a telephone number today. There was a message that said to go to the website. I have not heard a word from them. I stopped payment on my CC. If their service is like this, I do not want the unit. I have had it only for 13 days and trouble began on day one.

I own 2 Lomi 11 composters and also signed up for the auto delivery on charcoal filters. One of my Lomi 11 composters started making a loud noise. You can only email the company…the online chat has been down forever…I sent an email and it said I’d receive a response within 72 hours..it now been 2 weeks and after 8 more emails I got an email asking to send a video of the composter running without the bucket. I responding immediately… here I am 4 days later an no response. There’s absolutely no way to reach anyone by phone. I’ve never had customer service this bad.

It broke not too long after ordering it. And I cannot cancel my recurring charcoal subscription. Do not invest in this.

Lomi has several tricks to use to get repeated money from customers. They require a year subscription from the start for a high price - forcing customers to buy both the charcoal and the nutrient pods for a full year, even when you do not need the charcoal. The price is high for a cheap ingredient.
The company will not sell the nutrient pods in all counts changing shipping dates forcing the customer to spend more. All subscriptions are a full year, regardless of your preference. They will not sell the nutrient pods alone on Amazon. There is no customer service line - just email.
This is nothing but blatant corporate greediness.

Purchased on Indegogo, it was delivered in September 2022. Has been used 3 times a week every week. About 10 days ago the drive paddle broke. Thought that was it. Pela Lomi (the UK office) ordered a replacement bucket free of charge. This was delivered a week after the problem arose. Ths is great sevice for a well thought out product. It is now back working on our food waste.

Not helpful at all. Won't run through a cycle anymore and I have only used it about a year. What a waste of money. Customer service not helpful

This product is not ready for normal home use. After my second one I had to throw it out. I ordered one that quit working after a couple of months after I complained to customer service vigorously. The replacement quit after a couple of months. I’m very conscious of the environment and hoped this would help but as a suburban gardener it’s more effective to use my compost pile then to using this device that takes up so much counter space and doesn’t work. They need to work on the durability of this product.

They are not what they say they are.

So you buy the machine. And for the most part it works. I usually have to run food waste through 2 or 3 times, but except for the power drain, I can live with it.

Then you subscribe to a membership to protect the machine. Charcoal to help with the smell and pills to speed up the process. Fine. Insanely expensive, and my kitchen smells every time I use the Lomi, no matter how fresh the charcoal is. But it’s about $10-20 a month.

My problem is with the system. To login you have to wait for an email to confirm the login. Not to pay, to login!!! That email may or may not arrive. Check spam. Nope. No email. Try tomorrow. It works a few days later. I tried everyday for 4. My problem was that I had to cancel my credit card and wanted to replace the number when my new card arrived. What a nightmare. Any other website you add the new card, delete the old one. Not here. I can’t tell you how many times I tried. I dutifully requested support. They sent me a script for exactly what I had done. I asked for a real person and again, the script. Even after she understood my request she sent a message to me and I screenshot it so she could see it was not what she promised, I got nowhere except for a script. After 13 tries I finally found Wayne. He tried a couple of ways and eventually it worked. By the time it did, I didn’t want to do business with the company. They are all nice, in a human bot kind of way (scripted kindness is still a script.) I asked if they would like my Lomi back. No refund required (and this is a newly refurbished one, did I tell you the machine is finicky as a 3 year old who hates broccoli?) all I want is for them to pay for shipping. No deal. They don’t want my machine (perfectly sellable) back. Hmmm, why?

They would rather I put my Lomi into a landfill (but they have a ready-made script for ethical disposal.) Which makes me think I’m not the only person who is done with the Lomi.

I'd give a zero if I could.
Lomi doesn't make compost;it makes hard, dried food pellets.
Beware: they also, unbeknownst to you, sign you up for an automated refill for supplies.
I received an email from Lomi one day telling me my order was going to be filled. The very next day I cancelled my subscription and told them I didn't want the order. I then received the order. I instantly contacted them. I was told to keep the order and not to worry about it. A week later they deducted money from my account. I instantly contacted them. I was told that they aren't accepting returns or doing refunds. Once they have your money they don't care about customer service.
I'd strongly advise you to find a different composting method.

Terrible customer service
Lomi will not work as it indicates a jam. Cannot contract customer service because they only respond by email. It’s 6 months old with a three year warranty.
I am expected to fix it myself.
Despite telling customer service not to send charcoal, as machine is defective they charged my card.
There is no way to remove card details from their website so have to cancel credit card and challenge the charge.
I am going to toss it in the garbage,
It’s just money wasted.

Stole my money on Indiegogo and never sent one out to me. Fraudulent, avoid

I have been trying to return a Lomi for one month. They did not send any means of return bill of lading. They have disconnected their phone customer service. They do not answer their emails. I believe they are in huge financial trouble and are trying to offload their Composters, with no plans to see to any customer concerns. It is horrible! I have nearly 500.00 charges - some not authorized, and they are GONE. DO NOT BUY a Lomi!! It is too risky!

If there were an option to leave NO STARS I would. We received our Lomi through their Indiegogo campaign. As early supporters of Lomi/ Pela, we were excited about it until we had problems and had to deal with customer support. We have called and left messages multiple times and emailed even more. We did get one response to send more information and we did and then crickets. We have continued to call and email. Still nothing. I would not recommend purchasing anything from Pela. Unbelievable disrespect to people who supported you from the beginning.

Subscription scam....impossible to stop the 3 month shipment of charcoal filters at $60.
You buy the composting machine and are stock with $60 payments every 3 months...be aware.

Returned three times in the first year. The following months customer service was just as bad, no, worse times ten. I have 24 email in three month to justify how poorly the company runs it's business and this is a direct reflection of the composter. The composter is extremely noisy and is very costly to maintain, time consuming along with all the defects. I pray that people stop throwing their money away on an idea when they are wanting a composter.

Waste of money

Bought the device about 6 months ago. It has been temperamental and have to figure the right balance of what gets composted. Have been very careful to put chopped scraps (practically mince broccoli stems) and the spinning arm in the bucket has come loose. Will not screw back in.
ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE!! NO REPLIES TO EMAILS AND PHONE CALLS.
NOW I HAVE BIG PAPER WEIGHT IN MY KITCHEN WITH ROTTING FOOD AND A COMPANY THAT ONLY CARES ABOUT THE SALE AND NOT THE CUSTOMER!!

I have had my Lomi for only a few weeks, and I am on my fourth run. So far, so good, although I am concerned about the other reviews here that refer to breakdowns and customer service. I bought my Lomi from an "open box" offer, so it was a lot less than MSRP, and I got an older model, not the one with the see-through lid. It is noisy. The noise is the equivalent to a dishwasher. However, a dishwasher runs for, what, about 50 minutes? The Lomi's grow cycle runs for nearly 1 full day. It's annoying in my small house. I moved it to the basement, where it is happily converting my bio garbage into dirt for my plants. So, 4 stars for the noise; 5 stars for the 24 hours to dirt experience.