Roku
reviews and complaints

I bought one of your smart TV's and tried to Activate it online but couldn't do it without having to call. And when I called your Activation number they insisted I had to pay a one time Activation fee of $100 American. And I repeatedly said to the operator that on the TV screen it says that there is no charge for Activation fee or support service but your operator insisted otherwise. So I feel like this is a huge scam and I'm going to take this to the media and news.

To whom it may concern,

Today September 9th, 2018 I initiated a call to Roku Support in an effort to find out why the Credit Card associated with my account had been charged for services I had not requested/subscribed to/accessed.

The charge was for $1.00 from Roku Channel Store. I questioned this charge and was told the charge had nothing to do with ROKU, this was an issue with my Bank.

I initiated the call to ROKU at approximately 9:00am PST on todays date (Sept 9, 2019). Each and every time I requested why these charges were incurring I was told time and time again, Call HULU, Call Sling, "Call your Bank".

This exchange went back and forth for over a period of 6+ hours of non-stop interaction with brief periods when I left the call to call my bank at the direction of ROKU, knowing full well this had nothing to do with my bank.

I requested to speak with a ROKU Supervisor and was told they (a Supervisor) will tell me the same thing.

I was then told by Aiki (ROKU Cust. SRVC.) that I should call HULU and Sling as it was their issue. I again asked for a supervisor. I was told to conference call my Bank with ROKU at which point I was hung up on.

I called again and was told no Supervisors were available and I was put on a call back list. A short time later I received a call from Tracy (Supervisor Roku?)

Tracy said the issue was not ROKU's, it was mine and I had subscriptions and free trials active.

I activated my ROKU Account in December of 2018. I have never ordered a subscription service through ROKU, have never signed up for HULU, Sling or any other service. Period.

At that point I called my Bank on my cell Phone and had my wife call ROKU on our home phone.

While on the phone with both ROKU and my bank Tracy told me she knew what the problem was and assured me (as I already knew) this had nothing to do with my bank and I was able to terminate the call to my bank that was conferenced in.

Tracy had me turn on my ROKU, navigate to System "ABOUT"', asked for the Serial # and put me on hold. Again.

Keep in mind I have now been on the phone virtually non-stop for over 6 hours between ROKU and my Bank.

During this 6+ hours on the phone I checked my Bank as I had received a text alert from them informing me a charge had just been initiated.

The charge was once again from ROKU and happened during the period on was on the phone with ROKU.

At this point I had a total of 12 line items on my bank account all from ROKU in less than 24hrs with (4)four charges coming during the time I was on the phone with ROKU.

Tracy came back on the line and informed me I would need to call back to ROKU once the billing came through for the subscriptions I never had and ask for credits as well as calling my Bank back and disputing the charges.

This was totally unacceptable and as I pushed her for answers she divulged to me there was and is a "Known System Issue with ROKU/HULU/SLING" and they knew this the entire time I was on the phone.

She informed me HULU/SLING/ROKU were overcharging or charging without authorization.

So for 6+ hours everything I was told was a fabrication/lie to cover up the fact ROKU/HULU/SLING were and are having system issues.

The actions taken by ROKU, the time I was on the phone, the calls to the Bank at the direction of ROKU, being told all of these issues with my account had nothing to do with ROKU until I was finally told the truth that this issue has been ongoing for quite sometime.

This is all Unacceptable and any trust I had with ROKU is gone completely. To spend hours on the phone trying to cover the fact that you (ROKU) are having known problems and putting a Customer through this type of stress is beyond comprehension.

Tracy (ROKU) told me if I was unhappy to send an email to corporate. She would not provide me with a name of someone I could talk to, a phone number and I would receive an email documenting the call with a reference # and transcript.

As of this writing I have received nothing.

I have attached a screenshot showing the charges that continue to show up on my account without authorization.

I have had to put a "Fraud Hold" on my account as I have no idea what the HULU/SLING/ROKU issue is. (System Glitch, Hack, ?)

I will expect a response from ROKU within the next business day to discuss and resolve this issue at the contact information provided at the head of this e-mail.

Poor customer service is one thing, Lying to Customers about known issues is another.

Regards.

New Roku device, during activation following the directions on the paper enclosed I put in the code it gave me, it then popped up a screen saying the code didn't work and that I had to call an 889 phone number (during your directions) I screen shoted this to call the FBI and scam report. I tried twice with the code you sent, no success. I called the 888 number YOU proviced with the code was rejected. Evidently you are involved in this scam! They said the activation was free but I had to pay $79 for the Roku Channel, I said NO I don't and they said then you won't have it then. They had already selected my channels, and got my phone number and email address. Why is this number popping up during the installation/activation process of your instructions?! I hung up and found out they have me locked out of the Roku Channel, and I cannot add ANY channels. I had to reset to start over, then this time it is demanding that I put in a credit card number and asking for my birth date, AGAIN, during YOUR installation process. I know you say to watch out for scams asking for this info, but YOU are the ones that have it popping up during activation! NOW I have scammers with my info comming through my email with my personal info! I hold YOU accoutable for this!
Earlene CAves ...I am forwarding this to the FBI and BBBB, and scam report

Roku is horrible. Worst electronic maker ever! The television quality is trash. It signs me out of my apps constantly. Sometimes it cuts off. Will also tell you that you don't have internet connection when every other valuable device is connected. I hate I wasted my money on this crap and the manufacturers should be arrested for fraud. People should stop being cheap and buy better products. The name Roku should have told me that this product was full of crap. Roku should be shut down and they should have to pay back money for all they have stole with these crappy [censored] products they make!

After a big problem while watching Roku, I called customer service after trying to connect to their live chat and was given the run around.. 2 1/2 hours of promises of 21, 41, 51 minute wait times I was forced to give my phone number and promised they would call. After 2 1/ 2 hours and 3 calls and leaving my number I got a text message saying to call back. I did with the same bs. I tried live chat again and was told technical support would connect and solve my problem. That too was a lie. Is there actually any customer service or support? I'm fairly certain now that there isn't. After 3 Roku devices and over $150 spent on them I am one angry, unhappy customer.

Customer Service Manager Jennifer was rude and very unprofessional when I asked them to refund my fathers $100 charge for fixing an error on the initial install that tech support was needed to resolve. I was asked to never call them again after several minutes of her talking over me and saying my father should not be calling if he is hard of hearing

I called Roku since my remote was not working. They sent me another remote and that still did not work. Roku told me to have my Internet Service Provider come out since they said the device was not receiving the signals from the router. My ISP came out and the signal was perfect. It was the whole device. Roku then said the device was out of warranty but would not give me the date I purchased it or how the long the warranty was for. I tried to look it up on my account but the information was conveniently missing. Roku then said they would replace the device and send me email instructions on how to send it back. Now they reversed and said they would send me another remote but not a new device. Shame on them!

I am about sick and tired of companies pushing agendas. I do not want to see another commercial showing anyone on the toilet. You can remove the me undies commercial, people can sell underwear without showing someone on the toilet, or someone with underwear up their [censored]. We have small children that watch ROKU and they have no business seeing that, feel free to leave that to the internet, I know that you people think that children should be exposed to everything, but they shouldn't, just by seeing the latest commercials, I can see where this is going, feel free to get out of the political arena, people watch ROKU (any programming) for entertainment, not companies pushing agendas, keep it up and we will take all ROKU devices out of the house.

I canceled the ESPN subscription through ROKU 2 months ago. Today, the subscription turned itself back on, and i had to unsubscribe again. I request a refund please. I do not want ESPN. Im also quite annoyed that ROKUs website had been extremely deliberate about making it impossible to find a way to contact them... every form of possible contact should be the first thing i see when i open the contact us page

I have a Roku streaming stick+ with utube TV app. I love it. However the remote is a piece of garbage, it loses its pairing over and over again. It works fine one minute then the pairing is lost. Sometimes it's easy to re-pair other times it may take 15 minutes. I have followed "all" of the suggested methods to get it to work consistently. How can you allow your company to sell such a POS? I know I'm not the only person having this problem. Please advise,

This person from Roku supposedly working at Roku his name was James he charged my credit card $84.99 for 100 channel & also the number is 1877-592-5156 he said that on my credit card statement name would appear as AlCOTT. I don't think this is right or fair to people that are trying to set up there Roku to be getting scammed by the own employees I am not happy with this service at all that I have gotten.

I am attempting to watch the series YOU on lifetime channel through my Roku device. Unfortunately after creating a profile, providing my provider, creating a password etc., etc, I am able to get to the channel, but when I click on the YOU page is says USER NOT AUTHENTICATED. I have tried everything I can think of to watch the series, but to no avail. I actived my account s well. Please advise me on this situation. Many Thanks...Pamela Crowley

This company is a [censored]ing scam artist. Every hour there is some kind of bullhorn error message stating that my connection is under performing, freezes glitches stops closes, just a total piece of [censored]! I demand my money back! We will be pursuing lawsuit. I have had nothing but problems with there [censored] services. No human customer service means no accountability. [censored] you roku we are going to take your [censored] down! Criminals!

My Roku has stopped working.

I am getting a notice, "no internet connection was found." I followed the steps listed on your website. That didn't fix it. I have tried all my other devices they do have internet connection. I have rebooted my server, and unplugged/plugged my Roku stick, nothing.

Are there any other steps I can take to fix this?

Thank you

I bought a ruko stick for my other tv and it stated there were no charge for installing but when I went to install may 12 2018 was told by assioate I have to buy a security for my online before installing was told the stick would not be installed unless I payed 79.00 no choice pay the money or not install my stick payed 50.00 on my credit card and was told they would call me in a week for finel payment I think I was scamed his name was paul this does not sound right calling for payment if this is a scam I would like my money returned

I purchased the Roku Ultra about a week ago and I really like it. However, right away I discovered the remote's back button doesn't work. My first step was to contact Deal Time from whom I purchased it from via Amazon. They were no help. They suggested I contact the manufacturer. So I then contacted Amazon, who also was of no help, and Roku. All I wanted was a new remote.

It has been 4 days since I've contacted Roku and I have not heard a word from them. I'm very disappointed and not happy at all with their lack of customer service. Like I said, all I want is a new, fully working remote.

I went to the Classics movies and tried to watch an old black and white movie titled Penny Serenade. Every time it came to the commercial, after the commercial, it would go back to the beginning of the movie. I couldn't get passed it so I tried another movie Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon and it did the exact same thing. It went back to the opening credits and started from the beginning no matter what I did. I hope you can fix this as I really enjoy the old movies.

Lisa Holdge

1) I am a roku lover... I have 2 roku 4's, 1 roku 3 and 1 roku 2.
2) never had any issue with them until the 2 roku 4 units seemed to have failed.
3) as a recap (as per the 3 request tickets #1378967, 1392691 and 1402172), the issue started as follows:
A) roku 4 in living room was frozen on menu screen.
B) tried to restart with screen... Frozen.
C) pulled out the "plug" from the roku 4 and it started up with the roku screen looping.
D) tried to reset by holding the "button" at the bottom for 30 seconds or more... Still looping.
E) went to the bedroom where the other roku 4 is and verified that it is working ok.
F) decided to swap the bedroom unit with the living room unit and the bedroom unit is now looping.
G) swapped the bedroom unit and the living room unit back and the bedroom unit is now looping.
H) called roku customer support and went through all the roku testing... Same result.
I) roku customer support recommended buying a new power unit... I did... Same result.
J) roku customer support concluded that both units are defected and the only solution is to buy 2 more units since my warranty is over.
4) is there anything that the roku company can do for me => I asked roku customer support.

Roku response:
Hi robert,

Your request # (1402172) has been marked as resolved.
To add additional comments to this ticket, reply to this email.
Issue : re: stuck on roku logo

Ash, feb 21, 14:53 pst:
Hi robert,
Thank you for writing to us, while checking your account in the email address ([protected]@xxx.net), I see the both the roku 4 devices are out of warranty. Unfortunately, we can't replace the device for you. I request you to select the link given below and select the products option in the top to check about the new roku models available in market.
Link : https://www.roku.com

Take care and have a good day.
Regards,
Ash

This is my warning to all roku owners:

1) despite the fact that I am a satisfied, happy roku owner and a roku lover with 4 roku devices, I would have thought that roku would have given me a discount on a purchase of a new roku unit... At least.
2) I would have thought roku would have wanted their original power unit back and the old roku's (roku 4's) back for analysis.
3) my assumptions are:
A) roku did some update that made the 2 rok4's useless?
B) the power unit somehow "fried" the roku 4 and then when I swapped it out
For my other roku 4 that was working.. It "fried" this too.

What can I say? I guess this is their business practice? Sad

I have been waiting and waiting for the authorization from roku which I have both submitted online and received automatic responses from, as well as discussed with roku support. Nothing back and I am tired.

So I am going down and purchasing a new roku, which I will use for 28 days and then just like buying milk, I will return it and get another... Over and over again to stay within the 30 day return policy.

Let me know when customer service actually becomes customer service. Until then, get ready for lots of returns to deal with... I recommend this to everyone that has an issue with their units as well. If everyone does this, they will get their act together.

I just cancelled my acorn account. I explained to the rep that in the 2 years i've had the streamer i've watched roughly 10 videos. The remaining time has been spent watching a purple screen, plugging and unplugging just about everything, and chatting with company service people who under the guise of helping me tried to sell me roku packages. She told me that if I have been having problems from the very beginning, it is because I bought a product that was obsolete. The company ceased updating it. She suggested I buy a new streamer. Why?! Why would I buy a product from a company that knew it was selling something that was essentially nonfunctional. Their dishonesty is sickening. The whole experience has been exhausting. My next step is to cancel mhz. I've had it. I'll miss those great videos.