When I first bought my TOWNEW in March 2021, I was thrilled! I thought the concept brilliant and for about a month, I was in heaven. 

Trouble began as soon as May 2021. The issue was that the self sealing function had stopped working. After receiving a general mail by Support, explaining what to do in such a case, I managed to fix it.

Then, in October 20, 2021, the lever was not returning to its position, once again, Support sent info that helped correct the issue.

Finally, November 2022, I wrote that once again the self sealing function had stopped working and that the charge was no longer holding. This time, I was told that the trashcan was outside of the warranty period and to make sure the charger itself was not faulty. As I had to leave town on a family emergency, I had to stop pursuing this recurring and annoying issue! 

After I tested the charger as instructed - it was fine - upon my return in January '23, I was told to contact the TOWNEW brand manufacturer. I wrote the manufacturer right away on January 10th. On January 12, after I had not heard back, I wrote Support and yet another ticket was created. I sent yet another mail to the manufacturer on January 12th and 18th...again, no reply! On January 24th, yet another ticket was created by Support, and I was told to please be patient, that there had been delays because of the Chinese New Years at the headquarters.

Finally, on February 6th, 2023, I received correspondence, saying that the T1 was known to have issues with the battery, as it was the wrong type of battery for this type of trash can, i.e. lead vs. lithium, and that this model had been updated and could no longer be fixed nor sold, and I would now have to be responsible for buying a new one, albeit at a small discount!

So in the end, this was not a matter of being outside of the return policy at all, but rather a matter of having been sold a product that was not yet ready to be released and sold, at that time. 

I have no idea how the new TOWNEW is working, but even if improved, if Customer Service is the same, I would stay away from it with a ten-foot pole! In my opinion, a great Company stands by its product and if such product fails for reasons that have nothing to do with the consumer or with wear and tear, then the "correct" response would actually be a replacement, no questions asked! In addition, a great Company is backed by great Customer Service, which responds in a timely manner. Neither was the case here!