Insteon and Homeseer - thumbs up

I bought five Insteon switchs months ago from Smarthome and have not used them or opened the boxs..is their some sort of exchange program going on for them?

I had planned to test them in my new home next month when we take posession but it sound like I might have more problems than they are worth..if anything I'll just eat the cost and go with something like UPB if these are now considered old hardware or will fail and cause me headaches.
 
Try calling them and asking if you can just return them. I was told no since mine are more than 30 days old but you might have better luck ( I think some people have). If they break they will exchange them but they usually keep you on the phone for a half hour or more per switch making you try the basics (is the power on, is the bulb good, is the wiring correct, try linking it again, reset it, try linking it again, turn power off, tirn power back on, try linking it again, remove switch and move it to new location, try linking it again, remove switch and move it again, try linking it again, etc). Dont make the mistake I did. It told them I had more new switches and they tell me to add them all in to increase my mesh strength and then call them back if it doesnt work. I cant get them to link to each other in the same electrical box for the ones that died. THEY ARE BROKEN SMARTHOME!! DUH!!!!

Once I install them I cant resell them as new so I hesitant on installing the rest of them only for them to die. Then again if I wait to long I cant resell them since the warunty will be up.

Smarthome are you listeining still? Post your replies on here and not in private emails. How can you say I am the only person with problems? Are you doing anything about these problems?
 
Well I'm way past the 30 days so I have a feeling they won't be returning them, they are still new in the boxs but I'm sure this wont matter.

I live in Canada so 30 minutes phone calls are not an option..even sending them back if they agreed to return them will cost me money for shipping which personally I think they should eat the cost of if the switchs are junk and need to be replaced.

I guess I'll just eat the loss or possibly try to sell them on Ebay to someone else that would have the patience to deal with 30 minute phone calls for something Smarthome already knows is defective and who perhaps lives closer to them where shipping won't cost as much as it would for me from Canada.

I noticed the post that said "INSTEON just won Best New Emerging Technology just last week" ...is this one of those awards you pay for as a company or is there actually a vote by actual users of the product? I find it very hard to believe they won this sort of award after the comments I have heard thus far..I have heard way more positive comments about UPB and its reliability and I'm surprised they didnt win the award.

This award just doesnt sound right considering they have been on the market about a year now? I wouldn't consider that as being a "Best New Emerging Technology" after that long in the market.

Either way I guess I'm beat...I'll eat the loss and go with a product like UPB which I hear way less negative comments about...now I know why my freind that bought 35 switchs 2 weeks before mine is offering to sell them to me at such a heavily discounted price :)
 
I think the Insteon Concept and protocal are great. Its a problem with hardware and firmware quality etc.

Insteon has potential in my opinion. Smarthome needs to get there act together and they could make a fortune.
 
BTW you are only on the phone with them that long if you have a defective product. A simple return might be 5 minutes to get an answer. You might want to try. You might get lucky.

FYI the people are nice to deal with but the policies are frustrating
 
Well I won't know at least till the end of the month what exact models numbers I have..they are packed for the move, as long as I don't have to jump thru hoops replacing something I''ll do it.

Is there a public announcement from them regarding the products that might be defective or is this a word of mouth thing and they know it exists and are simply waiting for people to contact them?

I basically have about 5 light switchs and a controller..no idea what any of the model numbers are until I unpack but I'm not sure how I confirm if the stuff I have is defective..why waste time and get frustrated troubleshooting if its known to be defective?
 
There is a psoting that some controllers are defective and there is a recall. They are calling it an upgrade but thats just a nice way of wording that they arent working they way they should.

The switches depends on the type of switch. Some have recalls some dont.
 
I've now gone to the point of just "batch processing" my bad Insteon equipment, calling them up every month or so. I'm sitting here with a small list of bad switches, and just found that another switch - an Icon relayin this case, but I've actually had more defects from V2s - now has to be replaced for the second time in less than a year due to - yet again - a defective paddle. It's such great fun to push the paddle 8 or 10 times to get it to turn on... I guess I should have bought a heavier duty switch. After all, we have a total of TWO people in this house. I guess it just can't stand up to such a heavy duty load. Why, sometimes we use that switch, oh, two or three times a day! What was I thinking?

As noted, the Insteon concept is great. Unfortunately, the equipment has been less than six sigma to put it mildly. I've had a number of returns due to defective quality, as well as those necessitated by design and firmware problems. Such promise, and such a poor example of living up to it...

Yes, SH has honored their warranties and I appreciate that (although they have to do so, so that's not some big statement about customer service). But I've grown really, REALLY tired of replacing switches.
 
I just got my replacement PLC's from the recall. I opted for the exchange where they send me new units and I return the old ones. I filled out the online form etc.

You would think.............. ok my first mistake I know but.................

You would think they would include an RMA number etc. But they dont. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I have to call Smarthome and spend a half an hour on the phone with CS explaining why I am returning them etc. They must have been swamped today and I gave up after a few minutes and I will try again tomorrow.

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Tired of the way they do business.
 
Digger,
I just went through this today. I noticed no RMA number in the box so called them up. They quickly said the RMA number is the "PLC" number on the shipping order/invoice that's in the box. Pretty easy.

However, I decided to take the time to RMA a bunch of defective switches that I have laying around. Didn't have much of a hassle. For one of them, tech support started going through the script, but I cut her short and told her I'd been through everything and I just want the switchlinc replaced. After being placed on hold for a while (because my switches were on different orders) she came back with an order number and told me to check my e-mail. Sure enough I had three RMA's waiting for me. So once again, good tech support, bad devices. <sigh> I'm sure it's not over for me either.

Charles
 
Charles,

Thanks for the info. Nice of them to point that out huh. I to have a return pile and might call them anyway. If they send me an RMA for those I can put them all in one box and send everything back on their tab? Ok I cant now that I said it on here but its ok I wasn't really going to do it. I am not looking to cheat them out of anything.
 
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