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Bought a new door lock and can't get it to work.

John Terwiel

By John Terwiel
in ISY994

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John Terwiel Newbie

John Terwiel

Posted
Posted

I had to buy a new door lock to allow nurses to enter our house each day. I bought one that uses zwave to communicate with Alexa. I have a disabled wife that can't get to the door to let the nurses in each day, so I thought I could just buy the lock and it would work after setting it up. After days and days of screwing around I finally discovered that even though I had "Samsung smart things" communicating with some things I didn't have a hub. I then tried my ISY and after considerable amount of trying, I discovered that it doesn't actually have the zwave output installed. I called Universal Devices and was informed that I couldn't get the zwave option, I had to buy all new components. So I tried buying the components but after many hours of first not being able to put "Canada" in the country location (field in store), and then can only pay with Pay Pal. I finally organize delivery to a US location, and about an hour on the phone with PayPal to reactivate. Just as I am getting close to the finish line I get a e-mail saying I have to buy from a Canadian company (that is 3 time zones away compared to same time zone). 

Ok so I find the CDN dealer and these components say out of stock and 5 weeks wait till they get them (plus an other week to ship them back across the country again). I can't wait more than 6 weeks just to get a lock working, so I decide to find something else that would provide zwave. I look up a comparison sheet and discover that nothing works with the Insteon stuff I have besides Insteon hub and the ISY stuff. Talk about aggravating!

So after a horrible number of days trying to figure out how to get the front door to open for the nurses each day, it is either:

1: Find someone who is upgrading, to sell me there old ISY994i (with the zwave output).

2: Buy another type of lock that doesn't require zwave to control it. 

3: Put my wife in a home, (which is really were she should be but our stupid medical system thinks it is better to turn the husband into a personnel slave!)

4: Or for Dynamitic Devices to do the honorable thing and just sell me a z wave board for my ISY that I bought in 2019, not that long ago. 

In trying to research how to fix the problem, I read a number of comments how good Universal Devices was with customer service, I would say the opposite! I have never had a company so difficult to deal with. They don't even have the courtesy to support their old product and force customers to replace their ISY's completely and then to add even more insult to the mix, they don't even give a trade in or discount to returning customers. That is what they think is customer service. Just unbelievable what our world is turning in to, everything is about making a profit without consideration for PEOPLE.  They somehow have forgotten that happy customers make greater sales in future not less profits. 

 

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MrBill Advanced

MrBill

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Posted (edited)

Really?

I realize that your frustrated, but your rant above you're literally blaming Universal-devices for all your problems.   That's not fair.  By your own admission, in the second sentence:

12 hours ago, John Terwiel said:

I bought one that uses zwave to communicate with Alexa.

Then you thought about using it with Smartthings, but then got mad when Universal-devices didn't have the part you needed because it's been superseded in the product line.   Then you go on to rant that your ISY is not even that old, that it was purchases in 2019... which was 4 years ago.  Do you really expect to find parts for 4 year old electronics at your favorite computer store? At 4 years it's a big maybe.

As far as Canadian Shipping I'm not sure specifically why UD stop shipping directly to Canada but I do know that it was exorbitantly expensive then they did.  and who cares that a supplier is 3 times zones away?  If I order from UD it's two times zones away! 

The original problem might have been that you didn't do as much homework as you should have before jumping in and ordering a z-wave lock.  Depending on which version of z-wave it has the range might not be great enough without repeaters.  Also not all z-wave is compatible with all z-wave.  I know, it should be, but fact is it's not.

Take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself if Universal-Devices really deserved to be blamed for all your problems.  The truth is you don't really have any idea what you're doing, you just know the outcome that you want which is ultimately a working z-wave lock. 

Edited by MrBill
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lilyoyo1 Advanced

lilyoyo1

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, John Terwiel said:

I had to buy a new door lock to allow nurses to enter our house each day. I bought one that uses zwave to communicate with Alexa. I have a disabled wife that can't get to the door to let the nurses in each day, so I thought I could just buy the lock and it would work after setting it up. After days and days of screwing around I finally discovered that even though I had "Samsung smart things" communicating with some things I didn't have a hub. I then tried my ISY and after considerable amount of trying, I discovered that it doesn't actually have the zwave output installed. I called Universal Devices and was informed that I couldn't get the zwave option, I had to buy all new components. So I tried buying the components but after many hours of first not being able to put "Canada" in the country location (field in store), and then can only pay with Pay Pal. I finally organize delivery to a US location, and about an hour on the phone with PayPal to reactivate. Just as I am getting close to the finish line I get a e-mail saying I have to buy from a Canadian company (that is 3 time zones away compared to same time zone). 

Ok so I find the CDN dealer and these components say out of stock and 5 weeks wait till they get them (plus an other week to ship them back across the country again). I can't wait more than 6 weeks just to get a lock working, so I decide to find something else that would provide zwave. I look up a comparison sheet and discover that nothing works with the Insteon stuff I have besides Insteon hub and the ISY stuff. Talk about aggravating!

So after a horrible number of days trying to figure out how to get the front door to open for the nurses each day, it is either:

1: Find someone who is upgrading, to sell me there old ISY994i (with the zwave output).

2: Buy another type of lock that doesn't require zwave to control it. 

3: Put my wife in a home, (which is really were she should be but our stupid medical system thinks it is better to turn the husband into a personnel slave!)

4: Or for Dynamitic Devices to do the honorable thing and just sell me a z wave board for my ISY that I bought in 2019, not that long ago. 

In trying to research how to fix the problem, I read a number of comments how good Universal Devices was with customer service, I would say the opposite! I have never had a company so difficult to deal with. They don't even have the courtesy to support their old product and force customers to replace their ISY's completely and then to add even more insult to the mix, they don't even give a trade in or discount to returning customers. That is what they think is customer service. Just unbelievable what our world is turning in to, everything is about making a profit without consideration for PEOPLE.  They somehow have forgotten that happy customers make greater sales in future not less profits. 

 

I debated on responding to you only because of how ridiculous you sound. You literally bought a product without researching what you needed in order for it to work and now it's everyone's fault but your own!!!! You screwed up. Not UDI, Samsung, or Amazon. 

1) this can be just as hard as buying from udi since most people across the border won't ship to Canada. However, eBay can be your friend. 

2) you can...or you can just buy a smart things hub. They aren't that expensive.

3)Guess our vows for better or for worse has truly lost it's meaning....

4)they don't make the module anymore....I guess you expect for them to start producing more parts for a discontinued product just for 1 person....that makes a lot of sense. Let me call Samsung and complain about them not supporting my old note 8 anymore. Businesses exist to make money. They sell a product or service along with a guarantee of support for that product for a period of time. You spent 200 bucks on a product 4 years ago. Do you really expect them to support it forever? 

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Brian H Advanced

Brian H

Posted
Posted

From the official notice on the ISY-994i a few weeks ago.

Indicated it was produced for sixteen years. How long would you want a device to be made and supported?

I have not seen many manufactures still have no cost customer serve for more than a year or too on a purchased device. I have seen UDI bend over backwards to assist someone.

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