Fibaro support erase my messages and continue to not help me

[jin 0]

One question from turkey: Does this mean, if our usb stick is brocken, we have to send the stick and the box from turkey to poland?

Yes exactly!

Here we are discussing with Fibaro team to implement a procedure to avoid this problem (for all users).

Sending whole fibaro hc2 box just because the usb stick got broken (and it will get broken many times for every one sooner or later, trust me) is COMPLETELY UNAFFORDABLE (in my humble opinion).

However Fibaro Team is opened and collaborative to suggestions, so I'm confident that will help us in the best way possible

Best Regards

[ Added: 2014-09-16, 21:19 ]

Having the system back up its settings only inside the box is an extremely poor solution and quite unnecessary.

1) Owners who may have spent many hours configuring their system need to be able to store that work somewhere safe - i.e. in an encrypted form wherever they choose.

2) In the event of a breakdown they need to be able to swap out the HC2 for a replacement, download their saved configuration, and carry on working.

If an owner is relying on their HC2 for lighting, heating, and security then any delay over 24-48 hours is unacceptable. Fibaro need to recognise this. If it means providing and charging for a maintenance contract then so be it.

I can only assume that Fibaro ties the USB stick to the HC2 to prevent people from cloning the HC2 but this same security can easily be done with something like a codemeter dongle tied to the user. Or just having the software check occasionally with a Fibaro server that it is running on an authorised box.

The way backup and repair works at the moment does NOT suit the purposes for which an HC2 is used.

Gembrain I'm absolutely (I repeat ABSOLUTELY) agree with you. I've never seen before, these limitations as in any other product in the market. But I'm trustful that Fibaro will fix soon these problems in the best way possible.

Best Regards

[yuzo 4]

One question from turkey: Does this mean, if our usb stick is brocken, we have to send the stick and the box from turkey to poland?

Yes exactly!

Here we are discussing with Fibaro team to implement a procedure to avoid this problem (for all users).

Sending whole fibaro hc2 box just because the usb stick got broken (and it will get broken many times for every one sooner or later, trust me) is COMPLETELY UNAFFORDABLE (in my humble opinion).

However Fibaro Team is opened and collaborative to suggestions, so I'm confident that will help us in the best way possible

Best Regards

I think thats not realy possible without having a lot of costs! Turkey is not in the EU and i think, that means we have to declare values for the customs ... by the other hand, we're sending normal letters to germany or austria and these are sometimes more than 2-3 weeks on the way ... sometimes within one week. What if the box get's lost ...

Fibaro should develope a method into the box, to simply download those backups over admin-interface to the local computer ... i.e. encrypted with a user defined password. Simpl and clever because we can store these backups on our backup storage(s). Nothing gets lost. If box is corrupted, buy a new one and import the backup ... what thinks fibaro about this?

[deanrparry 19]

It is nothing short of completely STUPID not to have this implemented! Anyone with half a brain with have done this in the first place! I hope and pray it does not happen to me as I am lucky to have very close friends who are Polish and still have family there! If my box breaks it will be HAND DELIVERED!

Fibaro use some of this development team we pay for with our goods and give us either secure backup or cloud it cannot be that hard to do you managed to give us magic scenes after all!

[Guest gembrain]

Well if they DO fix it:

1) More people will buy a controller that they can get repaired easily.

2) Fibaro will have less repairs to do themselves!

If they DON'T fix it that would be a very bad decision!

[harlin 0]

jin, please cease proposing solutions that are not certified and supported by FIBARO. Cloning Recovery memory can affect other users' systems integrity and further suggesting such actions

If the USB issues are true, please supply a FIBARO certified recovery or clone procedure, or an option to buy a spare USB key and a off unit backup procedure.

Your system is de heart of our homes, it simplifies our life, people should be able to fix things without shiping units to Poland and wait n weeks.

Fibaro is still a product with huge potential, but think more from the user perspective, as written in numerous topics, fix the base then expand with new stuff.

[Guest lochnesz]

Fibaro team, please listen to the comments here and implement a better recovey function. This could for example be cloud based with encryption. If you are afraid that the user integrity will be compromized, let the users have this option and decide if they want the feature or not. Other systems have could based storage/backup, and it appears to work even for secure data.

As mentioned in this thread, the HC is a essential central device which many functions in a home depends on.

[alex88 71]

jin, please cease proposing solutions that are not certified and supported by FIBARO. Cloning Recovery memory can affect other users' systems integrity and further suggesting such actions (you got warned for them two times already) may result in ban, which we would like to avoid. Please follow procedure suggested to you by our consultant so we can help you faster.

At the end of all this fuss, what exactly is the functionality for backing up ones HC2 instance?

My HC2 is the only device that I own that does not have a backup and yet I have spent literally hundreds of hours plus many, many thousands of pounds paying my electrician to configure my system.

I somehow imagine that if something was to happen to my HC2 and I lost everything Fibaro would not jump to compensate me.

Please provide a mechanism for backups.

[1152 33]

Fibaro, you are over time heavily criticised for the lack of this type of functionality. As time passes the number of customers experiencing this problem are bound to increase. That will not be sustainable. So I personally believe you have a plan to handle this. As a customer, and not being told what your plan is, I'm getting the impression that I may not like the answer, or worse you don't trust your own plan to fix this issue...

[jin 0]

Hi,

I've two very good news today:

1) Fibaro Support this morning connected to my HC2 and confirmed that my original usb key have hardware problems (finally!) and made a professional decision: they will supply me with a new FIBARO USB STICK without I must sending back my whole HC2 (this is a reasonable solution to the problem)

However, this story highlighted some issues to think about:

1) The USB STICK is not only a memory key, but a serial/protection key used to sign zwave chip backups

3) If the original USB KEY get "COMPLETELY" damaged, then you lose all (and for all i mean ALL), because even if you save in other places your backups, you can't recover them because the hash of the usb key doesn't match with zwave backup. And this is the major flaw imho. Because our home automation system is completely linked with the hardware being used. If it breaks (I mean HC2 it self or the usb key), even if Fibaro replace hc2, however we must reconfigure all devices (Fibaro team can confirm this?)

I think that point 3 "must" be addressed soon or later, we can't stay in this limbo with our home automation.

However I'm happy that Fibaro get serious our complaints and take the right decisions.

Best regards.

Post was moderated due to content that could induce other users to interfere in their systems in non authorized way.

[billykwan88 0]

I never thought of that.

What would happen if HC2 is damaged?

Every module will be useless (even if HC2 is replaced) because they are not removed from the damaged system?

Am I right? That's scares me a bit.

[UrSv 6]

I never thought of that.

What would happen if HC2 is damaged?

Every module will be useless (even if HC2 is replaced) because they are not removed from the damaged system?

Am I right? That's scares me a bit.

They will still be fine. Just go through procedure to delete devices (despite the fact that they are not in the new system) and then add them to the new system.

[sonnyboy 11]

I never thought of that.

What would happen if HC2 is damaged?

Every module will be useless (even if HC2 is replaced) because they are not removed from the damaged system?

Am I right? That's scares me a bit.

You can always exlude a module with a new controller so that will nor be a problem

[j.nowacki 5]

jin I am afraid you misunderstood intentions of our support agent. You still should send us HC2 with Recovery memory as well.

[deanrparry 19]

Unlucky Jin!

Please login or register to see this image.

/emoticons/default_sad.png" alt=":(" srcset="https://forum.fibaro.com/uploads/emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

[Tekvibes 7]

And yet another happy Fibaro-customer... I guess Jin will be extremely delighted when he reads this...

BTW, I always read about the customer having to send the unit back to Poland at their expense? Isn't Fibaro or the reatailer responsible for this the first 2 years while in warranty?

[deanrparry 19]

Please login or register to see this link.

[robmac 173]

And yet another happy Fibaro-customer... I guess Jin will be extremely delighted when he reads this...

BTW, I always read about the customer having to send the unit back to Poland at their expense? Isn't Fibaro or the retailer responsible for this the first 2 years while in warranty?

When I had the issue I just sent the HC2 back to my retailer and they sent me a replacement unit all shrink wrapped.

Still would not want to go though the set-up again but the alternative was sending to Poland just before Christmas? You have to be kidding!!! Even then they could not guarantee I would not lose my configuration.

jin,

why don't you post your nice instructions on jompa's forum site or the french forum? Save a lot of people a lot of time.

[jin 0]

I'm pretty tired now.

First because my posts get moderated every time. I haven't disclosed any technical secrets that I discovered about HC2 details, but only what I made to repair by my self my recovery image, morover warned users that these procedures are completely unsupported by Fibaro support.

However this is your home, and I do not want to impose anything here.

But remember that users are not stupid and this policy of obscurity imho will become counterproductive in the future for Fibaro.

Products like Linux kernel (on which Fibaro HC2 is based on) have become popular and powerful over years thanks only to the community and collaborators, if Fibaro close the doors to the community, soon or later the community will close the door to Fibaro, this is inevitable.

Even if I repaired my box by myself, because of your support policy, I have to stay without home automation for the next few days, and this just to replace a broken usb key. Surely you must revise your support policy, trust me.

Anyway, thanks to Fibaro support because they will replace my HC2 with no extra shipping costs, so I can endure this hardship.

Confident that you will take into consideration what I told you, Yours faithfully.

[robmac 173]

+++1

I think as individuals some of the Fibaro team are exceptional but as you say there are some daft policies.

[sj3fk3 27]

Fibaro team, please listen to the comments here and implement a better recovey function. This could for example be cloud based with encryption. If you are afraid that the user integrity will be compromized, let the users have this option and decide if they want the feature or not. Other systems have could based storage/backup, and it appears to work even for secure data.

As mentioned in this thread, the HC is a essential central device which many functions in a home depends on.

+1