Thoughts on Fibaro? Am I alone?

[Calf 1]

Dear All,

 

I come from the KNX world and am discovering Z-Wave, its ecosystem, specs, compatibility, certifications, etc. its pros and cons, it is an interesting journey.

I've started using a number of Fibaro components (RS3 in particular) and I'm really surprized by the lack of finish of those products and the absence of communication from the vendor.

 

I have specific bugs, well identified, documented, sometimes with videos, that I sent to the support team but haven't had any response at all (sent about a month ago!). I also shared them here but with no feedback either - which I was fine as I had no specific/hard expectation when it comes to a community forum. 

 

Am I a snowflake or is that a shared sentiment? 

 

If those products are supposed to be for the hobbyist and for tactical deployments for fun, fine, but that's not really the perception that Fibaro wants to send AFAICT. So, if this is supposed to be for real-world deployments to be at the core of a building, how is non-responsive support or the absence of visibility on when core features will be fixed something OK?

 

Maybe my expectations are too high but I'm very skeptical at this point and can't really make sense of the situation. I'm also wondering whether I'll have to replace my Fibaro components by something that works as expected.

 

Thoughts are welcome. Thanks.

[jakub.jezek 350]

Hi @Calf,

 

39 minutes ago, Calf said:

that I sent to the support team but haven't had any response at all (sent about a month ago!)

If i were you i would check with FIbaro partner (distributor; check

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) for your region. Fibaro partners/distributors have much faster response from Fibaro then end-customer.

 

Are those (links below) issues regarding RS3?

 

[JanRemco 7]

Fibaro seems to be very good in making excellent video's on YouTube, but when it comes to real world support and possibilities it is just not reliable. I have high doubts about the quality of their software, and am convinced that the current HC2 software is very buggy. As it is not the first time we users have to navigate around this, i'm also looking for a more stable environment. Its just a toy, and it will not get any better. 

 

Jakub, maybe you have a good supplier in Czech Republic, but that is not everywhere the case. The email-adress for dutch support in my country doen't even reply.

[Calf 1]

20 hours ago, jakub.jezek said:

If i were you i would check with FIbaro partner (distributor; check

Please login or register to see this link.

) for your region. Fibaro partners/distributors have much faster response from Fibaro then end-customer.

 

 Are those (links below) issues regarding RS3?

Hello Jakub,

 

Yes, those are the two issues. 

 

WRT the distributor, I'll try that. However, if those are indeed firmware issues, it is unclear to me what leverage the distributor will have on getting these issues being fixed.

13 hours ago, JanRemco said:

Jakub, maybe you have a good supplier in Czech Republic, but that is not everywhere the case. The email-adress for dutch support in my country doen't even reply.

JanRemco, thanks for sharing your experience. I'll try with my distributor and let you know if this leads to a better experience and whether a solution ends up being found.

[petergebruers 1,261]

22 hours ago, Calf said:

Am I a snowflake or is that a shared sentiment?

Partly bad luck and bad timing. Each year, around CES, things get released and a ton of posts of unhappy users bury the real issues.

 

This year it was their "new app". To run the new app, users had to upgrade their HC and this causes real trouble for some. So more unhappy users and posts, support probably got overloaded...

 

Usually experienced users want to help, but it gets a bit more difficult at this time of the year.

 

Fibaro is even more quiet than usual... This leads to speculation.

 

22 hours ago, Calf said:

I'm also wondering whether I'll have to replace my Fibaro components by something that works as expected.

Roller Shutter 3 is new and has gone through beta testing but that does not catch every problem.

 

If I understand your other post correctly, your motor does not have limit switches? In this case, I think you'll have to find another product but I cannot help you, I don't have that kind of use case so I don't know about the alternatives.

 

Waiting on a bug fix or additional feature on RS3 is something you have to decide but I'd say Fibaro never publishes release dates. So it might arrive tomorrow, next month, next year or never. They do release updates for some products...

 

I don't know what the future will bring. Fibaro is now part of a larger group. But what does that mean...

 

I own a HC2 with about 90 devices (modules) and I am quite happy. But I spent a lot of time with my system, and Z-Wave.

Edited February 16, 2019 by petergebruers

[paddovo 2]

As always, these catastrophic posts about bugs and no support make the whole system look like nonfunctional. But as always it is only one or two subjective and very detailed issues that need to be solved. But you are new to the system so you just need time to adapt.

 

I have to root for Jakub as he is truly a professional in Czech republic and I have relied on his information here on the forum myself many times since the very first steps with Fibaro. But it is the only guy in whole country I would listen to when it comes to Fibaro since I have experience with vendors and other so called professionals that are even on lower knowledge level about whole Fibaro than me as a common user and they even make living out of servicing systems of their customers. But I can´t judge taking care of one system with tens or even hundreds of them to be fair. May that be an issue of whole Fibaro world, you have to make search and learn yourself or be terribly rich to invest into your own system to be fully satisfied.

 

I like things the way they are because I can do most of my own magic with all z-wave stuff I have installed and so I am absolutely looking forward to see what the future brings.

 

Do search this forum as the community is growing and you may find many great leads for every user of every level to learn from the basics of the system and settle down with the course Fibaro is taking.

 

Good luck.

[Calf 1]

On 2/16/2019 at 1:34 PM, petergebruers said:

If I understand your other post correctly, your motor does not have limit switches? In this case, I think you'll have to find another product but I cannot help you, I don't have that kind of use case so I don't know about the alternatives.

 

No, my product has proper switches, it is supposed to work fine. You can find other people on the Fibaro forums with the same engine (Elero) where it works fine, but with RS2, not with RS3. This is really just a bug. 

 

As for CES, this was 6 weeks ago, I'd imagine they'd be past the overflow by now unless they simply decided to ignore all tickets within a certain date range - which would be another kind of odd.

[Calf 1]

2 hours ago, paddovo said:

As always, these catastrophic posts about bugs and no support make the whole system look like nonfunctional. But as always it is only one or two subjective and very detailed issues that need to be solved. But you are new to the system so you just need time to adapt.

 

I'm not sure what to make of your post. 

 

First, I don't think I'm being "catastrophic", I'm just sharing my experience and asking whether I'm a snowflake or not. It seems I'm not (even Jakub acknowledges issues with their support to end-customers and suggest reaching out to local distributors)

 

Second, being new or not being new is not really the issue here: a bug is a bug, whatever my expertise level is. So, when you say I need to "adapt", what are you thinking I should adapt to? To buggy software? To the absence of answers to support requests? I'm at loss as to what part you think I should adapt to.

 

I've worked extensively with KNX and while it is a very different system, it is typically very robust and well tested so I'm indeed a bit surprized by what I see as pretty "liquid" processes. Maybe that's what I need to adapt to.

[petergebruers 1,261]

5 minutes ago, Calf said:

No, my product has proper switches, it is supposed to work fine. You can find other people on the Fibaro forums with the same engine (Elero) where it works fine, but with RS2, not with RS3. This is really just a bug.

Yes, I believe you, and I also think in that case it is a RS3 firmware bug. So I would still say... Waiting on a bug fix or additional feature on RS3 is something you have to decide but I'd say Fibaro never publishes release dates. So it might arrive tomorrow, next month, next year or never. They do release updates for some products... Send it back...

 

I am an end-user, I do not work for Fibaro. I don't make money with "Home Automation"in any way. So I cannot tell why you do not get replies from them...

[Calf 1]

16 minutes ago, petergebruers said:

I am an end-user, I do not work for Fibaro. I don't make money with "Home Automation"in any way. So I cannot tell why you do not get replies from them...

Thanks Peter, I appreciate your feedback, this is useful. 

[jakub.jezek 350]

On 2/15/2019 at 11:04 PM, JanRemco said:

Jakub, maybe you have a good supplier in Czech Republic, but that is not everywhere the case. The email-adress for dutch support in my country doen't even reply.

If e-mail to your supplier does not work, you can always create ticket to FIBARO directly ([email protected]). Now, you probably wondering, why i suggest that, because they have long response time. Well secret ingredient is phone call following day. I'm doing what i can on support here in CZ and also have delays. Some FIBARO users from CZ experienced that, but i try to do my best. That is why i started to make VD generators for my virtual devices (my first one 

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to avoid well known mistakes (authorization, IP adresses, copy/paste mistakes).

 

13 hours ago, Calf said:

even Jakub acknowledges issues with their support to end-customers and suggest reaching out to local distributors

FIBARO support is not the issue. Distributors have higher priority there. Mostly it's because custom problems from customer is something, that is from 65% solveable during few mails or phone call, because most problems are that customer does not understand problematic correctly. Sometimes even if i explain it to them. Most issues that i solved in last few months are HomeKit and new FIBARO app. I do not want to go to detail, but it is few questions/issues that repeats itself. I have made FAQ from it and that is what i send to people.

 

17 hours ago, paddovo said:

I have to root for Jakub as he is truly a professional in Czech republic and I have relied on his information here on the forum myself many times since the very first steps with Fibaro. But it is the only guy in whole country I would listen to when it comes to Fibaro since I have experience with vendors and other so called professionals that are even on lower knowledge level about whole Fibaro than me as a common user and they even make living out of servicing systems of their customers.

Thank you for your kind words .

 

14 hours ago, Calf said:

First, I don't think I'm being "catastrophic", I'm just sharing my experience and asking whether I'm a snowflake or not.

No, you are not snowflake. But longer chain is sometimes faster than direct access.

 

13 hours ago, petergebruers said:

Fibaro never publishes release dates. So it might arrive tomorrow, next month, next year or never. They do release updates for some products... Send it back...

As most of other manufacturers do. Control4 does not do that either, even for their own devices.

 

On 2/16/2019 at 12:16 PM, Calf said:

However, if those are indeed firmware issues, it is unclear to me what leverage the distributor will have on getting these issues being fixed.

I have checked video you shared via google photos. It is quite interesting behaviour. Long shot: Maybe tweeking with UP time or power consumption increase (while in end point) could do some tricks?

 

14 hours ago, Calf said:

I've worked extensively with KNX and while it is a very different system, it is typically very robust and well tested

Do not forget 30 years of development

 

As i'm peeking into KNX myself (hopefully this year certified), i see much more possibilities there, but also pricing is way up. And i'm not moving from Z-Wave out, but wired KNX fascinates me. Mainly ekinex. I love look of their thermostats (

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.

[paddovo 2]

17 hours ago, Calf said:

I'm not sure what to make of your post. 

 

First, I don't think I'm being "catastrophic", I'm just sharing my experience and asking whether I'm a snowflake or not. It seems I'm not (even Jakub acknowledges issues with their support to end-customers and suggest reaching out to local distributors)

 

Second, being new or not being new is not really the issue here: a bug is a bug, whatever my expertise level is. So, when you say I need to "adapt", what are you thinking I should adapt to? To buggy software? To the absence of answers to support requests? I'm at loss as to what part you think I should adapt to.

 

I've worked extensively with KNX and while it is a very different system, it is typically very robust and well tested so I'm indeed a bit surprized by what I see as pretty "liquid" processes. Maybe that's what I need to adapt to.

 

Sorry, I can´t tell you what to make out of my post. Maybe you just need to figure it out yourself.

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