Never fibaro again

[karleksbarn 1]

So my server stopped working.

Contacted support.

Explained each problem and tried all solutions beforehand.

Agreed to live support -> Fibaro support cancels meeting on the day of support and starts ignoring me (past one week now).

Phone support doesn't work.

 

After dreading reseting my entire setup (since I couldn't bind a new controller to the group) I finally reset every single device manually and connected them to an AEON stick and started running HomeAssistant.

 

NEVER AGAIN FIBARO. I hope this company crashes and burns.

 

I will tell every single person looking for a smart home solution to look elsewhere.... And to think I once proclaimed the virtues of this trashcan of a company.

 

Good riddance! /End rant.

[Sankotronic 2,248]

Hi @karleksbarn ,

 

This post of yours tells us more about what kind of person you are:

9 hours ago, karleksbarn said:

I hope this company crashes and burns.

 

Not surprised if they give up on helping you.

 

I still have HC2 working nicely since 2015. Had problems of course, but managed to solve them on my own, with help from this great community and once with help from Fibaro support.

Never the less, wish you all the best with Home Assistant, success and happiness with it! Peace bro ✌️

 

BTW - Grass is greener in my neighbor yard only because of the distance.

 

[karleksbarn 1]

I've been super respectful in my posts with fibaro. If you want i wouldn't mind sharing them. 

 

Imagine having pretty much a semi daily communication about your problem. Getting advice and replying I've done it but will do it again and share proof. Round and round and then scheduling live support beacuse they can't ssh into the box. The day of support they cancel an hour or two ahead of the meeting. Then I get ignored. No response. No reason. Just ignored. E-mailed them perhaps five times just to ask why the lack of updates/communication.

 

Take a look at fibaro on trustpilot.com

 

They're legit disrespectful trashcans when it comes to support. It has nothing to do with what kind of person I am. 

Edited January 28, 2024 by karleksbarn

[RH_Dreambox 182]

@karleksbarn

Välkommen till ditt nya hemautomatiksystem! Jag vågar lova dig att du kommer inte att bli besviken på Home Assistant.

Nu öppnar sig en värld med möjligheter som du bara kunnat drömma om.

Home Assistant är ett modernt system som har tusentals integrationer att välja på, så det är ganska osannolikt att du har någon enhet som inte går att integrera.

 

[Sankotronic 2,248]

Hi @RH_Dreambox ,

 

It would be really nice if you express yourself in English here on public thread even if it is glorification of the Home Assistant.

If you wanted to do that in your language then you could send @karleksbarn  a private message.

Of course, glorification of the Home Assistant can you please continue on their forum

 

Thank you!

 

[RH_Dreambox 182]

@Sankotronic

Yes it was wrong of me, I should of course have sent a personal message
I no longer use my HC3 (it's in the closet) but I still think it's nice to visit the forum from time to time. 
So if I write how positively I experience Home Assistant, I might get kicked out of the forum, and I don't want that

[jgab 2,139]

1 hour ago, RH_Dreambox said:

@Sankotronic

Yes it was wrong of me, I should of course have sent a personal message
I no longer use my HC3 (it's in the closet) but I still think it's nice to visit the forum from time to time. 
So if I write how positively I experience Home Assistant, I might get kicked out of the forum, and I don't want that

Yes, it's like going to the AIK forum and post how much better life became when you switched to Djurgården... (and then hope they can' t find out where you live  ) 

[Kage 37]

Have the Fibaro for many years now and from 2 to 3. Is it all great:NO, but that is never ever i think. I am still learner and hope that i do oke for family and friend.. Automation is growing and evolving. so am i. but just get ride of fibaro because something doesnt work. That is not my style. I always try to fix it and yes that works even if its cost me a lot of time.

[Neo Andersson 195]

@karleksbarn I can fully understand your frustration and anger. It is absolutely in place, when you experience such a horror scenario that you have described. However, you have choosen to build up a system on your own, piece by piece, without calling a more experienced installer  company, that might have had more experiences, and probably a more direct contact to FIbaro support. Not mentioning that you could have had an easy time while they do the installation, without any stress if the gateway crashes, becuase it would be the responsibility of the installer company. So as you started to do it on your own, you should have been aware of the fact that things not always work like a charm. You took that responlibility for yourself. So cope with it and try to solve it, and if it doesn't work after all efforts, it is probably a faulty piece of HC3, and you should have returned it to Fibaro for replace. This happend to me on some customers installations, and i went through all the steps you have described..Problem did not get solved, so i have returned the gateway, and thats it. I recieved a new one. Customer had to wait a bit more, but luckily at then end, we finished the system, and it is still working without a problem. I don't want to say, that there are no problems..Of course there are, and always will be. Support many times employes really low skilled people that are on phone (not talking about developers), many times i need to wait weeks for answers, many times a FW update brings more problems than solutions, but i really do think, that despite all these symptoms, the system is improving..slowly, but improving...

So good luck with HA..

Edited January 29, 2024 by Neo Andersson

[karleksbarn 1]

Appreciate some of the replies including Svenska and Neo.

 

The thing is this is supposed to be a simple home installation kit. Not a super advanced KNX build. It's easy enough that a layperson with a basic understand of IT can install and set it up. Fibaro has suceeded only in that they jumped on the smart home train when it was new and provided a relatively cheap alternative.

 

My strong opinion is that they are not customer / service orientated and I would never go for a Fibaro product again.

 

Another case and point: We as end customers are not allowed / given access to ssh via terminal to our own HC for troubleshooting purposes. We have to rely on Fibaro support (which doesn't exist).

 

I am super happy to have jumped over fully to HA instead of using HC as a bridge for communication with HA (as I previously had it setup).

Edited February 11, 2024 by karleksbarn

[Martin_N 151]

On 2/11/2024 at 12:00 PM, karleksbarn said:

Appreciate some of the replies including Svenska and Neo.

 

The thing is this is supposed to be a simple home installation kit. Not a super advanced KNX build. It's easy enough that a layperson with a basic understand of IT can install and set it up. Fibaro has suceeded only in that they jumped on the smart home train when it was new and provided a relatively cheap alternative.

 

My strong opinion is that they are not customer / service orientated and I would never go for a Fibaro product again.

 

Another case and point: We as end customers are not allowed / given access to ssh via terminal to our own HC for troubleshooting purposes. We have to rely on Fibaro support (which doesn't exist).

 

I am super happy to have jumped over fully to HA instead of using HC as a bridge for communication with HA (as I previously had it setup).

 

Yes, it's not (Z-wave) a super advanced KNX installation. But be careful. KNX is actually terribly simple in that it is a closed bus. If done correctly, there should be no interference. What is complicated in this world (Z-wave) is the wireless transmission (any protocol of two-way communicating devices). There, a lot of RF interference has to be dealt with, and it is thus prone to the design of the entire network and the subsequent maintenance of it (monitoring whether any interference has appeared, not sending cyclically more than is necessary,...). It doesn't talk about making SSH available.

 

And now to Fibar and its focus on the customer. Why do you think that the installer certification system is in place? A careless setting can go awry. Then, as Neo wrote, the installer takes over the guarantee for functionality.

Yes, Fibaro has released all its products to the general market, so the general customer can buy and install them himself at home. There is then no contractually bound installation organization available, but free rules apply to it. He can turn to the community here on the forum, he can turn to Fibaro support directly.

 

Last point.

If you want to have absolute control, you have to start with your own development.

If you want SSH access, choose a product that allows it.

 

I understand your motivation to move to HA, I am also a Fibaro user. However, since the memory leak and high CPU performance were resolved 2 years ago, I haven't had any problems. And yes, you probably guessed, ... I'm an installer, I'm a fan of electronics, so I prepared everything with the risks described above in mind.

 

I wish you much success and a happy life with HA (I don't mean this ironically). Everyone deserves luck.

eM.