HC-300 to HC-800 upgrade complexity?

[cashmoney]

Actually it was good I was there as the update caused issues to the controller, that got it RMA'd. If I hadn't been there then I would not have had the assistance of tech support to get to the bottom of the problem and get it resolved.

These sort of things make me think C4 has a quality or design issue. I mean millions of hardware updated are done to computers, TV's, audio receivers, game systems, phones/tablets multiple times a year and hardware doesn't need to be RMA'd...

[ichbinbose]

ok' date=' so I'm sitting at a job site right now, doing a simple 2.3 to 2.4 update with two controllers (HC-800 and HC-250) and an SR-250 (w/new charging station) and 7 dimmers and keypads.

So far its been an 1.75 hours and the zigbee stuff has been a VERY slow update, even though everything is within 25 feet.

This is a perfect example of things taking longer than expected. I thought for sure I would be gone and on my way, but instead not a single zigbee device has finished updating.[/quote']

Why wouldn't you just do this as a remote update?

You can sit there an charge a single customer for your time, which makes you money but will undoubtedly upset your customer when they get the bill for watching you sit around.

OR

You could do this remote and charge them some nominal fee so you still make something, and then do more remote updates, sell equipment, manage your business, check up on customers you haven't spoken to in some time, or have some personal time...

Seems like option two would serve you better in the long run... Just saying.

So the reason for the visit. First the clients iTunes no longer played in the theater room, turned out someone had changed a setting on the Anthem Preamp. Also while I was there I was adding a charging station. At this point I have two tasks that require me to be onsite.

So as I am fixing the other issues the update is being done. This is so that he can get Tune In and for the charging station. So I could have started the update remotely, but the end result would have been the same. Needing to contact tech support and get the controller RMA'd and get a replacement. Only way to get tech support to help, is to be onsite.

I have done hundreds of updates remotely. I also rarely do this now, as problems can and do occur. I will however start an update remotely prior to going onsite if it will actually save any time. This would not have.

[Godzilla]

Lets be honest when any of us have contractors at our house the only reason that we have friendly conversation is because we think we have to or because someone is uncomfortable with the silence. I treat any contractor working at my home with the utmost respect and will go out of my way to see if they need anything like a place to sit, a beverage, or the bathroom. but idle conversation is a time waster for both the contractor and myself. I don't need a conversation to build trust, I've done my homework and fully vetted the company you own or work for and this is where trust was established.

The asshole customer should be the one that expects you to drop what your doing during your family time to fix a problem with their luxury convenience tech toy. I wouldn't dream of calling my installer after hours or on a weekend because my matrix wasn't properly routing my kids video to his room or my party playlist wasn't working. If any of this stuff is of such dire importance that you need to call the installer/programmer after hours then you need to get a grip on reality. I believe every hard working person deserves their personal time, this is the time of a persons life that is truly important.

I wasn't specifically speaking of tipping, I was speaking more to posts I've read here before about people sending Christmas gifts to their dealer which I find ridiculous. I don't tip the owner of a company or any employee that is making a fair wage for the work they perform. Waiters/Waitresses, barbers/stylists, valet attendants, etc don't typically make a very fair wage and work their tails off so these are the people that get tipped.

Unfortunately I think most dealers are only concerned with making as much as possible off of each customer and I know manufacturers are. Things like Unilateral Pricing Policies AKA "Price Fixing", which is a common practice in the CI market convinces me of that. As a dealer I should be able to sell a product I purchased for what ever cost I want.

im actually glad you cleared that up,........sounded pretty rough at first, but can appreciate the honesty.

lights not working, alarm not working, audio not working.......no big deal

now the TV not working.......youd think someone was dying............always an emergency....and at night or a weekend is always when it happens without fail.....

I agree a remote update for this OP to get started would be best approach, but i can almost guarantee an onsite visit will be needed, to work out some hangups and fine tuning. as others have mentioned its a pretty big step up from 1.8.2

[ichbinbose]

Actually it was good I was there as the update caused issues to the controller' date=' that got it RMA'd. If I hadn't been there then I would not have had the assistance of tech support to get to the bottom of the problem and get it resolved.[/quote']

These sort of things make me think C4 has a quality or design issue. I mean millions of hardware updated are done to computers, TV's, audio receivers, game systems, phones/tablets multiple times a year and hardware doesn't need to be RMA'd...

I doubt there is a design issue, as much as sometimes things just happen(hence Murphy's law). I also agree that millions of devices get updated with no problems. I have seen these same devices (mainly bluray players - mainly samungs) get bricked during a firmware update.

BTW, the client is a high level executive for a very large electronics manufacture and he flat out said that he has seen countless hardware devices bricked by software/firmware update's. So perhaps it more common than you realize.

Either way it's an unfortunate situation.