Complete Lack of Communication About Multiple Downtimes at Control4

[Control4Frustration]

We are so incredibly frustrated with Control4. If we had other choices, we'd completely abandon Control4. First, you can't do a damned thing on your own. When/Then is really useless. It's so rudimentary, a 3rd grader could use it, but it doesn't do much. I can't even put in all the automations I'd like to put in because there's no scroll bar to keep adding new logic (and, yes, I tried with multiple browsers). Second, we've had countless times when we can't get our apps to work and it simply gives some vague text about a login error and "...please try later". Thirdly, they seem to be "offline" at prime hours of the day. Today, there was some sort of system maintenance at around 4pm Chicago time, and there was no warning of this - and only cryptic messages on our devices, nothing having to do with Control4 being "down". So, we spent an hour trying to figure out if it was our devices, the internet, or something else, only to find that even our Dealer was surprised to find Control4 was "down". Just completely ridiculous.

Control4 Nickels and Dimes their customers, after already charging insanely high prices to have the honor of "owning" their devices. 

Control4 communicates like a 3 year old. No indication of downtime (which should be easy to do right there in the apps and devices). 

Control4 integration with Alexa is completely underwhelming. It works maybe 25% of the time. 

Control4 is NOT the Cadillac system it tries to come off as. We're so incredibly frustrated and disappointed with Control4. Terrible consistency, terrible devices, terrible customer service. Absolutely no way to get help after hours. We cannot recommend Control4 to anyone in good conscience. Our local dealer is great, so Control4 should not be trying to pin anything on the local dealer.  

[msgreenf]

Factually incorrect that they don't communicate. Status.control4.com 

[Cbell]

I try not to respond to rant posts but I’ve had the opposite experience. And alternatives do exist. Pull the Bandage off and rip it out if you aren’t happy. No sense keeping something you don’t want. 

[chopedogg88]

Composer Home Edition allows for more configuration by the homeowner than any of the leading automation systems (Control4, Savant, Creston, etc) 

You can sign up for email notifications of system outages as well. 

[RyanE]

19 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

Composer Home Edition allows for more configuration by the homeowner than any of the leading automation systems (Control4, Savant, Creston, etc) 

Well, not Control4... 

RyanE

[THE L1ZARD KING]

FWIW, I am signed up for status updates and received two emails today about the planned maintenance and ongoing issue investigation. 

[chopedogg88]

Status.snapone.com

Woops sorry didn't see Mitch's post 

[ejn1]

Whats the over and under on ghost post?

[eggzlot]

Curious how C4 "nickels and dimes" - they charge a 1 time yearly fee.  Its either worth it to your not, but its certainly not a "nickel and dime" situation.  of course unless your dealer didn't spec things out and keeps adding items/drivers to solve issues.  But you said your dealer is wonderful so that clearly isn't the issue.

When you go to status.snapone.com just click that rather large blue "SUBSCRIBE TO UPDATES" and you'll get emails (or send emails to your text/cell phone provider) to get instant updates.  What more do you want?

As others said - get Composer Home Edition.  If you are trying to program everything with When/Then you are really limiting yourself.  Composer HE is $149 1 time fee but comes with a year of 4sight so its really $50 1 time fee.  $50 for a piece of software is cheap, not "nickel and dime" to the customer.

Another option - rip out your gear and sell it here or ebay.  Then you cannot go with Savant, Crestron, Elan, etc because those are dealer based and do not have end user software as powerful as Composer HE.   Then go DIY - look at Google/Amazon/Apple or go with something like http://allonis.com/ or https://homeseer.com/  - you have options.  I'll even throw you a hint - https://www.avsforum.com/forums/home-automation.162/ will be a better forum for you as its home automation geared to the DIY enthusiast.

 

[BXTR]

Sounds like diy might be a better fit. 
 

you own it

you won’t be nickel and dimed, nice and cheap, switches that start $10

you can program it yourself 

you can rely on all 987 vendors excellent tech supports to find out why stuff doesn’t work seemlessly with each other

[RyanE]

There are some open-source home automation solutions that also may be applicable, and are getting better than they used to be.

What you won't find is a consistent UI and large support for partner equipment without you writing the drivers yourself.

RyanE

 

[robbie3130]

According to the status page the change has been rolled back quite a while ago and systems are now operational… are others now able to access via 4sight? I’m not.

Sort of useless to have the status page if it’s not accurate. 

[South Africa C4 user]

42 minutes ago, robbie3130 said:

According to the status page the change has been rolled back quite a while ago and systems are now operational… are others now able to access via 4sight? I’m not.

Sort of useless to have the status page if it’s not accurate. 

Alexa is working for me again

[chopedogg88]

Yes I'm able to access several systems remotely 

[robbie3130]

Working as well for me now. 

[zaphod]

2 hours ago, ejn1 said:

Whats the over and under on ghost post?

We haven't had one of those for a while. They were happening every couple of days a month or two ago.

[RAV]

1st Welcome.

2nd Yes, it's not a perfect world, Integration by any brand isn't going to be 100%.

3rd Your excellent dealer should have been able to provide you with the tools you wish for. Status updates regarding online services, and the availability of Composer HE.

4th The only nickel dime from Control4 is a $100 yearly fee for their 4sight services, someone needs to pay for that overhead, so they only charge those who use it.

As to Alexa, frankly, it's at best a 75% response system, which is pretty damn good considering my truck is only about 25%. I realize, some dealers over sell it's abilities. If you wish for a better voice experience there are alternatives that are more reliable, and private, but that costs money.

[Control4Savant]

14 hours ago, chopedogg88 said:

Composer Home Edition allows for more configuration by the homeowner than any of the leading automation systems (Control4, Savant, Creston, etc) 

You can sign up for email notifications of system outages as well. 

I'll keep selling systems to people who disagree with you. 

 

15 hours ago, Control4Frustration said:

 

Control4 is NOT the Cadillac system it tries to come off as. We're so incredibly frustrated and disappointed with Control4. Terrible consistency, terrible devices, terrible customer service. Absolutely no way to get help after hours. We cannot recommend Control4 to anyone in good conscience. Our local dealer is great, so Control4 should not be trying to pin anything on the local dealer.  

This is absolutely on your dealer who sound in over their head with promises about capabilities and features they don't fully understand how to implement. Control4 is a product and has to be properly designed, sold and executed. 

[msgreenf]

4 minutes ago, Control4Savant said:

Control4 is a product and has to be properly designed, sold and executed. 

doesn't that apply to all systems?

[Gary Leeds UK]

Now History works on 3.2.2 - I`m happy 

Just do not like how much every thing costs - that's why we buy other products and use 3rd party drives 

[Amr]

Even the die hard DIY fans like HA guys et al, envy me for having a C4 system, they even went and created an integration to C4 to use its robust UI as per their words to me …

[South Africa C4 user]

A good response posted by C4:

Postmortem

August 25th Snap One Control4 Cloud Services Outage

Yesterday we experienced a global outage due to an unsuccessful maintenance release. The maintenance was intended to be a non-impactful step forward in increasing the reliability of many Snap-One Control4 cloud-based services.

During the deployment, we quickly detected a disruption and began to identify and isolate the cause. As we approached full recovery, we recognized that recovery would be faster if we rolled back changes. This unplanned event was broad, and we’re genuinely sorry for the impact on you (our Partners and End-Customers).

You rely on our services in a variety of ways. Our #1 goal is to provide you with excellent services; we missed the mark. If you are a customer, please know your technology partner did not cause this outage.

We take all unplanned outages seriously and respond with high urgency:

1.       We are conducting a complete root cause analysis, including reviewing our processes, practices, and technology efforts during this maintenance. We have identified a new approach and timings to minimize overall risk.

2.       We’ll evaluate ways to improve our remediation speed. We have an upcoming release that will speed controller reconnection to Snap One cloud services.

We have been and will continue to innovate and invest in fundamental improvements to the reliability of our cloud-dependent products. I apologize to you and sincerely thank you for your support. Feel free to email me for more information and to provide feedback.

 Alex Mann

Snap One Vice-President of Engineering -  Cloud Software, Data Science, & Cybersecurity

[david@berto.co.uk]

59 minutes ago, South Africa C4 user said:

A good response posted by C4:

Postmortem

August 25th Snap One Control4 Cloud Services Outage

Yesterday we experienced a global outage due to an unsuccessful maintenance release. The maintenance was intended to be a non-impactful step forward in increasing the reliability of many Snap-One Control4 cloud-based services.

During the deployment, we quickly detected a disruption and began to identify and isolate the cause. As we approached full recovery, we recognized that recovery would be faster if we rolled back changes. This unplanned event was broad, and we’re genuinely sorry for the impact on you (our Partners and End-Customers).

You rely on our services in a variety of ways. Our #1 goal is to provide you with excellent services; we missed the mark. If you are a customer, please know your technology partner did not cause this outage.

We take all unplanned outages seriously and respond with high urgency:

1.       We are conducting a complete root cause analysis, including reviewing our processes, practices, and technology efforts during this maintenance. We have identified a new approach and timings to minimize overall risk.

2.       We’ll evaluate ways to improve our remediation speed. We have an upcoming release that will speed controller reconnection to Snap One cloud services.

We have been and will continue to innovate and invest in fundamental improvements to the reliability of our cloud-dependent products. I apologize to you and sincerely thank you for your support. Feel free to email me for more information and to provide feedback.

 Alex Mann

Snap One Vice-President of Engineering -  Cloud Software, Data Science, & Cybersecurity

Agreed. An honest and professional response, a step in the right direction. 
 

Unfortunately for a NASDAQ listed company this particular service is not good and regular outages are far to common. 
 

Maybe is the US, and other parts of the world, remote cloud services are good but in the UK they are unreliable and are the brunt of complaints. 
 

We always sell 4Sight but for remote connectivity and performance it can not be relied up on here, VPN is the only reliable and secure alternative. 
 

Hopefully it will improve. 

[bobbay]

If you are being nickeled and dimed, it is your wonderful dealer doing that. C4 sells product and services to dealer. Dealer resells product and services to you. Unless you bought a 4sight sub from C4 directly, which is doubtful, you have never purchased anything from Control4. Maybe a 4sight renewal ($99per year) was a direct purchase. Other than that, every charge you have paid is to your dealer. All of your nickels and dimes are because of the dealer. Oh and any "terrible customer service" is, again a dealer issue. If you need after hours service, your dealer either offers it or doesn't. Has nothing to do with Control4. You as an end user have no point of contact with Control4, only your dealer does. The only time C4 ever steps in is rarely when a terrible dealer screws someone over C4 might step in to get another dealer on board.

Sounds like everyone of your issues stems from your dealer. And the fact that you sound like a DIYer that shouldn't have  purchased a dealer-centric control system in the first place.

 

Oh and Alexa does suck, but again nothing to do with Control4! 

[South Africa C4 user]

1 hour ago, david@berto.co.uk said:

Agreed. An honest and professional response, a step in the right direction. 
 

Unfortunately for a NASDAQ listed company this particular service is not good and regular outages are far to common. 
 

Maybe is the US, and other parts of the world, remote cloud services are good but in the UK they are unreliable and are the brunt of complaints. 
 

We always sell 4Sight but for remote connectivity and performance it can not be relied up on here, VPN is the only reliable and secure alternative. 
 

Hopefully it will improve. 

Fair points… this is also the most open / honest communication I have seen re. an outage.  Hopefully it is the sign of good things to come.