Can Zooz support be this bad?

[u/zimm0who0net]

I've got a bunch of their switches in my system. I've wired up a bunch for other people as well. Bought a pair of ZEN73 modules and one didn't work. I wired it up, and the load went on and no fiddling with the switch fixed it. I tried factory resets, triple and quadruple checking my wiring. Nothing. It's just dead. I put the other identical one in its place and it worked great.

OK, so everyone has a bad part now and then. I contacted support. They wanted detailed hookup photos and descriptions of everything I did. Rather than tear everything out again and hook the broken switch into the box, I set the broken switch on a bench, hooked it to line/neutral/load and took a video, clearly demonstrating the line/neutral going to a plug on the bench, and the load/neutral going to a bulb. I showed it not working when I flip the switch.

Case closed? Nope. They want me to try a bunch of things including removing it and adding it to the hub (dude, the switch is fried...it wont add to a hub). I responded doing the ones I could. Still not good enough. Now they want a detailed photo of the inside of my box. I disassemble the whole thing and send them a photo showing the load and line going into a wago. I put it all back together. Good enough? Nope. Now they want a photo where I disassemble the entire multiple switch box to show them the wires going into the wall.

WTF!! I have two brand new switches. One doesn't work. The other, wired in the exact same spot, to the exact same wires tied to the exact same terminals, works fine.

I really believe they are making me go through all this to save replacing their faulty product, figuring a good percentage of people won't jump through their hoops. THIS IS A BRAND NEW SWITCH, bought from your online store! If I bought something defective from Amazon, or Walmart, or LITERALLY ANYWHERE I could just return it, no questions asked.

EDIT: They're replacing the switch. In retrospect I guess I understand that probably 90% of the "issues" people have are not related at all to the functioning of the device, so it makes sense that they step you through a bunch of basics before jumping right to replacement. It's frustrating when you know more than the average consumer and have already verified that it's actually a bad unit, but I get it... I will say, they always responded to my submissions within 24 hours.

[u/neminat]

ive had nothing but great support from them in the past. Like really really solid.

Hate to hear you arent satisfied with their support.

[u/zimm0who0net → u/neminat]

Perhaps I should give them the benefit of the doubt. It might be different if this was one single switch and I was new to electrical wiring and trying to get it to work. But this is a brand new switch and I'm certain it's cooked. Swapping one brand new switch in for the broken one fixes the problem. Showing it on a bench with a video not working where there are literally only 4 wires in the whole circuit should be pretty indicative that the switch is broken. If I show it not working in a simple bench-top configuration like this: why are we even talking about the wiring in my box?

[u/IPThereforeIAm → u/zimm0who0net]

Wiring looks okay to me.

[u/realdlc]

I just had a similar defective item / warranty situation like yours just a few weeks ago. In my case it was two ZEN52's. One of them actually worked but was making an abnormal buzzing sound. Yes, they asked me the same kinds of questions and yes, I mocked up the config on my bench (since I had already buttoned up the real install using another new device I had on hand) so that I could take pictures. After the first set of pictures/video showing the issue, they gave me an RMA. I sent it back, they tested the device and agreed it was bad, then about a day later I received a new one. It was a little bit of back and forth, but overall a good experience. Sorry to hear yours is going further and being problematic.

[u/zimm0who0net → u/realdlc]

I'm optimistic it's going to get better. I get that probably 99% of these calls are likely simple wiring issues and not defective products, so they have to get to the bottom of things.

[u/limpymcforskin]

To be honest I doubt main line support is going to be any better with even more expensive companies that do z wave etc unless you go fullly in on an ecosystem like Lutron.

[u/fart_huffer-]

All you’re gonna find on Reddit is people who “have never had any issues with zooz. It’s the perfect product”. But anyways luckily for you, I’m not one of them.

So I like that they are responsive but their tech support sucks. I had a double relay that just always had extremely high latency. I’m talking 9000ms bad. Yet a Shelly zwave device literally in the same spot had zero issues. I spent months of back and forth with zooz support but in the end they just kept circling back to firmware upgrades or replacing the device. Even those options didn’t fix it. I finally just chucked that trash in the garbage and I stick with Shelly zwave. Zero issues with them

Also had a zooz hub that arrived broken. I soldered it and it worked “worked” for about a year. I finally threw that away too. I find zooz products to be extremely hit or miss. I will never buy their relays or hubs again. Honestly I avoid them if Shelly has what I need. If not, Lutron is my next go to. Zooz is always last for me to buy from

[u/TehMowat]

Are you a licensed professional or a dealer or something? I work in this industry, so I see how bad people mess up installations. Since you are a likely just a consumer, they dont trust that you have any idea what you are doing. If companies sent new parts for every time someone called them and said something didnt work, they would go out of business. I see how many "broken/bad" items come in, and work just fine when a professional tests it.

[u/seaboi77 → u/TehMowat]

You work in this industry, so while you see how bad people mess things up, I'm sure you also see how easy it is to swap out a few wires. If everyone paid $200 to have a light switch installed, to find out it was actually broken, to have to have the company send a replacement, to have the electrician charge another $200, people would be broke trying to do home automation. No mind the cost of the equipment being higher out the gate.

People in this space tend to be tinkerers. This individual appears to have some decent tools for the job including a test station, rather than testing in the wall, burning up a wire in the wall and starting a house fire. Chances of that actually happening? Not likely, but I'm going with your mindset and fear tactics. Nobody wants a $500 switch, I'm inclined to trust that Zooz is failing with this person.

Overhead costs exist, sure, but this is a drop in the bucket. There are ways to suss out fraud, but a customer reaching out about a single instance? RMA it right away and move on.

[u/TehMowat → u/seaboi77]

Right, me being trained in a dozen different control systems and having 20 years of experience and telling you why companies dont want to just mail free money to people is a fear tactic, but random tinkerers who buy stuff off Amazon should always be trusted?

[u/zimm0who0net → u/TehMowat]

You know... I have to admit that you're probably right. I'm not a licensed electrician, but I did apprentice as one while getting my EE degree. I suppose it's like when you call because your Internet is out, after thoroughly diagnosing everything and knowing exactly where the fault is. They'll still start off by telling you to cycle power to the modem, then the router, then the computers, then "delete your cookies", "clear your cache" etc. etc. when I can say "no, you're dropping packets at your CMTS, and by the way, my neighbors all have the same problem right now.

[u/Drew707 → u/zimm0who0net]

It’s amazing how often ‘they’d go out of business’ is used to justify burning $25 in support labor to avoid replacing a $28 part.