@cgrotal Didn’t you read before you ordered? It was very clear this a manual migration currently. I have about the same number of devices in my setup and I agree it is a pain but at least they were very clear.
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I would like to say that its not a failure, but not a success either… they were very clear up-front about the struggles in migration that people would have… nobody lied about it there.
Your take on what you expect from Customer Service… is your take, but I for one would not call the migration process a customer service failure. It sucks, but they told us it would…
There are many other areas of the update to platform that are probably better to pick on… like missing or removed features from the platform or application…
Migration went exactly as they said it would… painfully…
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Got the Hub 2 days ago from Amazon and after reading all these painful stories decided to send it back to amazon today. Why would any company discourage consumers from buying their product? Because they know they effed up the release. kind of like when Tim Cook came out and said go ahead and use google maps because apple maps sucks.
Email one:
Time: 2AM, 9/3
Recipients: Email addresses for all claimed Hubs
From: Alex Hawkinson (no-reply)
Subject: New SmartThings Mobile App
Today is a big day for SmartThings, and I’m thrilled to share the news that we’re launching our next generation product line, including updates to our SmartThings app and new hardware.
The new SmartThings app has a new, intuitive design and lots of great new features, including enhanced rooms and device views, and a rich new solution called Smart Home Monitor.
In most cases, you’ll automatically receive the new SmartThings app upgrade sometime after 12pm PT, and Smart Home Monitor will be available for setup in your dashboard shortly thereafter. Your existing setup will continue to work as expected. There are some changes in the navigation, but it should be pretty straightforward. If have any confusion, this support article will help you find what you’re looking for, and of course we’re always available at support@smartthings.com.
We’re also launching a full family of new devices today, including the next generation of our Hub and sensors. Features of the new Hub include video support in beta, battery backup and local processing so many functions will continue to work even if the Hub is offline.
If you’re making the change to a Hub version 2, please note that we’ve updated our Terms of Service to reflect support for video/audio streaming. We also have explicit instructions available on how to migrate and we’ve set up a dedicated support queue at migrationhelp@smartthings.com to assist you. Our goal is to have an automated device migration tool available by the end of the year if you would prefer to wait. And of course upgrading your Hub is not required to continue to benefit from SmartThings.
My heartfelt thanks for being a SmartThings customer and supporter. We hope you’ll enjoy the new SmartThings experience.
Thank You,
Alex
Email 2: Customers with 50 or more connected devcies
From: Ryan Hanna (no-reply)
Subject: SmartThings VIP Support
Hello from SmartThings Support.
This is Ryan Hanna, manager of the SmartThings Support Team. If you’re getting this email, it’s because you have a particularly extensive SmartThings setup in your home. Lots of devices, lots of SmartApps, and hopefully lots of value.
And if you’ve reached out to the support team over the past few years, I hope you’ve directly experienced how passionate and dedicated we are to helping you turn your home into a smart home. Now is no different.
As Alex noted in his earlier email, your current setup will continue to work as expected with the new SmartThings app. You’ll immediately benefit from the new user experience and the power of new features. Please read about the changes and if you have any questions, this article may help or we are available at support@smartthings.com.
If you’re planning to move to the Hub version 2, we recognize that the lack of a device migration tool can be especially frustrating given the scope of your setup. The team is working towards a solution by end of year, but if you want to get started sooner, we are here to help.
If you email migrationhelp@smartthings.com, I’ve instructed the team to recognize you as a VIP and make sure you receive the fastest response possible. Our support team will be available to help clean up SmartApps, guide you through device removal and re-pairing, delete locations, and provide recommendations on new and improved SmartApps that can make your home smarter than ever.
Thanks for your continued support of SmartThings.
Ryan
UPDATE: Edited the audience of the 2nd email (50 or more connected device holders)
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This decision was agonized over, but here is the long and short of it: If we would have delayed launch until we had a migration tool ready we would have 1) “penalized” new customers who don’t need to migrate by not letting them get SmartThings and 2) run out of V1 Hubs.
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Both seem like legit reasons to me.
I’m not disputing the validity of either reason, I understand, it was more of a counterpoint to the excellent customer service point made by someone else.
IMHO- There has been a lot of dismayed discussion over the migrating from the V1 to V2 with no tool to do so. I myself, admit that I looked at it with a bit of trepidation. You see, I’m not a programmer, I am not a coder and I am not an engineer. I am your basic home end user. I most likely represent the next wave of folks that will be getting into Home Automation. I chose to get the V2 hub because I continued to add devices and did not want my system getting any bigger before the upgrade.
In preparation I read everything I could, I ask every question that could possibly think of, and I pulled out all of my manuals for all my devices.
However, here is the truth, it just wasn’t that bad. In total it took me a couple of hours to redo 30+ devices. Now that it’s done, I actually like it much better. My system seems much more solid and once I learned the app I could find things in half the time.
Please don’t let the apprehension of others deter you from the migration. This community still has so many wonderful people that will support and guide you (as long as they are treated respectfully) and SmartThings support does a great job of bending over backwards to help folks.
Do your homework, put the plan together and once you get started you realize it’s probably not as bad as you thought it would be. One last thought… How do you eat the whole elephant…. one bite at a time.
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Why do you guys keep saying they “made it perfectly clear”. This is an absurd statement. I’ll shut up about this if anyone can show me a single customer notification from ST to customers advising them that they will not be able to directly upgrade their hubs. I am not talking about obscure posts on the forums here I am talking about direct emails or notices in the package or on the product sales pages.
They don’t exist.
Stop trying to defend them for this debacle and instead realize they need to learn something from this so it doesn’t happen again. They are not children and if they can’t take the heat for their mistakes, intentional or otherwise, then they should not be in this business.
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Hi Santiago,
I’m just curious: Did you not receive the email(s) that Ben referred to, and didn’t they state this?
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Did you read the posts above from Ben, copied from emails to all ST customers?
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dfairbro1, I accomplished my migration but in order to do so I had to create an entirely new account. Did I want to? Certainly not. I also did not want to risk creating a second location on the chance that it might cause issues.
I am very technical, not everyone is. I can’t imagine what users without technical skills might be going through right now. There are posts about users spending many hours, as much as 12 I’ve seen, to accomplish this. As for myself as I mentioned in another post it’s now 3 days with no response from ST support to the location removal bug which basically locks my v1 hub from use.
I agree that with enough technical know how and resolve this is an achievable thing, to migrate, but many will be overwhelmed I fear.
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Obycode, thank you for your post. I just searched my in box for an email containing your quotes above. Only the first quote exists in any customer email and it’s in the email regarding the new APP not the new Hub. It’s also not an alert email of any sort, it’s a marketing email.
So technically yes there’s a smidgen of information there but I would hardly call it an alert. It doesn’t even imply there’s any issues to be had and uses the term “migration” which has nothing to do with the manual rebuild which is the reality.
I’m not trying to be an ass but I really don’t think there’s anything defensible here.
It’s probably also worth nothing that some new customers were already complaining that they just bought v1 hub and now needed to upgrade to v2… or that some were holding out before buying for v2.
Personally I think ST made the right decision and gave good recommendations:
Here’s v2 Hub… if you want it now, get. If your upgrading from v1 here’s the deal: No tool exists right now to migrate easily. If that bothers you or concerns you, wait until we get the tool ready. If it doesn’t bother you, here’s what you need to do, we’re ready to support you if needed.
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[quote=“dfairbro1, post:30, topic:23550, full:true”]One last thought… How do you eat the whole elephant…. one bite at a time.
[/quote]
Now you tell me…
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@Ben Ben, the second email you posted is to “Smartthings VIP support”. What qualifies a person to have received that email? That would have been very informative but unfortunately it’s not helpful unless every customer receives it.
The first email is to “Email addresses for all claimed hubs”. This is the App email, not a notification about V2 issues.
Two completely different email lists. Not the same list as you stated.
I completely understand not wanting to scare off customers. I also sympathize. But in your position I am sure you know what pain this has caused customers and your own support team.
I love the ST echosystem. Had I now I would not have pre-ordered. What you guys have done and are doing is fantastic. However not providing proper support (not a single reply to my support ticket has been received and my location is still locked) and leaving customers with non-functional systems as a result of the migration process is not acceptable.
I know it’s not easy but the feeling is that ST is more concerned about hiding this issue than resolving it. Why is it taking 3 days or more for locations to be removed from broken accounts?
The first “marketing” email had this in it:
That’s more than smidge… it clearly states there is no migration tool now, but will hopefully be there by year end. The second email, which went out to the same list of people (see Ben’s posts above) went into even more detail:
[quote]If you’re planning to move to the Hub version 2, we recognize that the lack of a device migration tool can be especially frustrating given the scope of your setup. The team is working towards a solution by end of year, but if you want to get started sooner, we are here to help.
If you email migrationhelp@smartthings.com, I’ve instructed the team to recognize you as a VIP and make sure you receive the fastest response possible. Our support team will be available to help clean up SmartApps, guide you through device removal and re-pairing, delete locations, and provide recommendations on new and improved SmartApps that can make your home smarter than ever.[/quote]
Look, there’s always better ways to get info out there… you usually can’t state it enough and SmartThings may not have gone to the nth-degree to let everyone know, repeatedly, continuously, that it there was no simple way to move from one hub to the other.
But it wasn’t buried in fine print either.
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There’s a difference between “fine print” and expecting someone to find information in a very crowded Forum, and personal emails … it’s a spectrum.
If in doubt, use the opposite of fine print:
-
At checkout time for Hub V2, in very large text, describe the risk/effort due to current lack of migration tools. Allow the sale to be canceled at that point.
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In the box with Hub V2, put a big sheet of paper with 24 pt text and the same warning, along with the email to contact for a free RMA / full refund.
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For gawd’s sake, SmartThings, please educate people on the difference between Hub V2 and mobile App V2. Too many people are confusing these two distinctly different things. At the moment, Hub V2 can run with App “V1 or V2”, and , Hub V1 can run with App “V1 or V2”. Some Customers may find it easier to only upgrade the Hub OR the App at one time, until their personal environment is stabilized.
Guys, c’mon. Enough is enough! It is what it is. Publicly crying won’t give you a migration tool and chances are that soon you won’t be able to find any solutions to anything because we are clogging this forum with trivial matters, while solutions to HA problems are lost in the sea of nothingness talk!
Can we please maintain this forum for what it used to be: a quick and effective way to collaboratively find workaround solutions to more advanced ST features?
For all others, here is a thread just for you!
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You are right - I forgot that the second email was sent to those with 50 or more devices. While I can understand the frustration of no migration tool, I think there is a lot of value it rebuilding from scratch. I have done it countless times and each time I think it is better as I learn more about how I want things in my home. Many may not agree.
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