Why must I throw it away? Is this REALLY Samsung's suggestion?

I recently purchased a smart things hub v2 on ebay that has firmware version 15.00008. I’ve tried factory resetting multiple times, only to find out that it will only update after factory reset when on firmware version 17.11 and higher. I thought no big deal, contact support and they will probably just push me an update. Lol nope. They told me that the firmware was to old to be updated on the backend and to buy a new one. What kind of business practice is this? Really disappointed in my new smart things purchase. Thanks for your “help” Samsung support. Appreciated!!! Anyone out there with any other suggestions? Am I just out of luck? Will my hub update when they push a new update out?

Tagging @Brad_ST

PFFT! never heard of that. unplug power, press and hold back reset button, plug power in, when front light rapidly flickets a yellowish color release reset button, led light will change thru several colors including magenta which is when it is pulling down the latest firmware.

I tried that. Apparently, and unfortunately, that feature wasn’t introduced until firmware 17.11. When I factory reset on firmware 15.0008, it does not reset the device, nor does it pull down the update. On Samsung’s help page it specifically tells you for this to work, you must be on 17.11 or above.

You can always contact the seller and request a refund. If that does not work, you can ask eBay to step in.

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well if thats the case then i would return said hub v2 to the seller as it was sold to you ‘defective’. be sure to go immediately thru the ‘return process’ so that the seller doesnt try to ‘song and dance’ their way around with just regular ‘contact seller’ messages. remember to always communicate with a seller thru ebay messages so that everything is logged and ebay can see the conversation if needed. the hub is defective and there is a good chance that the seller knew this before hand. also, in the return message tell the seller that if they want the hub back that you need prepaid shipping label.

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Yes I could return it, and if that’s where I’m at, I guess I must. The device isn’t defective. Samsung just refuse to update it for me, which is ridiculous. For them to tell me it’s on to old of firmware doesn’t make sense. Give me 17.11 then and I’ll do it myself. I was just hoping someone would see this and get it straightened out for me.

Please keep in mind that the cost of a hub is tiny in comparison to the cost of devices you will buy to make the hub useful. Truly tiny. Extra tiny. Hyper tiny. 3 ZWave switches and you are past the hub cost. Trying to save a few bucks on eBay isn’t worth it but since you tried and it failed my opinion is you should seek a refund as others have said and buy a new hub. It isn’t Samsung’s fault. They are not in the business of supporting old deprecated stuff bought on eBay. The DIY smart home hobby isn’t a cheap one unfortunately. It is a fun one though. Look at it this way; a new ST hub is less than a really good bottle of wine (or whiskey) and it lasts a lot longer.

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Honestly, on any other device, this wouldn’t be ok. Your replying as if the device IS defective. It’s not. If it’s not Samsung’s fault, whose then? All they have to do is push an update to my hub, but they refuse. I’ve seen forum posts where they pushed updates to the same firmware I have for other people, but can’t for me? My device firmware is too old really seems like a cop out and lazyiness vs they CAN’t do it. As far as using ebay, that’s pretty much the only place I found to buy a v2 hub. I do not need wifi, so why get v3? I mean, to say it’s my fault cuz I cheaper out and got a defective device is far from an accurate description of what’s going on. To make that determination is shortsighted.

Maybe I am misunderstanding your meaning but the V3 hub is just a newer version of the V2. It does not do anything with wifi except connect to it.
There are Samsung wifi and Samsung connect which I believe serve as wifi routers (not very familiar with these 2 products so I may be wrong on this part)

there is nothing wrong with purchasing used stuff on ebay and you save a LOT of money. yes, you do take a slight risk, but there are safe guards in place to get your money back if the seller was not honest. generally i save at least 50% (or more) of the new retail cost. when i purchase a LOT of goods, generally the hub included is a free add on to the breakdown of the cost across the devices in the lot.

The new Hub is only $119, to me the extra cost would be worth it.

you have to keep in mind that not everyone is rolling in money.

Please don’t tell my wife and kids I’m rolling in money, they don’t know. As @ kewashi said, the Hub is the smallest investment in a Smart Home, the devices will far exceed the Hub cost. But your choice, for me I’d rather be sure it all works. If Smarththings said they won’t update the F/W posting on here will not make them. But then again, I’m rolling in money…

Michael

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mkay Michael

17.11 marked the change from incremental updates to whole image updates so it might make sense that support can’t handle it themselves. It does, however, seem odd that it can’t be done at all.

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You will fart out $119 bucks buying smart switches and motion sensors. Just buy a new hub and thank us later.

Thanks for the repeated advice. You really have a lot to offer. Why even post?

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