Wanted to give everyone an update. I likely won’t be able to respond as quickly as I’d like as I actually came down with a pretty nasty cold and am typing from my bed bc I know you guys are anxious for an answer and you deserve one.
I will explain further either tonight or tomorrow when I am by my laptop and can type out an action plan.
Edit: nm, I got carried away in typing that I just basically laid out everything. But more info will come in regards to next steps early next week.
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The manufacturer was able to identify the reason for the poor signal issues and it boils down to a hardware issue from one of their suppliers.
Those affected are the IEEE addresses mentioned above (94:xx and 38:xx)
The reason why it passed QC was bc they only tested pairing at 0.5m (wut…?) and didn’t notice any anomolies.
We had a good conversation with them yesterday about how to solve this and they’ve agreed to replace all units that are defective. Not only that, but they are putting together a much more comprehensive testing procedure so that this doesn’t happen again. Especially with production starting next week for Batch 2.
That said, I at least want to be appreciative of them for owning this and for not hiding behind some excuse to try to screw us over. This has happened in the past with another manufacturer and is sadly common in China when dealing with them as a small company.
We spoke directly with the owner and he immediately apologized, and said this was not the way he wanted to start this new relationship off and he offered, without hesitation, to replace these and compensate us for any costs associated with this.
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On one hand, I’m relieved to know that the product we all tested and knew was an amazing switch still holds true. When you put so much work into these and know what you have is good (if not the best) it’s extremely frustrating to see all these issues pop up. Especially issues that were not there in beta.
On the other hand, I’m frustrated that this wasn’t caught at the factory and better procedures weren’t in place as this seems like a very simple fix (to test at the appropriate distance for Zigbee - not 0.5m). And now all you guys have to spend your time, energy and patience in getting and installing new products.
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Timelines
We have a batch that starts production next week and that should be finished by the end of the month. This batch, “luckily” can be used for both replacements and for any backorders that were placed.
I would give my best guess that these will be in the US in early December.
Two weeks after that, another batch of units will come in and following that the remainder with everything being made up to us by the beginning of January.
To be clear - early/mid December is my best guess as to when replacements will be sent out (hinges on customs).
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The Process
This is what I’m still discussing and was going to discuss today but unfortunately my operations guy is out with COVID and I’m bedridden with something so we’ll have to construct the logistics next week.
But at the very least, we will send out replacements before we ask for the old ones back (if we do - honestly idk if it’s worth it).
I’m trying to figure out a way to not find the defective ones on eBay or something.
We’re also going to give out some sort of compensation for your time wasted - likely in the form of a coupon off future orders or some rewards points, I’m not sure yet.
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I want to sincerely apologize for all the frustration and at any time if you’d just like to say forget it, I’m out and would like a refund, I completely understand.
This is definitely not the way we wanted to kick off a brand new lineup.