# A customer service story - Logitech



## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

For a couple of years I have owned a Harmony Ultimate and Hub and been very happy with them. It was more expensive than I liked but it turned out to be a well thought out design and always made our lives easier by quite a stretch.

A few months ago, I needed to add a device and went to the software. I was informed that I needed to upgrade to new firmware and followed the instructions. In the process the remote stopped syncing. So over the past few months I have scoured the support forums, emailed Logitec, posted on their forum, and received suggestions from both email support and on the forum. Nothing worked, and I of course tried on multiple computers, multiple operating systems, and multiple cables. The remote never would do anything other than sit with the black and white myharmony.com screen or the sync in progress screen but the circling arrows were static, for hours if I was patient, and nothing ever changed. I tried reseting to the factory state, tried restoring from the mobile app, everything that was suggested from any source. I finally decided to bite the bullet and call, even though the unit is out of warranty and there would be a charge for phone support. What I did not know was that the call would only be $10, and they never even asked for that.

So the call was the typical tech support call, with a guy on the other end with scripts of what to say and do. I was patient and tried everything he suggested, only to end up where I had been. One more thing that he suggested looked promising and may help someone else save some time. He had me go to the login screen on the myharmony application, and NOT enter my user name. If you put the cursor in the user name field and hold down the SHIFT key and press F9 repeatedly, you get to a toll that is supposed to allow you to upgrade firmware or restore to factory for many remotes. It did not work because my hub and remote would not respond, but it looks like it might be a useful tool. 

So we come to the conclusion that I have a hardware problem and the guy says that they will sell me new gear at a 35% discount as an accomodation. I, of course, asked him to explain why I would want to buy more of their product when the hardware crashed as a result of upgrading at THEIR suggestion with THEIR software. He could not give a response, and said that there was nothing more he could do.

When I first called in, there was a recorded greeting from someone claiming to be someone who mattered in the organization assuring me that they wold resolve my problem on this call and that by the end of the call I would have his email address to contact him if I needed to. Well, I never go that, so I asked the tech rep to give it to me. He left the line and came back with an offer to replace the remote and hub at no charge.

So, the end result is that in 7-10 days I should have a new remote and hub at no charge. In the end, Logitech did the right thing. It is a bit frustrating that their documentation and support are rather obtuse, and the reset tool did not become available until I called tech support. They really could make things easier. The assumption seems to be that consumers are imbeciles. That is probably, on average, a fair assumption, but someone sho has a remote like this and articulates everthing that I had and asks for more information should be able to get it. I should have been able to access that reset and upgrade tool early in the process. 

We'll see if the new remote and hub work as they should. I cannot imagine that they won't, but I am concerned about the firware upgrade process and why it failed. Maybe there was a burp in connectivity that toasted and eeprom or similar, who knows. 

So there you have it, with patience and resilience one can often get a vendor to do the right thing, even if they seem impenetrable...


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

Their products are expensive and to have one fail during firmware upgrade would be annoying beyond description.
Even though they are sending a replacement it seems a little bit bittersweet that you would not have received it if you had not paid good attention to the opening message on the support line and asked for the email address to bump it to the next level.

Thanks for the tip on the reset, I hope I don't ever need to use it.
I have a Harmony One and was forced to upgrade firmware upon initial programming and once a couple years after that, I dreaded doing it each time but it completed successfully both times.
My remote is so old there would be little chance of any compensation in the event of a failure.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

yes, it has been a frustrating issue. My take-home is that it is an example of a comapany that would like to promote itself as being customer oriented, but like most, their scripted customer service process with people who really don't understand the product and its applications (and who they probably don't pay very much) gets in the way.


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

I've always been of the opinion that once a company gets over about 50 people the quality of customer service goes down.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Well, there are lots of small companies that are not customer centered as well.

So I got the replacement hub and remote and set it up and it works fine. There was a glitch when I first tried to set it up and had to restart the computer to get it to pick up the remote, but otherwise, it now works fine and problem solved. The family is very happy to have the single remote back. And the Roku 3 that I was trying to add when the software update crashed installed fine. I wish the buttons were programmed better for it but I can tweak that. Really should not have to but I can live with it.

In the long run Logitech did the right thing, though it took diligence and saavy on my part to get them to the point of doing it. I still think their software is a bit wonky, but such is often the case when one tries to make a system that novice users can't mess up yet still get a sophisticated result. Companies like Logitech need to have a higher skill level with the product in their tech support people. That is not as easy as saying it. I know because I work with software myself and have to support it through a help desk that covers lots of applications and it is not easy. There are ways to do it, however, and it starts with having people work for you that know and use the products themselves. The people that I communicated with had obviously never actually used the remote and software as a consumer. There should also be a way to clear your account to clean up a stuck process. Sorry, but clearing the cache doesn't accomplish that, Logigech. Nor does uninstalling the app. There should be a reset on the account to clean things up. When a sync is stuck there is nothing you can do until you install a new remote and get it finished. Then you can remove the old one. 

So would I recommend an Ultimate or other Logitech remote to others. Probably, but with caveats...


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

I have long since stopped using Logitech, but more for reasons of inconsistent performance as well as difficulty getting them to control such things as ZONE2 macros..

I LOVE URC as I can write my own macros and its very easy to program and with the RF kit its been as rock solid performance as you can hope for... I especially sell alot of MX780's 

I guess there will still be a niche for Logitech as the go to DIY remote. That said as many as I've tried to program, the channel up/down continues to be a nightmare to get right and remain consistent...and zone 2 macros i just gave up on all together ... now I don't service them anymore lest I get married to those customers having issues... 

Thanks for your post / its very useful info to us installers :flex:


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## dialatech (Mar 2, 2013)

I have had a Logitech Harmony One for around 4-5 Years now and everything has always worked for me. Lets hope I never get an issue and I have contact Logitech support.


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## highfigh (Nov 19, 2008)

chashint said:


> Their products are expensive and to have one fail during firmware upgrade would be annoying beyond description.
> Even though they are sending a replacement it seems a little bit bittersweet that you would not have received it if you had not paid good attention to the opening message on the support line and asked for the email address to bump it to the next level.
> 
> Thanks for the tip on the reset, I hope I don't ever need to use it.
> ...


If you think Harmony remotes are expensive, you need to look at the other brands. URC's MX5000 was $1500, the MX3000 was in the same general neighborhood and Crestron's 12" touch screen was $15K.


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## highfigh (Nov 19, 2008)

For anyone who needs to upgrade after a long time or if the screen goes blank, if the battery can be removed, do that and then press/hold the power button as you reinsert the battery. The screen should illuminate and at that point, you can stop pressing the Power button. Once it goes through its routine, it should show 'Safe Mode'. Do the update and when that's done, it should be back to normal. If it won't go into Safe Mode, it's a paper weight.

Harmony is making some changes and after the last few conversations I had with them, they seem to be serious about it. I have been selling Harmony remotes since 2004, before Logitech bought the company. I would call and usually, one of the three original people wold answer but once Logitech came in, communication with anyone who knew how to work with these went away, with a few exceptions. Then, they announced that they were starting a dealer partnership. That didn't work and they pulled the plug without telling any of the dealers- I found out when I called at the end of a Friday, when they were closing. When I said that I could call back the next Monday, he said I shouldn't bother because that was the last day for the dealer partner department, including him. I had been working with their H1000, which had serious problems, almost from Day 1. In the next few years, I had varying degrees of success when calling their tech support department and the whole time, they have had a higher tier of support, but it's not always easy to reach. 

Fast forward to about 6 months ago, when I called to basically complain about their phone numbers changing and making it almost impossible to reach tech support. The number I called had been for another department, but I ended up talking with one of the heads of their Digital Control Group and he was actually on vacation in Europe, but he took the time to continue, even though I said we could talk later. Next time I called, he was in the middle of something else that was important, but again, he insisted that we continue. 

A couple of months ago, after unloading about the lack of communication with their dealers, the musical chair distribution changes, the announcement that they were discontinuing Harmony remote offerings and the lack of resolutions for the problems I was having, HE contacted me, to ask for additional comments and recommendations for a new dealer portal they have been building. He asked me for questions, comments and criticism, from the end user standpoint and, as a programmer and dealer. After the follow-up e-mails, he asked if I would be interested in being part of a telephone round-table discussion with others from Harmony tech support, marketing and the new head of the dealer portal. 

For those who are dealers, look for an announcement about a new dealer tech support number/department and more communication to us. They're also building a dealer page that will replace the one that was available for keeping all of our customer's accounts organized and in one place, so we don't need to create a document that lists all of the names, user login names and passwords. 

As much as I have complained about Harmony and the problems I have had as a dealer, I will say that their database is more complete than URC's and at times, someone at Harmony has looked at the codes I learned for devices in real time, to make sure they were good codes. I had a situation with URC where I asked if the guy in tech support wanted me to e-mail the configuration and his response was to ask what good that would do. I have even had problems with URC remotes that they couldn't fix, even when starting a configuration from scratch. The person I was dealing with is the one who makes the videos for training dealers and if he couldn't fix it, I don't know how they expect us to. 

I had called to ask about a good replacement for the H1100, which I have been using in the systems as a replacement for the H1000 and I like the 1100- it does what I need and I could get it to do things Tech Support told me it couldn't/wouldn't. I needed to be able to create the buttons I was using for Zone 2 control without it being a macro on top of the Main Zone commands- sometimes, they want to initiate Zone2 while Main is already operating, so I would add commands and sequences. It worked, but it was sometimes slow and at times, the buttons required additional pressing, without any way of knowing why it didn't work. 

The new Elite (and the slightly older 950) offer haptic feedback when certain commands are sent and that's a great way to know when it's working. I set up an Elite to see if it would be a suitable replacement for the 1100 that was dropped & broken by a customer's husband and after playing with it for a few days, I delivered it. Neither of them are particularly good with remotes, but they love it- it responds faster and they feel the vibrations when the commands are sent. Range is excellent and the IR flash is much stronger than the old RF extender. 

I got a Harmony Companion and contrary to what the person in tech support told me, it DOES pair with the Elite's hub, without causing any problems with the Elite's operation. Even after the battery dies on the Elite and I use the Companion, the Elite goes to the page for the activity that' in use, not the home screen. 

In addition, the Elite has several functions the old ones didn't; you can add delays- lots of them. They start at 1 second and can be increased to 20 seconds, each. The first time I played with that, I added 46 delays, most at the 20 second maximum and it didn't tell me that I couldn't do that. It also allows adding commands, as long as the device needing those commands has been added to the activity. The commands can be moved via drag & drop, too. This means we now have Macros! The reason I looked at the delays is for a system that I'm working on that needs a remote and because it has a projector, I needed to be able to make the PJ's bulb cool down before shutting off. Done! 

The Elite is more rigid, which tells me it will survive more abuse. I already told them I would like to see the edges made to feel more "grippy" and increased height for the buttons on screen. 

Remotes were the bane of my existence and I like this one. I like the Companion, too. A lot. It's not only possible to add the Companion to the Elite account, at least one hub can be added- I haven't found out how many, but I'll definitely be looking into that and reporting on it.


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## Mrhookup1234 (Dec 10, 2016)

I, too, have been programming Harmony Remotes for many years. There have been certain hiccups over the years. As a programmer, I usually called the Tier 2 line, and had better success (866-826-5722). If you run into a real problem (especially with hardware failure; call William Wong). He put me in touch with his best technician. Several years ago, Logitech was moving towards selling off the Harmony Remotes. Apparently, they did not find a suitable Company who was willing to pay them what they wanted for it. Then, the decision was made to keep it & do what they could to up their game, and improve customer support.

I recall having a crazy problem with a Harmony Pro 890. I was at CEDIA that year. I took a course with Harmony. I was very upset & frustrated with this; I stood up & spoke my mind. I embarrassed him. It was like rubbing a puppy's nose in his own waste. 

In regard to URC, It's far from ideal. The programming is a lot more time consuming. I have also experienced hardware failures with URC Remotes. IMHO, the best Remote system was UEI (Nevo). I particularly loved the Q50. It was just the best.


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