Logitech is replacing my Harmony 880 already

[Hyfi]

I got the Harmony 880 after research and cost considerations. I had a few issues with functionality which Harmony fixed via something on their end and a refresh of the programming. It does everything I wanted it to do with a few items on the wish list.

I ran into the odd intermittent issue with the charging base. It would blip into and out of charge and you had to mess with it for a while to get it to charge again. I emailed Harmony and they had me do a Firmware Upgrade which really seemed to fix the problem and make the base less touchy to placement.

It worked fine for a week until I used it to control my Rotel 1072 CDP which does not have Remote on/off but all other functions. I chose Device>Play CD, and used the remote. When I was done, I pressed the main Off button and placed it in the base and it blipped in and out of charge. I had to cycle through all of my Activities and answer the assistant before pressing the main Off and placing back in the base which then went into charge.

Since Harmony seemed to think this was a programming-Firmware issue, I gave them all the above details thinking maybe it was just confused when using a device without remote on-off.

I got an email today saying they are sending a new replacement and to throw away the original one. I guess the stuff is so cheaply made (and profit margin huge) it's not worth them repairing it OR it really is a MFG defect they don't want to reveal unless they have to and only a newer model will resolve the issues.

Anyway, their Customer Support has been better than most and response time to emails is 1-2 hours and a little more if it's a Sunday.

[pixelthis]

I got the Harmony 880 after research and cost considerations. I had a few issues with functionality which Harmony fixed via something on their end and a refresh of the programming. It does everything I wanted it to do with a few items on the wish list.

I ran into the odd intermittent issue with the charging base. It would blip into and out of charge and you had to mess with it for a while to get it to charge again. I emailed Harmony and they had me do a Firmware Upgrade which really seemed to fix the problem and make the base less touchy to placement.

It worked fine for a week until I used it to control my Rotel 1072 CDP which does not have Remote on/off but all other functions. I chose Device>Play CD, and used the remote. When I was done, I pressed the main Off button and placed it in the base and it blipped in and out of charge. I had to cycle through all of my Activities and answer the assistant before pressing the main Off and placing back in the base which then went into charge.

Since Harmony seemed to think this was a programming-Firmware issue, I gave them all the above details thinking maybe it was just confused when using a device without remote on-off.

I got an email today saying they are sending a new replacement and to throw away the original one. I guess the stuff is so cheaply made (and profit margin huge) it's not worth them repairing it OR it really is a MFG defect they don't want to reveal unless they have to and only a newer model will resolve the issues.

Anyway, their Customer Support has been better than most and response time to emails is 1-2 hours and a little more if it's a Sunday.

I wouldn't throw it away, probably still usefull.
You wouldnt beleive how cheap they make these things , really.

[Hyfi]

I'm not throwing it away. It still works and I know how to resolve it when it happens. I can still use it because I programmed every component in the house on it before they disconnected me from the program for that remote.

[nightflier]

Ironically, the reason Logitech is so good on product support is because they compete against Microsoft. The latter has legendary support (for its hardware), believe it or not. If it ever breaks during the life of the product, Microsoft replaces it no questions asked. I've put this to the test for over a decade now, and I'm still amazed at how quickly they will exchange stuff that doesn't work.

Hmmmm, maybe that Logitech Transporter isn't such a bad deal after all.

[Hyfi]

The replacement was a refurb that was worse than the original. I just wrote them a scathing email about their quality control and asked if they can't send a working replacement, send me a better model at no charge.

Now I wait again. It's a real shame because overall, with a few peeves, these remotes do what you want.

[Hyfi]

After sending me a Refurb that was worse than the one I had, they just sent me a new in retail box 880 which does guess what?

My guess is that they have a whole MFG run of these where the Plus-Minus tolerance for the remote and base are too large. What i figured is that if you put a piece of tape or anything the thickness of a Leftie just at the front of the tray, it seats properly all the time.

They do disable the programming of the originals but they still work with the current program. I'm putting away the latest replacement for later.

Does anyone have an 880 that ALWAYS seats properly?

[Worf101]

My Harmony One does NOT always seat properly but I rarely use it. Puddin uses it all the time though. Thus far no problems with anything.

Da Worfster

[Hyfi]

My Harmony One does NOT always seat properly but I rarely use it. Puddin uses it all the time though. Thus far no problems with anything.

Da Worfster

I know what the problem is and how to resolve it in most cases but I will continue to bust their balls until they do more than keep sending me ones that don't work properly.

Thanks for the input.

[pixelthis]

I dread when my six year old Pronto breaks, probably have to get something like a HARMONY.

[Hyfi]

So after 3 bad 880s, I got them to send me a Harmony One for the next replacement.

Who who wants to take odds that it has the same problems?

[Hyfi]

So I got my newest replacement remote. It is a Refurb Harmony One.

So far it works just fine and has a much nicer look-feel than the 880. They obviously knew about the charging tray flaw and re-engineered it for the One. Instead of having sets of pins in the tray and matching sets of little pins on remote, they changed the remote to have a plate about 10x larger than the pins on charging tray and seem to have added a magnet to keep it connected.

Overall, good tech support for a crappy product which they don't even show on website anymore so I guess they pulled the 880 from production.