Why can't I get any Tech Support?

Watercooler
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Well, a WEEK ago I sent in a support ticket, followed up by TWO emails, and still not a word from Wyze Support.
This IS a pattern with Wyze… EVERY time I have sent in a tech support request, it goes like this… I send in the request, I wait for at least a week with no contact from Wyze, then I send a few emails, and finally come here to the forums to “air out the laundry”. To be fair, I the last email I sent to Wyze gave them a deadline to contact me…otherwise I would go to the forums.

If the pattern holds, somebody from Wyze will show up on this thread in a day or two, saying “we never got your support request!” “What’s your ticket number?” Let’s see… this will be the FIFTH time I’ve asked for tech support, and the FIFTH time it’s gone in this exact manner.

ALL I’M ASKING FOR IS AN ANSWER TO MY SERVICE REQUEST…BUT IT SEEMS WYZE IS TOO BUSY WITH PEOPLE RECOGNITION AND LIGHT BULBS TO PROVIDE ANY CUSTOMER SERVICE!

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I’m going to bring this up with Wyze directly. Can you also provide your support ticket number here, please?

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May I please have your ticket number? One of the mods let me know about this thread so that I could jump on here earlier. :slight_smile:

The deadline makes sense but it would admittedly be difficult for us to adhere to it if we haven’t reached your ticket yet but the time it has passed.

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Wow…you people are if nothing else predictable! Gotta air out the laundry on a public forum to make anything happen! If it takes a week+ to get to a support ticket, then that might be an indicator that you need more tech support personnel.

Wyze Ticket 283779

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We are currently working on hiring more people. You could also message me directly on here if you didn’t want to make a public post but I hope that you never run into this problem again. I’ll go draw attention to your ticket for you. :slight_smile:

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keep in mind the novelty of this amazing company.

in comparison to many other companies Wyze is still in it’s relative infancy, yet still able to surpass the services and abilities of solid companies that have been a around for decades now in many ways…

for instance, google has over 100000 employees. surely there are at least a couple thousand customer service employees there…

Wyze on the other hand has less than 200 employees and is growing and selling like mad. with thousands of customers, at times Wyze surely gets a backlog, but name another company you can converse with in the manner you are now…a 3 hour response time from a Wyze employee (the always amazing @UserCustomerGwen) …you can’t even get that response at most doctors offices unless you are carrying your own leg in a backpack…

I’m not trying to harang you, just trying to put this type of thing in relative perspective for the response times they currently have. #stayWyze :sunglasses:

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“Relative perspective” is that any other tech company gives me a response in 1-2 days AT MOST. Your “3 hour” is nothing but a lie! My support request has been in for over a week!
EVERY time I have put in a support request with Wyze… I have NEVER received ANY contact/reply, in less than a WEEK! EVERY time it’s the same thing… my support request goes unanswered for a week or more, then I come to the forums, and post about it… then it’s “Oh! We never got a support request from you!” “Send us your ticket number.” This time it’s a new tactic… we are overwhelmed with support requests… which I doubt. My suspicion is that Wyze is too busy with people recognition, and light bulbs, and is directing their energies there…and letting it slack in other areas (like support).

One of those BIG issues is Wyze Cams destroying SD cards. It’s been 10 months now since the situation/issue with WyzeCams eating/destroying SD cards was brought to the companies attention… nothing has been solved yet!

I have a full stable of Wyze cameras, none of which works as advertised ( they all destroy SD cards)…and nobody seems to GARA! I’ve been more than patient, not only with waiting on a fix for the SD cards situation (using products that lack their full promised functionality), but with unanswered or lengthy waits for support in relationship to that very issue.

So don’t come on here…making statements with no knowledge of the history or dynamics of the situation(s). With all due respect, it only makes you look like a flunky, running interference for Wyze.

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Venting your frustration and disappointment here on the forum is well understood. But honestly, I think you would get the support and attention you are looking for if you would do as Gwendolyn mentioned, just message her directly. I hope your problem is resolved soon.

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There’s an adage in customer service (I’m making this up) that a customer approaching the point of maximum frustration will not be open to suggestions like “be reasonable.”

EdCaffreyMS is pissed and justifiably so.

His lament that “old” problems seem to fall off the Wyze radar in favor of the those emerging from new products/services has been expressed before and has merit IMO.

My approach has been to not fully commit to adopting Wyze for my original intended purposes. I’ve lowered my expectations and and am in a comfortable state of wait-and-see. If I had fully commited as it seems Ed has I expect I would be as frustrated as he is.

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Obviously this is NOT something that is happening on all devices, as I have had absolutely no Issues with any feature nor product purchased.

Person detection with notifications… Works! (perfectly I might add)
SD cards (128g sammy endurance) 5 of which never experienced and issue… Works!
Motion Sensors… Works!
Contact sensors… Works!
Wyze bulbs… Works!
Triggering bulbs via any sensor… Works! (near instantaneously)
IFTTT triggers… Works! (as perfectly as IFTTT can)

What I am getting at is, It is not something that affects everyone. This makes itt much harder to troubleshoot.
If they can not reproduce the problem, again, harder to troubleshoot.

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I tried to contact in private… sent 3 emails over a week period BEFORE I did anything on the forums…and they all went unanswered.

On previous support requests that went unanswered, I emailed AND PMed… there were no replies.

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Well, Good for you! I’m glad you’re not experiencing any issues. However, that has NOT been my experience.

To bore you to tears…here’s the history/story.… The very first TWO version 1 WyzeCams I purchased had immediate issues… it took me nearly two weeks to get any response from support…and another week to get Wyze to agree to replace them. After more than a MONTH, I thought all was settled and good.

After receiving the replacements and believing everything was good… I began placing/using the cameras… for a couple of weeks everything was fine. Then, I noticed that I could no longer access the SD cards in either camera…and that in fact, the SD cards (micro) were not accessible/recognized by any device… in other words the SD cards were destroyed. At first I thought I’d purchased defective SD cards, so I purchased new ones, and a couple of weeks after installing them in the cameras…same thing. I sought support from Wyze, but got no replies to my requests. So, again I purchased micro SD cards…this time trying different brands with specifications that matched those cards being offered by Wyze. Again, a couple of weeks later, the cards were no longer accessible in any device, nor could they be formatted or used…again, destroyed. Piecing it all together, it appeared to me that when the SD card got full, something goes wrong in the reformatting, that renders the card unusable.

In the meantime, and now with the help of hindsight, I should not have done so…I purchased additional WyzeCams…both the basic, and Pan models… and again…approx 2 weeks after installing the SD cards, those cards were rendered unusable/destroyed. By now, it’s obvious that it’s NOT a coincidence.
So once again, I seek support from Wyze…and again, did not get a reply until I posted on the open forums. And got exactly what I’ve already mentioned… “We never got your request!”… “What is your ticket number?”
By this time I was a very angry customer, and decided to post my situation of the forums…that was in October of 2018…and if you look up the topichttps://forums.wyze.com/t/wyzecam-eating-micro-sd-cards/6630
you will find that I am only one of many who have the same issue…and to date, the issue has not been solved.
So…that brings me to my most recent support request… I have become so frustrated that 1. The issue exists. And 2. It appears that Wyze has done nothing to solve the issue for 10 MONTHS… and because WYZE MADE THE OFFER, I am seeking replacements for ALL my cameras that are destroying SD cards…that would be 5 WyzeCams, and 3 PanCams.

There you have it…the entire history that I have had with Wyze. No embellishment, just the facts. I would have preferred to do all of this privately, but it seems that the only way I can get any response from Wyze, is to throw all the dirty laundry out here on the forums…where it’s available to everyone… then either one of the “watchdogs” finds it, and notifies whomever… or someone from Wyze sees it.

For those who have not had any issues with Wyze products, I envy you, and wish I were the same. However, that’s simply not the case, and all I’m seeking is a product that works as advertised, with all the features working/intact. OK Wyze, the ball is in your court.

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Wyze Ticket 283779] Request received: Cameras eating SD cards and replacements?

* There you go. *

WS

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I agree with that adage. :slight_smile: I also think there’s a difference between feeling justifiably pissed off and how you choose to express it. Opinions aside, when a customer decides to express their anger aggressively it doesn’t really help their cause.

My first job was in customer support for a tech company and there was a very obvious difference between how we helped nice people and angry ones. Like the rest of my time, we calmly listened to the angry customers and did what we could to resolve their problem—but we did the bare minimum because nobody wants to spend any time beyond that with someone who treats them like a verbal punching bag. It’s not like we caused the issues. With the nice customers, on the other hand, we would do much more. I actually quit that job because the product managers at he company put their needs before the customers. I saw how it made their lives difficult and hated that their needs could’ve been addressed but weren’t when a PM liked their own idea too much. So I worked on my programming skills and started working overnight to make plugins and other software that fixed their problems when their problems were fixable in that manner. That’s what I did for the people who were nice to me.

Everyone wasn’t as crazy as me but I wasn’t unique in how I spent the very limited time I had to help. Every time I get upset about a customer service issue I remember that my context is not the only context. It matters, but not more than reality. Like @Bam said, Wyze is a small company and I agree that it makes a pretty incredible product despite the shortcomings. I absolutely think they should fix the SD card issue. Like Ed, I’m all-in and my cameras destroy cards. They also lose timelapse videos and have other issues but they still outperform cameras that cost at least four times as much. Reasonably-sized SD cards cost a few dollars and you can save a little buying them in bulk. Should that be necessary? Of course not. But, for me, I’d rather lose $10 a year if I have to choose between that and feeling enraged for 10 months.

I get where the anger comes from. It’s a vulnerable place to be when you put your trust and money into a company and they disappoint you. It’s tough because you can’t really do anything without their help. But I prefer to look at that as an opportunity to learn to fix things on my own. I shouldn’t have to, but I think it’s empowering to understand the stuff you use every day and have the confidence to solve problems on your own. I was never an A+ student. I’m not especially smart. It’s just that my unpleasant customer support job showed me that the difference between me and the person on the other end of the problem is just knowledge and that’s available to everyone with a computer an a decent amount of determination. You don’t even need time. You can always learn something applicable and useful in 15 minutes.

But like you said, angry people aren’t typically open to the suggestion of “be reasonable” (or any suggestion, really). People are always going to do what they’re going to do. Ed’s just doing what he needs to do right now. I don’t intend any of this as criticism. I just wanted to share another perspective on perspectives. :slight_smile: I feel lucky that I had that difficult job because it helped me understand how I could be less angry and help myself more. I’m a lot happier because an experience showed me how to see opportunities when things go wrong. I feel like this stuff is, at least, worth a moment to think about.

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Perhaps it is not a cam issue. There are many fake/knockoff SD cards on the market these days.
I use Samsung Endurance cards as these are rated for Cams, they are made specifically to be written over several times and be in constant use.

I realize they are generally more expensive and perhaps some will see it as a down side as it is another purchase. I can not explain the instances that their own SD cards are being destroyed though.

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With all due respect…this flaw with Wyze cameras has been going on for nearly a year…between myself and all the others who have experienced the same issue(s)… and the countless variety of micro SD cards used/tried, I’m convinced it IS NOT a memory card issue.

Personally, I have tried a variety of brands and types of cards…all with the same specs as the cards Wyze sells…including those cards advertised as “high endurance”… all have met their end in the same manner… when first placed into the camera, they work until they are full…then once they are full and the auto reformat takes place, they are destroyed… there is no way to access the card(s)…even IF they show up in whatever device or system they are in. All one needs do is go to the link in my previous post and see there are a significant number of Wyze Cam owers experiencing the same issue. To date, Wyze has not identified, nor solved the issue(s), whatever they may be.

One of the reasons that I am angry, is that while Wyze is creating new products…they are ignoring fixing problems with existing products. Or if they are working on it, they simply are not letting anyone know. My suspicion is that they prefer not to admit there is a problem…and are doing all they can to minimize and keep is hush-hush.

I also cannot respect the input from individuals who say things such as …oh, but the cameras are so inexpensive… I simply don’t by that load of bull. It doesn’t matter is an item costs $1… or $1000, the advertised functionality is expected to be there…and for many of us with Wyze products, that “eat” SD cards…it’s not.

If Wyze were to fix this issue, and do a better job of tech support/customer service…I’d be the first to sing their praises, and wave their banner. Some people feel I am being unreasonable, but I am asking for nothing more than the functionality Wyze has advertised/promised in their product(s)… and has not delivered.
Let’s put it this way… Say you purchased a NEW car from across the country…and upon delivery, you discovered that every time you started/drove it…the fan belt shredded after driving it for 5 miles. Would you just shrug your shoulders, and install a new fan belt every 5 miles? I doubt it…you’d jump up and down and scream for the seller to make it right! No different here…those of use who purchased NEW Wyze products simply should not have to buy new SD cards every time one gets full and implodes. It’s not really that hard of a concept to understand.

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I think you may be misunderstanding me. So, with all due respect (that’s yours), I was simply trying to help you.

I re-read that entire thread… again. No where did you ever say that you accepted their offer for a camera replacement nor did I see that you supplied them with the dead cards for review as asked.

Am I incorrect? Did you try the new cameras they offered to replace? Did you supply them with the dead cards?

All I know and this is purely opinion… I will never use the cards you said you were using. I have had nothing but trouble with Sandisk, PNY and patriot. I have never had an issue with High end Samsung cards (until end of life/ years of re-writes). I also believe that Micro SD cards work on Flash NAND memory, which becomes read-only after a certain number of program-erase cycles. Most memory cards last 3-10000 cycles, after which they become read-only because it’s not possible to erase information in the cells anymore. From what I understand is this is where the cheap cards and knockoffs have their issue as these can be as low as 0 meaning no re-writes, which then locks the entire card.

With that, I will bow out.

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Wow, I never realized or even thought about that. Good to know, thanks for the great info on SD cards life expectancy. I will be buying only Samsung or equivalent in the future after reading this. Thanks again for the info. Ex70s. :+1:

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I appreciate you trying to help, but much of this runs deeper than what you see on the forums. Early on, I did my best to keep things private, and conduct things via PM or Email, simply because I felt that’s how it should be.
That is exactly where things started going wrong, and I started getting upset with the customer service/support…they offered to have me send ONE camera, and ONE SD card to them, and I accepted, with the caveat that they send me a replacement while they were investigating the equipment I would send them…
And that’s where it ended on Wyze’s part. They never responded, even after several additional PMs and emails repeating the request. Then, after MORE THAN A MONTH of waiting on a response, I get an email from Wyze, saying the same thing that Wyze has said all along when I send in a support request on the SD card subject… “We cannot find a support request concerning your issue.” “What is your ticket number?” I referred back to the original ticket number… and again, after no contact for more than a month, I decided to go to this forum, and air out the dirty laundry in hopes of getting some customer service…and again… nothing for several months, until the spot you see in this thread where I once again gave Wyze “the ticket number”… That was two days ago, I’ve since (for the second time) sent them all my proof of purchases for Wyze cameras. and SD cards (as requested)… so once again, the ball is in their court. If things hold true to pattern, Wyze will either not respond at all…or it will be an extended period of time before they do…with the tired old request of “What is your ticket number?”

It’s true, that at one point in this thread, I said I was giving up…but afterward I realized that if I did that…then I was likely playing right into Wyze’s hands.

The more I deal with this situation, the more convinced I become that there is a serious flaw with a percentage of the Wyze cameras, which causes them to destroy SD cards. I’ve also become more convinced that Wyze is very likely aware of it, and is ignoring it/keeping it as quiet as possible.

Now, that may or may not be so, but it is a logical explanation, that fits the circumstances. Also, I can only speculate that the reason there has been no admission to there being a problem, is because it would likely devastate this young company financially… to either recall and fix. or replace cameras with the issues/flaws.

Now, all that being said, it still does not relieve any company that offers a product, from standing behind, and making good on the advertised features and uses of a given product. Which is the ONLY thing I have asked for all along.

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Hi Ed, I bought one of your knives years ago, great product. Just wanted to say what’s up and although you are frustrated with the lack of communication, they are making good products and are worth sticking with imo.
Take care and see you on the knifeforums.

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