Disappointing quality of Xanura products

Post by **MindBender** » Sun May 28, 2006 9:15 pm

After purchasing 28 Xanura X10 devices and a couple of additional accessories I can safely say I'm somewhat disappointed in the quality:<ul><li>Three X10 modules where dead on arrival, that's over 10% and totally unacceptable.</li>
<li>Nearly half of the modules looked like this when they came out of the box:[img]images/icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Open.JPG</li>
<li>But the ABX3 RF remote control takes the cake. It has has a sloppy label attached to it, not even straight:[img]images/icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Sloppy.JPG So I decided to remove it because it looks ugly, but what's underneath it is even uglier:[img]images/icon_paperclip.gif[/img] Scratched.JPG An ungly attempt to scratch of the Marmitek logo, for crying out loud! I have to consider these units as 'damaged' and return them.</li>
</ul>
In the mean time I'm at 35 units, I've forked out a sloppy 3000 Euro for this system, but the disappointment continues; Dimmers are flickering (see also: /topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=78) and when I got up this morning the lights in my kitchen were fully on. I know energy preservation is a very poor reason for buying this installation, because of it's own consumption and because of the relatively high price in relation to the price of the saved energy. But if lights are switching on spontaneously it would be a good reason to toss it out!

<s>No, seriously, I would never purchase this system again!</s>

Post by **b_weijenberg** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:33 am

Did you discuss those problems with the supplier? If not, it would be better IMO to have first a discussion with the supplier to solve it in a good manner and if they don't deliver a good service then put this information on the board.

Post by **MindBender** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:28 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by b_weijenberg
 Did you discuss those problems with the supplier? If not, it would be better IMO to have first a discussion with the supplier to solve it in a good manner and if they don't deliver a good service then put this information on the board.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
The supplier has no influence on the quality of the manufacturer.

Post by **Consultant** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:53 am

Hi Mindbender,

Who is your supplier of Xanura components?

I agree with the quote. If you are not satisfied with the quality of the materials you should contact your supplier. If he is not responsable for the quality your supplier should bring it to the attention of the manufacturer. Eaton is known as a very serious company. I hear very positive things about the quality and the way Eaton deals with quality issues. In fact I have a good experience my self.

What you state and the pictures you made do not represent the quality you might expect but if I look at your posts so far it seems like you are looking for negative points on Xanura. Do you have a better alternative with the same functionalities for this price? I am trying to figure out what your interest is in posting these kinds of messages without trying to ask for comment from your supplier.......

Post by **MindBender** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:03 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Domotica adviseur
 
Who is your supplier of Xanura components?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
'De Technische Unie', a well known and very serious company too.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I agree with the quote. If you are not satisfied with the quality of the materials you should contact your supplier. If he is not responsable for the quality your supplier should bring it to the attention of the manufacturer.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
My supplier doesn't do anything to the product. He just buys his goods at Eaton and sells them to me. They're not responsible for Eaton's quality assurance.
I could inform them about the quality, but that's won't help me anymore. Most of my modules are already installed because it's a sliding scale; At first sloppy modules seem an exception. By the time I saw the pattern, nearly everything is installed.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Eaton is known as a very serious company. I hear very positive things about the quality and the way Eaton deals with quality issues. In fact I have a good experience my self.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I know. That's why I used the word disappointing; my expectations were very high. My expectations of Marmitek however are very low so they can hardly disappoint me.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">What you state and the pictures you made do not represent the quality you might expect<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
My point exactly; that's the reason for my posting. I bought Eaton instead of Marmitak because I wanted quality, but that's not what I've got.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">but if I look at your posts so far it seems like you are looking for negative points on Xanura. Do you have a better alternative with the same functionalities for this price?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
No, I'm not negative on Xanura; I've made a lot of postings. But I am a critic: In the last couple of weeks I've spent nearly 3000 Euro on Xanura modules and I'm still not ready. I think it's my right to expect a little quality when I'm spending that kind of money. Especially because I'm paying extra for 'Eaton quality' instead of 'Marmitek quality'.
It's a fairly new product, so it may have it's initial problems. But I really think Eaton should do something about their quality control process becaus they have a name to maintain.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I am trying to figure out what your interest is in posting these kinds of messages without trying to ask for comment from your supplier.......<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I don't have an interest. I just want to share my concerns about the 'Eaton brand unworthy' quality of some of the Xanura products. People who are considering X10 equipment, like I was two month ago, can take this into account for their desicion.

What they did with the ABX3 remote is just plain stupid: They could have used a different colour of plastic for the housing, or could have had their own logo printed on the same housing. But this is like removing a sloppy mounted Audi label of your A3, and finding a Skoda Fabia logo underneath it, half faded by sand paper. We all know they're the same cars, but still there's a difference...

Post by **Consultant** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:19 pm

I can imagine that you are disappointed with what I saw on your pictures. I would be also disappointed!

But when I am unhappy about something I bought I go back to my supplier. I confront him with my problem so he can do something about it. Maybe he is not aware of your problem so that I could not reasonably blame him....

I could tell the whole world that I have a problem with the product I bought but that will not be a solution for your problem....Do you realy believe Eaton would delibirately sell the product like this? I don't think so. I would inform them about it!

That is why I asked myself the question what you are trying to achieve with this?

Post by **Han** » Tue May 30, 2006 5:34 pm

I think it's good to put this kind of information on this forum. I agree with Mindbender that this has nothing to do with the supplier; the manufacturer is to blame. Other potential users can take this into account when bying X10 stuff.

Han Alink

Post by **MindBender** » Tue May 30, 2006 7:19 pm

Don't get me wrong, advisor: I will inform my supplier. But these fora are intended to share experience, whether they are good or bad.

Secondly, there is no solution for my problem: It took me over two weeks to install all modules. Even if they can be replaces there's no way I'm going to remove and re-install everything again.

See, the open casings aren't a big problem on their own. Half of them were open, but I simply closed them and reattached the label before I installed them. Later it turned out that these units open up again after a day or so, which makes the problem slightly worse because I may have open casings in my installation now. If I knew that in advance, it still would be a difference because I would have used some extra tape. Chances that an installed unit opens up is pretty slim because there's simply no room in the juction boxes for the unit to open up. The bottom line is; Quality products shouldn't need tape to remain closed, but it's no big deal.

The 3 defective units out of 27 in total is way too much by any standard. I had already installed them when I discovered the defect which caused me a lot of extra work. Here's where the supplier comes in: They immedialty replaced the defective units with new units, the best possible sollution. The bottom line is: 'Dead on arrival' should be a rarity with quality problems, but the problem was solved correctly so it's no big deal either.

These two problems shouldn't have occured: Eaton's quality control department should have detected problems with the glue used on the labels and units should have been tested before they leave the factory. Unfortunatly they failed which has a negative impact on the way I experience Eaton's problem, but up until here it's still nothing worth posting on a forum because they're all still accidents.

However, the straw that broke the camels back is the wireless remote: Eaton took a low-budget product and relabeled it with their own brand, while damaging the product in the process! They took a Marmitek remote, 'removed' the Marmitek logo with a piece of sandpaper and put a cheep looking Eaton label over the sanded part. The label wasn't attached straight, but I cannot remove it because of the scratched Marmitek logo underneath it. This is not an accident, they did this willingly and knowingly. I think this procedure is nothing short of cheating. I want a quality product and Eaton doesn't seem to respect that wish.

And when I add everything up, I just don't think Eaton takes 'quality' as serious as I do. Which is a pity, because that's why I bought Eaton and not Marmitek.

I rest my case.

Post by **Bwired** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 3:51 pm

Hi All
Today I received 3 new Xanura SAIX modules. As for this discussion I carefully examined the modules to see how they where delivered. I have to say that these modules are very neatly put together. The labels are all very firm attached to the casing and the modules are very tightly closed. There is now a QA label with a unique ID on the casing. Just look at the pictures attached to this topic. Lets hope the experience Mindbinder had was exceptional!
Open Attachment: [img]images/icon_paperclip.gif[/img] saix.jpg
Open Attachment: [img]images/icon_paperclip.gif[/img] saix1.jpg
Open Attachment: [img]images/icon_paperclip.gif[/img] saix2.jpg
Regards,
Pieter

Post by **MindBender** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:49 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Bwired
Today I received 3 new Xanura SAIX modules. As for this discussion I carefully examined the modules to see how they where deliverd. I have to say that these modules are very neatly put together. The labels are all very firm attached to the casing and the modules are very tightly closed.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Update
Two weeks ago I've sent an email to Eaton, summarizing the reasons for my disappointment in their system and ending with a request to solve this problem. After all, it wouldn't be fair to complain here without even informing Eaton about these problems, let alone offering them a chance to offer a sollution.

Last week I have receive a reply from Mr. Braaksma, a very friendly application engineer from Eaton's Domotica division. Before I had a chance to reply his email, he already called me by phone to express his concerns and to make an appointment to resolve my disappointment. Because of the holiday season we couln't pinpoint a date yet, but we have agreed to set a date soon.

So even though Xanura equipment (officially) isn't available to the general public, and can be installed exclusively by Eaton trained personal, they're still very much willing to solve my problems.

We briefly spoke about the self-opening modules and that indeed turned out to be a quality control issue of a supplier who used the wrong type of glue on the labels. Unfortunately I've purchased all my modules in the timeframe these problems occured [:(]

I'm very please to hear Eaton is taking my problems seriously and is willing to offer a solution; I will keep you guys posted.

Post by **MindBender** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:03 pm

Another two modules have died. That is; They rarely respond to their local switches anymore. Another two modules are ill; Those regularly switch on and off upon the status update from another address. Half of the modules produce a very annoying acoustic noise. This bring the statistics on Xanura reliability down even further, even when including the 4 extra modules and the PMIX35 I've bought this year.

Xanura has made me a janitor in my own house: I two years six modules out of 32 have broken down. So my electric installation needs maintenance every 4 months in average. In my opinion this is completely unacceptable! Other forum members tend to get very enthusiastic on Eaton service being great, but I think adequate is a better description: They replace units swiftly, without asking questions on warranty, but that's just according to European law because the units are on the market too briefly to run our of warranty. I am the idiot who has to get up on a ladder in the dark to remove the module from the ceiling above the stair case to remove yet another Eaton failure. I have to live without light there for a week and get up the ladder again a week later. And this happens every 4 months!! Not to mention that I can do this myself: Others my need to call their dealer to have it fixed.

I suppose intensions were good, but in retrospect I really don't know why I stayed home for a day to receive the Eaton guys. Yes, the remotes were replaced and the labels no longer get loose, but those were the least of my problems. I'm sick of unscrewing light bulbs because Xanura in incapable of even handling its own switch. I'm going to remove this crap and I will enforce a full refund!

Post by **Bwired** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:34 pm

Send them to the service point and you receive new ones (the new models) or ask refund.