Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsMostly Good Thermostat/Very Disappointing Technical Support/WiFi Issues After Power Failures
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2016
Update: January 9, 2017
I have changed my rating back to 1 Star.
After a power failure, the Ecobee3 Lite will no longer connect to the WiFi network, even if you power cycle the Router, and tell the Ecobee to reconnect. A search of the Help Forum says that you have to pull the Ecobee3 out of the wall after a power failure. What kind of messed up stuff is that? There should either be a reboot setting in the settings, or the Ecobee3 should be programmed to be able to reconnect to your WiFi after a power failure. Oh, and after you pull the Ecobee out of the wall and put it back in, it doesn't just automatically reconnect to the WiFi. You have to go into the settings and go through some WiFi screens to get it to reconnect. (This situation occurs after every power failure, and not just one.)
My computer and tablets, etc., reconnects to the WiFi after a power failure...so, why can't the Ecobee?
Also, no one at Ecobee corrected the info regarding the Hourly Fan Minimum Runtime at the Help Forum Page. It still gives the wrong info compared to how my Ecobee behaves. Very frustrating.
Also, Tech Support Service is still frustrating.
Update: November 26, 2016
I have changed my rating from 1 Star to 5 Stars. The CEO of Ecobee read my review and responded with a perfect reply. I also finally received an email reply from a manager.
Changes are on the way regarding the issues I raised, which makes me confident I made the right decision choosing the Ecobee3 Lite.
Bottom Line: Ecobee3 Lite is a quality thermostat with great features at a fair price. I really like that the inside room temperature as displayed on the thermostat is accurate, and I really like the Ecobee Website and iOS apps.
Original Review:
This a a good thermostat hurt by poor technical support. Heck, I even found one of their support pages online that gives misinformation on how one of the features is supposed to work. (It doesn't work that way.)
The company has to know that countless people like myself will be graduating from a "dumb thermostat" to this "smart thermostat" where there are going to be questions about how to do stuff. Being able to use the thermostat properly (and have it work the way it should when it's not) is just as important as the thermostat's features.
Not receiving an email reply for 5 days is very frustrating. (This was an email sent using their Online Website submission page.) Waiting on hold for 90 minutes and then giving up after leaving a call back number, eventually getting a call back from someone who couldn't actually answer my technical question, the rep saying he would have someone else call me back, and then I never ever get that call back is just not going to make customers happy.
Ecobee3 Lite is a really good quality thermostat for people who do not need the remote sensors that come with the non-Lite model. It is the most accurate thermostat I have ever owned regarding the room temperature on the display. The touchscreen is very responsive. The iOS app and Website app work very well.
If you will not need any help operating the thermostat after purchase, or if you don't run into glitches or things not functioning per the documentation, this thermostat is a good choice. If you are going to need assistance, well perhaps you should think twice about buying this until Ecobee company really gets their tech support system in much better condition. They should assign someone to take charge to fix things. I want the Zendesk support articles to be verified and made totally accurate. I want a system in place where if someone leaves their phone number, they get a call back within 1 business day. And whoever calls that person back should really be well-versed on the technical aspects of how everything works when it comes to programming, etc. If the aforementioned gets done, Ecobee3 and Ecobee3 Lite might just become the perfect home thermostat (at least for all who have the C wire system already in place...which luckily I did).
(I know that someone from Ecobee will reply to my review where they will offer me to email them directly. Well, I did just that, having taken said email address from one of their replies to another one-star reviewer. I actually sent him 2 messages. You guessed it. I never received any reply at all from that person.)