[AardvarkPhil]

Hi all,
About 2 weeks ago I had smart meters installed for both gas and electric. (I was to I had to under the contract I had switched too, although further investigation makes me suspect that this was misleading.)

About 3 hours after starting up the IHD, and enjoying the extra feedback from it the display froze. No buttons did anything, even holding them down in various combinations. Even unplugging the unit left the display exactly the same. Same clock time, same charging icon, same meter usage, same screen brightness etc. It had completely hung up.

I unplugged it and left it overnight to discharge and when it was plugged in again it booted up fine, connected fine, and displayed correctly. For about 3 hours again. The next time I tried this it lasted significantly longer, but it still froze a day or so later. And has now done so 5 times in a little under 2 weeks.

So I contacted customer support. Who told me:
1) To try exactly what I had already done 5 times, and call back it that didn't fix it. I knew it wouldn't, so I carried on with the call.
2) That they couldn't replace it as they 'don't stock things like that'.
3) That I could get a replacement on amazon or eBay. I found one on eBay, but not Amazon. So basically no new replacement units were available. Not even the original supplied of the supposedly better Chameleon IHDs actually seem to sell them outside trade partnerships.
4) That they hadn't experienced many complaints like this before, and they would raise a complain/request that even the support person kind-of hinted wouldn't actually be paid any attention to.

I've decided to get another meter, as now I have it I find it actually quite useful (when it works). But I've got to wonder if anyone else has had similar problems, or if there's a better approach to getting a replacement (or fix) that wouldn't leave me £20 out of pocket. I'm not even sure if the new one will work when I get it; the eOn Next FAQ suggest that once an IHD is paired, it needs to be left when you move house as it is paired with only the meters in your current (old) home.

More a rant than an actual question, but after being strong-armed into getting the meters fitted and now finding that the most useful (to me) benefit simply doesn't work, I think a bit of a rant is in order.

Regards.

[theunknowntech]

Hi @AardvarkPhil ,

I'm afraid you have had some terribly bad advice from customer service. Please allow me to give you the actual answers you seek. I'm theunknowntech by the way and I'm a forum volunteer around here. I've been mentored by a legendary forum volunteer Blastoise186 as well, but he helps out elsewhere. I can already guess what meter/IHD you've got, but would you be OK to post photos anyway for me? I like to be sure! I also like to adapt my advice dynamically and never rely on scripts or playbooks. Pretty much everything I post is hand-written individually based on the context of the thread so far.

Something tells me you've got the IHDL SmartView 2, am I right by any chance? If so, then I'm afraid you've drawn the short straw, because it's the most horrible IHD me and Blastoise have ever come across and it rarely works properly. It's fit for the bin if I'm being honest, or more accurately - your local electronics recycling service (it's free to use them!). You may as well put it away in a cupboard and never touch it again. Take the battery out first though if you can, so it doesn't get messed up.

1) To try exactly what I had already done 5 times, and call back it that didn't fix it. I knew it wouldn't, so I carried on with the call.
Standard script stuff really, not much else I can say about that.

2) That they couldn't replace it as they 'don't stock things like that'.
Sigh it's a faulty IHD that is supposed to have a one year warranty on it. You're entitled to a replacement if it breaks within that time and can't be fixed.

3) That I could get a replacement on amazon or eBay. I found one on eBay, but not Amazon. So basically no new replacement units were available. Not even the original supplied of the supposedly better Chameleon IHDs actually seem to sell them outside trade partnerships.
NOOOOO! This is completely impossible and something I've discussed with @Beki_EONNext just recently. It's impossible to just get an IHD off of eBay or Amazon because I can tell you right now it definitely will not work. If you've bought one, please consider sending it back for a refund and use buyer protection policies if you get stuck - an explanation like the seller sent you stolen property is usually sufficient to force a refund in these cases. Most of the IHDs sold on eBay are either stolen (they always remain property of the original/active supplier!) or fake ones that could cause you other issues. It's not worth the hassle, nor the risk.

Likewise, about 99% of the IHDs sold on eBay/Amazon are already paired to another meter, even if they claim to be "new" or "brand new in box" or anything similar. I have no idea where those sellers get them from, but there's a few that really seem to have a massive stockpile somehow and I suspect they might not have legitimately obtained them. Plus, you technically need permission from the supplier to unpair an IHD as well, otherwise it won't unpair properly. You are right about leaving it behind when moving out though. It belongs to the supplier and will not work with any other meter anyway.

I've also recommended to the staff here that they don't pair IHDs that have come from unknown sources - especially S1 IHDs - for security reasons. Chameleon Technology is working on a new one called the ivie Bud however, so you might want to wait for that to launch and then get it once it's available.

4) That they hadn't experienced many complaints like this before, and they would raise a complain/request that even the support person kind-of hinted wouldn't actually be paid any attention to.

Really? I can easily challenge that claim. In fact, that's probably because a lot of people come to this forum instead and ask me for help. These days, I've learned it's faster to tag team between myself and the staff here on this forum, than it is to loop you back to customer service again.

[Frizzinemma]

@theunknowntech
Hi,
I've had similar problems too and been given the same run around, unfortunately for me I'm just outside the 1 year warranty period. Is there anything that can be done to repair/replace a faulty IHD?

[theunknowntech]

Hi @Frizzinemma .

Yup, there is indeed. However, the options I can recommend will cost you money I'm afraid. I've given up trying to recommend talking to E.On about sourcing a replacement. There's no way to repair them either, sorry.

I think you probably have SMETS2, so you might want to see if the ivie Bud is a good fit for you. It's FAR superior to the IHDL SmartView 2 that E.On Next supplies, but costs about £50.

[Frizzinemma]

Ooooooooooooo...... I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, I'll check to see if I have the SMETS2 first. Will the ivie Bud work with my Eon smart meter? also would you know if it will still work if I change supplier at any time?
Since posting this on the Community Forum I've had an erroneous back billing problem to deal with, however I seem to be on an Eon Next employee roundabout being asked for the same information several times and getting nowhere fast, so I can completely understand how you have given up with them.
I just can't tell you how nice it is to hear from a straight talking person like youself, Eon should be hiring you to train their operatives.

[theunknowntech]

Well, I can't fix billing issues but @PeterT_EONNext might be able to help with that. I feel bad though, so I'll throw in a Brucie Bonus if you fancy it. Please show me photos of your smart meters and I'll identify whether they're SMETS1 or SMETS2 for you. The ivie Bud should in theory work fine with almost any SMETS2 meter but isn't reported as being compatible with SMETS1. As long as it's compatible with your meters though, it'll work across all suppliers because it operates independently of them. There's even the ability to do a self-setup on it so that you don't have to call E.On to get it paired.

Just so you're aware, you can have up to four IHDs active at once with SMETS2 meters and each individual IHD takes up one slot. If you want to free up a slot, please ask E.On Next Customer Service to unpair your existing broken SV2 before attempting to pair the ivie Bud - this will help to prevent them nuking the wrong one.

Thanks for the feedback by the way, I appreciate it. I'll tell you my secret formula as well actually. I'm only a forum volunteer, so I'm not subjected to any of the usual rules and processes that would cramp my style. In actual fact, I'm actually not linked to E.On or E.On Next at all myself outside of being on this forum. As far as the company is concerned, I'm a ghost. Not even the moderators here know who I really am either. :)

My own energy supply comes from OVO and in fact, I have never worked in the energy industry or customer service at all, ever. I just have a bit of a skillset that I've developed over time and my friend Blastoise186 (who helps out on the OVO Forum) trained me up on a ton of this smart meter stuff and gives me a lot of advice, so he's effectively my mentor. Blastoise would come here himself, but he's already pretty busy dominating both the OVO Forum, a ton of volunteer stuff and holding down a job so he doesn't have time to be here. That's why I'm here on his behalf - I just tap into his two years of experience from time to time. :)

[Frizzinemma]

Well, I didn't think I'd be talking to the "Banksy" of the energy world when I came on to this forum. I just can't imagine how you manage to find the time to do this and for free too. But I'm very grateful that you do though.
I completely understand where you're coming from with the usual rules and processes thing, it was for this reason that I went self employed and stayed that way for 34 years.
Anyway, you need to be helping other people so I'll take photos of my meters and send them to you for identification.
Take care.

[AardvarkPhil]

Originally Posted by theunknowntech

Hi @Frizzinemma,

All you said.

I didn't get any notifications of your reply. It was only when I investigating how I might shut down multiple automated replies along the lines of "You have received a new private message on the E.ON Next Community from Anasa_EONNext, entitled "Hello and Welcome to the Community!" that I stumbled upon your response.

And I thank you for that response; it sets my mind at rest somewhat. Knowing that I probably have a useless device produced by 'only human' people is far better than me simply missing something.

I'll take a picture of the device when I next come across it. I decided a while ago it was pointless and put it in 'a safe place'. And if you've ever been trying to tidy up your house in Summer like I have you'll have a pretty good understanding of where I think it probably is right now. (I have no idea.)

I don't miss not having the smart display. It was interesting to see for example how much my power consumption changed when I fired up my PC, laptop and 3 monitors. But those same things also pay my bills. There is 0% decision in that; I need them for work.

What I objected to, and still do, is being told utter garbage by customer services. This is not acceptable. If you have any ideas as to how to best approach taking this further I'd be interested to hear from you.

Phil