House Systems

The following is the email I sent to the owner(?), to which I have never received a response. They wanted $5000 to fix the damage. Dave, All of the items in your field report should have been noted and addressed by the service tech you first sent to look at my system. Instead, he wasted two hours scratching his head and following blind alleys. For all I know he also caused the failure of the power supply in the AV2. His first comment when he took a look at the system was that I needed a surge protector. During the whole time he was here he never noticed that the system is protected by a minuteman PRO-500 E that is properly interfaced with the power strip and provides that function. ( I have never gotten a reading in excess of 124v from this strip and I doubt that your second tech did either.) He proceeded to take apart one of the many wall button sets and claimed he had discovered the problem: poorly trimmed excess wiring in the cat5 behind it. Within a minute after he left the house the system started to act erratic with lights turning on and off spontaneously, and so I ran out to the truck to tell him to come back. After making a few more "adjustments" he once again declared the problem solved and left the house. Right after that, while I was watching, the CNPWS-75 that I had bought literally exploded and I ran out again to make him come back. Remember, I had told him beforehand that those power supplies were just blowing out, having already lost two. At this point he acknowledged he was stumped and, saying he would return shortly, sat in the truck for 20 minutes while he presumably consulted with Crestron. They must have told him to bring in the AV2, because the next thing I know he's taking it out of the rack saying the power supply was blown and needed to be repaired. No mention of high voltage, blown fuses on the CN-AMPX or non-standard wiring. The bottom line is that if you had sent out a competent tech with the appropriate tools and knowledge to diagnose the problem to begin with I would not be looking at a $4700 repair estimate. I expected, and deserve, better from a Crestron authorized service/installer. (nevermind the repeatedly cancelled and rescheduled appointments and waits.) At this point I am considering abandoning Crestron altogether for a more transparent and easily serviced system. I dont think Crestron would want to hear about this litany, so if you have any ideas about how to make me happy please let me know.