Buyer Beware
I bought a tank-level monitor and pump controller from SmartWater New Zealand [SM] via a local reseller in VIC, Australia. The initial purchase was the first step in a broader plan to buy more of these units to manage better and automate water and water transfers across our rural property. Unfortunately, we only have the basic manual pump controller functions working after many months of emails and phone calls with the NZ head office and the local reseller. According to the SM website, the pump controller has various automated features, such as Start When, Stop When, and Run for x hrs operations … none of which work. Activating ‘Automatic pump operation’ is problematic as it doesn’t do what is requested, but this setting seems to initialise unwanted information in the user interface and a number of unintended features. All these experiences [which could be described as bugs or significant pieces of logic that don’t work] were shared in writing with the reseller and SmartWater’s head office. It is disheartening to learn that SmartWater does not even maintain a bug registry; it lacks an in-house team to address software issues and has no formal support or ticket management processes. In my case the SW leadership couldn’t even be bothered to run an internal test to verify my concerns which further highlights their poor attitude and limited internal skills. The only advice I received was to uninstall and re-pair the hardware elements in the app, which proved ineffective. SW was not able to share any planned release program or updates that might address these bugs. I have no idea if or when a software release is pending. What is more disappointing is how poorly the SM leadership seems comfortable leaving these issues hanging with their reseller and the customer. They are not proactive in any way. Pathetic is the best descriptor that jumps to my mind.