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WakeMate 2.0 - For Real, This Time.

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Re: WakeMate 2.0 - For Real, This Time.

#2
I guess this is one advantage iOS has, a mostly unified platform for developers. I've been part of the Wakemate beta for Android for awhile now, and it seems that Android has wildly varying bluetooth stacks depending on device manufacturer and phone model. For example, my LG Optimus V won't reliably work with Wakemate with the stock firmware, but works flawlessly with CyageonMod

Re: WakeMate 2.0 - For Real, This Time.

#4
This is kind of a weird "side complaint", but: despite being a humongous guy, I actually have reasonably sized wrists. The wakemate, when it arrived, had a wrist band so small (and if there were sizes on the site I'm certain I would have ordered the largest one) that I gave it to my girlfriend's little sister (who likely never used it), as I knew there would be no way I'd be able to wear it. I wonder if this has also been handled in 2.0 ;P.

Re: WakeMate 2.0 - For Real, This Time.

#5
post #3

There's a nightly beta for Android that addresses the connection issues. I got an APK from the support some weeks ago and I can confirm that the connection issues have reduced dramatically.

Thanks for this tip! I had no idea they had a fix out for Android. Contacting support now!

Re: WakeMate 2.0 - For Real, This Time.

#6
post #4

This is kind of a weird "side complaint", but: despite being a humongous guy, I actually have reasonably sized wrists. The wakemate, when it arrived, had a wrist band so small (and if there were sizes on the site I'm certain I would have ordered the largest one) that I gave it to my girlfriend's little sister (who likely never used it), as I knew there would be no way I'd be able to wear it. I wonder if this has also…

From the article:

Another recent addition: you can now purchase a larger version of the WakeMate wristband, should you find the original size too tight.

So yes, apparently that is fixed in 2.0 :)

Re: WakeMate 2.0 - For Real, This Time.

#8
post #4

This is kind of a weird "side complaint", but: despite being a humongous guy, I actually have reasonably sized wrists. The wakemate, when it arrived, had a wrist band so small (and if there were sizes on the site I'm certain I would have ordered the largest one) that I gave it to my girlfriend's little sister (who likely never used it), as I knew there would be no way I'd be able to wear it. I wonder if this has also…

From the article: Another recent addition: you can now purchase a larger version of the WakeMate wristband, should you find the original size too tight. So yes, apparently that is fixed in 2.0 :)

Ok, I'm stupid: thanks. :(

Re: WakeMate 2.0 - For Real, This Time.

#9
Let me tell you my WakeMate story. Its publication has been long overdue. It's a bit long, so please bear with me...

I pre-ordered. All excited. I love "life hacks", and this is right up my alley. Even encouraged several friends to jump in on the WakeMate wagon!

It finally arrived, and for the most part it worked. The app was buggy at first (iOS), but they did eventually get some updates approved that made things better. The algorithms employed on the website are questionable. They seemed to weigh certain variables a bit counter-intuitively, but what do I know. I went with it, charging it every other day and sleeping with it at night.

It was a bit snug, but I stretched it out and it was comfortable enough. The "WakeMate" logo stuff wore off in a matter of days though.

They emailed me a few days after receiving it saying to NOT use the charger that came with it because it was faulty and might catch on fire. Yikes. They never sent me a replacement. I just carried on with another standard USB charger.

Then, at some point, my WM started refusing to sync with the app. I submitted a trouble ticket, and they responded about a week later acknowledging a hardware bug. They requested that I send the original unit back to them in NoCal and proceeded to send me a new unit.

I didn't send the unit back to them, mostly out of sheer laziness. But, also, they were rather presumptuous in telling me to send the unit back. No mention was made of postage, or the inconvenience to me.

A new unit arrived and worked for about a week. Same exact problem. I submitted another trouble ticket and got NO RESPONSE. Never even an acknowledgement.

Months go by... crickets. Silence. Nothing. I mentally give up. At this point I had two dead WM's and I really didn't care about it any more, because my excitement was quite high, and I was really disappointed, mostly in the extremely poor customer service.

Then one day, someone at WM (apparently) decided to email everyone who had WMs that still needed to be sent back. Only this time it was more of a rather rude demand, not so much of a request. Again, no mention of postage, or apology, or anything remotely friendly.

The worst part of this? They CC'd all of us in a single email! So yah, we now had not only been treated pretty poorly in terms of customer service from a company with a broken product, but we were also being publicly shamed for it!

Now I cared again.

I was rather disgusted. I replied to all to share my disgust. Others replied to all and were considerably more vocal than me about their own disgust. That was ugly. After some time, they sent out another email admitting they should have BCCd us instead. Yah, amateur hour.

I never got any sort of acknowledgement after mailing the two units back to them. I can only assume they received them. I waited a full month before contacting them again.

This time I've asked that they reimburse me for my WM as well as the postage I incurred. After that I'm not interested in doing any further business with them. Still no response, other than a robot email saying they have lots of support requests blah blah blah.

This is sad because I really wanted to like this company! :(

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