Issues with vicare app

[Mihai]

Hello, I just installed a B1LF-32 Vitodens 111-W unit and tried out the Vicare app.

I have a few issues:

1) If I stop the heating, keep only the DHW then start back up the heating, the heating widget never works again, it says: '--';  I have to manually turn on & off the whole unit to get it to work again. However, the heating does work, because I can set its temperature from inside the widget (tap the widget, tap 'Time program. noDemmand' gray button, set it from there ) --- so I assume this is some sort of app bug 

2) Since the unit is new I don't have an outside temperature sensor or an ambient temperature control unit; This means that I am missing the P.4 menu in both the unit's panel and the mobile app.. This also means that I can't control the default factory schedule for the DHW...

3) Turned off DHW from the app, when I turned it back on the app said it's on, but when someone arrived on location where the unit is installed, the water was OFF. 

Please advise what to do next! Installing the sensor just so that I can control the hourly program isn't really a solution. In my particular case I don't need the automatic outside temperature control or the indoor ambient temperature control sensor. I am ok with the default constant water temperature control that the unit comes without any other thermostats/sensors.

More notes:

- there is no connectivity issue between the unit & the internet or the app & the internet. I can tell that because the unit is literally 1m away from the wireless router & the temperature inside the internal hot water tank is always correct/updating (+ other stuff in the house are properly connected to the internet)

- the unit is installed correctly with all pipes leading hot to hot water, cold to cold water & a strap connection on ports 1&L on file 96 (I asked the certified viessmann installer to doublecheck everything is connected properly according to diagrams/specs)

Thanks,

Mihai

Screenshots where DHW says it's on, but it actually off + heating is on, but it displays --:

image 2 & 3

Screenshots where it says DHW is off, but it's actually on:

image 4&5

[CustomerCareChris]

Hello Mihai,

in this community we only support devices located in Germany, since we have no access to boilers and RF-modules outside of Germany.

There are also different features available depending on where you are from.

This is why I would like you to contact my colleagues in your country and ask for support.

From the pictures I would say the device is located in Romania, in this case please contact info-ro@viessmann.com. 

Best regards,

Chris - Customer Care Team

[Mihai]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your answer,

It's an app issue, not an installation issue specific to Romania. I also contacted via the Apple App Store and got a reply to send email to a customer-care@viessman.com address.. which doesn't work. Emails bounced back.

The Romania team was only helpful to ensure the installation was done properly. I assume I should be talking to someone who is actually working on the app.

[CustomerCareChris]

Hello Mihai,

the app depends on the system it is connected to and is based on the features the control unit of the boiler is providing.

This differs from country to country and is the reason why I asked you to contact your local support. (Also I have no access to your device which would make troubleshooting almost impossible.)

The address you got is spelled wrong, the correct address would be customer-care@viessmann.com (with a double n).

You can send me your concern and a link to this post to this address and I can forward it to my colleagues in Romania.

Beste regards.

[Mihai]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your answer. I contacted them, they finally acknowledged it's an app issue and will forward me to someone else who deals with app support.

One quick question regarding the domestic water hourly programming: they said it's work in progres and will be available eventually. Is there a development roadmap for Vicare that we can follow?

Thanks,

Mihai

[CustomerCareChris]

Hello Mihai,

thanks for your feedback, I hope all your concerns can be answered by my colleagues.

I am sorry to inform you but there is no roadmap displaying the upcoming features and their release dates.

Best regards

[Mihai]

Their initial answer was: `Oh, it's not an installation issue, it's definitely an issue with the app, we will route you to a different departement`

Now that the Viessmann colleagues have failed to respond for about 2 weeks since then even after I sent a reminder,  can we accept the fact that the app has many issues and bugs and basic functionalities don't work properly regardless of location of installation? Half the time I have no clue if the heating or the hot water are on. Even though internet is running fine (I have security cameras connected which are up & running).

Are you now willing to listen to feedback on the app and try to fix it or are are we going to pass along the issue to someone else and waste more of my time? By the looks of it, all the problems are related to poor programming and synchronization issues between the app interface & server data. 
(not to mention server outages which seem to be happening frequently)

[CustomerCareChris]

Hello Mihai,

could you please forward the mail you got as a response to customer-care@viessmann.com so I can directly send it to the colleagues who are supervising this topic in Romania.

As I mentioned before, I am sorry that I cannot provide international support.

The features on the boilers differ from country to country, the app depends on the device it is connected to, so the app also differs from country to country.

Best regards

[Mihai]

Ok, we are playing hot potato again.

Never got an email response from them. Only got called by a technician. Forwarded to you my last email. 

[CustomerCareChris]

Hello Mihai,

thank you for forwarding the mail, I contacted my colleagues in Romania and asked them to have a look at your issue.

Best regards

[Mihai]

And since nov 4.. no contact from anyone. App is still both poorly designed and not working properly. What do I do now? 

[CustomerCareChris]

Hello Mihai,

the feedback from my colleguas was that it's a bug in the app and they are waitung for development to fix this.

This answer should have arrived you, I apologize if it didn't.

I would loke to ask you for your patience while the development is on it.

Best regards

[imaginator]

I can confirm that I also have this issue and am located in Germany with a system registered in Germany. Same issue where it's impossible to remotely switch back to heating mode.

[RasmusDK]

I am having same problem.

Had the system om vacation-mode. When I came back, the app would not display the hot water. Seems like an app-problem, since the boiler display reads the function right

[imaginator]

As another datapoint, I tried using the API via HomeAssistant to change the mode too. This as well didn't work. So perhaps more of an API issue rather than application issue.