Entering new ToU rates problem?

I login to the web end of Sense and see this message:
update_rates

So I click on “Update rates”
and see this old information:

It is clear that as of beginning of next month I need to enter new rates.

So I click on “Add Rate Zone”

Why the [EXPLICIT WORD] am I not able to enter June 1st as the start of the new timezone ?

[GRMBL]
What a mess!
@JamesDrewAtSense Do you have any ideas about this ?
I opened ticket for it as well: #396368

1 Like

My opened support case:

See
https://community.sense.com/t/entering-new-tou-rates-problem/21356

==============
Response from first line hell-desk

To better understand the issue and provide you with a solution, could you please provide us with a screenshot of the error message you are receiving?

Which is a clear indication they haven’t read this subject at the forum at all

So I send a kind reply (although agitated)

If you look at the link I provided, you will have all the information you need.
It includes the screenshot

I just had it when I received the 2nd reply:

I apologize for the confusion in my previous message. Thank you for providing the link and the screenshot. I have reviewed the information provided and can see that you are experiencing issues while trying to enter a new Time of Use (TOU) rate at the web interface.

As I send your report to the team working on the solution, I’d like to ensure they have all the information they need to get to the bottom of this issue. Would you please reply with the following:

  1. The date/time when the issue was first noticed.

  2. The Sense mobile app version and build number which can be found in Settings > About Sense in the Sense mobile app.

  3. The OS and device you are using (i.e. iOS Iphone 12, Android S6, etc.)

Once I receive this essential information, I will escalate to the appropriate team.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Thank you,

K Lokesh
Sense Support

================

The link was there from the beginning, don’t insinuate I only gave the link after that person ASKED FOR IT.

Why does it matter ? And you can kind of deduct I wrote on the forum after I found it I couldn’t enter the new ToU rate ?

After that person confirms that it is the WEB INTERFACE now asking for app version number ?

OS of the mobile app ?

Sorry Sense, but this is your 1st line of support you must be paying them with rice grains ?
I bet an AI script would do better.

This is not the first time I found response of first line support UTTERLY USELESS and insulting.
Is Sense seriously try to make a better product by discouraging people from opening tickets ?

So the software is a mess, and support is even worse.

1 Like

I figured out why it is not working.

According to Sense you have to work/think backwards.
You have the specify END date first to the end of the new period, so don’t click on the start date that is first in the options, but skip the first one, click on the end date.
Then you can specify begin date that is in the future (relative to current date)
Screenshot from 2024-05-25 16-29-05

Another thing which is (IMO) totally illogical:
If the day starts at 12:00am why can’t it end at 12:00am ?
I have to specify 11:59PM.

What is the rate between 11:59PM & 12:00AM ?

Probably because I am european, but a 24 Hr (or as they refer to in the USA Military clock) system would be so much more intuitive.
Maybe a setting to switch between 12/24 hr system ?

Is the UI actually tested on human subjects that are not the programmers before releasing this ?

What a mess !

And yet ANOTHER suggestion.
Why not in the overview being able to tag the old (no longer valid) ToU rates and being able to delete the selected ones. Now have to click in the old rate, scroll down and hit “delete” with another confirmation “Are you sure ?”
User friendly ? What is that ?

I will now crawl back under my rock.

2 Likes

Danny, I feel for you. I thought of trying to help you by tinkering with my TOU setup, BUT I remember that setting up and adjusting mine was quite dicey. As you reveal, there are lots of hidden rules constraining ToU entry, partially because the UI tries to revalidate for correctness, no overlap, etc. with every adjustment which requires pre-thinking every move and doing them all in order without mistakes. Glad you solved - your posting should be helpful for brave souls in the future. Agree that the UI needs to be greatly improved, or better yet have ToU taken directly from the Utility rate schedules. My Rainforest Eagles pull rate schedules directly for PG&E and even my associated Community Choice Aggregator associated with PG&E for each county (Monterey for where I use my Eagles).

2 Likes

Howdy internet people, it’s me again [Thanks to Beau of The Fifth Column]

Same irritation every time I have to add/change rate structure.
Screenshot_2024-10-08_12-26-06

Not looking forward, but let’s do it.
Gather the information from my utility company:
Screenshot_2024-10-08_12-12-17

I create a new rate at the sense page:
With the information of reading from my last rant, I start with the end date, then the start date.
I am able to enter 2 new rates without issues! [PROGRESS]

Screenshot_2024-10-08_12-27-48

Now the third one:

Looks good right ? start & end date correct, time zone correct.
Let’s hit “save changes”

Screenshot_2024-10-08_12-31-59

Where exactly does it overlap with the previous 2 time zones ?

This is baloney !

I will open a ticket with the professional helldesk and see what there response is…

1 Like

Against knowing better, I tried support
Here screenshots of my email to support@



To receive this answer:

I know Sense is short on cash.
I know they have to fall back to cheap labor from India.
But this is beyond infuriating.
They are not even looking at any of the information you give them in the first place.
They have some kind of workflow to ask for information, even if it is already there,
in the hope that customers give up and stop asking for support.

I gave her this reply:

=================

Might as well save more money by just stating “we are unable to pay for real support, so we stop pretending we have it” and return all emails from support@sense.com with an error message.

1 Like

Solution:
After case was forwarded to L2 support, James pointed out I had overlap with old rate and new rate I was trying to implement.
So that was my mistake.
The error message was pointing back to OLDER range rates, not the 2 new ones I setup already.
So my bad for not reading the error message clearly.

Despite that, I think the L1 support failed miserably by asking for more information, while it was already there.

2 Likes

I am going to say the UI/UX for this is just overall bad. I am a developer myself, with many years experience, also in UX design. Despite that I have run into this problem many times before without the message making it obvious to me what was wrong.

2 Likes

This is IMO the biggest issue with entering TOU rates.
So I have now successfully entered the 4 new rates as can be seen in the overview:
Screenshot_2024-10-10_08-48-10
Start dates: oct 1st, end dates May 31

Now I click on one of the rates and see what happens to the end date:

That is the original end date PLUS 8 days.
WHY ? HOW ? WT* ?
This is how my old rates got out of sync.

I doubt Sense will even try and fix this.
Money is tight, bigger fish available like getting people to invest.

1 Like

Hi, @dannyterhaar. This is a known bug that I have reported. I’ve re-escalated it to get some more visibility. It is fixable by tinkering with the settings—I know you shouldn’t have to—but it appears you were able to fix this on your end. Feel free to let me know if you run into any more issues with this or if your rate zones are still not set as you would like.

3 Likes

One of my previous messages in this thread has been flagged as offensive and has been made unviewable
So even after years of not fixing known issues, and being a bit outspoken sarcastic
“the community” rather rate my message as offensive than providing feedback.

Wow…

1 Like

@dannyterhaar, I think you ran afoul of this policy:

  • Maintain privacy. Do not share private information about other members on this forum. Do not share private information from your Support tickets, including names and contact information of Support agents, or of other Sense employees.

Part of the guidelines. OK to be outspoken as long as you are respectful and don’t pull peoples names into the comments unless it is OK with them.