So Long Sense. It's been... meh

Share your Sense stories
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I bought my Sense in September of 2017, after the product had been out for a while. I was hoping it would be a good addition to my smart home, allowing me to monitor the usage of the many electrical devices. I was hoping for the type of usability promised in the promotional video, where the semi-cool dad was able to use the sense to reliably monitor his family’s electrical usage, and even potentially save his family from a devastating fire by discovering his daughter had left the curling iron on. My real world experience with Sense has been completely different from that fantasy. This product is very much still in beta mode, nearly two years after I bought it. And in fact one of the biggest frustrations is how uneven the “progress” of Sense has been.

Devices that Sense detects, and which I have spent hours investigating to identify with certainty will sometimes detect reliably for weeks or even months, only to suddenly disappear, and then be reintroduced as “device X” days, weeks or months later. My Tesla, which Sense detected back in January, and which had been reliably reporting since then suddenly stopped reporting earlier this month, even though I still plug it into the charger every day. My girlfriend uses the iron almost every day, yet Sense detects it plugged in about 40 percent of the time. My espresso machine, which took several weeks to pin down (after Sense ignoring it for over a year) has now disappeared after several months. It may now be back as “Device 2” but I really don’t have the time in my life to go back to looking for it again.

Suffice to say that Sense has been the most useless $300 product I have ever bought. If it were the only activity/hobby in my day perhaps I might be enjoying it. But I didn’t buy it as a hobby. I bought it to be a partner in my smart home. Instead it’s just a not-so-smart high maintenance and temperamental time suck.

We just went under contract to move to another home. I debated including Sense in my list of upgrades here when I sell my current home. I don’t think I will, however. If the buyer asks about it I will tell them, and transfer it to them should they want it. But it will definitely stay here, and I won’t be replacing it at my new home.

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and here I thought I was the only one having these problems, I too have had similar problems since I purchased it in October/ November 2017. it seems when it comes to devices it lacks consistent detection. good luck in your new adventure

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same experience here. If i were to move, i’d leave it right in the electrical panel and let the new owner deal with it. it’s got a few nice features (solar vs electric use) but it’s like a science project that never ends and doesn’t quite give you the answers you thought you were looking for. Until the time that I move i’ll still look at it and hope for more, but likely never get what was sold to me.

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What bothers me most about this is that if you try to write anything like this in their Facebook ads they immediately delete them.

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This is untrue and is a pretty painful accusation to hear.

I manage our social engagement. If someone responds to you there, it’s either me or someone who works very closely with me. The only times I have deleted comments are when they’re obscene , spam, hostile, or grossly off topic (I could write a book about the wild things people will post on our page). In some cases, I’ve hidden long back and forths between multiple parties, just to clean the thread up a bit. But when you hide, the original posters can still engage. Basically, I apply the code of conduct as we have on this place. Facebook language filtering will also remove comments for obscenity. I do not delete comments solely for criticism of Sense. In any case, I’d advise the best place to leave a review (or see other reviews) would be on Amazon or the app stores. I’m a bit biased, but I’m also a huge fan of this space and sensesaves.sense.com to see real user stories. There’s also an unofficial Facebook group: Sense Energy Users. I have no part in managing that, but you’ll find me there often. And then there’s the /r/Sense subreddit. That’s also not owned by us, but you can find me there as well as u/rlaliberty.

Facebook moves very quickly, particularly sponsored posts, and it can be near impossible to find an ad again, nevermind a comment you have left previously. We also run multiple versions of the same ad, so that can make things even more challenging. I think it’s a great place for prospective customers to interact with us on simple questions, but for prolonged (and permanent) conversation with us or other Sense users, I would say other channels are better.

If you have concerns about how you’ve been engaged with on our social channels (or here), please, reach out to me directly. I take engagement with our userbase and prospective users very seriously. I do my best to not only make these spaces as welcoming and conducive to engagement as possible, but also to drive people to the answers they seek as efficiently as I can. But, things can move fast and mistakes can get made. My “door”/inbox is always open and if you or anyone here has suggestions for how I can do a better job at these things, please let me know.

ETA: I also just want to acknowledge the general theme of this thread. The experiences voiced here are not universal: Sense simply may not be a perfect fit for every home. The device detection experience can vary for multiple reasons and even if you have a great experience with it, 100% coverage in your home is still very unlikely (and I feel that we’re pretty upfront about this, right on the homepage of our site). For that reason, we do offer a 60-day return period. 60 days tends to be enough time to get a feel for how well Sense will detect your home. But the vast majority of our customers are satisfied. We have above a 4.0 on all of our core review channels and I hear great stories from our users every day (again, check out sensesaves.sense.com for some of those, or scroll through this category on the forum). For many of our users, device detection is only part of the benefit of Sense. Personally, I probably spend more time with the Power Meter than with the Now screen, and more time with Goals, Usage, and our integrations than features like device-specific notifications. I love the awareness that the Now screen gives me, but for money savings, the Power Meter is where I always start. I’m currently working on some content that dives deeply into to these less flashy features and, honestly, we should do a better job including them in promotional and educational materials. I’m working hard on this front, while Data Science and Engineering work tirelessly on the ML aspects.

If you have 3 minutes to spare, you should watch this video (or skip to 1:55). This is very much a real possibility and not fiction.

I’ll shut up now. I’m apparently in a talkative, pre-holiday mood.

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My replies in fb weren’t bad. They were just truthful comments to people asking about certain things or having expectations I knew wouldn’t be fulfilled. I’m not sure who would have deleted them but they were. I had the reply notifications and then nothing. I don’t typically reply unless I have something relevant to share. Same as reddit and here. At least I know it wasn’t YOU now lol.

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Couldn’t have said it better. I don’t even try to hunt down where my 3 stoves, 4 refrigerators, 2 washers, and 3 dryers all seem to be hiding in my house. Not to mention Heat 1-9. I honestly don’t even try anymore. Doesn’t ever seem to be getting better either.

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While I wish it worked better I find it difficult to imagine how the information isn’t useful. The overall power usage with real-time and historic data is really helpful. Even without all devices being detected the “always on” is certainly worth taking down to eliminate energy waste. It’s also useful to see max and average power use to size solar and back up generators.

I have certainly saved money by using Sense to track and monitor load.

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I often told my son to turn his thermostat up or down, while I noticed it running. I also know every time the garage door is activated.

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Moderator removed

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Meh. Honestly I get a better read of my electricity usage via the spreadsheet I keep of my bills and kWh. Certainly no way it would have saved the $300 I originally spent on it.

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I know every time my garage door is activated, too. Because it’s a smart garage door that reliably tells me. As opposed to Sense, which found it inconsistently for weeks, then just suddenly lost it.

As for “good riddance,” if my telling the truth about my experience so offends you I am sorry. Sorry that you’re such a delicate flower.

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Given how vanilla my electric service is, I find it difficult to believe that most peoples’ experience would be much different than mine. But as far as the 60 day return policy is concerned the Sense documents specifically tell you to “give it time” to find things in your home. Being patient and waiting for that took more than 60 days,

Your touting of the “less flashy” features of the Sense device, most of which I can get somewhere else doesn’t quite vibe with your promotional commercial, where the dad was finding stuff all over the house to turn off, and even busting his daughter for leaving her curling iron on. That was the point of my post. The product doesn’t work as advertised. Period. No defense of that.

Look, I get it. Artificial Intelligence items are pretty stupid until they’re not. Then they become pretty darn smart pretty darn quick. And perhaps Sense will be an amazing product some day. But right now, for $300 it is not the product that was represented to me when I bought it.

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Sorry it didn’t meet your expectations set by some of the Sense marketing you digested. You seem like a very staid mainstream user, not a bad thing, but with very different expectations from innovators and early adopters who see the immediate benefits and opportunities with Sense. Enjoy !

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the sense box works and it isn’t perfect of course but what you wrote makes it sound worthless and that just isn’t true. I’ve had mine for about 2 years and I wish it find my mini-split air conditioners but that maybe something it can never do. I think the box is useful and I bet many more do as well. I hope it gets smarter but what roger1 has written just isn’t correct

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I’m going to lock this thread for a bit to let folks cool down.

Voicing frustration on this forum is absolutely ok, as is voicing criticism back, but everyone should make every effort to be constructive and understand the opposite POV, whether directed at Sense or at each other.

Now is a good time to remind everyone of the Community Guidelines posted here:

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