I cannot recommend hiring this company to do any Control4 project based on my personal experience with them. The following description was filed as a BBB complaint; ie:
* I met with them multiple times prior to the start of a Control4 home automation project, clearly explained & documented what functionality & capabilities I wanted in the system. Still have emails.
* Prism told me specifically what brand & model of equipment to buy to achieve that, total hardware cost $1k.
* Prism started work on this in January but only worked a few hours/week, saying ?they had more important customers to take care of?.
* As time went on, I found I needed to give them a daily punch list of items left to be done & items they had done which were not
working. They never took that punch list with them, nor did they ever mention anything about ?scope creep? or ?not included in the contract?.
* Four months later, still far from complete. I called to see when they were going to come to finish & was told it would be delayed because his son?s girlfriend?s dad had just passed away.
* Five days later the system failed & I called Prism for support. Hours later they said they couldn?t now because his son?s girlfriend?sdad had just passed away. Again? Same excuse as almost a week ago? Prism got agitated, told me they quit & not to pay the remainder still owed on the contract. We had already paid more than 95% of it, about $6k but system was only 65% complete.
* Control4 found another dealer who came to investigate, his evaluation found:
- Prism had installed a Control4 controller that was DISCONTINUED more than 6 months prior to Prism installing it.
- That controller even if not discontinued had insufficient processing power for this configuration.
- Many hardware components were cheap Chinese junk, unsupported by Control4, which accounted for many system problems.
- The equipment Prism had specifically recommended I buy wasn?t compatible with the required & documented functionality.
- Prism left a tangled mess of unlabeled cables behind the control cabinet & both tv?s.
In reading Prism?s response, I have to wonder what customer they are talking about since there is very little in their response that is accurate about this job. It does not matter how long Prism has been in business or how many jobs they have
previously done. My research has revealed that they do not have as many ?satisfied? customers as they think they do.
* A ?small? job? Everything is relative, but for this residence (less than 2000 sq ft), I do not consider $6000 (closer to $7000
after I purchased the components that Prism specifically recommended by makeand model, which were found to be inadequate) to be ?small?. If Prism finds this project small, perhaps that explains much of their lack of care to complete this project per specifications and paying any attention to detail or professionalism.
* Prism offered NOTHING to resolve the many issues, except more time & materials, where ?time? was when they felt like it and
?materials? was cheap Chinese junk components implemented in non-standard ways and unsupported by Control4 (confirmed as ?unsupported? by third party evaluation and corporate Control4).
* I am documenting this NOT to get money back as Prismclaims but to warn others about my experience with Prism. If their conscience causes them to pay to have it done as it should have been done in the first place and to implement what I paid for, I would not object to that, and I think they should. I am undecided about taking legal action.
* Contrary to Prism?s statement, additional features were NOT added to the overall system from what was documented in writing that was desired. I still have those emails. Based on the ORIGINAL requirements, the receiver specified by Prism was underpowered and inadequate. Some items originally requested were REMOVED from the final implementation; ie, speakers
and TV control in the Master Bedroom.
* I cannot be responsible if Prism underbid what was required to implement the project, especially for something that was 65%
complete after 4 months instead of ?100% after 4 days? which I was told by a Platinum Control4 dealer would have been appropriate and entirely reasonable. In fact, when we questioned Prism at the project start as to how long this would take, they responded ?about a week? on two separate occasions and now 5 months later, it is still far from complete.
* Problems were consistently reported to Prism, and never fixed. Again, I still have these emails and punchlists. There is no basis for Prism?s statement of ?no communications?; rather, there is plenty of evidence of Prism not communicating with me and not listening.
* After declining to provide support after a major system failure, Prism told me to FORGET the remaining balance and they QUIT. This was not my suggestion, but a Prism decision after I had called them out on many of these issues and their lack of
support.
* Prism stated that the Control4 controller was current at the time of installation, which is a blatant falsehood and untruth, confirmed by a Platinum Control4 dealer and corporate Control4 headquarters who said that controller provided by Prism had been DISCONTINUED more than 6 months prior to ts installation here. How can a real Control4 dealer not know that? Were they simply trying to unload useless components on me, knowing it was discontinued and hoping I would not find out?
* Even if the Control4 controller had not been discontinued, Prism never made any reference or mention to me that they had under-configured the system and it would not work properly with that controller. Prism was supposed to be the ?experts?, how is that MY problem?
* The ?Chinese junk? were inferior and ultra-cheap components provided by Prism for this project, they are NOT a ?fact of life? as Prism has stated for someone who expects quality components that function properly (where most of the Prism-supplied components do not function properly, and are also non-standard for the applications), and none of them were approved by
Control4 to work with the Control4 system, where Control4 is the overall ?brains? of the whole system. How can a real Control4 dealer not know this? There are of course quality electronic components made in China but the point being that the ones provided were super low quality and not approved by Control4.
* I emailed Prism about issues & requirements because then I would have a DOCUMENTED COPY of what was being requested, and I still have those emails. This is a standard of doing business to document requirements and is considered good practice by reputable companies.
* It is interesting to note that the issues that I VERBALLY COMMUNICATED to Prism prior to them quitting are still unresolved issues after multiple mentions and still not resolved. There was plenty of communication, contrary to Prism?s assertions, but it was all one-way from me to them.
* I notice Prism did not address their haphazard method of installing wires & cables in a seemingly random fashion in the control closet and behind the TVs, where NONE of the cables were labeled, creating a true rat?s nest of unlabeled cables for anyone coming in to try to figure it out, even if that was Prism at some future point. Not labeling or bundling the massive amount of cables is a true lack of quality or concern for professionalism, and is seen as ?cabling 101? as a standard requirement for professional companies that engage in this type of work.
* Prism exhibited a lack of respect for our home by not cleaning up after themselves; ie, after knocking holes in walls to pull cables through, they left chunks of drywall on the floor, did not repair the holes, they left pieces of wire and insulation on the floor, and carelessly set metal toolboxes on brand new wood