Your dealer hasn't called you back.
They're still in business. They installed your system. They just don't answer any more — and you've started to wonder whether it's something you did. It isn't. Here's what's actually going on.
Why a working dealer stops answering
We've been a Lutron dealer since 1999 and one of the first Control4 dealers in the country, so this is said from inside the trade, not about it: you are almost certainly not being ignored on purpose.
A dealer's calendar is built around installations. A new-build job is tens of thousands of dollars, booked months ahead, with a builder applying pressure. Your request — a keypad that stopped working, an app that won't reconnect, an OS that's five years behind — is a few hundred dollars and takes a skilled person half a day including the drive.
It isn't that your job is unimportant. It's that it's unprofitable, and there is no polite way for a small business to say that to a customer they like. So the call doesn't get returned, the quote doesn't get sent, and the follow-up you were promised never comes. You are not a bad customer. You are a job that doesn't fit the way their business makes money.
Which is the entire reason we exist. Service work is not the thing we squeeze between installations — it's the only thing we do, and we do it remotely, so there is no truck and no half-day to recover.
No, you don't have to fire them
This is the question people actually hesitate on, so here is the plain answer: most of what you need doesn't require leaving your dealer at all.
An OS upgrade, a programming change, a keypad re-map, re-linking the phone app, adding a device you bought — we can do all of it remotely without touching who your dealer of record is. They keep the relationship. You get the work done this week instead of next quarter.
Some things do need us listed as your dealer — mainly registering hardware and certain manufacturer-cloud operations. When a job needs that, we'll tell you before you spend anything, and it's your call. Plenty of owners stay exactly where they are and just use us when their dealer is heads-down on a build. That's a perfectly good arrangement and we're not going to talk you out of it.
What's yours, whatever happens
The hardware
You paid for the controller, the keypads, the dimmers and the touchscreens. They are your property. A dealer cannot repossess a system because you asked someone else to look at it.
The programming
The project file that makes your house behave the way it does was written for you and belongs with your system. We take a full backup before touching anything, and that backup is yours to keep.
The choice
Being a dealer's customer is not a contract you are locked into. You can get a second opinion on a smart home exactly like you can on a roof.
The right to a straight answer
If a job genuinely can't be done, or your controller has reached the end of what it can run, you are entitled to hear that plainly — not to be left waiting for a call that resolves it.
What happens if you ask us
- 1
Tell us what you have and what stopped
Model, roughly how old, and what you have been trying to get done. Guesswork is fine at this stage — we confirm the details ourselves.
- 2
We get a way in
A free bridge that plugs in behind your router, or a managed router if you would rather. Without a connection, nobody can work on your system remotely — us included.
- 3
You see the price before anything happens
An itemized quote, every line named. Nothing runs until you accept it, and nothing is charged for software work that does not complete.
- 4
We back it up first — every time
A complete copy of your project before a single change. It is the first thing we do on every job, without exception, and it is what makes the work reversible.
- 5
The work runs and you watch it
Progress is on screen as it happens, not a promise to call you back. Most software jobs are done the same day you accept the quote.
What it costs
OS upgrade
$129
Bring your system up to a current, supported version — backed up first, verified after. Free when you buy hardware through us.
Programming
from $49
A keypad, a scene, an app re-link, a new device. Priced per item, so you pay for the job and not for a truck and a half-day.
Monitoring
from $9/mo
Nightly automated health checks so a problem finds us before it finds you. Optional, cancel whenever, never required to have work done.
Software work is billed only when it succeeds. If an upgrade doesn't complete, you aren't charged for it.
What owners ask us first
My Control4 dealer won't return my calls. Is there anything I can actually do?+
Yes — and you can do it without a confrontation. Most service work (OS upgrades, programming changes, app re-linking, adding a device) can be done remotely by us while your dealer of record stays exactly who it is today. You do not need their permission and you do not need to tell them.
Am I allowed to have someone else work on my system?+
You are. You own the hardware and the programming in your house. Being a dealer's customer is not an exclusivity agreement — it is a business relationship, and you can get a second opinion the same way you would on any other trade.
Will my dealer find out, and will they be annoyed?+
For ordinary remote programming work there is nothing for them to find out — we are not changing their status. If a job genuinely does require us to be listed as your dealer, we tell you that up front and you decide. Most dealers who have gone quiet on service are relieved rather than annoyed; the work was never the part they wanted.
They keep saying they'll come out and then don't. Is that normal?+
It is extremely common, and it is usually scheduling rather than dishonesty — an install job overruns and the service calls slide. It does not make it acceptable when it has happened four times. The difference with remote work is that there is no truck to schedule, so there is nothing to bump.
Do I have to switch dealers to use you?+
No. Plenty of owners keep their installer and use us for the work that installer never gets to. If you do want us as your dealer of record, that is available too — but it is a separate decision and it is never a condition of getting a quote.
What if my dealer already quoted me and I just never heard back?+
Send us what they quoted. We will price the same scope line by line so you can see the two side by side. If theirs is fair, we will tell you that — a quote you already have in hand from someone local is often the better deal, and saying so costs us one job and earns the next one.
Can you do this without anyone coming to my house?+
For software work, yes — that is the entire point of the bridge. It gives us a secure connection so we can work as if we were standing at your equipment rack. Anything involving wiring, mounting or a physically dead device still needs a person in the room, and we will say so rather than pretend otherwise.
Do you work on Lutron as well?+
Yes. HomeWorks and RadioRA owners hit the same wall for the same reason, and Lutron is where the 25 years started — dealer since 1999.
Tell us what you've been waiting on.
Describe the job your dealer hasn't got to. You'll get an itemized quote with real prices — and if it's something that genuinely needs someone in the room, we'll say so instead of selling you a remote fix that won't work.
Dealer actually closed down? · Free: check what OS your controller can get