Re: Home And Away: All Or Nothing
Vinnie Breidenthal
I opened the Home app and added the Google Camera Indoor 2nd Generation Wired back into the app and told it to use Presence Sensing for Home and Away as I had always done. I also setup the camera Notifications and other settings as desired.
At the top of the Favorites screen I tapped Home and I now had the option to set up Home and Away routines at the bottom of the screen! I had never seen those before.
Hopefully this will help someone else in the future. I suspect the problem is at least partially caused by the Home app and the Nest app interactions and account migration from a Nest account to a Google account. If so, as more people replace their DropCams with Google Cams others may go through the same frustration I did.
Does anybody have any idea why I cannot add or see Home and Away Automation routines under Household? When I delete the two Household Routines I added I have no Household routines at all. Is that normal?
EDIT: Oct. 23, 2023 - Since the problem is now fixed I edited the initial post below to remove all of the troubleshooting steps I tried that were ineffective in order to to shorten the post. I left the symptoms in the post in case others experience the same ones and are searching for them.
I'm in the process of replacing my DropCam Pro's with the Google Indoor Cam - Wired 2nd Generation cameras and that requires the use of the Google Home app. I've had the Nest app and a combination of cameras since my DropCam and Nest Thermostat use started before Google bought DropCam and Nest.
But I need the new interior cameras to turn on and off when I leave the house because we use it for the dog AND because the Nest Protect 2 smoke/CO detectors have not provided notifications for years (many people have reported this). So we rely on the interior cameras to "hear" the Nest Protect 2 devices talking and beeping. It works.
When I replaced my first camera with the Google Inside Camera 2nd Generation Wired a few days ago I told the camera setup process to turn on the camera when Presence said I was gone and off when I arrived (or whatever the exact wording was). Yet when I leave the home that new camera will not turn on.
But where people say they have a Home and Away Household Automations Routine I do not nor have I ever had one. I can delete the new camera, delete the "schedule" Household routines I added, whatever, and I never get a Home or Away routines in Automations -> Household.
When I check Settings -> Privacy -> Presence sensing everything is turned on BUT the app thinks my Samsung Galaxy S22 is Away even though I'm home. I can set it to Home in Settings -> Presence Sensing and it sometimes turns it back to Away within a few minutes. The new camera still does not turn on even though Presence says I'm Away.
Even though the Home app Presence Sensing says I'm Away NONE of the interior cameras turn on. But the other two DropCam Pro's WILL turn on if I MANUALLY select Away. It's acting like the Home app Presence Sensing is completely disconnected from the devices. This may be happening because I have no Home and Away routines under Automations -> Household so there is nothing for the Presence Sensing to trigger.
Anyone else having an issue where HomeKit thinks they are away from their home location despite actually being at home? On 2 occasions in the last week my HomeKit thinks I am away from home and turns on cameras that should be off when at home. Also, as I am "away" none of my home based automations will run......because HomeKit thinks I am not at home. I have it set up so that if my cameras change state, i.e turns on, I get a notification. On both occasions I have received a notification that these cameras have switched to "on, because everyone left home" at 2am............on both occasions. I have checked my phone location and that clearly indicates I am at home. On the first occasion I left home and returned and it resolved itself but on the second occasion even though I left home and returned HomeKit still thinks I am "away". I have tried setting one of my other devices as the primary and HomeKit still believes I am away. I have restarted all home hubs and router. Still thinks I am away. Never had this issue before IOS/TVOS 17.
Five hours with Apple Support (they have been awesome) and nothing worked, but then my wife discovered that her iPad was still on 16. We updated it to 17.1 and as soon as it rebooted, the home came online, all of our automations ran, and now the automation shows our home location correctly.
Thanks. I did contact Apple but whilst they were "looking in to it" I managed to find a resolution......a permanent one hopefully. I noticed in HomeKit that my home location was nowhere near where I live (go to Home app, create new automation using "when somewhen arrives" then clicking on "Home" under location. This shows a map of your home. In my case, nowhere near where I live). To resolve I deleted "significant locations" on both iPhone and iPad and then force restarted both. Bam.............HomeKit rectified where it "thought" my home was and all home based automations worked again. I'm hoping this permanently fixes the issue but only time will tell.
I recently had to cancel three HomeAway/VRBO bookings at the last minute due to my husband's health. I have had great success with HomeAway/VRBO for over nine years UNTIL I had to cancel. I fully understand and complied with their policy of having to pay for the stays without refund. HOWEVER, I have had to fight to receive refunds for CLEANING FEES AND REFUNDABLE DAMAGE DEPOSITS! Since we were not at the properties, there was nothing to clean nor could we have damaged anything. I called the HomeAway number twice. The first time, I was told that it was up to the homeowner to refund the cleaning fee and damage deposit! I then had to contact the owners to request refunds for the above. One owner still has not responded to me even after three weeks and three emails requesting him to do so. HomeAway states that it is out of their hands! Another authorized HomeAway to refund both cleaning fees and damage deposit, however, only the cleaning fee has been refunded requiring me to make, yet, another call to them. Yes, the next time we travel, we will definitely obtain trip insurance but absolutely NOT from HomeAway! I doubt that I will ever use them again, actually. I have registered complaints with HomeAway regarding their cleaning fees and refundable damage deposits policies as it leaves too much power in the hands of some greedy and unscrupulous home owners. Unfortunately, reviews cannot be made on the HomeAway site if you had to cancel even though the reservation was fully paid including the HomeAway fee. Beware that some damage deposits are $1000+ and some cleaning fees are in the hundreds of dollars. Mine were not, thankfully, but imagine if you cancelled your trip and did not have those amounts refunded.
Yes. We have contacted our credit card company. We were advised to first try to recoup the money from the home owners. One homeowner from Oxford refunded everything to us without our even asking which we never did. We just wanted the cleaning fee and damage deposits refunded. Another from London has been very helpful, but he is also going through all sorts of hoops contacting HomeAway to get it all straightened out. So many phone calls. So many emails. It's exhausting. My op is designed to warn others about HomeAway/VRBO's cancellation policy which does not in anyway protect the customer.
I'm really sorry that happened to you. I've gotten burned a couple of times by "by owner" situations in the past, such that I don't use them anymore--only use hotels now, where, at least if you don't like the room, you can move to one down the hall, and cancellation policies have a little more leniency and fewer $$ upfront.
Your claim seems very resaonable. AS your cerdit card company suggest, apply for the deposit refund from HomeAway/VRBO documenting the interaction. Then file a claim with your bank/credit card company for services not recieved.
It appears that HomeAway is more focused on property owners and not renters. For example, HomeAway describes how security deposits are handled from a property owner perspective:
-HomeAway-Payments-automatically-issue-refunds-to-travelers
With HomeAway Payments, the refundable damage deposit will be held and
later automatically refunded 7 or 14 days after check-out, depending
on which grace period you select. If damage occurs during a stay, you
can claim all or a portion of the refundable damage deposit prior to
when the 7 or 14 day grace period ends. You will receive an email
reminder the day a traveler checks out to take action if necessary.
"But, now, THERE IS NO WAY THAT HOMEAWAY (OR AIRBNB?) CAN COMPEL THE OWNER TO REFUND YOUR MONEY. That is illegal in most countries, I gather."
Actually, Barbara, HomeAway/VRBO DOES refund the damage deposit, not the owner if you stay. So, if they can refund the damage deposit if you actually stayed, why can't they do the same if you cancelled?! It is counterintuitive to say the least!
"I finally got HomeAway to say that the only thing they could do if I did not get my refund was to kick the owner off the platform." How does one kick the owner off the platform? I'm uncertain what the platform is. I cannot even make comments about the flat which I paid for but didn't stay in. It is impossible to comment on the HomeAway/VRBO site unless you stay there.
We have gone to Europe for 16 of the last 18 years and have stayed in most countries. We have never used HomeAway/VRBO preferring to book directly with small hotels or B&Bs. We have never had a problem.
As you know, HA/VRBO, and others like it, are just a platform for individual owners to advertise their rentals. Just like placing an ad in a newspaper back in the day. As someone else said, you are at the mercy of the owner.
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