Control4 Reviews 4,028

Please please never ever buy control 4
I have had it installed four a few years and have had nothing but problems it’s a total waste of money I really want to help people
by letting them know my experience if I could give no stars I would as that’s my experience. I am on contract which costs a fortune
but it’s the only way I can watch TV and the security at my home. When it works
I just want to help anyone who is thinking of installing
Control 4 Please be careful
Mrs P Mascolo.

The main thing that disappoints me is that it is controlled by an "approved" administrator - not you. I understand the meaning of naming this device - you will be 4th person in the chain of controlling you apartment. It's like a car that requires an "approved by maker" driver. And this driver shouldn't be you.

Absolutely useless and I will explain. Do not install Control 4 into any home, the ‘approved’ installer don’t know how to work it, even setting the clock. No after-sales, no fix, nothing. The system doesn't integrate with a lot of other electronics including cameras. Not worth it, don’t do it. Absolutely pathetic. This is after 3 years being trying to fix it.

DO NOT buy this product, absolute rip-off, no support
54 minutes ago
My opinion, DO NOT BUY this product. It is an absolute rip-off. My home-theater installer pushed me into buying this product for $1,500. After a year's use, last week my ethernet switch died. Along with that all Control4 SR-260 programming washed away. Now, I cannot program the remote myself. They only allow people with paid license to program their remote. I have to approach a dealer that will come down, maybe charge $500 to program my remote so I can watch/listen to my home theater. If I look for options on the Control 4 website, they're selling subscriptions. ABSOLUTE RIP-OFF, they're here to make money off of their junk product. DO NOT BUY.

I bought a house in Sarasota in late 2018 with an installed Control4 system that the previous owner spent more than $20,000 on and was excited to use it. What a disappointment. Despite pumping thousands more to update and upgrade the system to OS3 to improve its reliability, it has always worked poorly, requiring repeated expensive visits from our dealers to reset and fix things after power outages. My TV stopped working after a power blip in late Spring this year and dealer number 3 told me it would be two weeks before he could come out to have a look. I had to disconnect the Control4 units just so I could watch the news. That was the end of dealer #3. The dealer network is terrible. I've gone through three and was working on a fourth when I just decided to scrap the system. Dealer 4 told me that they've had some success with Control4 but it wasn't their favorite system and recommended that someone with some technical skill should consider something else, so kudos to those guys. Control4 is a black box and only dealers are allowed access to do ANYTHING. The Control4 units are now gathering dust in my garage, replaced by reliable open-source units that even Alexa can control. Control4 is probably fine for people that can find an exceptional dealer, have weak technical skills, have a lot of patience and have tens of thousands of dollars they're willing to pump into an iffy system they may end up scrapping anyway. I gave them two stars because I know it may work for some of you out there.

Waste of time and money. The remote wouldn’t hold a charge and constantly dies. The authorized dealer refused to work with us after the initial setup and we were left with a non working system that we spent thousands of dollars on. Contacted control 4 directly since the installer wouldn’t respond and they were of no assistance either. The only thing they would tell me is I had to hire a new dealer and pay more money just to get the remotes returned under the warranty. And then I would have to pay again to have the new remote programmed and installed. Please avoid this system. It wasn’t even good the brief time it was working for us

If I can give them no stars would probably be right. Waste of time money and effort. After spending thousands of pounds to have their home automation their service is almost never good. I have received a dud remote control without any fonts on it, when I brought it to their attention I was told unable to change it. Disgraceful service and disgusting customer support. Please do not waste your hard earned money to this company.

We have spent hundreds and thousands and yet this company continues to treat us with disrespect and contempt!! We paid top dollar for aC4 remote control and yet some came with a factory fault of the alphabet missing see attached pictures. Despite such factory fault C4 wants to cheat us and will not change this despite it being their fault !!

I had control 4 put in during construction in 2010. It's a great product while it works. Mine ended up out of date and it would cost me twice as much to upgrade the system as opposed to scrapping and using Wiim and Roku.
The remotes for control are great, until they quit working. If the system has been upgraded, nothing you can do.

Had a Control4 system installed in June to replace an old whole house audio system. We were told that we would be able to listen to SiriusXM, which is the primary audio streaming service we use. From the inception, SiriusXM kept cutting off for no apparent reason. Called for service and a new driver was installed. Same problem. SiriusXM is completely unusable. Complained again and was told that the problem is with the SiriusXM API which is not compatible with Control4. I was told it is up to SiriusXM to update their API. That is wholly unsatisfactory. I was sold a very expensive system with the express assurance that we would be able to use it with SiriusXM. If Control4 has the specs for the SiriusXM API, why can't they update their software to be compatible with it?

I have had Control4 now for 5 years since building our new home. Everything is top of the line. It’s all garbage!
You rely continually on your service people to connect, repair and reconnect systems.
Everything operates through antiquated remote control systems instead of just through something like an Alexa.
We use Alexa in the end for everything and have it connect to Control 4.
In the end, Control 4 is a fancy tv remote control because it was really all we needed it for.
A month ago my remote control broke; they want $1,000 for a replacement plus programming and networking.

I just use the app on my phone now

Absolute waste of money and it never ends!

What the problem with most systems are always related to bad network installed at the home. The dealer should not install in a home unless they install a best in class network. I see in a lot of homes that the customer will not or the dealer will not install great network first. If this does not happen then customer or dealer must walk away from project. Most great networks in homes
Can cost between $2500 to $5000 depending on home size and/or outdoor coverage, after that then a good audio/video network can be installed between $10000 to $200000. Indoor and outdoor lighting can cost much more.
If a dealer is not good at labeling wire or installs a big ball of wire in closets then that dealer will have big problems with your project.
Go and look at dealers installs at other customer homes and that will tell you the truth of what is going to happen to your home.

Bad install gives bad name for all.

This is the worst system by far. Nothing but problems and major repair/diagnostic bills. I once again have the repair folks here cause the system just stopped working. For some reason the system is not talking to other devices and is now totally worthless unless the tech can get it back up. Tech has been here for over 3 hours and has been trying to speak with control 4 folks who are no help at all. So bummed.

A recent reviewer did try and offer some objective input on the reliance of other products within your home automation ecosystem which might be at fault rather than immediately thinking that it’s a Control4 problem.
He makes a valid argument.
Home automation is complex and for many they engage professionals who have the experience and knowledge to plot their way through this sometimes bewildering minefield.
I think I can be fairly objective using some standard business performance metrics to support my experiences going back several years with Control4.
I have either used, or contacted 14 Authorised Control4 Dealers in the past 18 months (in truth there were probably a couple more but at least they said they couldn’t handle it).
I supplied relevant and insightful information plus an idea of what I’d be looking for.
I didn’t apply an urgency to the work.
These are my summary conclusions:
X2 No reply, in spite of polite follow-ups
X2 Experienced their services. One reconfigured our set-up differently which we didn’t want and gave us problems. Hired another to fix this problem but left with another problem unfixed, admittedly this not a Control4 issue but they were in the AV Space!
X2 Checked out via U.K. Companies House which raised a Red Flag. All might have been OK but we didn’t want to risk it.
X3 Replied but didn’t follow through.
X2 Didn’t feel comfortable with experience and resourcing, full of jargon
X3 Misc: used previously with some success but now more interested larger projects (actually I completely understand this!)
One thing I’ve learned is that the standard of Control4 Dealers is incredibly varied.
I’ve only been able to sort out the wheat from the chaff by “investing” a huge amount of my time in a deeper understanding of this marketplace which is tough slog.
I never intended Home Automation to become a new hobby!
Many dealers chase the “big” money so if you want to start from scratch Control4 dealers will be all over you like a rash!
Unsurprisingly they’ll want to lock you into as much Control4 equipment as they can which isn’t always necessary.
A short digression was that in my case Dealers wanted to push me into the full Control4 bundle but as our home did not lend itself to unified control as our CCTV, Heating, Lighting, Alarm system and Blinds did not seamlessly integrate with Control4 this wasn’t an option.
Fast Forward it was only after applying granular understanding of what would work best for me ultimately all I needed was to buy and get installed an EA-1 and get it programmed with a HD Matrix (pulse:eight) and get a few Remote Controls for each room, plus a couple of ZigBee (mesh) extenders.
As we had a great Sonos set-up integrating with this provided us with the immersive experience these guys promulgate.
This was done for a fraction of some recommendations which were frankly unnecessary.
An issue we have always had is that Control4, being a dealer locked system, means that every time you want to reconfigure or readjust your system you are in for call out fees plus reliant on an engineer's availability.
Plus, as we cannot utilise Control4 across all our applications we need a company who can service other needs.
The cost of their hardware is very high eg the new Control4 Halo Touchscreen Remote Control comes in at over £800!
So use as much insight as you can when looking for a Control4 Dealer.
Look at as many trusted reviews as you can
Please note a great number are small businesses with limited resources.
I always check them out in U.K. with Companies House which can be revealing, but not the ultimate test.

I have had our Control4 system in our home for 10 years now and is constantly giving us problems. Several years ago it would no longer take updates and we were told we had to upgrade to the next level, which cost us about $10,000 to upgrade everything. The system constantly has issues. Lighting does not work consistently, the screens go blank all the time, etc. Our installer told us to just unplug and plug the system back into reset. Sometimes the screens come back and sometimes they don't. I would never put another one of these systems in a home again.

The remote for this system does not communicate with system, every time you pick up remote to use you have to wait for it to connect. Sometimes it takes 10 seconds but other times it takes 40 seconds.

They are not even worth 1 star. Please do not use them. We have got a system worth 35,000 pounds and the service plus the product is beyond acceptable.

The switches are all coming off. The speakers stop working and lights stop working from the switch. Control 4 has refused to take accountability for the Shabby work. All They have suggested is you switch the dealer and pay for the correction cost . They are not interested in holding anyone accountable but just want customer to shell out more to correct anything that has been fitted incorrectly .

Not convenient system at all, you cannot control your system, lol so not sure why they calm it control 4 , basically evertime you need to make changes you need to call tech specialized in control4 , all of them very expensive and charges $250/hr with minimum 3 or 4 hours payment , plus they are not available for few weeks at least. It was a headache and not user friendly system at all

Let's start here. When I built my home, I paid thousands of dollars (over 60,000) for my home Control4 system. Let's get the installation team out of the way. Over the years, I've owned several high-end, sophisticated technical IT companies, including International. When we see one, we know a good service and support team, and ours is top-notch. The Controller unit went out on our system, leaving the whole system unusable. The dealer stated that Control4 no longer made a replacement & suggested that I upgrade to a Sonas System for another $67,000.00... Yeah, RIGHT... Don't purchase Control4 ~ RUN!!!

Works great! Make sure you get a reputable company to set things up for you.