Amazon customer slams smart thermostat over ‘Black Mirror nonsense’ – and it keeps playing a particular song
SEVERAL people have had problems with their smart thermostat, but not in the way you would expect.
An Ecobee thermostat, which is integrated with Amazon’s Alexa for voice commands, was reportedly playing music randomly.
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A TikTok user (@violet.the.ausshole) took to social media to post her unique experience with the smart thermostat.
With over 800,000 views, the video zooms in on the Ecobee thermostat while music plays in the background.
The video’s captions read: “I tried to set up our new Amazon Echo system,” followed by “And now the thermostat is playing Santeria by Sublime.”
The TikTok poster captioned her video, “This is some Black Mirror nonsense,” referencing the Netflix show Black Mirror in which future technology goes wrong and causes problems.
SIMILAR FIGHTS
Several users commented on the original post, expressing amusement at the situation or expressing similar issues with the device.
One user commented: “Our rig should be completely disconnected from everything and started playing the Paw Patrol theme out of nowhere!”
Another comment said, “lol I did that by accident and that’s how we found out our thermostat could play music.”
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Others were impressed with the thermostat’s sound quality, with one commenting: “The sound quality is better than expected (but I never expected that?).”
In response, the video creator wrote back: “Same as 1. why does the thermostat play music and 2. why is the sound quality better than my actual Bluetooth speaker.”
REDDIT COMPLAINTS
On other platforms like Reddit, users have expressed similar issues with the Ecobee smart thermostat.
One complained that his thermostat was randomly playing top hits on Spotify at 1 a.m. even though he didn’t even have a Spotify account.
They wrote: “I really wish Ecobee wouldn’t automatically reveal itself as a music speaker. It’s really not purpose-built.”
Another Reddit user said that his Ecobee was playing audio from his Apple TV.
To fix this issue, a user commented: “Alexa app > Devices > select the room it’s in > scroll down to Speakers to choose what music to play.”
Others took to Reddit to complain about issues with Alexa’s ability to change the thermometer’s temperature using voice commands.
Regarding customer complaints about music playing randomly, Ecobee said in a statement to the Daily Dot: “This is not a common problem.”
“The issue can be resolved using Alexa voice commands or controlling music on Alexa or music apps such as Spotify, which may be connected to the same network via Alexa, Bluetooth or AirPlay.”
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Read about the magic number to set your thermostat to to save electricity.
Also check out the Alexa speaker, which is more than half off.