IT guys, is there any excuse for this? (Can't delete device from Alexa)

In My Humble Opinion
1

So Amazon’s Alexa sucks and I’m pissed.

I had a smart bulb in my living room that went out. So I buy another one and name it “Living room” like I did the other one. Alexa then proceeds to tell me I can’t do that because I already have another one named “living room” (the one that broke).

So I try to delete it, and at first, it seems to work. But then the deleted device shows back up again a few minutes later.

Looking for a solution on Amazon’s Q&A page, an Amazon rep claims: “Deleting devices is not a feature we offer at this time”.

WTF?!

2

Things like that seem to work better from the Alexa app for some reason. Is that what you are using?

3

Yes, thank you.

I tried deleting it directly from the app. I’ve tried deleting it from the website. And I even deleted the device manufacture (Tuya) from my phone.

I was able to get Tuya off my phone no problem but the device still won’t go away from Alexa.

I don’t think this is a case of me doing it wrong. As the Amazon rep said deleting is a feature not offered at this time. I’m just currious: Why not?

4

I had the exact same thing happen recently, and I was able to delete the old bulb and add the new one (both Philips Hue).
I’m not sure what I did to do that, though.

5

How many 21st century humans does it take to change a light bulb?

Also–

You kids get off my lawn!

(Sorry, I have no idea of what advice to offer to the OP.)

6

Ha! I went ahead and replaced all my crappy devices in favor of Philips Hue.

So it’s not just the living room I’m having issues with, it’s ALL my rooms. So now instead of naming them obvious things like “living room”, I have to be more creative with the names. And then my aging brain has to remember what’s named what.

So annoying.

7

I just went to my Alexa Devices page and they all have a Remove button next to them, are you saying you don’t have that button, or that clicking that button doesn’t do anything?

8

Can you rename the devices you don’t use or have to something innocuous like platypus or giraffe?

9

The button is there. And it will delete. But the device comes back after a few minutes.

10

If I’m parsing this thread correctly…

you have to find whatever device originally added the smart device and delete it from there. You may have to reinstall on that device first to get it properly working before deleting to get it to delete properly.

Hey Amazon, that’s really dumb and seems like its been a problem for years. Tsk, tsk…