Alexa Says a Device is Not Responding, but She Controls it Just Fine?

Be aware that sometimes Alexa reports a device is not responding when it really is. Sometimes, Alexa doesn't realize she actually did what you told her to, and fallaciously reports she's having issues. Other times, she seems to think she completed a command, but nothing happens. In other words, Alexa is not always a reliable reporter. Don't always believe Alexa when she says a device is not responding.

I have this annoying issue with Alexa, my TV, and my Harmony Hub. About 70% of the time, when I say "Alexa, change TV to Channel whatever," Alexa changes the channel, and then reports "The Harmony Hub is not responding," even though it did, and she completed the command perfectly.

Other times, I ask Alexa to issue a Harmony Hub command, and she says "Okay," but nothing happens. And I have to reissue the command to have Alexa perform the action I want. Alexa is particularly unreliable when it comes to my Harmony Hub and realizing if a command actually worked. And this issue has gotten worse since they upgraded Alexa's Fire TV control abilities. But it is something I have learned to live with. It seems to be specific to my TV set, as I do not get the same unreliability with voice controlling my other entertainment components. I only see this type of behavior with my other Smart Devices about 2% of the time.

So if Alexa seems as if she's glitching, don't automatically go into troubleshooting mode. Always try asking Alexa a second time if she reports issues. Then try issuing a control command for a different device to see if it's Alexa or a particular device that is having problems. If it turns out to be Alexa, try rebooting her before you do any further troubleshooting.

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