Polk Assist No Longer Playing BBC Radio in the UK

SimonW

I agree with NickE, when he says "It seems to me this answer is contradictory - they [the BBC] are investigating the issue, but already know it is not their fault - they seem to know it is the fault of Google or Polk. They do not seem to be telling us all they know. Yes, exactly. Other streaming services work, such as Global Player for Classic FM and LBC, but the problem is restricted specifically to the BBC. No-one seems willing to give us a clear answer as to what is going on so we are left frustrated and guessing. My own guess is that the BBC updated their software in order to take advantage of a new feature which became available on the latest Chromecast version. Other services took a more careful approach perhaps recognising that the rollout of the latest Chromecast would take time and might have issues on some platforms. The worst case scenario for Polk owners is that the hardware is incompatible with the new Chromecast release. Maybe someone reading this forum from BBC / Polk / Google could come clean and explain.

NickE

RobertJC wrote: »

I’ve got nowhere.

I tweeted Polk who replied telling me that they are aware of the issue but they have no timeframe. When I suggested that’s not really good enough, they gave me the number of their technical support team. It’s a free phone number so I will be ringing it off the hook: 0800 377 7655

I think that's a number of Polk in the USA, it won't be freephone from here... unless you have a call package that gives you free calls to the USA.

The UK support contact is on this webpage:
https://auth.polkaudio.com/en/contact-us

Nick

NickE

andrewhunter24 wrote: »

I contacted the BBC about this and they told me that Chromecast has been updated and the BBC have updated their firmware accordingly. i.e. the BBC now needs to have Chromecast version 1.36 to work. The Polk audio assist that I have contains Chromecast v1.29. I spoke to Polk customer service today in the UK and he told me he was unaware of any plans to update the firmware in the Polk audio Assist. In his words 'its old technology'. I've only had my speaker for 1.5 years so I'm not happy.

Well done for getting this information - they didn't tell me this 10 days ago, even when I asked if they had made changes. Thanks for sharing. As for being old technology - it seems it was first available in July 2018. So, not that old.

I can see that my LG Smart Speaker and Google Nest Mini are automatically updating firmware. The Polk Assist is not.

These devices should auto update. If the Polk Assist is not auto-updating then it is faulty. Time to ask for a refund.

Mike_G_UK

Hi All,

Bad news i am afraid, Polk Assist was built on the Android of Things Platform, and Google support ended for this in 2020. This is not a fault of Polk, just that support for this technology platform was withdrawn by Google, so Polk could not update even if they wanted to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_Things#Shutdown
Google promised to support the platform for three years but only did for a year...
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/12/google-kills-android-things-its-iot-os-in-january/

SimonW

Thanks to Mike G for his research and post. I think it is a little early to call game over on the Polk Assist. I've spent some time searching for more information. It is clear the Android Things developer platform has been closed down and non commercial use is no longer supported. What is not clear is whether legacy support for existing commercial use has been withdrawn. As well as Polk, the operating system is used in certain devices by JBL, LG, Samsung, Lenovo and others. If these companies signed agreements to use Google software/firmware without also getting a commitment from Google to support the platform for a certain term I would be very surprised. https://www.news18.com/news/tech/google-is-shutting-down-android-things-its-unpopular-operating-system-for-iot-products-3192917.html is relevant on this point. Time for an authoritative statement from a representative of Polk or Google.

rpwt12

It took me 6 weeks to get a reply from Polk saying the following:

It is currently no longer possible to get BBC stations via voice command on the Polk Assist speaker due to the BBC removing their stations from the Internet radio service provider that the Google assist uses with the Polk Assist speaker. It is now only possible to get BBC stations by using bluetooth and streaming BBC stations from your mobile or tablet to the Polk Assist speaker. Please note that the Internet radio service provider that provides the stations through Google Assist is not built into the Polk Assist speaker and is a 3rd party Internet radio service provider via the Internet and therefore we have no control over the removing or adding of stations.

Also due to factors beyond our control we are very busy at the moment and therefore customers may experience delays when it comes to email responses.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

best regards

Sound United support

Of course they don't specify the Internet radio service provider.

@revolving -- did you manage to contact Which? about this? I think it's important. I left Which? a few years ago because they were positively reviewing electronics that were useless a few years later -- I got caught with a PC and a TV with these problems (in first case the chip slowed down so much in a few years to make it useless, in the second case iplayer ceased working; in both cases Which? seemed uninterested).

rpwt12

Is there someone on here with a bit of experience of UK consumer rights law, who could tell us all if we can claim against Polk, or how we do it? Won't they just say "not our fault" as google and BBC do? My speaker is just under 3 years old, so I guess they'll just say it's out of warranty, but I don't consider that acceptable.

In the meantime I think we should all say what we think of Polk on trustpilot.

NickE

I have emailed Which? three times (I am a member) but had no response from the yourstory@which.co.uk email address (just an automated reply) and a brush off from the which@which.co.uk email address.

I just sent a Facebook message to Which?

Also, I have approached the company I bought the Polk Assist from and asked for a repair or refund (It has a 2 year warranty). They have said No.

My argument is that the fault is that the Polk Assist is not updating. The difficulty is how to prove that it should update. Any suggestions?

It would be helpful is as many of us could contact Which? to explain we have problems. Especially if you have bought the speaker because it is a Which? Best Buy.

F1nut

I'm truly sorry you folks are in this situation, I'd be madder than hell about it.

IMO, there's a lot to be said for the reliability of old technology as the newer Internet and wireless stuff has far too many issues and changes way too fast.

johnfinlayson

It is so annoying! Please let me know of any updates. Thank you

dommo77

Don't know if this has been mentioned before but I've found a Google workaround on Android, you can start the BBC radio station through the BBC sounds app on your phone, then go into the Google Home app to the speaker and cast my audio to that speaker. I've also found that if you create a speaker group with Polk and a Google speaker and give the instruction to a Google device you can get BBC radio stations to play on Polk Speakers. Not perfect but it saves replacing otherwise decent speakers - at least until there's a sale on Sonos!

F1nut

Meanwhile I pop a disc in one of my CD/SACD players and press play....so simple.