All of my Zwave devices are working fine except for 1 light. I can manually shut off the "Kitchen light" via the Hubitat dashboard, but when using Alexa and a verbal command i.e. "Alexa shutoff Kitchen light". Alexa responds saying "Kitchen doesn't support that". Yet Alexa verbally works fine with all other devices. I've looked at the device settings and it appears to be the same as all other devices.
I changed the name from 1 word "Kitchen" to 2 words either "Kitchen light" or Kitchen switch" and having 2 words worked.... Not sure why only 1 word didn't work. I've other lights that are only 1 word that work fine.
You need to make an Alexa routine. This way you can say whatever you want in the routine and Alexa will be listening for that exact phrase. I know that sounds weird but it works. Give it a try.
There is a degree of randomness to Alexa's behaviour. You cannot rely on your routine triggers taking precedence over what she would do if your routine didn't exist. I eventually totally gave up with my commands to Alexa making sense and my routines are triggered by gibberish. "Curtain twirl the goldfish" reliably opens my garage door.
Do you have an Echo device named "Kitchen"? I had this problem in my office. My echo was named "Steve's office" so my wife can say "drop in on steve's office". Then I tried naming the room "Steve's office" so I could say "steve's office lights off", but it said the same thing - "Steve's office doesn't support that". I renamed the room to "Steve's room" so I can say "steve's room lights off". That works.
I've also found that changes are made behind the scenes (I'm assuming) that cause Alexa to change the way it responds to commands. I have a Logitech Harmony remote attached to Alexa which makes all of my favorite channels exposed. I used to be able to say, for example, "Alexa, turn on NBC." If I do that now, Alexa goes into a long explanation about how video devices have to be discovered before they can be controlled, blah blah blah. But if I say, "Alexa, turn the TV to NBC," that works just fine. How to do this has changed at least 4 or 5 times in the last couple of years. I wish they'd pick an option and stick to it.
one of my experiences to share is that if you have multiple devices with the word kitchen in them - eg; Kitchen sink and Kitchen outlet - saying kitchen can cause that message - Alexa takes an alphabetic approach sometimes.
I beg to differ. I have been using Alexa for years and if I say the exact phrase in the routine I created Alexa will do what I say 99% of the time. Alexa does not turn things on arbitrarily as you have suggested. At least this is my experience. I will say sometimes if there is a lot of background noise Alexa may make a mistake but I attribute that to noise and it affects how well Alexa "hears" for lack of a better term.
I agree and have had the same experience you mention. Hubitat is a great product. I recently moved off my wink 2 hub and have never looked back. The only issue I've experienced was the one work Kitchen. After adding a second word like Kitchen Light it and all other devices work great. I never thought of Kitchen as a unsupported word but after hearing it's a secured word used as a room it makes sense. Now I want to see what else I can do above and beyond my old wink 2 hub and my automations.
It doesn't surprise me that you have experienced different behavior. I can only say that I have thoroughly tested this issue and verified in history what Alexa thinks she heard, yet seen different behavior. I gave up trying to use "Open the pod bay door" as a voice trigger, for example. I fully trust that you are seeing different behavior. This is also something that may have changed over time and my testing it was at least a year ago.
You'll find many posts here talking about how Alexa can get confused when she hears something with recognizable room, group, or device names, such as trying to interpret "kitchen" when said as part of device name "kitchen light".
Out of curiosity, how does she respond when you say that? In the past (and again just now when I tried it out), she tells me "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."
Thankfully she also clarifies, "I'm not HAL, and we're not in space."
But then again maybe she knows I'd disconnect her, so she's giving me false reassurance, and she's just biding her time...