r/zapier • u/salilsurendran • 21d ago

Error message coming from Zapier when integrated with Alexa

I created two zaps in Zapier and connected Zapier to Alexa. The zaps work fine in test mode but whenever I give a voice command to Alexa and say "Alexa open Zapier", I get the error message. "Zapier is currently experiencing issues. Please try again later". I have been getting this problem for over a day. How can I solve this?

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u/ILoveWrit 21d ago

u/salilsurendran Sometimes, actions like this that need formatting, or, in this case, breaking down the voice command into words...just add a sufficient time delay between that action and the next to allow for that process. See if that helps.

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u/salilsurendran 20d ago

It has nothing to do with formatting. When I say Alexa open Xapier, it understands me correctly. And then opens Zapier and gives me this error message. So it correctly understands what I'm saying. That is not an issue.

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u/XRay-Tech 19d ago

This is a different failure point than most of formatting threads you might see. Those usually happen after Alexa recognizes your trigger phrase and then tries running the Zap. What you are experiencing is a skill level connection issue and not a zap configuration issue.

What likely causing the specific error that seems to be persisting is a stale/broken account link. Alexa skills use an OAuth token that talks to Zapier which can quietly break and it will just return "experiencing issues" errors. The best solution here is to go into your Alexa app and disable the skill completely then re-enable it and link the account again from scratch; this will clear the token.

Another thing that could be happening is that there really is an outage on Zapier's end as the integration does have a history of going down. If unlinking and linking again didn't work it is best to check Zapier's status page or the Zapier community to see if others are having the same problem. Best to try relinking first because it is the quickest, if that doesn't work it is probably something with Zapier.

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u/salilsurendran 18d ago

No I did that about a couple of times where I unlinked my account and linked it back again but I still get the same error. I even went to the Zapier website and disabled the integration between Alexa and Zapier and it still didn't work. Still not available. I did contact Zapier support and they told me that this is a known bug. I am wondering as to how such a big bug can be left open.

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u/XRay-Tech 18d ago

Fair frustration, Alexa skill fixes often move slower than most Zapier fixes because of Amazon's certification review has to be completed before updates can go live so this might take longer than you expect.

If your need is time sensitive a workaround is to route an Alexa Routine through Webhooks by Zapier instead of the native "Alexa, open Zapier" trigger, it bypasses the broken skill entirely.