Video Doorbell Activity Zone doesn't work!!

[MBB61]

Buyers Beware!! The doorbell doesn't work well unless you live on a street with little to no traffic!! I have contacted customer service several times and that is just a waste of time. They can only read from a script and are no help at all. The customer service has been horrible since the day I bought the system a few years ago. The day I bought it and unboxed it the charger didn't work. Customer service said it would be replaced and then I had to send the old one back but that never happened and I mentioned it several times while on calls about the system. As for the doorbell it functions well other than the constant alerts from every car that drives down the street or person walking by. I have the activity zone set to recognize only when someone or something is on the doormat and still get constant alerts. If you haven't bought it yet DON'T!! I have several friends that have the same system and a few of them have bought RING video doorbells and have had no problem with them. The picture below is just from the time while I was writing this message!!

[jguerdat]

Zones aren't the only tool in the arsenal. I use a zone as well as turned down motion sensitivity in my modes and rules. That has minimized false triggers while still recording and alerting for people approaching the porch while still on the sidewalk.

[MBB61]

I have the activity zone set for the doormat and the sensitivity set to #1, the lowest setting possible. I just turned it off yesterday to eliminate the constant alerts. 

[jguerdat]

Are you setting the motion detection sensitivity in your modes and rules? The motion test doesn't save anything.

[MBB61]

I am in Mode, Edit Mode, Rules, If Motion on Doorbell.

[bmwdriver7175]

Same problem here and you are right the sensitivity setting in the motion test page doesn’t stay put when lowering it and the activity zone is ignored as I get cars driving by in the middle of the night triggering motion. Why is it that every device this company puts out has a laundry list of problems. I have numerous issues including not calling two phones when the door bell rings my previous audio doorbell called my wife’s phone and mine and this piece of crap only calls mine and yes I have granted access to wife’s account and still does not work. Might just return this thing and go with ring instead. Hard to make a case that I would ever subscribe to a advanced smart plan when they can’t even get the basics right. Utter incompetence.

[Pro-666]

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@bmwdriver7175 wrote:
Same problem here and you are right the sensitivity setting in the motion test page doesn’t stay put when lowering it and the activity zone is ignored as I get cars driving by in the middle of the night triggering motion. Why is it that every device this company puts out has a laundry list of problems. I have numerous issues including not calling two phones when the door bell rings my previous audio doorbell called my wife’s phone and mine and this piece of crap only calls mine and yes I have granted access to wife’s account and still does not work. Might just return this thing and go with ring instead. Hard to make a case that I would ever subscribe to a advanced smart plan when they can’t even get the basics right. Utter incompetence.

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Don't go with Ring either. I've got a laundry list of issues with that one. Way delayed notification to my phone of any activity, inside my house I get the digital chime alert, then 15 or 20 seconds later my phone alerts me. Numerous false alarms by non-heated (IR) items, like a spider web across the screen blowing in the wind caused over 160 alerts in about 8 hours, luckily my phone was muted.

The alert delay to my phone is the worst, I can't even answer the door anymore since by the time I get to it no one's there. I believe ALL video doorbells suck in their own way. They probably all use the same "cloud" services through Amazon AWS, so they all have the same issues.

I'll rejoice the day someone makes a GitHub public source code to run on a generic Button-With-A-Camera-MicroSD-And-WiFi. You'll download the GNU app to your phone which communicates directly from your phone to the Button-With-A-Camera to cut out the crappy delayed middleman. No outages, no delays, no lack of control, no outrageous monthly fees. One can only dream.

[bmwdriver7175]

I did finally get the video doorbell to ring both our phones by removing the doorbell from the account and then setting it up again but activity zones are a joke and still don’t work not just for the doorbell but other cameras as well.