6 Messages
MINIMUM Response Time of 1-2 Minutes Following Alarm? Not Okay
The other day, I spent 2 hours dealing with Customer Service trying to get rid of this new feature SimpliSafe has pushed onto users that sends a text message instead of a call when an alarm is triggered. I spoke to 4 people (including a Supervisor) and none of them could help me; actually, they had NO IDEA how to help me. Their best solution was to place a note on my account that said I preferred a call instead of a text since the text message doesn't alert authorities until 2 minutes after the alarm. This was not okay to me, because that just raises the delay; funny enough, I called back today and apparently no note was actually placed. Anyways, I was luckily helped by a random Redditor (who knew more, and tried harder, than anyone at SS) who was able to help me fix the texting issue and I now receive a call. Unfortunately, this is when I learned that SimpliSafe will now only call you 1-2 minutes after your alarm is triggered... and it's definitely true.
I tested it three separate times today; my quickest response time was 65 seconds, and the longest was 108. My mother, my cousin (who lives in a different state), and my best friend also have SimpliSafe and, once I was able to fix their texting issue, they experienced similar results. None of us feel comfortable with that, especially when paying a subscription that seems to keep increasing while features are removed. Please note that I have had SS for 3-4 years and the response time was ALWAYS 10-15 seconds up until this texting problem started recently.
Here's what happened after contacting Customer Service to figure out what the issue is:
I spoke to a Supervisor with the Monitoring Dept regarding the lengthy wait, and she told me that I had a setting in my account that told the monitoring department to wait 60 seconds before calling me once an alarm goes off. I told her she probably had it confused with the "Entry/Exit Delay" setting for when an alarm is set, but she assured me that it wasn't that (the time she gave me was an exact match for my delay time). She told me customer service had to help me change the setting, but once I reached customer service (two separate calls, two separate agents), they told me that what I said was right and that the setting she spoke of does not exist. They also told me that they are to advise customers that, once an alarm is set off, the monitoring department will take between 1-2 minutes to call the primary contacts. I told them it was never that way before and that I always received a call within 10-15 seconds, but they (both times) told me that's their policy now and there's nothing I can do to change it; the minimum wait time following an alarm is 60 seconds. Not "within 1-2 minutes"; they explicitly said (because I asked to clarify) that the minimum wait time is 1 minute.
I'm astounded, especially considering that one of the biggest selling points, if not THE biggest selling point of a security system is the response time.
We were ready to just cancel our system, but I managed to find a sliver of hope that someone here with more knowledge than the clearly outsourced SS customer service team can help us. I have no idea how, but I have hope. If not, we are definitely switching to another system because this, as well as the insane incompetence of the customer service team, makes me (and my family/friends) EXTREMELY uncomfortable... and I really can't spend any more time trying to figure this out. It's been almost 4 hours now dealing with something so simple.
Thank you to anyone that took the time to read this.
Official Solution
emily_s
Community Admin
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3.4K Messages
3 months ago
Hi @CAT,
I apologize for this confusion. It sounds like you’re talking about the grace period after an alarm has been triggered, which is an important part of our Monitoring team’s protocol to prevent false alarms, and in many municipalities, steep false alarm fines.
We want to allow our customers the chance to cancel an alarm in case there is no emergency, which will also prevent their municipalities from charging them those steep false alarm fines.
SimpliSafe is both customer and data-obsessed, and our data shows that a significant majority of our alarms are actually false alarms that are canceled during the grace period. It’s also important for me to note that the grace period is different than the system’s Entry/Exit Delays, and it is not a setting in your system that can be altered.
The grace period only applies to phone calls from our professional monitoring agents, and only applies to certain alarm types. For example, there is no grace period for alarms triggered by Smoke and/or Carbon Monoxide Detectors or Panic Buttons.
As you saw, we will also send you an Alarm Text immediately after an alarm is triggered. While receiving an Alarm Text does not prevent our Monitoring team from calling you, if you reply to the Alarm Text and cancel the alarm before one of our monitoring agents calls you, our agents receive that signal immediately and take that as a confirmation you are okay and won’t bother you with a call.
If you respond to the Alarm Text and request emergency services before one of our monitoring agents calls you, that will bypass the grace period and cancel our Monitoring team’s call sequence; prompting the agent to contact your local police department right away. So, Alarm Texts could result in getting dispatch to your location even faster.
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dlpsr
1.4K Messages
3 months ago
I suggest you read these https://simplisafe.com/legal
Get chair and a couple cups of coffee, it'll take a while to read them all.
The admins will probably have another supervisor call you anyhow.
Just as a test, say your front door entry sensor, go into the app, my system, device settings, front door, a door of your choice, toggle instant trigger on that sensor, save it.
Arm it to home, open the that door etc. Alarm should instantly trigger. See if calls are faster or not.
The alarm is only triggered "after" the entry delay, so that's currently 1 minute delay already.
Then do it again around your last test time of day to compare call response time.
May or may not still be from a few seconds up to 30 for cancellations of false alarms time to receive a call.🤷
However, if you mean after entry delay and alarm sounded, alarm alert sent and still took up to two minutes, then you've got decisions to make I guess.
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captain11
Captain
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6.2K Messages
3 months ago
@CAT It is my understanding you will get a call after 30 seconds. dipsr's directions are exactly what I do to test my system about once a year (don't want to tie up the agents with false alarms) and last time did get that call quickly and in an acceptable manner. When texts first started, I too was concerned and assured by several SS associates on multiple inquiries nothing was changing on the calls, just the new initiative with texts in an effort to reduce the required # of calls due to false alarms. And, in my situation, my smart phone is always in my hand or within hands reach, including at night on my nightstand, I could actually dispatch quicker if need be.
Now the reality check: Davey, need an official response here to know what is the policy in black and white. Thanks in advance for replying today (hint hint and no pressure :-)
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dlpsr
1.4K Messages
3 months ago
The thing is some people do use entry delays. I don't.
Actually these days, lol, mass emails are possible to notify people of critical to life and safety changes.
I cancelled and downgraded way back to self with cameras, a year ago maybe, because I never got a call in the what might have been 30 seconds grace period at that time. So it matters little to me now.
I cancelled the alarm evidently inside the 30 second grace period. I get it, their policy, my policy.
But I'd also received two text/push I never responded to. Quickly too. Too busy to answer or notice at the time, distractions, trying to figure out, what heck is that noise after she opened the inner door? It had an entry delay.😆
Very Angry, I called monitoring directly and got no satisfactory answers & then was transferred to retention at my request.
The retention agent was gracious, sympathetic to my cause and might not have even been aware themselves of these kind of hard to find delays at that time.🤷
My situation, being an old workhorse, is health and hypercholesterolemia, common name, heart disease. Had one heart attack at around 49 years old.
Had I needed an ambulance or a defibrillator, 30 seconds might have been the difference for living or dieing, what with response times.
Now users have entry delays, even longer grace periods, text or push notifications etc. delays. If one can be helped in a medical emergency, sometimes it has to be done quickly and can be a matter of life or death. I get the that the notifications are fast, bur their not human. And subject to failure. Wifi, ISP etc etc.
I realize false alarms are an issue, 95 to 99 percent of burglar alarms are false alarms nationwide. Police tire of it and fire depts.
SS smoke and CO alarms are another culprit, they're too sensitive. They should fix them, their part of the problem, regardless of air cannisters.
I have a test X-sense wifi smoke alarm in the garage that messages me, she just set it off, fires up my personal sirens and automations. Worked.
I can't hear them by themselves. I never clean it. Might when the battery needs replacement.
The point is, what kind of alarm is it exactly? How would an agent know without a rapid call? There's more than just burglars and fires. They advertise ambulance dispatch, albeit vaguely.
Even then, the small heart attack I had, put me down to the floor, gracefully.😂 Like a drunk duck.
I would not if alone, have been able to answer the phone, push a panic button or even answer a text if my phone wasn't in arms reach and I wasn't bodily able had then been now, to do much of anything. She called 911.
And also a hard no on indoor cameras.
At least no in the living quarters. I don't trust anyone that much, personally.
Catch-22 this new delay thing police amd municipalities pushing cross zone or camera proof etc.
However, she was and is with me 98-99 percent of the time, there's that 1 or 2 percent though.🤔
This situation needs to be thought out and discussed at the conference table.
A little thinking out of the box. It's pretty clear, they may lose one heck of a lot of subscribers as this becomes well known. Those are some lengthy delays @emily_s described.
In several minutes a bad guy can do one heck of a lot of damage, or even worse, even if it's rare. And one can call 911 themselves for an even faster response, if able. Lol
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