Negative development of SimpliSafe + Outdoor Camera V2 dilemma

I have been a SimpliSafe Customer since I moved to the US over 2 years ago. I actually ordered the system and let it be shipped to a friend before I arrived.

I started with a indoor camera and a few door/window sensors.

After a short while I got myself more and more devices, today I have 2x V1 Outdoor cameras 1x V2 Outdoor camera, 5x Door sensors, 1x Indoor Camera, 2x Motion sensors.

I was intending to extend this system after the end of my Beta participation for the Outdoor Monitoring.

During the beta I thought this is literally the coolest function ever and was willing to pay the price of the outdoor monitoring for sure.

Until I received the e-mail about the V2 camera.

I can appreciate the discount as a "sorry" for rendering the V1 cameras basically almost useless for customers that intend to have the Outdoor Monitoring subscription.

Though what I cannot appreciate is the Customer Support that turns worse and worse every time I contact them, the lame excuse I received in a conversation with customer support and a supervisor, as well as the questionable settings that get forced onto you when you are enrolled in the Outdoor Monitoring plan.

As an overview. I received my strongly discounted V2 camera and changed one of my V1 cameras - just to notice that it forces settings on the camera that are questionable...

Video Quality gets set to 720p - why would you even make a 1080p Quality camera then? Whats the point if you make a better camera, that works better for outdoor monitoring but literally restrict the settings to 720p... WTF...

Additionally, forcing the standard night vision - instead of allowing Spotlight...

Might work for some situations better, but in my case it works worse - as I use the camera for close by monitoring - the light greatly helps to make details out on the distance I use it for.

Also having the status light forced on - not relatable for me at all, I am not trying to put the existence of my cameras in everyones face.

That also stands out when looking at the V2 camera with the giant SimpliSafe log on it.

What does that contribute to my security? It gives any possible attackers the change to easily know what system I am working with and using its weak spots to attack the system as efficient as possible... A more discreet system might be appreciated depending on your customer...

Now to the support part. I tried to figure out with support why the settings are locked.

I didn't have time to call them, so I ended up in the Apple Business Chat - which I clearly regret... But at least I can properly understand them, compared to calling the phone support with strong and hard to understand accents.

The chat support ended up telling me they changed my settings and somehow they managed to lock my system to the point, that I had to open the base station, disconnect it from power and reconnect it ...

After I explained the setting is still 720 and locked, I was forwarded to 2nd level support via Chat - which I thought but I ended up in a 3 day loop of a robot telling me the next agent won't be available earlier than 10 minutes.... for 3 days with no way to get out of it.... WTF again...

And to round it off, the conversation with the supervisor I had - lovely person, great understanding - unfortunately not much that could be done. She understood the problem, told me she agrees that the communication could have been better and even took my recommendation to offer a trade in or recycling program in cases like the V1 cameras serious and noted it down. (basically the idea to give a possibility for customers to trade in old gen devices and receive a discount for the newer gen to avoid e-waste).

The explanation for the V2 camera was a better and refined camera quality with zoom, as well as better audio and mic specs and improved spotlight. 

And you know what? I could totally understand that, if my camera wasn't locked to 720p and no spotlight ... WTF yet again....

I am sorry but thats where it starts to look like a scam, instead of a good upgrade. Especially because compared to the V1 with the accessories for louder mic and speakers - the V2 almost performs the same....

This is a horrible way to leave loyal customers, that have the subscriptions, participate in beta programs and take the time out of their day to give feedback.

Including the support, if you want to address anything like this with the support or ask for a person to talk to, they tell you to write in the SimpliSafe Forum - thanks, that feels a lot like you are valued customer for sure...

Sometimes it is better to not outsource your Support. My first few cases in the beginning were great, ever since then the quality of support gets worse and worse. Repeating the same steps over and over, getting asked questions over and over - not receiving true support until you somehow wiggle your way through the 1st level support...

This is how you loose customers.

And I am not far off, to count myself to one of those lost customers.

SimpliSafe, please get your s*** together and improve communications. Everything can be explained, but if you leave questionable things like this in the room and do not explain it to customers - they will go to another probably worse company or just end up not paying for a service anymore and also not recommending it to anyone else.

Transparency helps to keep a customer base happy and understanding. Controversies, bad support and questionable business decisions do not.