Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsWouldn't stay connected to it's phone app
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2024
The instructions on to install this video doorbell, attach it to your 2.4G (which it requires, not 5G) Wi-Fi network, link it to the phone (Android in my case) app, and make the Bluetooth connection to the chime aren’t very clear. Especially the need to tightly time what you do when relative to the various colours of blinking lights in the front of it before they move on to the next step.
However after several attempts and master ‘paper clip’ resets, I initially got it working at my desk. Later however when I actually installed it on the outside of the house, wired (including bypassing the house’s original chime), it had lost connectivity to the app. So I loosed it from the house (the reset is on the back) and did it all over again (out in the cold) and it worked again. A couple of hours later – gone again.
So did the reset all over again and nothing. I then did a bit more in-depth troubleshooting – my router could see it and ping it, I could ping it from my phone too (with excellent numbers), so I don’t think it was dropping off due to Wi-Fi issues. E.g. distance. It just seemed like the app had ‘lost’ it as an available device.
I had installed a SD card in it for local storage, so I pulled it back out, checked it in my PC, and there were tons of exactly 60-second videos on it. Which was a bit inconclusive.
Also, interestingly enough, through all of this the actual ringing of its remote chime when the button was pushed worked.
So I contacted Kasa’s (actually TP-Link) tech support via a chat window, and not too surprisingly they initially wanted to talk me through all the reset stuff I had already done three times. I told them about my being able to ping it all the way from my phone and they then concluded the camera itself was defective. They said they would send me instructions on how to return it to them for a warranty replacement. Which seemed a bit strange to me as this looked more like an app issue instead of a camera hardware issue.
I later received an email from them asking me to send them proof of purchase, country where I am (Canada), and photo of the on the box serial number, which I did.
Later more I received another email from them, contradicting the prior one, saying because it was less than 30-days old, rather than they warranty replacing it, I should return it to the seller (Amazon) for a refund. Huh?? They only warranty it if it’s MORE THAN 30-days old?? Whaaaat?
So I did just that and that ended of my experience with Kasa. Back to shopping for a video doorbell.
