If someone has a (video) doorbell, and you needed to get the occupant to the door, why wouldn’t you press the bell?

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Aromatic-Story-6556@reddit

I’m not sure how the blink doorbells work, but ring notifies you (I assume the setting is default) when someone is by your door so you don’t really need to press the bell

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shelbyeatenton@reddit

Unless you don’t have your phone on you?

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MoonShineWashingLine@reddit

I thought this too. I guess we're old.

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If you've got a Blink Mini (plug in) camera inside you can set Blink to use that as an internal chime. Also if you've got Amazon Echo/Alexa devices you can set them up to chime on all or some of them. And you can also set up routines to announce "There is motion at the front door" and stuf.

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takesthebiscuit@reddit

Sir this is 2026!

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glasgowgeg@reddit

> but ring notifies you (I assume the setting is default) when someone is by your door so you don’t really need to press the bell A notification on your phone, or the actual chime of the doorbell/any connected devices ringing? My Google one has motion detection and I get a "Person Seen" notification, but that's a mild vibrate on my phone and a push notification, it doesn't ring the devices in the house in the same way someone actually pressing the doorbell will.

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Mccobsta@reddit

That could be why some vanished from the road near me recently Who'd stick a video door bell on a door that's on the pavement anyway

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DrH1983@reddit

The last place I lived had that and it got a bit annoying because anytime the neighbours left or someone went to the neighbours, or occasionally even just walking down the street, it would go off. So I turned off notifications unless someone actually pressed the button m

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No_Whereas_5203@reddit

You have to edit the settings so it only catches your garden but obviously doesn't work if you door goes out immediately to the street

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Cheapntacky@reddit

The houses where I live have small front gardens and I constantly see people's doorbells activate when walking past them.

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anomalous_cowherd@reddit

Which is exactly why most people won't consider a motion notification from their doorbell as a signal that somebody is at the door and wants to see you! People need to still actually press the bell for attention, there are many reasons why someone can come up to the door (postman, leaflets, even the occasional milkman) but not need the personal presence of the occupants. Pressing the bell is definitely still a requirement, I'm surprised people aren't doing it.

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AlreadyTakenUsrname1@reddit

If you pay for that service

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Aromatic-Story-6556@reddit

I don’t pay anything

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SnooCakes1636@reddit (OP)

Oh yes, blink does too but the problem is we live in a new build estate that is still being built so there are so many people it sees passing by that unless we get a notification that someone has pressed the bell, we can’t possibly look at all of them. I mean I’m talking hundreds of people per day are seen not just a few.

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Too-Tired-Editor@reddit

Hate to say it, this is one of many reasons I consider smart doorbells a bad idea.

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BeneficialVariety171@reddit

I use eufy and you can adjust the range that it alerts you. We have it set to the end of our driveway so it doesn’t capture any of the people walking on the pavement

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Designer-Computer188@reddit

I've noticed my postman never uses the doorbell, always knocks. I don't get it either. Just plain thoughtlessness explains most puzzling behaviour in life usually.

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bowak@reddit

What's thoughtless about knocking? Do you live in an area where there are bylaws against knocking?

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Designer-Computer188@reddit

What a daft question to ask.

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bowak@reddit

What a daft reply. Maybe your postie has tried your doorbell lots of times and found it doesn't always work? Maybe your doorbell is positioned poorly - I accidentally set mine in a crap position as I set it at the perfect height for me, but I'm rather tall and I had to reposition it after a while to make it clearer for the more average heighted person.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

> Maybe your postie has tried your doorbell lots of times and found it doesn't always work The function of a doorbell is to alert those *inside* the property, not those outside. Just because you can't hear it doesn't mean it's not working. Maybe the occupant has hearing difficulties and uses a visual doorbell with no chime?

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Designer-Computer188@reddit

Maybe this, maybe that. Maybe my name is kitty the cat! And maybe you could consider that I've tested all of those things and *none of them apply*. So thoughtlessness is the only logical conclusion I am left with to explain this behaviour. I hope you also read the other reply from another commentor on your comment as to why it is often thoughtless.

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bowak@reddit

Their points are fair. The only thing I disagree with is the idea that knocking is automatically thoughtless.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

Doorbells are louder than knocking. Due to the layout of my house, I don't hear a knock on the door, I do hear the doorbell though. For people with hearing difficulty, a doorbell may be connected to a visual system.

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Bopping_Shasket@reddit

Video doorbells are so bloody creepy. Why not get a normal one if that's the bit you want people to use?

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glasgowgeg@reddit

It's good as a security/CCTV measure. It's helped me several times when Amazon has abandoned parcels on the doorstep and lied saying they were "handed to resident", and when one damaged my fence.

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Bopping_Shasket@reddit

I'm sorry, but I still don't think that's justification for mass surveillance of public areas

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glasgowgeg@reddit

It's not "mass surveillance of public areas" though. My doorbell covers my garden, and the path to my gate. It's private property.

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Bopping_Shasket@reddit

Ok. Most have at least a bit of public space in their view. Many houses on a given street might have one. You can't walk down a residential road without being recorded on several cameras. I find that very unnerving.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

You asked about why people get them, I answered. I don't particularly care if you find it unnerving or not, it has a functional use.

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HKCambridge@reddit

I have a normal doorbell. People still don't bloody ring it.

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StereotypicallBarbie@reddit

My blink doorbell notifies me as soon as it detects movement at the gate.. so maybe they assume yours does that too. Maybe put up a sign asking to ring the bell.

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Emergency_Mistake_44@reddit

Delivery driver here. I press the doorbells and immediately knock the door within s millisecond because legitimately like 7/10 don't work. Sometimes, if I'm delivering late at night if I see it light up as I approach it, I give it a second or two to see if theres any movement in the window just because they're so fucking loud and I try not to wake the whole street. That's the only time I might not press it.

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pennoon@reddit

I have an amazing video of some kids trick or treating in giant inflatable alien costumes. “Wow. That’s the biggest doorbell I’ve ever seen!” …didn’t press it. I’m moving soon, but I seriously might get a sign

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Delicious-Pop-7019@reddit

Do you answer the door to them though? Because if you doi you're just proving them right lol. If you just ignore them maybe they'll start knocking.

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GrumpyHeadmistress@reddit

Happens to me too. Someone said it might be because loads of them don’t work. I certainly know my neighbour has one that doesn’t work

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MobiusNaked@reddit

It definitely doesn’t work if you don’t press it

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shysaver@reddit

I have one but the battery ran out and I cba to change it. My own fault, so don't blame people for knocking on the door. I've just purchased one that can be powered via PoE so will be installing that soon, but I suspect my regular posties/staff will continue to knock on the door

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SnooCakes1636@reddit (OP)

Could be, but then surely they’d knock if they thought it didn’t work

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GrumpyHeadmistress@reddit

I can’t explain why some people are idiots. I fear it’s always been that way

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Outrageous_Top_3605@reddit

Doorbells are more intelligent than some people

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Fluffy-Inside-4191@reddit

Always knock and ring, you don't always know if the doorbell is working but you always know there's a door there to knock.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

>Someone said it might be because loads of them don’t work How would they know if it doesn't work, or the property is just not occupied when pressed? The chime for my doorbell can only be heard when you're inside the house, you wouldn't know if it's working or not if you're standing outside.

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GrumpyHeadmistress@reddit

I can hear my neighbour’s doorbell two houses away…

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Suspicious_Garlic_79@reddit

Surely you'd knock though if the doorbell doesnt work? I remember the days before ring where it wasn't uncommon for them to not work

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GrumpyHeadmistress@reddit

You’d think. But they don’t. Remember about half the population has an IQ below 100

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GrumpyOldFart74@reddit

That’s fair… mine do work but can be out of battery for weeks before I remember / can be arsed to charge them But if I don’t charge it, it’s my fault. If they don’t even press the button, it’s their fault

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Swimming_Army1908@reddit

Have people not learnt anything from postman Pat, "knock **, ring **, letters through your door" 😆

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snakeoildriller@reddit

I asked a postie and he said "they never bluddy work so I don't bother".

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glasgowgeg@reddit

How would they know if it works or not? "I can't hear it" doesn't mean it doesn't work.

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LadyFinduillas@reddit

I know that my Ring doorbell has a little chime that goes off outside as well as the inside chime when it's pressed. Next doors also does this because if my chime has ever been switched off, I've really had to concentrate to figure out which house the little outside chime noise is coming from.

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bacon_cake@reddit

Also asked a postie and they said people take ages to answer via their phone and they haven't got the time.

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2c0@reddit

People may not ALWAYS answer as sometimes we are busy / working / whatever, but it's still the default way to notify someone of their presence surely. Ding Dong wait 10 seconds Knock Knock wait 10 more seconds and leave.

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plasticfishofparis@reddit

does a light flash on the doorbell so it looks like it has rung automatically? Some brands do this

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Think_Substance_1790@reddit

Oh my god this is genius... My ring flashes when its pressed or when its dark and the number of times someone knocks instead of ringing... id never considered that! Thank you random Internet stranger!! Although... id never assume it had rung even if I noticed it flash... I mean surely that would risk it ringing every time someone so much as walked past the door.... it seems to flash, at night, when it notices movement, I always assumed it was to draw attention to it so you could see it was there in the dark if you needed it....

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LadyFinduillas@reddit

I guess the only way you could get round that as the homeowner if you couldn't turn the light off is to have it set so that the chime goes off whenever it detects motion. This way you'd be able to look at the camera and see if someone was there, or if it was just a random cat, carrier bag, or similar going past. I also have wondered if they light up as a deterrent, the idea being that people know they are being filmed so are less likely to do something nefarious. I don't think I've ever come across a setting on Ring that let's you turn off the light, but I'm now going to have to go into my app and have a good poke around to find out.

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anomalous_cowherd@reddit

I think that's the intent, to make the doorbell more visible in case they want it, but sadly it's another case of the interface being too clever for the users.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

>does a light flash on the doorbell so it looks like it has rung automatically? It doesn't mean it's rung automatically, it means the motion detector has started it recording.

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Eugenes_Axe@reddit

> so it looks like

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glasgowgeg@reddit

They asked a question, I'm just explaining what the light means, it definitely doesn't auggest it's automatically rang.

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Doopz479@reddit

They know what the light means, they are suggesting it *looks like* it has rung to other people.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

>they are suggesting it looks like it has rung to other people. It doesn't though, it looks like it's detected *something*, but it doesn't "look like" it's rung.

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SnooCakes1636@reddit (OP)

You could be onto something. I’ve looked in the settings and the status light is set to be on when recording…and it does record when people are detected. I’ll turn that off and see if it improves things. !thanks

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liltrex94@reddit

If it doesn't, you might have to put up a sign 😅

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amemorableusername@reddit

Chance of a knock working: 100% Chance of a ring doorbell working: Maybe 50%? People (especially delivery drivers) are used to this, and want the easy option.

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172116@reddit

\>Chance of a knock working: 100% Absolutely not the case - people who are hard of hearing may have doorbells configured for visible indicators, and even those with good hearing may not be able to hear a door knock depending on house layout - if my parents are in the conservatory, they are a fair distance and two closed doors from the main door, while the doorbell sounder is in the middle of the house and can be heard anywhere in the property (although not, crucially, by the person ringing the doorbell)

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HKCambridge@reddit

I live in a maisonette: downstairs is just the front door, so we're never near the door and chance of it being covered by noises inside the house is high. Which is why we got a doorbell. If we do hear door knocking, we can't tell if it's for us or the downstairs flat. The doorbell rings inside our house, so it's clear.

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Mysterious_County154@reddit

I don't sit downstairs ever really Knocking is really pointless. It's not hard to press the bell

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geeered@reddit

Unless the person is far away from the door, where a smart doorbell may work and when they can't hear the knock.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

That's what my house is like. It's an upper cottage flat, so the living room/bedrooms are upstairs and at the opposite end of the property, so unless you're practically battering the door down, I won't hear it.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

>Chance of a knock working: 100% Chance of a ring doorbell working: Maybe 50%? Chance of a knock working for me is 0% due to the layout of the house, that's why I have a doorbell that plays an audible chime in several rooms.

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SnooCakes1636@reddit (OP)

I wish they would knock, but they don’t, they just stand outside my door. Or are you saying they do that so they don’t have to deliver and can hurry away to their next delivery?

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Comfortable_Love7967@reddit

Most doorbells do a notification on someone’s phone when someone walks up.

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BillWilberforce@reddit

Some bells can give you a notification whenever it detects anything. Car going past, person walking past the house..... Then you set the notification area, to just cover your property. But I certainly always ring.

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redsquizza@reddit

To be honest, I think a lot of couriers ignore them as they really do not work a lot of the time and because they're so time-pressed, they just move on. They should knock, however, that's still going to hopefully get someone's attention. Sauce: I talk to the courier driver that collects from our business, he fucking hates camera doorbells because they do not work as often or reliably as their owners think they do.

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K1mTy3@reddit

Why wouldn't you press the doorbell, full stop? I know ours connects to an app on my husband's phone, telling him a person has been detected - but his phone is on silent & he might only see the notification several hours later. If he's not home, I don't know someone's at the door unless they ring the bell (or, as was the case last night, I heard husband talking to our older daughter as they got back from walking the dog, when I happened to be passing the door.)

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Mysterious_County154@reddit

Looking at you Royal Mail and Uber Eats drivers

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DarthSynx@reddit

I like to think I have the ring camera in an obvious place but it's always always ignored by everyone. To be fair though I have it set to announce in the Alexa if there is motion at the door so I do usually answer.

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worldworn@reddit

I reckon some people don't like being on camera. I had a delivery driver ring the bell deliberately being out of view each time.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

> I reckon some people don't like being on camera They typically record based on motion detected anyway, so not ringing it makes no difference to whether or not you're on camera.

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New_Line4049@reddit

Some video door bells do alert the owner to movement within their field of view via an app. Its possible they assume this is the case for yours.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

> Some video door bells do alert the owner to movement within their field of view via an app For my doorbell at least, all it gives is a "Person Seen" notification. That could be someone walking past, my neighbours gardener, my neighbour having visitors, etc. It doesn't tell me that there's someone waiting at my door for me, and it doesn't ring the chimes inside my house like pressing the doorbell does.

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EatingCoooolo@reddit

Because they don’t want their data in the system. 🤦‍♂️ They’ve seen too many movies and read too many Facebook post from people with burner phones.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

>Because they don’t want their data in the system They typically record automatically using motion detecting, pressing the button makes no difference.

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EatingCoooolo@reddit

Then I guess there is no need to press the button because the occupant is aware the person is at the door.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

No, because it doesn't automatically ring.

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Vast_Ad9484@reddit

Put a sign up that says 'press the bell'. People are idiots. People need told what to do.

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wonkychicken495@reddit

You will be amazed at how many have doorbells that dont work im taking as guess and say the number is higher then thoes who do have working doorbells

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Astrohurricane1@reddit

Tesco delivery drivers never use my Ring doorbell. One of the drivers said he didn’t use it in case I was sleeping and he didn’t want to wake me up. I said, if I’m asleep when you deliver, I want you to wake me up or I’ll miss the delivery. This seemed to confuse him, so I just moved on.

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FluffofDoom@reddit

We've got one and I've noticed that less people will ring it and will knock instead. I don't think they want to be filmed. I'm partially deaf and I rely on my phone to alert me if I'm not nearby. I missed a few deliveries because they didn't ring until my husband figured out you can set it to alert to a parcel so it rings if someone walks up my path.

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Over-Language2599@reddit

If someone approaches my front door bell camera, Alexa will tell me "There's someone at your door" before they get a chance to press it. I also get a notification on my phone. So maybe many people have it configured like that, and callers are used to the door being answered anyway? Will we see a post tomorrow asking "Why don't some people come to the door when I approach their video doorbell?"?

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SnooCakes1636@reddit (OP)

Perhaps it’s visitors assuming everyone has cameras set in the same way they do then. I can appreciate that if you have a large front garden and/or live in a cul-de-sac that might be reasonable, as by the time the camera detects someone there is some intent. My house has a wide but short driveway, and the road has lots of people walking past all day, every day. I can’t possibly have Alexa do that for me as she be going off every 2 minutes. I’ve tried to play with creating dead-zones, but doesn’t work because of the layout of the garden & driveway. For example creating a deadzone where the road is would also stop detection if someone is right in front of the camera.

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Over-Language2599@reddit

This is an issue with the "person detection" of the doorbell. I suppose this is something that will get better over time with more processing power and better software, so it can tell the difference between someone shoving their face in the camera, and someone walking past the end of the drive. I had nobody walk past between 17.00 the other evening and 06.30 the next morning so it's quite a different situation.

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Bowtie327@reddit

I don’t like using Ring door bells because of the annoying chime so I knock I can hear my neighbours both attached and detached and it’s the worst sound ever. Wish people would actually buy decent ones over Ring’s over marketed trash

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Appropriate-Luck-372@reddit

We have a dog that hates the front door. The ring doorbell works a treat as it just announces on my phone. Everyone gets it apart from the Postman who insists on rattling the letter box everyday with a smirk. I'd like to make that smirk disappear.

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2c0@reddit

Need to add a sign. "Please Ring the Bell!" Wish I was joking as you'd think it was common sense.

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No_Whereas_5203@reddit

I have found a sign doesn't work

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geeered@reddit

Have you considered a bigger sign that says "please read this sign ->"?

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No_Whereas_5203@reddit

I have a sign that says please press doorbell right under my door knocker. Yet I still have people who try and knock & i don't always hear. I can't remove the door knocker as I'm renting. People just don't seem to think. I got a ring doorbell because at least it buzzes my phone if they don't ring

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_Living_deadgirl_@reddit

I think people think that if they dont press the bell they aren't being recorded, they dont seem to realise it records and notifys for all motion 🤷‍♀️ They knock, or just loiter there and i reply on the camera 🤣

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OmniWise@reddit

I can't answer this specifically for your case. There may well be instances where people don't. However, recently I was a delivery driver. I can tell you that I always pressed them, and I've had people ask why I didn't. It's my experience these devices do not always work consistently.

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Too-Tired-Editor@reddit

Parcel delivery folks hate knocking in the first place.

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Sweet-Pay8539@reddit

Set up motion/parcel/person detection so it alerts you without them pressing the bell.

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Robynellawque@reddit

Put a note on the door to please ring doorbell 🤷🏻‍♀️

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nickymoo@reddit

So they're just standing there rather than pressing the bell? I must admit, since I got my (white) blink doorbell fitted to my (white) UPVC front door I had noticed people still seem to knock. If the doorbell had been a contrasting colour then maybe they'd see it. Blink does have an option to just wink a little blue light when recording, but you can also change the setting (off by default) to actually wink the light around the doorbell button when it detects motion. Maybe that would help. Maybe. I'm not sure that just standing in front of the door is going to summon the occupiers.

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DrH1983@reddit

We don't have a video doorbell and delivery drivers still don't knock our door, they just leave the parcels on the doorstep (or if they're a bit more considerate they'll at least shove it out of sight behind the bins.)

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Chilled-Fridge@reddit

Sounds weird? My only assumption would be they have ones too that are misconfigured and chime and alert their phone to every spec of motion, so they just expect that walking to the door will alert you too. Bit far fetched though!

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