USERS OF Yale’s so-called ‘smart’ locks were trapped out of their homes for more than 24 hours following after the company’s smartphone app went to Borksville.
And households across the UK were not only unable to either lock or unlock their doors, but were also not able to arm or disarm their burglar alarms.
Yale blamed an “unforeseen issue while carrying out unplanned network maintenance”, but claimed to have resolved the problem on Friday morning. However, users still claim that notifications – such as whether an alarm has been armed or disarmed – aren’t coming through.
(1 of 2) Thank you for your patience today. Whilst our technical team continues to work throughout the night to restore app functionality, we would advise all of our customers to download the latest version of the Yale Home app.
— Yale UK (@YaleSecurity) October 11, 2018
Can safely say I won’t be recommending a @yaleuk alarm to ANYONE! Absolute trash! Smart alarm that you can’t even access! And absolutely no updates from Yale themselves… didn’t even let customers know what was happening. Fuming 😡
— Beth (@Beth_A_Ashworth) October 11, 2018
Guess I’ll just wait outside my house then. Would have been nice to have heard from you BEFORE rush hour with some sort of notification.
— Francesca Tenenbaum (@_FrancescaT) October 10, 2018
Wondering if there is something going on with @YaleHome servers as can’t login to the app to switch my alarm off! Ridiculous! Friends with the same alarm having problems too!
— Beth (@Beth_A_Ashworth) October 10, 2018
Meanwhile, some customers’ Yale apps are being updated with historic, and therefore inaccurate, notifications.
While the app was down, customers complained of being ‘stuck’ in their homes, while others were forced to wait outside until the problem was fixed. Users also complained that they only learned of the problems when they were unable to open or lock doors, or disarm alarms – rather than receiving a push-notification or text message to warn them.
“Guess I’ll just wait outside my house then. Would have been nice to have heard from you BEFORE rush hour with some sort of notification,” tweeted Londoner Francesca Tenenbaum.
Yale, of course, apologised for the “unforeseen issue”, but the company’s Twitter account had to field scores of complaints from people either locked in or out or unable to interact with their home burglar alarm system. The company added that its developers worked through the night to fix the problem.
Yeah, I’m really not happy. My husband was sat outside for 30 minutes because he couldn’t disarm the sodding alarm. Hence me sitting at work trying to do the same. Colleague with the same alarm also having issues. Communication would’ve been nice!
— Beth (@Beth_A_Ashworth) October 10, 2018
Is there any update on this? I can’t turn my house alarm off without setting off the sensor & waking the street at 5am, which isn’t ideal. Thanks
— Kirstie Pendry (@KirstiePendry) October 11, 2018
The outage comes in the same week that it was revealed that Yale is working with upmarket supermarket chain Waitrose to provide an in-home delivery service to customers.
Under the plan, currently being trialled, Waitrose delivery staff would be able to let themselves in to customers’ homes and be able to put groceries away – while customers are out. µ
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Source : Inquirer
