My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
1–10 of 47 posts
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#2Including the fact that the smartlock _also_ has a keypad, and that the code is just 7 digits the author claims not to be able to memorize seems like a really easy way to undermine an otherwise solid story about dystopian crapware apps locking tenants out of their rented property.
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#3I rented an apt that was integrated with latch and it was crazy frustrating. The app only worked half the time, the door pad was in a circle and recognized numbers wrong half the time as they were not physical buttons, and which made it difficult to get in the building even at times if you were carrying anything. Half the time people left doors propped open cause it only was like a 5 second unlock.
We begged for a key card which they finally relented to giving us after 3 months which was a bit more tolerable but still annoying to not just have a key. Technology has improved to a degree but it’s definitely not fully baked
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#4Including the fact that the smartlock _also_ has a keypad, and that the code is just 7 digits the author claims not to be able to memorize seems like a really easy way to undermine an otherwise solid story about dystopian crapware apps locking tenants out of their rented property.
Yeah, I would have memorized the two 7-digit codes. And being able to re-key locks without having to physically send someone to the property seems like a legitimate innovation. I'm personally a little more weirded out by the pictures and activity being sent to the landlord and who knows where else.
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#5my apartment building in Boston (part of AvalonBay Communities) installed Latch last year, and I can't agree more with this article. sure, one 7 digit code isn't difficult to memorize, and I obviously memorized the code for the door to my unit. but in my building alone, there's one door to the main lobby; a first-floor main entrance; another first-floor entryway that requires opening two distinct doors sequentially; and, in the adjacent building where the gym is, there are at least three doors to enter the building from outside, plus a second door to the gym itself; and EVERY DOOR HAS A DIFFERENT CODE. it's an absolutely terrible system
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#6my apartment building in Boston (part of AvalonBay Communities) installed Latch last year, and I can't agree more with this article. sure, one 7 digit code isn't difficult to memorize, and I obviously memorized the code for the door to my unit. but in my building alone, there's one door to the main lobby; a first-floor main entrance; another first-floor entryway that requires opening two distinct doors sequentially;…
LATCH is absolute garbage. Their Bluetooth often doesn't even work. And yeah, now without a phone, I am homeless.
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#7This just sounds unreasonable. How about:
1) Hire locksmith. 2) Have them replace app-supported lock with regular metal key one. 3) Profit (in time & annoyance saved). 4) While you're living there, if landlord threathens legal proceedings: hire lawyer & "see you in court". 5) When you leave: hire locksmith to revert lock to app-supported one. If landlord requests so.
Sure there's ownership. But for all intents & purposes, while paying rent you are owner of said apartment, right? If doorlock isn't working, fix it.
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#8Including the fact that the smartlock _also_ has a keypad, and that the code is just 7 digits the author claims not to be able to memorize seems like a really easy way to undermine an otherwise solid story about dystopian crapware apps locking tenants out of their rented property.
Yeah, I would have memorized the two 7-digit codes. And being able to re-key locks without having to physically send someone to the property seems like a legitimate innovation. I'm personally a little more weirded out by the pictures and activity being sent to the landlord and who knows where else.
There are purely mechanical methods to make rekeying easy.
https://www.kwikset.com/smartkey-security
Combine that with a protected keyway and you can have the tenant rekey themself.
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#9This just sounds unreasonable. How about: 1) Hire locksmith. 2) Have them replace app-supported lock with regular metal key one. 3) Profit (in time & annoyance saved). 4) While you're living there , if landlord threathens legal proceedings: hire lawyer & "see you in court". 5) When you leave: hire locksmith to revert lock to app-supported one. If landlord requests so. Sure there's ownership. But for all intents & pur…
Do you even need a locksmith? I was always under impression that all you needed to replace a lock in a door was a screwdriver and a new lock from Home Depot.
Re: My New Apartment's Most Aggravating Feature
#10Sounds like Latch is just garbage. Our August locks consist of me talking to the watch (or phone, if that's your thing): "hey dingus, unlock the front door". I can do that after a run when I'm still 50 feet away, or whenever is convenient for me to do so. Of course, leaving the house is just the opposite, me shouting at HomePod on the way out the door: "hey dingus, lock the front door". And before I'm out the front gate, I hear the chime confirming that the door locked.
Latch sounds like they just turned your phone into a really shitty physical key without the convenience of an actual twist-it-in-the-hole key physical key.