Doorbells ?

[LurkingHusband]

(Very very nervous, this is my first AIBU )

Am I old fashioned, or victim of some peculiar local practice when I grew up which hasn't caught on elsewhere in the UK, or is the point of a doorbell to be rung to alert the occupant of a property that their attention is needed.

Maybe a parcel being delivered.

Because in the past 2 hours, I have had a delivery, and MrsLH has had a delivery, and the only way we knew was by the faintest tapping on our door. To tap our front door means lifting your hand so it's level with

the doorbell.

• it's hardly hidden.
  

Am I alone in finding this behaviour inexplicable. No attempt to ring the bell. Just a half-arsed tap. When I asked the drivers why they didn't ring the **ing bell, they both shrugged their shoulders and said "sometimes they don't work".

Annoyingly, working from home with an office overlooking the front (which means I also see the sodding drivers clump over our lawn) I usually spot deliveries so can get to the door. But both these happened when I was having a coffee (out back).

As I said, I'm probably old fashioned

[SaucyMare]

i never ring doorbells as i am so used to them never working, and i end up knocking anyway...

[TeenAndTween]

YANBU
Drives me crazy.
Our doorbell we can hear all over the house. (And you can hear it from outside the front door too).
Tapping on the door can only be heard from hallway or one room.

Though doorbells that don't work are annoying.

(Maybe they just couldn't be bothered to wait, so knocked quietly then ran!)

[captainfarrell]

Years ago I used to be an Avon lady!!! There were a large amount of people who had no occupant alerting device lol! So i think the delivery guys stop looking and just bang on the door/glass to save time.

[BadgersRetreat]

YANBU - I agree 100%. Ours is even lit up ffs and still people don't use it.

[LurkingHusband]

I rigged up a doorbell with 4 sounders. One in the porch (which can be heard across the road ) for the benefit of the (rare) ringer.

One in the bedroom.

One in the kitchen.

One by the patio door (can be heard in the Garden).

[LurkingHusband]

captainfarrell

it wouldn't be such an irritation if they banged the door. Because we'd hear it. But they invariably give such a pathetic little tap that you wonder how they have the strength to stand. The best way to explain is to ask you to rub two pieces of non-existent tissue paper together, and see if anyone can hear it in the next county. Because that's how effective their "bangs" are. (Very proud to avoid a fnarr fnarr moment. Oh damn .......

[chemenger]

I quite agree, our doorbell is deafening and makes us jump out of our skin. On the other hand tapping on a double glazed panel in the door, which we then have to hear through the inner door which is always closed is pointless. It is common sense and hardly an exhausting exercise to press a button. I despair that people might not use our doorbell because someone else's didn't work.

[chemenger]

To be fair, sometimes they pathetically rattle the letter flap too, that is no more audible, unlike the doorbell - a device specifically designed to get our attention.

[FruChristerOla]

YANBU.

The 'button' for our doorbell is on the side wall of our porch (Victorian house, ancient doorbell - in fact, no bell inside anyway!). It's never worked since we've been here - 30 odd years.

So - I've stuck a small note above the button which says something along the lines of "doorbell doesn't work, please use knocker under letterbox".

Our letterbox is in the middle of the door - so about waist height, therefore the knocker is also part of the letterbox.

What happens? Idiots BANG on the glass of the door. WTF is wrong with them?! Why can't they use the KNOCKER?

[hellsbellsmelons]

They are probably trying to be considerate.
You may have a sleeping baby or be having a nap yourself.
They may not want to make you jump out of your skin and would rather knock quietly first.
I'm hoping that's it anyway. What other reason is there?

[LurkingHusband]

hellsbellsmelons

But I've seen them turn around and walk away after the first blow (can't even call it a knock), not get louder and louder.

[AGnu]

I'd quite like it if we had the occasional quiet knocker. We have a small house so I'd almost certainly hear them. Recently we had someone who rang the doorbell, thumped on the door, thumped on the window so hard that I was genuinely concerned it might break, rang the bell & thumped the door... all in the time it took me to stand up from the sofa & take about 10 steps round the corner to open the door. I have no mobility problems so I'd estimate it took me no longer than 20 seconds from being aware there was someone at the door to actually answering it. Needless to say, I was not impressed with the delivery man. Not that he cared. He just shoved my parcel at me as if it were about to explode!

[JellyBeansHaveNoAgeLimit]

I've missed many parcels because the delivery man couldn't be bothered to use the bell. V annoying!

Even more annoying was the time we heard the mail being posted through the letter box whilst we were having lunch. I went to get it later on to find a missed delivery card, the postman hadn't even bothered to knock!

But then you get the ones like AGnu's postie who knock, ring then tap the window in quick succession which is equally annoying!

[UnrelatedToElephants]

I have the same problem! I thought they got paid for delivered parcels - why wouldn't they want the best chance of being heard?

[SEmyarse]

I'm a delivery driver.

I always ring THEN knock if both options are available and the first fails to get a reply. A huge proportion of doorbells don't work, but even when you can clearly hear it from outside people appear after the second attempt ranting that you've not used the doorbell. I really don't understand this phenomenon.

Equal numbers complain that you have tapped inaudibly or have virtually bashed the door down, even though I do what seems to me a standard sharp knock each time..

The doorbells that annoy me most are the ones that have a little light on them presumably to indicate that they are still working, but for some reason the light continues to work, and twinkle on and off when pressed despite the doorbell not making a sound.

The last phenomena that really baffles me is when you're knocking, ringing, rattling the letterbox, maybe even calling through the letterbox if they've booked you especially and you can see them inside The only way you ever get a response is after 10 mins of wasting time you give up and pop a card through the letterbox. The sound of this little card hitting the doormat suddenly has them hurtling to the door accusing you of walking up and straight away again. As someone said, we only get paid for successful jobs, so why would we go around posting cards and not getting paid a bean?

[LurkingHusband]

SEmyarse

all very well. And your grumble about doorbells is valid - for those that ring the bell

But what about people (just to be fair, it's not just deliveries, had a PCSO do this too (although she wasn't the brightest of bunnies)) who don't ring the bell - at all ?

[Andrewofgg]

Some so-called delivery drivers don't want to be heard so that they don't have to wait for you to open the door and (shock, horror) lift your parcel out of the bloody van.

I once had this prank pulled on me by ParcelFarce. The driver put the card through the door while I happened to be by it and when I opened the door and asked for my parcel he told me he did not have it. They did not load the parcels, they just delivered the cards and let the punters drive to the depot. Idle sods.

[pregnantpause]

We have half a dozen of one and six of the other in my town. The frantic hammering, ringing, knocking and shouting 'hello?HELLO?!!' All in a matter of seconds so you hurtle to the door expecting the worst- or the other that ignores the bell, the brass knocker and choses to lightly tap the glass panel with such trepidation the noise you hear inside is taken to be a particularly crispy autumn leaf hitting the door

Yanbu

[KissingPotion]

I don't have a doorbell, but I do have a knocker, a large one, right in the middle of the door, you can't miss it.
Yet I still get people tapping gently on the door with their knuckles instead or on the window to left of the door!

[KleineDracheKokosnuss]

We get this. I once had to call a company and ask where my delivery was - they said that the driver hadn't been able to get an answer when he knocked (presumably with a feather on a PVC door). I explained that I'd been in all day waiting for said delivery, that no-one had knocked, and that perhaps the driver should return immediately and USE THE DOORBELL for its recognized purpose of alerting the occupant that someone was at the door. I noted that we had not installed said doorbell just for a laugh, but because it had a purpose.

Delivery arrived 15 minutes later.

[Solidur]

YANBU!

Thankfully I don't get featherlight taps, but hearty hammering on the door, but I always point at the doorbell with comic exaggeration and say "There's a bell!"

I sometimes ring it to demonstrate if I'm in the mood with a "....see?"

[HappyAgainOneDay]

KissingPotion You beat me to it. We have a solid wood front door with a heavy knocker on it. It's easy to lift, hold and bang against it's counterpart on the door. I cannot understand why people knock at the door with their knuckles. Can they not see the knocker? Perhaps they don't want to catch their fingers between the two parts which are hinged together. H&S perhaps. Oh, well, if it is a H&S matter, I could be sued for having a dangerous knocker, I suppose.

[Selks]

Hmm. I was thinking of installing a doorbell but maybe I shouldn't bother!

[catsofa]

I have a working doorbell which is lit up. There are four flats in my house, and I have to get down two flights of stairs to get to the door (and then back up again, obvs). I need the delivery person to come to the door, ring the doorbell, then I will answer the intercom immediately to let them know I'm coming. It then takes about 30 seconds for me to waddle down the stairs and open the door (6 months pregnant).

I do not need the delivery person to call my mobile, tell me explicitly that they are already standing at my front door, then not be there when I get there. I am not going to stand in the freezing communal hallway with the door open waiting for them to actually arrive, get out of the car, walk up the garden path etc. I am going to go back to my warm flat to wait.

Then when they get to my door and call me on the phone again I am going to be stroppy with them and make them ring the doorbell to prove that they really are standing there before I come all the way down the stairs again.

I am pregnant and hungry and trying to be warm and comfortable at home. They are being paid to come to the door while wearing outdoor clothes warm enough to stand on a doorstep for 30 seconds. A doorbell is provided for the sole purpose of indicating to me that there is someone at the door.

AIBU? I am not!

[catsofa]

Also who could possibly think it's ok to knock on a front door when the house inside is obviously divided into flats? When the address you've been given is on the second floor? WHEN IT HAS LIT UP BLOODY DOORBELLS FOR ALL THE FLATS RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR?!?