I recently adopted a one-year old dog through a local rescue agency, and, very dishearteningly, I soon learned that the situation from which my dog had been pulled was an extremely abusive one, where most of the dogs were left to fend for themselves or kept in groups in cardboard boxes. At only five pounds, Lily, my new (and most wonderful) friend, has had a great deal of anxiety as a consequence of these early-life experiences. When I leave my house to run errands on which she cannot accompany me, I crate her, and I have been (out of my own dog-guardian anxiety!) worried about how she handles my absence during those periods. A colleague of mine suggested Wansview, and she could not have been more correct.
Reviews of the application through which the Wansview camera works (I will discuss set-up momentarily) paint a curiously negative picture, some saying that recent changes in the application have made it difficult to sustain a connection with the camera. I downloaded the application, as the instructions requested, and I began the setup process. I thought I had done it properly and was thus surprised when the camera could not seem to establish an audiovisual connection between its recording lens and my cellphone. Here, two points must be noted, both of which will hopefully gesture toward the quality of the product and the excellent customer service Wansview offers.
First, the error on my part–the instructions say clearly that a new user must wait to hear certain phrases emitted by the camera’s microphone to confirm that it is completely operational. Due to hasty reading on my part, I did not notice the final phrase for which one was supposed to wait, the content of which offered confirmation of a secure, steady Internet signal. Within about ten minutes of the camera having been installed, I received a notification to update my firmware to the latest version (this notification was not the consequence of any complaint I had registered; it was simply the application informing me that new firmware was available). I downloaded the firmware, and the feed began to work. Since then, I have never had a problem with accessing the feed, and I am able to check in on Lily while I am running errands. Never having owned a dog, I have had my fair share of first-dog anxiety, and I am now able to determine how long after my departure Lily whines (steadily decreasing and now only lasting a few minutes) and check in on her while she is in her crate to ensure that she is sleeping and safe. The relief of that knowledge alone makes the product worthwhile. The quality of the feed is also excellent, so much so that I play it in its SD variety (I haven’t needed to go the HD route because everything is already clear as crystal). The application is incredibly easy to use, and since the successful installation I have not had to do anything.
Now, for the second point. Between my initial installation of the application and the ten to fifteen minutes it took for the firmwarm to update and for the camera to start working (during that time I could not maintain or open a connection between the camera’s feed and my cellphone), I sent an e-mail to Wansview’s customer service department. One of their agents, Melody, responded within 24 hours. Not only did she provide me with instructions on how to begin to assess what the potential issue might be and how she could help me address that, she explained that Wansview so stands by its products that if my camera proved defective I could return it at no charge or have it replaced. Because the camera was already working, I made a note to myself to reply to her e-mail later in the day.
When, due to my own error, I forgot to reply to Melody’s message, confirming that the camera was indeed working, she followed up me with via e-mail to confirm that I had received her message and to ask what she could do to help ensure that the camera was working. I do not know if I have ever had a customer-service experience during which a company representative reached out to me a second time because I mistakenly failed to reply to their first message. In her second message, she reiterated her commitment to helping me ensure that the product worked properly and that Wansview’s ethic was one that stood behind the quality of its products and the quality of customers’ experiences with those products. I immediately replied, thanked her for her message, and explained how happy I was with the quality of the product.
In short, even if you experience any issues with this camera during setup, it seems like Wansview takes very seriously its commitment to customer service. As someone not altogether fluent in techno-gadgetry, the abundant interest in helping to ensure that I could use the camera with use certainly marks out Wansview as unique in my experience. And, the price is a terribly affordable one. All in all, I would encourage anyone to consider buying this camera, and, if they choose to do so, to buy it with the ease of knowing that there is an active customer-service team happy to interface with you and help resolve any issues.
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