Smarthouse Fire Solutions

Smarthouse did not attend my property on the scheduled day. It wasn't a big deal to me, but I called to find out why. Person I spoke with on phone was very arrogant and told me various stories telling me I cancelled the appointment, then apparently my wife cancelled the appointment (she never spoke with them), then apparently there never was an appointment, and then they said a technician attended the site but no-one was home. All of which I knew were false, and I had evidence to confirm this. Yet they still had the nerve to treat me like I was the idiot. Eventually someone called back and admitted the issue was 100% on their end - but very disappointed with the disrespect I received prior to that.

Rude customer service. Annoying text messages daily about organising fire alarm check for a place I haven't lived in for well over 12 months. Its your system that needs updating. That and a better customer service rep. Also, speed up the wait time on the phone.

Hi, Just wanted to compliment your technician who serviced our smoke alarms this morning. Such a great advocate for your business. Well done

Hi guys,

Thanks for being so efficient. The tech on the day was friendly, polite and professional. A big shout out to your sales guys too who made the whole experience so painless.

Well don and thanks.

Frank was a lovely knowledgeable gentleman who arrived on time and was very polite

Hi guys. Thanks for your excellent attention to detail with a dodgy gas heater. Your explanation was perfect and helped greatly with the landlord. If you could let Marcus know he was very helpful. Thanks.

It was wonderful to deal with Smarthouse, the process was made very easy with extended hours as I was able to get an appointment outside of my working hours in the morning. The technician that attended was very friendly and prompt and I was pleased to see that he showed a great level of respect entering my home and keeping things clean and tidy. Would recommend this company for any landlord or tenant! Five Stars!

I was given a reminder text and was easy to reschedule as I was not home, highly recommended.

Had the yearly check up today. The guy was friendly and efficient, super easy experience!

Appalling service. Received a text in business hours to call them within the next 15 minutes to arrange a service call for a rental smoke detector test (that I had no idea I needed until this text). Next day I waited over 15 minutes on hold, then their office closed for the day and I didn't get to speak to anyone.
I would not be paying for this service.

Please let technician Rob know he was super professional - 10/10. I would recommend him.

Want to let you know Adam was professional, polite and efficient. I cant speak highly enough of him.

Great night with our BDM. We really enjoy their service and personal touch.

To management. I own a property in Watts Street, Box Hill that was just serviced by your company and would like to inform the supervisor that the staff member who attended was professional, polite and very knowledgeable during his attendance. He was respectful of being inside our home. I cannot praise him enough.

Dont bother waiting on hold if you have privately managed rental properties. They only look after properties managed by real estate agents.

Good job. Did what they said they were going to do. On time.

Do not use this company! Not only do they use unsafe work practices, they do not pay their staff. Do yourself a favour and take your business elsewhere!!

A company that operates under mislead information and false hope is one that I wouldn't recommend. Their construction division director is deceitful and allows unskilled labor to continually use unsafe work practices. When qualified sub contracts come in to finish and fix the bad workmanship they aren't paid and ignored. There is no point emailing or texting because it is simply ignored. For your own worth go somewhere else.

Hi, we use you guys for smoke alarm services and wanted to reach out to thank you and Jennifer for some excellent service. We were using you competitor and are grateful we moved to you.

Keep up the good work guys.

We have been working with Marcus and Jacinta for a couple of years now and we are very pleased with the level of service we are receiving. We are a busy business and require accurate as well as prompt service. They always deliver and are always very professional in their approach. We highly recommend Marcus and Jacinta!

Thankyou Smarthouse. The whole process was quick and easy. Thoroughly recommend

Technician cleaned up after themselves and was professional. Would highly recommend.

This company is very unprofessional - avoid at all costs. More trouble than it is worth.
Firstly the alarm they swapped out looks a total mess - they have swapped it with a much smaller unit that does not cover the pre-existing alarm holes on the ceiling. Then, more importantly, when I questioned why they had placed a second smoke detector in a hallway (off which the bedrooms were grouped - our Agent was told that a smoke detector had to be located 1.5metres from every bedroom door. Well frankly, that is NOT right, Smart House. If the bedrooms are grouped along a common hallway - smoke detectors are not required within 1.5m of each bedroom. Sorry but the last time I looked the bedrooms still opened to the same hallway!

Then when I told the Agent this advice was wrong- Smart House offered a different reason: they said because there was an slight arch in the hallway - that there was a dead airspace! hence they mounted a second alarm near the other bedroom in the same short hallway next to the front door. If there is dead air space- that would allow a contractor to mount an alarm on a wall at certain distance from the ceiling versus on the ceiling !
There was no dead air space between where the original smoke detector was mounted- in the hallway closest to the loungeroom door- so this alarm would sound and alert occupants in any bedroom giving them a clear path to evacuate the building promptly via the front door.

Then when I queried their attempt to state there was a dead air space at the front door end of the linking hallway - where the bedroom door is 1.35m from the loungeroom - the Director of Smart House came up with an equally curious third reason for their placement of the second smoke detector in this small hallway - he said there were two doors leading off the hallway - the front door and the loungeroom door. Well the last time, I reviewed the Building Code smoke detector requirements - it was apparent that a smoke detector must be located between each area containing bedrooms AND the remainder of the house (loungeroom/ Kitchen etc). Sorry Smart House Director but the front door end of the hallway does not lead to the remainder of the house, either! ...it leads outside!!

This company is Mickey-Mouse. There is no quality control or regulation. The director tried bullying me onsite to fob me off. They operate on stand-over tactics versus evidence. Their are guidelines for compliance for a reason. Sorry but as a Landlord if I engage a company for compliance, I expect that they will send out suitably qualified professionals to assess the floorplan and the advice forthcoming should NOT be subjective, but an objective assessment according to the Building Code Guidelines.

This is a sham!

The existing smoke detector in the hallway was suitably placed to be audible in any bedroom along this hallway path to alert sleeping occupants. The existing location of the smoke alarm WAS compliant.

After 3 months of awaiting a professional response to my concerns- a detailed or validated response has still NOT been forthcoming from the Director of the company.

How exactly do this company claim to be REIV endorsed? This too warrants the regulators to review. This is merely a scam for convincing Landlords to spend excessive bucks on a simple function that Landlords and Tenants can and should complete regularly.

Don t be misled as a Landlord:
-Landlords are responsible for installing and replacing smoke alarms and batteries.
-Tenants are responsible for: monthly testing, annual dusting, reporting faults to their landlord or agent.

This company is anything but an industry leader. I am left unsure of what if any assessment of the building floorplan was completed even after meeting with the raging Director, who tried intimidation and said he would NOT Service my properties.

Clearly he missed the point on this too. I was not seeking ongoing service from this dodgy company- just validation in accordance with the Building Code re: checking correct placement for the job I had already paid for!

I found Smart House very difficult to deal with. They missed appointments then arrived late, the work was shabby and their workers poorly presented and crude.
Stay away.

Hi guys,

Just a quick thanks for a great job at my place for smoke alarms and heater.

Your guys did a great job, punctual, professional and effortless.

Thanks, Trent

Further to my review, I am pleased to update.
The person who was assigned my job, rang me to tell me that he d be late, offered to reappoint or could he be 15mins late. Perfect, he then arrived, apologetic and was quick and pleasant.
I also received a personal call from the CEO, who listened and assured that efforts were being put in place to improve. As a customer it s not the issue but how you act to rectify. I am pleased to say that Smarthouse Fire Solutions has listened and acted.

Smarthouse you mean Smartarse. Terrible attitude it s all about THEM. We customers are just regarded as a nuisance. Call centre is totally lacking in any empathy or that a customer has any say. This company is obviously operated by owner/s who demands huge output from their call centre. The operators there have no customer service abilities. Unfortunately my agent has a contract with this company. I can only recommend any other company that provides better a customer experience. Besides do you know how easy it is to test and change a battery? Anyone can.

Hi Roche,

I wanted to let you know that the plumber you sent had great customer service - I dont see much effort these days with trades but this guy was very good.

Polite, observed all Covid safety and left the house clean. I dont usually leave reviews but this service was well worth it.

Wanted to let you know we tried you guys after using a competitor and are happy to say we were impressed. The service was far superior to the other company. Happy to recommend and will be using again. Thanks.

Technician: I had David come do my smoke alarms and he was on time and so nice to deal with. Did his job fast and easy and was friendly, so thank you,

Admin: I dealt with Samantha Dean and she was just amazing and I really do hope this company knows just how lucky they are to have such a proffessional and kind soul representing them. As a sufferer of severe anxiety where just talking on the phone sends me into panic, Samantha was so kind to allow me to do everything via email, she wasn't judgemental or rude like others and made me feel at ease and not a bother. She treated me like a human being and it was a pleasure to deal with her. It is SO RARE to find people like this, I really hope she is appreciated. Thank you again, God bless xx

I am a tenant and had a technician look at my smoke alarms today. Can you please let his supervisor know that he was professional and I was very happy with his manner and service.

He was a great reflection on your business.

Please get in touch with me and I will let you know the technicians name.

Thanks.

I had a Smart House technician come to my house this past week. The technician was well presented and easy to deal with. Grate job. Highly recommended.

I would prefer it if I didn t get unsolicited calls from this company posing as my agent. They got my real estate agency wrong, and when I said I wouldn t be home for any appointment (I was suspicious at this point) - the woman arrogantly said, what you start work at 7am? and rudely booked me for 7:30am. I don t feel comfortable with this company having my name and address on file and I will call the agency they quoted, who we aren t even with and let them know about this unscrupulous behaviour.

Perhaps it is just the one staff member - but her behaviour made your company look very dodgy!

Hi. I just wanted to praise the amazing service i received! both Leo and Ray offered truly excellent service. They were quick to call back, professional, efficient and friendly. I know as I work in retail and often only hear complaints - I want it known they are doing a wonderful job. Many thanks to both.

Smarthouse Fire Solutions

Pros:

The Smarthouse team were friendly and polite. The directors were happy to show me around their Melbourne based Call Center giving me a chance to meet their staff members.

Prices are very reasonable (and competitive) especially for the level and quality of service you are getting.

Open feel, modern minimal design.

They offer an annual smoke alarm service and 24 month carbon monoxide service

I love how they assign you your own business development manager, it makes things easier.

Cons:

Their office is located on a main road however there is plenty of parking around on side streets.

Tip:

try going after 9 and before 2:30 to avoid peek hour traffic

Thank you for the quick and easy process. Being a tenant this has helped me.

Also, thanks for being Covid Safe. Your representative did all the necessary distancing, PPE etc.

Thank you.

I cannot praise highly enough the way your tech acted while in our home. He was professional, polite and knowledgeable. I would have no hesitation having him back again next year.

I would be pleased to provide further details so this can be passed on to the tech and their manager.

We had your guys attend several properties today and were impressed with them and your company. We have elderly tenants in some properties and they passed on it was reassuring to have trades wearing uniform and identify themselves politely. Most impressive.

Your company has been a pleasure to deal with.

The manager I dealt with took control of an awkward situation with amazing communication, initiative and follow-up to ensure a difficult circumstance was dealt with professionally.

To top it off the company made a very generous gesture following the service.

Please inform the owners that your management go above and beyond. I have already recommended your company to several other agents as a result.

We recently changed our rent roll over to Smarthouse and would like to commend them on the entire process and especially the speed they attended to the service. Our feedback from tenants was on many levels including respectful, courteous and "the best" tradespeople they have had in their house.

We look forward to continuing the service with them.

Have had my smoke alarms serviced through this company for 2 previous addresses at 2 different real estates. They were always willing to work with us on appointments providing me with a specific times and day to expect the technician. My new rental goes with a different company who try to tell me when to be home and have threatened to enter while I'm not home, will be telling my real estate what i think of the company that they are currently with and recommending this one 1000x over. Never thought i could miss a smoke alarm servicing company.

Great service! Smart House make any property managers job 10x easier! would recommend to anyone.

Incompetent, don't waste your time with this 'business'

I wanted to let your management know I have had excellent service for the third year running. Well done guys. I really appreciate it.

This provider will ensure they are either late for their appointment, and will inform you AFTER the fact, OR will inform you at the time of the appointment that they are running late and will then ask to either carry out the inspection later than agreed to, or to reschedule to another date (after you have already waited at the property for them).

I have multiple properties. The wasted time by these guys for me & my staff is huge, and there is no accountability from these "professionals" in being responsible for the lost time of others. (At times we have experienced multiple reschedules per property).

Management obviously want their service team to perform as many services as possible in a day, and clearly do not allow for enough time for their technicians to get from job to job.

If I had another choice, I'd use another provider.

I would like to thank Tom for such a beautiful service and being so kind and understanding when many don't give you the time of day.

He did incredible work. Please pass on my graitude.

Aliza

Relentless telemarketing. Do not use these people.

Recently completed another service with Smarthouse. Thanks for your help this year. Always go out of your way to help and make things as smooth as possible. Michael.

Brilliant service. Massive thank you to Slav who went above and beyond ensuring our home and family is safe. His customer service is one of a kind, I'd give him more then 5 stars if I could.

We have been working with Smarthouse Fire Solutions since 2007. They helped us develop and instigate our Smoke Alarm service program for landlords/tenants at that time and have been assisting us in the provision of that service ever since. Based on our experiences with them, the extended Smarthouse divisions have also been employed as our preferred contractor to manage our Heater Service/Carbon Monoxide program. All of the staff have been great to deal with and very professional. Special call outs to Ed, Marcus and Jacinta who are exceptional.

I would like to thank Smarthouse for making this an easy process. I booked on-line, the tenant came at the right time and cleaned up after themselves. What more could I ask for.

This was a great service. Very polite and professional and easy to schedule an appointment time that suited me. Well done. So glad to know my residence is looked after with this great company, Thank you so much. 5 stars!!!

EXCELLENT service from this company, was provided a text message and option to book via text or have someone call me, the consultant was so helpful and friendly and provided me with all the information that I needed regarding the appointment and covid regulations, very helpful in working in around my work schedule. Technician was really friendly, on time and polite. I will be getting them to do my investment properties could not recommend them enough!

Good experience. Organised appointment no worries, guy arrived at right time and was quick and nice.

I had a Smart House technician come to my house this past week, the service was smooth and he was punctual and polite. Highly recommended.

The staff are absolutely lovely and always helpful. Shout out to Paul for his great customer service!
From the property management department at Stockdale & Leggo Croydon!

Hi,

I would like to pass on my thanks to your plumber that completed the maintenance on my heater. I had no idea how to operate it and he showed me in easy steps how to.

Please importantly let management know that he provided exceptional service. He even closed my windows to ensure my house was warm.

Thanks.

Thank you for your promptness, professionalism and being easy to deal with. It was a fantastic experience. So much better than the other people we were using.

Amazing company to work for, such a great team and lovely environment. Super easy going and professional. Would highly recommend!

Just had your tecnician to our place - he was very professional, polite and efficent. Thanks.

I tested these guys on my own place before my rentals. 10 out of 10. George was on time, polite and fixed several issues the previous company had left. I would recommend Smarthouse.

I just had Slav over for a service and he was very friendly and professional. Thank you.

I would like management to know I had an excellent experience with your call center manager today. She was polite and helped me arrange an appointment after hours. Very much appreciated as I couldn't take time off work. I would recommend this company to deal with.

I only want to thank Mike for being so lovely. As I dont have his contact details can you please pass my thanks to him as he treated me with respect and kindness.

Thank you.

Avoid at all costs. Not only will they show up at a completely different time to what was scheduled but they are also extremely rude and frustrating to deal with. Looking at other Google reviews, I see my two recent unpleasant dealings with this company are by no means isolated events. This company clearly has a long history of this type of behaviour and they have not done anything to make improvements despite replies from the director himself saying this type of service is unacceptable and that he does not want it repeated.

No customer service, very bad customer service and receptionists take long to answer. Not good.

Continually late or cancelled appointments a day before. Happened 4 times

Shoddy business. Irresponsible and poor customer care.
They came around to inspect the heater. Said it is faulty and turned it off but then didn't bother think how anyone can survive cold weather and didn't even bother to report it to the realestate agent who engaged them, until after I and the agent started chasing for a report.

I just wanted to say I have had the best experience with everyone from your company.

Thank you so much for the great service - I really cannot express how impressed I am.

Have never posted a review before, but for this mob I will give it a try.
Smoke alarms need replacing so thought to give them a go.

Sent a query email last weekend to obtain prices but they did not bother to even respond until Wednesday.
Then I sent them a confirmation request and still no response by the end of this weekend.
Overall, one communication from this mob in a full week.
Clearly they are in no hurry to sign up new business.

In the same timeframe, I've already queried, confirmed, and arranged with a competitor company.

Surely too slow to survive.

Just had a guy from smarthouse do the smoke alarms. He was efficient and a pleasure to speak to. Please pass on to management.

Thanks George. You are a legend. Saved my bacon big time today with the emergency call out. Much appreciated.

Very professional. We have a good number rentals and Smarthouse completed the smoke alarm service in each. They finished quickly and were happy to answer questions and help. I have recommended them to other agents.

Our technician, Brian, arrived promptly on time. He was polite, respectful of being in our home, and was in and out in great time! Couldn't ask for a better technician. Thank you.

We were referred to your company from our real estate agent, Ray White.

We had Tim look at our smoke alarms and he did a fantastic job. Polite, well presented and thoughtful in our home.

Useless and unreliable.
Had an appointment booked for last Wednesday @ 3:00 P.M so i made sure i was there no later than 2:40 P.M and kept waiting for well past 3:00 P.M than i noticed i had a missed call on my phone time stamped @ 2:23 PM. So i called back the technician and he said that he press the intercom but no one was there so he left, i replied : what are doing at the property at 2:23 PM when the appointment was booked for 3:00 PM ? He replied that he was told that the appointment was for 2:30 PM.
Furthermore the Text message reminder sent to my Phone only has the appointment day and not the scheduled time.

Jarrah is the best development manager to deal with, always response to my enquiries promptly, attention to details and provide very useful information and updates to both our clients and myself as a property manger that need. I will definitely recommend Smart House Fire Solutions to my clients.

Your plumber was absolutely fantastic. He arrived bang on 7am and was a great guy. The heating is now working great which is important to me as the weather is now freezing. Thanks.

We had your tradesman Matthew attend and I would like to compliment him on his professionalism and knowledge. We would be pleased for him to attend again next year.

They set the sensitivity of our smoke detector so high that we just set it off by holding a steaming bowl of risotto in the same room.

I made an appointment with Smart House Fire Solutions the Friday before last for a technician to service my smoke alarms. I explained to the lady on the phone that it would be difficult for me to get away from work early and specifically asked for the latest appointment available, so she made a booking for 4PM.

I left work early and waited at my apartment, but no technician. When I rang to find out what was happening, they said that the technician had attended, but left because nobody was home. When I checked my phone, I realised that I had a missed call from an unknown number, but it was before the agreed time of 4PM so I wasn't home and he didn't leave a message, so how was I to know who it was?

Mildly annoyed, I agreed to reschedule for the following Wednesday, at 4:30PM this time. "Would you like us to send you a reminder half an hour before?" the lady asked smugly, as if it had been my fault. "No thank you" I said "that won't be necessary."

Wanting to avoid a repeat performance, I made a point of leaving work even earlier on Wednesday and was at home and ready by 3:30 for the 4:30 appointment. By 5:00PM I still hadn't heard anything, so I rang back again. "Oh - that's strange!" said the lady on the other end of the phone line "I can't find any record of an appointment for you today at all!" I explained that this was the second time in less than a week that I had to take the afternoon off work and still with no result. She was very apologetic, but said that there were no technicians in my area today, so there was nothing she could do.

I told her that I wanted to discuss the situation with my landlord before I make another new appointment because I can't afford to keep doing this.

Despite my request to cancel the smoke alarm service until further notice, Smart House continued to regularly harass me with regular calls, text messages, and voicemail, trying to get me to book a new appointment. Today I got sick of the constant annoyance so I relented and decided to book a third appointment - just to try and get the ordeal over and done with. When I rang back, the woman on the other end of the line said that she couldn't book me an appointment because their computer system had just "gone down".

I don't know what kind of business these people are trying to run, but if their organisational and customer service skills are any indication of their technical ability, then there is no way I want them anywhere near any of my smoke alarms.

Took a month for me to be able to schedule and appt and it was 9am,
That morning i had alarms set for 8:30 so i d be awake and when i woke i had a missed call before 8am, over an hour before my appt.
When i called back later i was just given we ll give you a call next time we re in your area. In a very careless, no -commital tone from the woman.
Over a month later i get a call saying we were going to squeeze you in between here and here tomorrow, will you be home?
The day before? Really?
When i said i would be in a completely different town at an appointment most of the day and asked was there another time tomorrow, i could actually hear smugness in the response.
Oh we re actually full and were going to squeeze you in. We can get the keys.
Um, no.
Don t have people call the day before to squeeze someone in when you re just not in the area that often .
Poor service runners.
Smoke alarms are not an afterthought no matter how often you re in an area .
I ll be emailing my real estate agent about this as well. I will not be approving keys to a stranger when i am not present.
I work in customer service, and i ve been disgusted with every interaction i ve had with this company.

As a landlord, I rely on this company to make sure the smoke alarms in our properties are tested yearly. We have also arranged for the heater service/. CO2 testing.
Having checked my records, the smoke alarm at our property has not been checked for 2 years and the heater service has been missed earlier this year after we were told it would be done.
Apparently the real estate agent has to order the service from Smarthouse each year. Then Smarthouse organise with the tenant.
Like others have said, placement of new smoke alarms are put in different places with the old holes for the non working alarm not filled in. What a mess! One of our houses had the old alarm removed and not replaced for several months before it was replaced.
Not happy at all and would be better off organising these services ourselves.

Amazing customer service, thank you guys for all your help

A big shout out to how good the guys at Smarthouse have been. We had ongoing issues with our previous smoke alarm company who I wont name but their customer service was horrendous. They were unable to keep appointment times and our tenants found it very difficult to successfully arrange appointments. Since changing we have had several tenants call to say how fantastic Smarthouse have been and that their customer service far outweighed the previous company. The Smarthouse techs were prompt, arrived at the scheduled time and were very polite. Thats a great recommendation for any other agents who are not happy with the service they are getting at the moment.

I just wanted to say I had the best experience with everyone from your company. Both the office and George were great. I cannot express how impressed I am.

Don t rely on this untrustworthy company to do what they proclaim to.
They don t pay their workers, and use unlicensed electrical workers to complete jobs.
Underpay their workers and do illegal electrical work.
Unsafe and unreliable.