Swann Australia

Installed and operating easily, needed assistance with remote log in to an existing system so now 2, it was handled promptly and rectified. Show reply

I had a great experience with Swann customer service. Mae Dante was exceptionally helpful and resolved my unpairing issue quickly and professionally. Highly recommended! Show reply

I needed a broken bracket replaced that had cracked by maybe a large bird flying into the camera; with a new bracket, contacted Swann and in no time they helped me out with a replacement & I received it in the post 2-3 days later. Great service thanking you. Show reply

Repeat issues with moisture in the lenses of my outside cameras, seems to be an ongoing issue. Swann so reluctant to help that in frustration I gave up trying to get replacement cameras. Apparently a known issue

Great products, very good value for money. Had an issue with a camera, customer support was straight onto it, were very friendly and helpful. Issue was a strange one and took a bit of time to sort out but very happy with the products and service. Highly recommend. Show reply

⭐ 1 star — Very frustrating support experience I have been using a Swann NVR system and recently contacted Swann Support about a fairly simple issue with the mobile app’s Live View settings. The resolution adjustment option was difficult to find in portrait mode, and in landscape mode the row of icons could not be scrolled, so the option was not… Read more

accessible. Instead of quickly reproducing and checking the issue on their own devices, support repeatedly asked me to provide screenshots, screen recordings and more details.

What should have been a simple app/UI issue turned into a long process involving multiple emails and a lot of my time. Each reply also took around two days, which made the troubleshooting process even slower.

Eventually I found the resolution setting myself by scrolling to the end of the icons in portrait mode, but the landscape-mode problem remained.

My main disappointment is not just the app design, but the support process. For a technical company, I expected the support team to test a reported UI problem internally and escalate it to the app/software team, rather than relying so heavily on the customer to diagnose it step by step.

The cameras and NVR themselves have generally worked, but based on this support experience, I can only give Swann Australia one star.

Bought a Swann SWIFI CORECAM to record my neighbours stalking to hand evidence to police. The camera never recorded only showed the street view as it was happening. I can do this by looking out my window. I explained this to Swann and their consultants who had me climbing up and down my ladder and spending hours, amounting to days and days on the… Read more

phone trying to fix the issue. I then asked for a refund. After hours and hours again on the phone it turned out my internet upload speed is 0.8mbps, which is not enough to reconfigure my SD card so they won't refund my money. I found the consultants dishonest and irresponsible, which is exactly not what a security service should be.

Beware!!!  Won't replace faulty goods although they admit they know when they came online and make no assertion that I did not purchase them legitimately. They will do/say anything to deny your legitimate claim. I have 3 of 8 cameras not working at all and issues with 2 others. They are trying anything to avoid replacing them (which at this sort… Read more

of failure rate would be costing them a bomb if they had any decent process) They have been aware of fault on my system for many months despite chasing them by phone and email multiple times. They seem more than happy to leave paying customers without a functional system for months on end. I have other cameras that cost not even close to what this rubbish did and they outperform these on every level. Look for another brand!!! I was silly enough to buy this product 3 times as I needed the range and the first two purchases would not even pair on at least one camera. I simply returned those to the point of purchase.

Filter the reviews on negative reviews and you will quickly see this is not an isolated case. As evidenced in the pictures attached they will simply close a support ticket despite the fact there is no remedy.

They claim a free cloud service right on the box (see pictures)  ...not true at all ........it costs and then didn't work anyway.

Live view is best described as the recent past (camera shows someone at my doorbell when in reality they are back in their car and driving away) utterly useless in real terms. By the time you get an AI warning (often incorrect anyway) they are lucky to be still on the premises at all...... So two way comms is a joke. With my other (not Swann) cameras this is NOT an issue but it clearly demonstrates just how bad the Swann "real time" is.

Battery life is also cr#p unless you set them to miss most triggers all devices have needed to have an external solar panel to even have a chance of not needing regular manual charges.

The max ranger product interferes with your home Wi-Fi if you have a busy network IE Lots of devices, so it impacts lots of other Wi-Fi products in your home as well.

Support is a joke with missed call backs and staff that cannot answer basic questions.

These folks refer to "our policy" regardless of Australian law and are happy to leave you with a nonfunctioning system if they can get out of their obligations regardless of the significant cost of purchase.

I have spoken to several users and am yet to find a satisfied customer. Ask your friends and colleagues before you buy, you will be surprised how many have a Swann story to tell

Do not accept this behavior from this mob. Log a complaint with your state agency or the ACCC complain to your local retailer if they display boxes with "Free" cloud services it is illegal for them too.

RE: Swann 4K Buddy Doorbell – Product and Service Complaint Ticket#: 2799271 Date: 29 September 2025 I am extremely disappointed with both the product quality and customer service provided by Swann regarding the 4K Buddy Doorbell. Today, 29th September 2025, at 3:10 PM, I called Swann Technical Support and remained on the phone for 41 minutes… Read more

without resolving my issue. This is not the first time I have experienced problems with this doorbell.

The first issue occurred 9 months ago, immediately after installation. The doorbell screen was black and would not turn on. I contacted Swann Support, explained the problem, and answered all their questions. I was instructed to take my receipt and return the faulty product to Bunnings Warehouse, where it was replaced.

After installing the replacement, the doorbell worked fine until 26th September 2025, when it started malfunctioning again. The screen began displaying only black and white, despite no changes in installation location, lighting, or other conditions. At night, the doorbell completely lost its color display.

I called back at 7:10 PM and waited 22 minutes, only to hear a voice prompt stating that “no one is available to answer your call. Please leave your number, and the next available customer service representative will call you back.” This is exactly why I told the last technical support agent ([Name Removed]) that it was wasting my time. I had repeatedly explained that a reboot would not solve the issue, but he insisted anyway. This demonstrates a lack of understanding that the customer’s time mattersand apparently, Swann does not care.

During today’s support call, I was put on hold four times before someone eventually returned. I was instructed to reboot the doorbell and obtain a ticket number, with instructions to call back if the issue persisted. Despite my technical expertise, my advice was dismissed, forcing me to follow unnecessary steps that wasted my time.

Previously, I had excellent experiences with Swann’s DVR security cameras, where support was responsive, knowledgeable, and efficient. Now, it seems new employees lack both technical skills and effective customer service, treating customers as if they are interacting with a computer system.

Being on the phone for over 30 minutes just to speak with a human is unacceptable. The procedures for resolving even simple issues are unnecessarily cumbersome, and the company fails to listen to its customers.

NEVER BUY the Swann 4K Buddy Doorbell Camera. It is not worth your time or money. I continue to use the Ring Doorbell from the same era, which has never given me any issues for years.

Swann, your product and customer service in this case are very disappointing. I hope this feedback is taken seriously to improve your support processes and prevent loyal customers from repeated frustration.

I was on the phone waiting for technical support again at 7:50 pm, and I was still waiting at 8:05 pm with no resolution. Earlier, I had provided my ticket number and was asked to wait while the agent reviewed the notes, but instead, I was put into a survey. This level of service is unacceptable, a complete waste of time and Swann CS is a joke!

Recently purchased a Swann EliteX NVR. The setup of the NVR was fine however the connection to the Swann app will not connect to the NVR. After trying several times including factory resets I called Swann Tech support. After speaking with the Technical support staff in the Phillipines for the last two days, they are simply unable to resolve this… Read more

issue. I asked for a technician to be sent to our house to resolve this matter and apparently this is not an option. This system does not work as advertised, Technical support cannot help and there is no local support in Australia. I very much hope that I can amend this review if this ever does get resolved. Ok ‘Mary’ over to you for your feeble and unhelpful reply.

DANGER! SWANN SECURITY APP DRAINS YOUR PHONE AND "SECURE PLUS" SEEMS TO UPLOAD CAMERA FOOTAGE/CHEW UP BANDWIDTH EVEN AFTER YOU HAVE "PUSH" and "EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS" ETC TURNED OFF! One has detailed reviews here on ProductReview of both MaxRanger and AdvancedX. Unfortunately, there is no room to add more photos in those reviews, so one must add… Read more

this important information here to warn other Australian consumers about what they can expect from companies using overseas based servers, and how they upload your personal data, in this case, camera footage to wherever they upload it to WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE, which is clearly the case here.

Since one installed the data and power hungry Swann App, and subscribed to Swann's "Secure Plus" on 18 January, my phone has been draining like never before, and in a week or so, over 300 gigs of mobile data has been used by my mobile modem which has only TWO THINGS connected to it, Swann MaxRanger, and Swann DirectX systems. (See video below).

I have "push notifications" and "Email notifications TURNED OFF! The screenshots below clearly show who the culprit is!

Rang technical support and waited in the same long queue as everyone else, so much for "avoid the queu with secure plus membership" as they falsly claim whilst you are waiting in their long queue! (Looks like I'll be getting out of THAT rort real soon too).

One asked support if there was any way that camera footage from either system was being uploaded to a Swann cloud of sorts or being backed up. No straight answer was forecoming.

Support's attitude to me seemed like they have heard this all before, and after trying SEVERAL TIMES to explain my situation, and the obvious lack of interest on his part, one gave my name, phone number and email address and told them that if I did not hear from anyone in charge, or someone who knew what they were doing, this matter would go before the courts, and with the amount of evidence one has collected, and what OPTUS is sending, one has a powerful case!

One would love to know if anyone else is having this problem with Swann because after today's interaction with Swann, I feel they are not letting the cat out of the bag on this one.

Because of this, one is forced to keep the Modem TURNED OFF and only have it turned on when away from home!

There are no other settings on MaxRanger or AdvancedX showing whether viewing data from cameras is being uploaded to a Swann cloud or anything, but clearly, something is going on. Something we have no control over.

I will update this as soon as I learn more.

++UPDATE 31 JANUARY 2026++

Incredible!

Swann AdvancedX is the culprit!

If you have the Swann AdvancedX detection settings on "HUMAN AND VEHICLE DETECTION" you cannot disable (untick) "PICTURE TO CLOUD" "or "VIDEO TO CLOUD" settings! They are preset, and all your footage is being uploaded to SWANN cloud, nothing we can do to stop it unless we set detection settings to "MOTION".

The ticked boxes in "DETECTION" "ACTIONS" are in grey, and boxes cannot be unticked, yet in "motion" mode, the four squares below (depicted in photos below) ARE unticked because those four cameras are in "MOTION" mode. YOU CAN UNTICK THEM!

Even in "DEVICE" "CLOUD STORAGE" settings, there is no way of stopping my images or videos being sent to Swann cloud! One spent ages trying to communicate with a Swann tech support (expert) lady yesterday evening, and we went through "processes" trying to disable to UNTICK these pre set settings stealing my data, at a rate of, so far, 400 gig a week!

SHE COULD NOT HELP ME....

In fact, the other "expert" she had online never even got back to her in the 15 minutes we were on the phone!

These people should know everything about the products they sell, THEY DON'T!

And one is using MOBILE DATA! THIS IS A DISGRACE!

The only person working in Swann support that makes ANY sense is Hendrix, he seems to be the only one that knows what he's doing, I take my hat off to him. Still waiting for HIS callback.

In the meantime, one awaits the data usage info from Optus and then a formal complaint will be made to the Federal Privacy Commissioners office and Federal Consumer Affairs Commissioners offices for investigation.

Amazing too is that after this review going public the other day, I don't see Swann reps commenting below ON THIS REVIEW like they have done SO QUICKLY with my other reviews of Swann products, WONDER WHY???

One will let YOU reading this work THAT out.

Peter

Townsville