Doorbells can't be THAT complicated...

I don’t have a doorbell, just a dog.

I think it is most likely that if a caller doesn’t hear the sound of a doorbell they will resort to knocking or flipping the letter box perhaps.
There are a lot of “defunct” doorbells also on many houses.

Also, a lot of delivery drivers don't use them because there can be a delay between ringing the doorbell and it ringing in the house. They say it takes people far longer to open the door and they are time poor.

If your network was down (even for the shortest time) maybe he rang but The Ring Doorbell didn't work. It happens to us.

If you ring a doorbell and don’t actually hear it ring it might be that delivery drivers feel they need to bang on the door?

If you have a 'no cold callers' notice on your door, it is against the law for them to call at your door. You can get an official notice from your local authority trading standards officer. They are very helpful.

We have a smart one now that can be voice activated, work with Alexa and has a camera attached so we can see who has been knocking (ringing) the door whilst we were out. It has proven very useful after some unpleasant neighbourly behaviour.

Movement

Our ring is activated by moenent

keepingquiet I don't know much about it but I gather some cameras are always active and some are activated when the doorbell is pressed.

We have the same problem with deliveries in particular, when they just knock and don't use our perfectly obvious ordinary doorbell. To be fair, anyone who does ring it can't hear it ringing if the door to the passage is shut, and then they sometimes knock as well. Perhaps I should put a notice or an arrow beside it, but then your notice obviously didn't work, ferry23, so it's probably not worth it.

I thought the cameras were always active?

I don't have either- if I know people are expected I leave the door open, otherwise they have to knock!

It can be annoying.

I read somewhere that people don't like to ring doorbells in case it activates a camera and they don't want to be filmed,
which is why they bang instead. I put a knocker on the door to minimise panel and glass bashing.

My doorbell is enjoying a happy retirement even though it is only, just that, a doorbell.

We have a Ring and an old doorbell but lots of people, mostly delivery drivers persist in knocking on the door or the glass window.

I answered the door once saying “oh I thought the house must be on fire!” because the delivery driver was hammering non stop on the door

I’ve also nearly missed a delivery because they just gave a tiny little tap on the door instead of ringing the bell

I always look for a doorbell when arriving at a door, I'm reluctant to start banging, I think it's quite rude. Maybe it's just the "more mature" that use them!

Yes, I did actually put my head around the door this morning and said "is the doorbell not working" before pressing it.

Like you Charleygirl5, I can hear the doorbell wherever I am. But if in a room at the back I probably wouldn't hear a rapping on the door.

ferry23 I appear to have the same problem. I can hear the Ring doorbell wherever I am in the house but not somebody tapping on the front door. Only a couple of times they have started to bang on it.

If it is a neighbour I ignore them until they ring the bell and then I express surprise I did not hear them if they mentioned I had not answered.

We have a doorbell. Had it for years.
I tend to forget we have it as so many people never use it.