Phantom alarm keeping Auckland CBD residents up all night - source found

The source of a mysterious, piercing alarm that has been going off at all hours, day and night, causing havoc for hundreds of residents in the Auckland CBD for over a month has been identified.

Anzac Ave resident Nicole Ashley has been disturbed by the alarm for over a month. Recently she was able to identify the office of Windcave on the same street as the location of the alarm.

“It has kept me up many times, frustrated I noticed a light go off one evening on the Windcave building and sure enough they confirmed my suspicions,” she said.

Some residents at the Statesman apartment building on Parliament St, in central Auckland were kept awake by an alarm at nearby Windcave. Photo / Supplied

In an email, a spokesperson from e-commerce company, Windcave admitted they’re aware of the fault and have escalated the issue to “the vendor to look into”.

However, they said the problem wouldn’t be solved until the new year.

“We have put in some mitigation this week to prevent the activations until it can be properly fixed,” they said.

The company spokesperson went on to justify the alarm, by saying it is “within acceptable noise limits”.

Ashley said Windcave needs to be held responsible for the disturbance.

“The reluctancy to sort out this issue is frankly unacceptable,” she said.

Kevin Dooley, building manager for the Statesman Apartments building on Parliament St with 500 residents, said the building responsible must “think it’s Fort Knox”.

“The alarm would be the most intrusive burglar alarm I have heard. It’s loud and impossible to locate.”

He said a frustrated tenant in his apartment complex had finally contacted someone from the building that is the suspected source of the noise this week.

Dooley said the alarm seems to have stopped but sounded briefly again yesterday afternoon, which he hoped was just a hiccup.

One resident said the issue had become so bad she had resorted to sleeping fully clothed and with shoes on as part of a bid to run outside when the alarm sounds to try to hunt down exactly which building it is sounding from.

She described the situation as like living in a “torture chamber”.

“It’s been really unpleasant. It’s been to the point where I timed it and worked out that I had four minutes to get out of the house to try to work out where the noise was coming from.

“In early November, I slept in my clothes and shoes so that when it went off, I could run out the door and get onto the street within four minutes to try to work out where the sound was coming from – and still couldn’t find it.”

Speaking to the Herald earlier last week, the woman – who asked not to be named – said the alarm suddenly started sounding on November 2 and has been going off intermittently ever since, almost daily.

Windcave has been approached for comment.

Katie Oliver is a Christchurch-based multimedia journalist and breaking news reporter.