FE599 issues; Can't program key entry; faulty?

I’ve been playing with Smartthings for few months and had good success. I have 2 Schlage BE469 working well.

I purchased a Schlage FE599 through Amazon Warehouse deals, so I can’t rule out it may be faulty.

Initially it paired with a V2 hub; the programming and user codes worked. I can’t remember the entire series of events but eventually there were issues with locking / unlocking and when I went to change the user code to match other doors (using the programming code), the lock wouldn’t take it. I can’t remember if that was before or after I applied RBoy’s device handler and / or smart app or when I attempted numerous resets of the lock itself.

Smartthings will still communicate with the lock and will lock / unlock but is not dependable. i.e. while live logging I will send command from android app to unlock and nothing appears within stream for over 1 minute. I’m thinking I may be impatient and it needs more than 60 seconds between commands.

I don’t want to exclude from network in case it’s lost forever, because programming code results in a beep and red light after 4th button push.

Presently no smart apps are associated and type is Universal Z-Wave Lock With Alarms. I want to be able to input a user code so lock can be opened with keypad. Need some help.