topic Re: Customer Pays Shipping of Defective Device? in Arlo Essential Indoor Camera

Customer Pays Shipping of Defective Device?

jprash78 — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 12:39:19 GMT

Our camera worked for around 3 months then it stopped working. It is in the nursery and has never been outside and has never been so much as touched other than when I installed it. Now Arlo wants me to pay to ship a defective device back to them? If this is the case, we will cancelling our subscription and not be doing business with Arlo/Netgear going forward. This is a shame because generally we are very happy with the relationship and we have spent over $2000 on Arlo cameras.

Re: Customer Pays Shipping of Defective Device?

StephenB — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 13:07:08 GMT

@jprash78 wrote:
Now Arlo wants me to pay to ship a defective device back to them?

Regrettably that is the terms of their warranty replacement. They pay for shipping the replacement, you pay for shipping back the defective device. Also, there is no guarantee that you will get a new device as the replacement. It could be refurbished.

This policy for warranty returns is common - Seagate, Western Digital, HP, Dell and many other companies also require the buyer to pay for shipping back the defective product. FWIW, I just checked the warranty policy for one Arlo competitor, and they also will charge for return shipping. So research any other options carefully before you switch.

Have you double-checked that you can't exchange the camera with the seller? (Likely the return window is closed now, but could be worth checking).

@jprash78 wrote:
Arlo/Netgear going forward.

Netgear divested Arlo back in 2018. Though they do have the same policy on warranty replacements.

Re: Customer Pays Shipping of Defective Device?

jprash78 — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 17:20:57 GMT

I appreciate your thoughts. I really am just going on record here more than anything. It's a garbage policy and maybe one day they will change it because it stinks. And to bring you up to speed with the case, I did rant to the support person how completely irrational this is and they are escalating it so there will be no shipping charge. So if you're like me and you're reading this, don't take no for an answer. Tell them you aren't having it and hopefully you won't get taken to the cleaners like they do to the tens of thousands of honest hard working CUSTOMERS that have had to return failed cameras or whatever.