topic Re: Adding Existing Camera to Premier Plan in Arlo Smart

Adding Existing Camera to Premier Plan. Unable to move cameras.

Bobby55 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 16:59:14 GMT

I have 5 cameras on the Premier Plan, 1 additional for the "discounted" Premier Plan (total of 6). Then, I bought a new 7th camera that came with a 3-month trial, which has now expired. Under "Manage Cameras" it lists my devices, and has my new camera under "No Plan", and they've disabled my ability to record. I want to move it to my plan, but under "Manage Cameras" there is no mechanism to do that. I tried dragging it around but nothing happens. I can't seem to find anything in these forums or under support about how to do this. I thought this would be easy but the Arlo site isn't very intuitive. I used to love Arlo but the last few years have been disappointing, with many app, subscription plan issues, software, and hardware issues.

Re: Adding Existing Camera to Premier Plan

StephenB — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 09:59:14 GMT

@Bobby55 wrote:

I have 5 cameras on the Premier Plan, 1 additional for the "discounted" Premier Plan (total of 6). Then, I bought a new 7th camera that came with a 3-month trial, which has now expired. Under "Manage Cameras" it lists my devices, and has my new camera under "No Plan", and they've disabled my ability to record. I want to move it to my plan, but under "Manage Cameras" there is no mechanism to do that.

Are you talking about the old 10-camera plan? Or do you have the 5-camera Premier plan with an additional (discounted) single camera plan?

If you have 5+1, then it sounds like all your subscription slots are filled. If you want to swap cameras around, you should be able to move one of the existing cameras to "no plan", and then move the new camera into the plan. If you want all 7 covered, then you need to purchase an additional single camera plan.

Re: Adding Existing Camera to Premier Plan

Bobby55 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 18:57:50 GMT

Thanks, Stephen. I have the 5-camera Premier plan with an additional (discounted) single camera plan, all of which show up. However, it's not all that intuitive as to how to actually purchase an additional single-camera plan. There's no "easy button" to click on such as "Add Single Camera to Existing Plan". So I clicked around, including on the "Change Plan" link. In the upper middle they have a link "Single Camera Plans", and when I click that I get a warning/ marketing message begging me not to do it because their multi-camera plans are so much better. Well I have the multi-plan already, and it makes it sound like I shouldn't continue. It should say Continue On to Add to Your Existing Premier Plan, but of course it's Arlo. I clicked on "No, Take Me to Single Camera Plans." with seems meant to be a deterrent.

That leads to a complicated screen showing all of my cameras spread out, and the single-camera price of each, most at $2.99. It should say $1.50 since I have the Premier Plan already. But of course it's Arlo. So I click on the bubble to select the camera I'd like to add, even though the price is wrong. Then it says "New Monthly Charge $2.99 again, which is wrong. At this point I don't want to continue because i don't want my card charged erroneously. But I do anyway. The "Final" confirmation payment page still has the wrong price, threatening to charge my card the wrong amount if I click Confirm. Essentially, it's not allowing me to add cameras at the 1/2 per camera price, and instead attempting to charge the full amount as though I only had a single camera altogether. Perhaps there's another route I'm supposed to take, though I can't find it.

I'm still not sure how I can add this camera to my plan, as I cannot seem to find any direction in their help page or this forum. Something seemingly common as this should be super easy,. I'm currently testing another brand's camera due to my almost monthly problems that arise with Arlo, and I've only had one issue with that so far. Going forward I'll probably phase out Arlo, which is sad because I like most aspects of the system, it's just not worth my time in terms of $/hour.

Re: Adding Existing Camera to Premier Plan

StephenB — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 19:42:24 GMT

@Bobby55 wrote:

Thanks, Stephen. I have the 5-camera Premier plan with an additional (discounted) single camera plan, all of which show up. However, it's not all that intuitive as to how to actually purchase an additional single-camera plan. There's no "easy button" to click on such as "Add Single Camera to Existing Plan". So I clicked around, including on the "Change Plan" link. In the upper middle they have a link "Single Camera Plans", and when I click that I get a warning/ marketing message begging me not to do it because their multi-camera plans are so much better. Well I have the multi-plan already, and it makes it sound like I shouldn't continue. It should say Continue On to Add to Your Existing Premier Plan, but of course it's Arlo. I clicked on "No, Take Me to Single Camera Plans." with seems meant to be a deterrent.

That leads to a complicated screen showing all of my cameras spread out, and the single-camera price of each, most at $2.99. It should say $1.50 since I have the Premier Plan already. But of course it's Arlo. So I click on the bubble to select the camera I'd like to add, even though the price is wrong. Then it says "New Monthly Charge $2.99 again, which is wrong. At this point I don't want to continue because i don't want my card charged erroneously. But I do anyway. The "Final" confirmation payment page still has the wrong price, threatening to charge my card the wrong amount if I click Confirm. Essentially, it's not allowing me to add cameras at the 1/2 per camera price, and instead attempting to charge the full amount as though I only had a single camera altogether. Perhaps there's another route I'm supposed to take, though I can't find it.

I agree this is too complicated. I haven't had to add single cameras to my own subscription, so I don't know exactly what that other route is. Hopefully another person here can help.

Re: Adding Existing Camera to Premier Plan

dcfox1 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 21:30:10 GMT

I'm wondering if cancelling both plans and subscribing again will allow for the 7th camera to add at the discount price also since doing all at the same time. @ShayneS

Re: Adding Existing Camera to Premier Plan

Bobby55 — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 21:34:33 GMT

Hi dcfox1, I was thinking about that but I have one other camera in the "free trial" expiring August 8th. My Premier Plan was also subscribed under a sale price lasting for a year, so I don't want to give that up for Arlo's error. Seems like Arlo Support often suggests things like that willy-nilly without regard to how it affects discounts in progress.

I'd have to be lucky enough to have a competent tech help me out and manually re-enter all the discounts, because Arlo's automated systems are a horrible patchwork of incorrect assumptions. From past experience, support staff competency is a hit-or-miss, many don't think from a customer point of view, they like to say "unplug it and plug it back in and let us know", and auto-ask for all kinds of irrelevant data which delays resolution.