topic Re: Dropping legacy 7 day free recording in Arlo

Buying 5 camera plan cancels the free 7 day legacy plan?

Retired_Member — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 18:55:33 GMT

I've been with Arlo for a number of years.

First the Q and the 2 Pro's (Q and 2x Pro's)

Then I added a Pro 2 and swapped a Pro for a Pro 2 (Q, Pro, 2 x Pro 2's)

Then I started in with the Pro 3's in late 2019 and early 2020 which also required a new hub. No problem as I found a home for the old hub and one of the Pro 2's. I also had to buy the Arlo Smart plan for each new camera's as I slowly upgraded. But the old ones were grandfathered in. (Q, Pro, Pro 2, 2 x Pro 3's)

By August 2020 I finally had my system set up as I needed (Q, Pro 2, 4x Pro 3's). Because I had 4 Pro 3's I bought the 5 camera Arlo Smart which made the most sense ($9.99 for 5 vs $2.99 x 4). Everything was fine, the Pro 3's were covered and the Q/Pro 2 were grandfathered in.... Until they weren't. Over Christmas 2020 I noticed that the library for the Q was empty. The app/web page indicated there were recordings, but when I clicked on the library there was nothing saved.

Been back and forth with Arlo support for about a week... now they're telling me that buying the 5 camera plan cancelled the free 7 day plans for the Q and Pro 2. They want me to purchase an additional Smart plan for the extra camera. This somehow kicked in 5 months after the fact??

Be aware anyone that owns pre-Pro 3/Ultra camera's. Something's changed... don't buy any new camera's or you may lose your free plans for the old ones.

Re: Dropping legacy 7 day free recording

TomMac — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 13:09:15 GMT

You can always open a second account for the newer cameras and then share the Legacy account back to the newer

Re: Dropping legacy 7 day free recording

Retired_Member — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 19:26:54 GMT

So I would wind up with 2 accounts liked to separate emails, 1 account with all the Pro 3's and the Pro 2 (since they need a base station) and 1 account for the Aro Q? Then share the second account with the first?

I'd really like to know (don't think they'll tell me) why the legacy camera's were dropped 5 months after purchasing the Arlo Smart 5 camera plan for 4 camera's that actually benefit from the 2k recording/smart notices/30 day storage. So far support has only given me cookie cutter answers - try removing your camera and re-adding your camera to the base station, remove and re-add the battery (all this for an Arlo Q camera which has no battery and isn't managed by the base station).

I think it's time to find another home for the Q and to look at transitioning to a different camera provider. This will be the second "netgear" program I've dropped (Orbi was a terrible mesh system - went to Amplifi).

Re: Dropping legacy 7 day free recording

JamesC — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 01:32:56 GMT

jrs2020,

The development team has investigated some reports of this issue and found an unexpected behavior with service plans that resulted in the symptoms you describe.

Are you able to test this setup again and let us know if you're still experiencing this issue?

JamesC

Re: Dropping legacy 7 day free recording

Retired_Member — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 17:48:12 GMT

I added the Q camera to the smart subscription last week so it began recording and saving to the library.

Last night I removed the camera from the smart subscription and it still records and saves to the library (it looks like it scaled back the saved days to the grandfathered amount).

Thank you, the issue appears to be resolved!