Treacherous customer support experience

[dmw73]

I am in the middle of the most treacherous customer support experience with Arlo.  I am not sure where to turn for help so I've resorted to posting a plea here in the community forum.

The trouble began a month ago when suddenly, the Arlo Essential XL camera disappeared from my account.  POOF it was just gone.  I opened a ticket with customer support and things just got worse from there.  I have since chatted with 8 different customer support people over the past few weeks.  I have repeatedly asked for a real person to call my on the phone but nobody has.  Each time I initiate a new "chat," I have the repeat the entire story, and I get conflicting instructions from each agent. 

I was able to re-add the device to my account but there is an ongoing error message.  I have repeatedly explained this to Arlo customer support but they do not know how to decipher the message or what to tell me to do. 

It appears that the customer support people simply follow a script and they are unable to perform any thoughtful analysis themselves.  When they get through the script and it doesn't match the reality of the technical situation, they simply disconnect from the chat or promise a call back later (which never happens).  I have asked for the ticket to be escalated but they refuse! 

There is no customer support telephone number published for me to call.  Yes, I know that there are support articles which say to go into Settings and click on the device, at which point a number will be presented.  But that does not work -- in the Arlo app, under Settings, there is NO DEVICE, and so the instructions are invalid!

I am forced to raise the issue with the Better Business Bureau and the state attorney general.  I would like to know if anyone here in the community has found a way to get real help with a technical issue; maybe there is someone else to reach out to?  I am so disappointed with this company and wish I never purchased their products.

[Luisameyers]

This is exactly how my customer service experience has been going. I tried chatting and for months I haven’t even been able to use any of my cameras. They either run out of battery within 5 minutes or they go offline and it’s been horrible. Paid nearly $400 for them and a complete waste of money. Terrible cameras and terrible customer service so far and no help to be found.

[StephenB]

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@dmw73 wrote:

I was able to re-add the device to my account but there is an ongoing error message.  I have repeatedly explained this to Arlo customer support but they do not know how to decipher the message or what to tell me to do. 

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What message are you seeing?  Can you post a screen shot?

[dmw73]

Here's a screenshot showing the error.  I have repeatedly explained this to Arlo customer support.  Their responses have ranged from "it's out of warranty" (which it isn't), to tell me to re-add the device to the account, to ignoring the error and explaining that the solar panel just charges slowly. 

I am now up to discussing the situation with 10 different Arlo agents and still no resolution. 

The error clearly indicates that the camera does not recognize the solar panel.   But Arlo says they don't see the error from their side, therefore it must not exist.   

The error is new.   It wasn't always present.  Initially, the solar panel was operating successfully, fully charging the camera to 100% on any sunny day.  Suddenly the solar panel stopped charging the camera, leading to the camera's battery draining to 0%, which resulted in the camera disappearing from my account. 

For some reason, Arlo customer support cannot diagnose the issue and simply issue a replacement part.  They could have resolved this on Day 1 and we all could have moved on. 

[StephenB]

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@dmw73 wrote:

Here's a screenshot showing the error. 

 Thanks.  

Do you have another Essential camera? If you do, I suggest swapping them, and see if the same error shows up on the other camera.

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@dmw73 wrote:

Their responses have ranged from "it's out of warranty" (which it isn't),

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When did you purchase the camera and the panel?

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@dmw73 wrote:

leading to the camera's battery draining to 0%, which resulted in the camera disappearing from my account. 

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The camera will of course go off-line at that point.  But it should not disappear from the account.

[Lee812]

We are having issues with user access.   The share access had been working fine then POOF overnight it stopped.   Tried everything conceivable to get it working again.  Unable to call and talk to anyone- we had just gotten a email a couple days before from Arlo saying not to call any number online because they don’t have a number to call so all published numbers are scams.

 So we’ve been online chatting going through the same steps we had already tried with still no resolution.   This is the poorest customer service I’ve ever seen.  

We essentially have a lot of money in cameras and paying for a service that is not providing the advertised services with no resolution in site. 

If not resolved soon we plan to contact the Better Business Bureau as well.  

[ShayneS]

Hi @Lee812 

Please reach out to the Support Team to further investigate this issue you are experiencing. You can find several options for contacting support though the Arlo Mobile App by navigating to the Profile icon > Support Center > Select device > contact

[ljed]

I have trouble with the the feed showing up.  Chated with support said I need to buy subscription for my 3 camera system. 12.99 a month.  No i'm not doing that.  my cameras are worthless.

[jguerdat]

Guess you didn't read the widely available information state states the cameras require a subscription for cloud recordings (that's why you got the free trial subscription to get you started).