Anyone know how to communicate with Arlo Management?

[AncientGeek]

I found their investor site,  up the email address issues a bounce-back message when I send email to it.  Wow!  Even THAT doesn’t work.

https://investor.arlo.com/ir-resources/faqs/default.aspx

From what I’ve discovered here are some key executives.

Executives

Erik Bylin - IR

Matt McRae - CEO

Christine Gorjanc - CFO

[AncientGeek]

Here is the message I tried to send...

Dear Eric Bylin,

Is Matt McRae and senior management team fully aware of the customer outrage resulting from the “downgrade” from version 2.5.5 of the Arlo mobile app to 2.6.0 (now 2.6.1)?

The user interface has been severely degraded in utility for tablet users (and others) who are all furious over the changes.  Customers are expressing their anger through bad reviews, returning their equipment and telling all their friends and acquaintances to steer clear of Arlo products.

I have been using Arlo products since the summer of 2015.  I monitor four properties with over 30 Arlo cameras.  I have been through more than one seriously flawed software push that caused me pain and extra work, but even so, I have been a strong supporter of Arlo products until this recent misguided redesign of the user interface.

I’m also a retired CIO.  I was CIO at a $15M company that grew to $4.5B in the 20 years I was on the executive team.  I know how important customer loyalty is to growth.  This is a huge issue and could very well be a material event that requires a report to the SEC.  This is an “all hands on deck” problem the Arlo executive team needs to address immediately.  

In addition to your customers complaints, you have investor issues to worry about.  Once the guys on Wall Street get wind of this “the shorts” will come out of the woodwork en mass and hammer your PPS.  They will short your stock and start spreading lies to bolster their positions.  Then the (long) investor law suits will follow ... naming the CEO and CFO personally in the law suits...regardless of any Safe Harbor language you have included in all of your investor materials and presentations.  It can get really ugly.  I’ve seen it.  It is a huge distraction from running the business!  Especially one that aspires to rapid growth.

Please raise the red flag on this.  Sound the alarm.  Immediately apologize to your customer base and activate a fulsome customer engagement program to let us know you understand the pain you have inflicted on us and what you are doing to return us to our previous level of security and productivity in monitoring our businesses, homes and the safety of our families.

Respectfully,

[Lemondog7]

Matt McRae is listed on LinkedIn with an address listed as Laguna Beach, CA. I plan on FedExing a letter by week’s end. I still have to find an actual address.

[AncientGeek]

A senior customer service manager contacted me today.  We spoke for about 40 minutes.  I gave him a couple of screenshots of the old UI versus the new UI and walked him through the issues as I see them.  He was very attentive, listened well and is writing up his notes for me to review before he sends them to development.  He said the new management team is very concerned with the customer experience and customer needs.  I recommended they engage this community and do a few of the things I have proposed or recommended here, including posting 2.5.5 as Arlo Classic until these issues are resolved in the current version.

Overall, I came away feeling heard and somewhat more optimistic our issues will be resolved,.  However, the real proof will, be when we see both a higher level of engagement here and a return to the more useful user interface as well as fixes to the significant problems many users are having now.

fingers crossed....

[Lemondog7]

Thank you for spending the time to do all that. Great idea to have the ‘classic version’ until things are fixed correctly. I think they fail to realize we’re all so pissed because we really like our systems so much. Again, thank you.

[AncientGeek]

Thank you.  

It was truly my pleasure and I’m very happy the Arlo Customer Service team reached out to me.  I hope others are contacted as well.

I agree about why everyone is so upset.  We arrived here because we liked what we had.  Losing it has been a huge disappointment.

[trickytcamgeek]

@AncientGeek I want to thank you for explaining, (in a different thread - which I have lost now), how to get back version 2.5.5 on my iPad Pro.    I followed your instructions and was able to wind back from version 2.6.1 to 2.5.5.

The old version is now working fine just as it did before.

I restored from a cloud backup dated over a month ago.   Important: As soon as your Apps start to appear after restore, quickly switch off auto-update apps.

As my backup was old, I was worried that I would lose all my data since then.   Luckily not.   All my data was safe, photos, calendar, contacts, notes, excel and so on.

Thanks again.  It is a great relief to get back the previous fully working version of the App.

[AncientGeek]

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@trickytcamgeek wrote:

@AncientGeek I want to thank you for explaining, (in a different thread - which I have lost now), how to get back version 2.5.5 on my iPad Pro.    I followed your instructions and was able to wind back from version 2.6.1 to 2.5.5.

The old version is now working fine just as it did before.

I restored from a cloud backup dated over a month ago.   Important: As soon as your Apps start to appear after restore, quickly switch off auto-update apps.

As my backup was old, I was worried that I would lose all my data since then.   Luckily not.   All my data was safe, photos, calendar, contacts, notes, excel and so on.

Thanks again.  It is a great relief to get back the previous fully working version of the App.

---

That is great to hear!  Your experience matched mine.  I knew any data I had in iCloud or other cloud services would be fine.  I wasn’t certain about how the apps would restore, but that worked well.  I knew any local data stored on the iPad would be lost and/or restored to what it was as of the backup date.  It was interesting to see my Safari tabs to see what I was looking up at that time.  Like you, I went to “Settings” and turned off app updates and even app downloads, just to be safe....while the apps were all being restored.

if you haven’t already done so, I did a fresh backup as soon as I had my iPad restored to the way I wanted it, so if I accidentally update Arlo before it is fixed, I will have a fresher backup to start with.

I have two iPads in current service.  I have left the iPad I use less frequently on the new version of Arlo and I will monitor Arlo Technolgies’ repair progress on that one.

i agree, it is such a relief to have the original Devcies display back.  Nine camera status views at a glance, all of the icons on the screen, battery status (at all charge levels) for all devices including the power status for solar panel and wall powered cameras at a glance, quick filtering of library recordings even when the unread count is zero...  This also allows multiple simultaneous Live Views so we can see action from more than one camera at a time.

I am baffled as to why some group of UI designers thought this version of the display was “cluttered” rather than recognizing it as a wonderfully efficient and information rich dashboard that is of high utility to Arlo users.  

I have a few ideas for improving on this version, but it doesn’t include removing anything!

[trickytcamgeek]

I also have two iPad Pros and am doing the same as you to monitor Arlo progress.  Good idea to do another backup now, just in case....

It’s great to have the 9 simultaneous views back, although, I am monitoring 23 cameras.   Wish I could get all 23 on one single view, but 9 is still 9X better than the “upgrade” of just one.   I am also glad to get back the live streaming view.   I need that to monitor kids, grandad and animals.   It is also a great relief to get back the battery monitor, so I can view everything at a single glance, instead of the 69 clicks the upgrade needed.

It will be interesting to see what happens when short-sellers pick up this story.   I am convinced the directors must have part of their remuneration paid in stock or stock options.   I wonder which way they want the shate price to go?

Thanks again for the restore from cloud idea.

[AncientGeek]

My pleasure,  I’m glad it occurred to me to try that.

Similar to you, I have 32 cameras I’m monitoring.  My 12.9” iPad Pro will show 12 at a time, I believe.  I’ve forgotten now, because it is running 2.6.1 or perhaps a newer version by now.

We also monitor a very elderly parent in his home as well as our own properties.  My wife has all but abandoned use of the system after the 2.6.0 update.  She hates it, but currently doesn’t want me to restore her iPad back.  She’s hoping Arlo Technologies will fix it.  As we all are...