Arlo Pro 2 RMA phone support is rubbish!

[indakasilva]

Where to start?

We've had an Arlo Pro 2 setup since November.

We had the cameras inside until we could get the official Arlo/Netgear outdoor power supplies.

When we started using these power supplies, one of my cameras stopped charging the battery. (This was on 3rd Feb 2019)

I logged a call via the web chat, got a really good response in terms of troubleshooting the issue and eventually got an RMA number and instructions on what to do next.

I couriered my broken camera to the local Brightstar warehouse in Auckland as instructed. My courier confirmed that it had been delivered on the 7th Feb 2019.

Hopefully get a replacement by next week all going well! All good so far I thought.

Here we are at the end of February 2019 and after numerous calls to the local 0800 number I'm still no further forward with where the heck my camera has got to.

No one can tell me if it's been received by the warehouse as expected. No one can tell me if a replacement will be sent out to me.

I can't get anybody to escalate the issue as supervisors 'aren't currently available'.

I feel sorry for the call centre staff that answer my calls as it's not their fault and they are all genuinely try to be helpful. But they they dont get the fact that New Zealand is in a different time zone and so if they phone the New Zealand Brightstar office at 2100 they probably won't get a response. 

Obviously Brightstar staff don't know how to use email either.

This is so frustrating! and in the mean time my second camera has developed the same fault and won't charge the battery now.

What a waste of time and money!

[ShayneS]

Hi @indakasilva

I have reviewed your case & customer support is escalating the issue for the replacement. I have contacted them as well regarding the replacement unit. Someone from support will contact you as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience as we resolve this.

[indakasilva]

Thanks for looking at my call so quickly ShaneS.
My frustration here is more around the broken internal processes that are in place between Arlo and their third party partners.
As someone who works in Service Delivery, I have to deal with issues and grumpy people every day.
Looking through these forums there are plenty of frustrated customers going through a painful RMA process. That should hopefully tell you something.
So from a customers perspective not only is the device ( that I paid a lot of money for) broken but the underlying support process is, at best, half baked..

If you expect return customers or indeed word of mouth recommendations, these issues need to be addressed..

The products have so much potential but the underlying issues within Arlo have put me off recommending these devices to friends and family.

Thanks
Indy