One camera no longer sends notifications, but still records. Possibly Arlo Smart to blame

[JoeyDee86]

Hi all, I created a support ticket, but they're absolutely useless so far since they completely ignored the actual problem I'm having (transcript below, I was frustrated, so I wasn't as nice as I normally am, sorry).

Anyways, I 4 Arlo's, 2 Q's and 2 Pro's. 1 Pro is in my front yard, which about a month ago I started an Arlo Smart 30 day trial on it. I was really enjoying Arlo Smart, mainly because the push notifications send a picture as well, which immediately show up on my watch. The problem is I suspect the trial expired, but now I'm getting obsolutely no push notifications from that camera. Motion is still being triggered and and video recorded, but no push notifications. My other Arlo Pro that's connected to the same base, with the same exact settings is working just fine. The only difference is I did not have Arlo Smart on that one.

Chat support first told me to remove and readd the camera, which I tried explaining that this issue is obviously server side since the notifications come from the service and not the cameras... and everything else is working with the camera, they insisted that they can't continue until I did that. So I did, and it changed absolutely nothing since the camera came back exactly as it was. I made another chat asking them to just remove Arlo Smart and see if it it goes back to the basic push notifications, and they told me they can’t remove Arlo Smart while it’s still in trial… which ends on 10/23/17… which shouldn’t be possible since it was about a month ago that I signed up for the 30 day trial. Something is obviously wrong.

Finally, I created an email support ticket, and mentioned that I’d like Arlo Smart removed as a troubleshooting step for the actual problem of not getting any notifications… Email support tunnel visioned on removing Arlo Smart and insisted there’s nothing they can do to remove it… even though that’s not what the ticket is for…

I need these push notifications to be fixed… Any help would be appreciated. This is incredibly frustrating that I’d spend quite a bit of money on 4 cameras and receive such horrible support… Netgear/Arlo should be embarrassed.

Support ticket:

Online Comment 9/23/2017 8:24 PM I am not getting notifications from the camera called Front. The motion sensor is working fine, especially since its creating the recordings. All my other cameras are sending notifications fine, including my other Arlo Pro thats connected to the same base station, and thus sharing the same settings. This Front camera however has/had Arlo Smart, which I think has something to do with it. I spoke to a chat rep, who had me remove and reset the camera, since he said its the only way to remove Arlo Smart, however when I added the camera back, it came back exactly the same as it was before, I didnt even have to rename it. This has been going on for a week. I need this fixed now. Also, off topic, but this support page asked me to login with my arlo account, but the page was not loaded as HTTPS. This is incredibly scary that a camera products website would allow someones username and password to be sent in the clear. Luckily, I know enough to try to change the url to https, but others dont. You need to fix that so people connecting on public wifi dont get their accounts compromised.

NETGEAR Support 9/23/2017 8:36 PM Hello Joe, Good day! Thank you for contacting NETGEAR Arlo Support. My name is Kristel and I will be assisting you with this case. I will do my best to solve this case. First, I would like to apologize for the inconvenience that have caused you. Second, Please be informed that you cannot remove the Arlo Smart since your camera is still in trial. You need to wait until the trial ends before the Arlo Smart remove. If you want a faster resolution for your case, you can contact us using this options below: • Phone support: dial 1-888-638-4327 or 408-638-3750 • Live chat support: http://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx • Online Forum: community.arlo.com We appreciate the time assisting you. Thank you for choosing NETGEAR. Regards, Kristel Expert ID: 46269 Netgear L1 Support Expert **Please be reminded that this case will auto close after 7 days of inactivity

Online Comment 9/23/2017 8:52 PM Are you kidding me? I told you the problem is that I'm not receiving notifications when there's motion for this specific camera. I was asking about removing Arlo Smart as a troubleshooting step. Can you please investigate the actual problem?

NETGEAR Support 9/23/2017 9:00 PM Hi Joe, Good Day! Thank you for the quick response. Like I said to my initial response, you cannot remove the Arlo Smart Trial. The only thing that you can do is to wait until the trial ends. Even if you will remove the camera from the account, the camera will still have the trial. We appreciate the time assisting you. Thank you for choosing NETGEAR. Regards, Kristel Expert ID: 46269 Netgear L1 Support Expert **Please be reminded that this case will auto close after 7 days of inactivity

Online Comment 9/23/2017 9:11 PM I don’t think you read what I typed? The problem is not that I can’t remove Arlo Smart. The problem is that it’s not sending me ANY notifications for this camera. Not the basic motion notifications, nor the Arlo Smart Picture notifications. That is what I need fixed.

Thanks in advance!

[JamesC]

JoeyDee86,

Have you rebooted the base station? If you haven't already done so, this would be a good place to start. Allow the base station to come back online and test to see if you get the same results.

It sounds like you're using the default Armed mode, check to make sure push notifications are still enabled in the rules for that mode for each desired camera.

If you're still experiencing the issue, try creating a new custom mode (be sure to enable push notifications in the custom rule) and see if you get the same results. (this should work in the default Armed rule, just trying to rule out a possible bug)

JamesC

[JoeyDee86]

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately I tried both suggestions. No change.

[Vinnie_C]

I am having the same problem. My Arlo Smart trial ended and now no more push notifications. I have 2 cameras. I put Arlo Smart trial on one of them. When trial ended, push notifications stopped. Still records like you see as well, but no notifications.

[JoeyDee86]

Make a ticket and hope they don't ignore you as well. This needs to get fixed ASAP.

[JoeyDee86]

I made a new ticket since I haven't heard back from the original. This is the new response:

Hello Joe, 

This is Kylene and I am answering this email on behalf of the previous expert. 

I would like to extend my sincere apology regarding this matter. I understand that your concern is about Front camera that is not sending you any notifications at all. This just happened after you subscribed the camera to Arlo Smart Trial which will eliminates unnecessary notifications for that certain camera. Part of isolation is to disable or unsubscribe the camera from Arlo Smart but since we have not option to do that we need to wait until Arlo Smart will expire and then we can diagnose if the same issue will occur even after the Arlo Smart subscription expires. 


Regards, 

Kylene 
Expert ID 46289 
NETGEAR Support

So, since Netgear apparently signed me up for 2 trials back to back somehow, I have to wait another 30 days? Funny.

[Vinnie_C]

Joey, I wanted to give my update on my discussion with support. We went back and forth trying to troubleshoot and reset things, but nothing worked and the problem was still occurring. Support then recommended that they send me a replacement camera. Here is what they said, "Thank you for your reply. As I we have discussed this case with the team, we will authorized a replacement for the affected camera while we are still waiting for an update from the development team". As we thought, it definitely looks like a server side problem, so if I hear something I will try to update this post.

[AUtigerlady]

I have the same problem.  No push notifications! I do get email notifications.  I have tried all solutions, reinstalling everything, unplugging everything, deleting everything, making sure all setting are correct.....still not working.  Using a Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone.  I did get push notifications at first then they just stopped!  Here is what I have found on my own......if you create a new mode or change the setting to "DO nothing"  in the Rule Summary section it will send the push notifications, but not record video, which makes it worthless to me.  I am waiting on support to call me within 24 hours.  I am about ready to give up on this arlo camera and go with a new system.

[JamesC]

I've escalated this topic. I will post an update when I have more information.  

JamesC

[Revo82]

You just described my exact problem currently. I tried to charge the camera, didn't work, I tried to resync, didn't work. And now I can't even get it to sync with the base station. This was my camera I used the smart trial on as well and it should have ended right when the notifications stopped.

[JoeyDee86]

Any updates to this? If I click Manage in my Arlo Smart settings it takes me to CVR settings. If I try to add Arlo Smart to a different camera, it ALSO takes me to CVR settings. I've tried this on multiple browsers on multiple machines. The Arlo Smart Trial messed up my Arlo account. Support keeps telling me they want to replace my camera. THAT WON'T SOLVE THE PROBLEM! I WANT Arlo Smart for my outdoor cameras.

I'm having issues attaching the screenshots taken through Windows Problem Step Recorder.. I can email them to you if you want.

[Revo82]

I went ahead and replaced the camera, everything is working like it was before the smart trial. I would like to use the smart feature but I'm not going through that again. I'll keep my 40 bucks a year and just use traditional notifications. Maybe they will find a solution.

[Vinnie_C]

I wanted to give my update since there hasn't been any activity here lately. I had a support ticket open and they wanted to replace the camera, but I knew it wasn't the camera that had the problem it was the software. So I waited until my Arlo Smart trial ended and voila, push noficiations are working again, shocker. 

[JoeyDee86]

Thanks for the update.

What disgusted me was that they told me they had no way to remove the Arlo Smart trial. What makes it worse, is my trial kept automatically renewing!

I lost my faith in Arlo, sold all 4 of my Arlo's and switched to Nest.

Now I have a much faster live feed, intelligent alerts with the picture notifications that Arlo Smart once did... And best of all, I can open a chat with support from the app...

Sorry Arlo, I'll miss the convenience of being completely wireless, but at least I have something now that actually feels reliable...