What happened to the preview picture in the emails?

[Rueg]

In the Arlo notification emails, there always used to be a preview picture so I could possibly see what was captured in the video.  This stopped coming thru a few days ago making the Arlo emails pretty useless.  Is there a way to get the preview picture in the emails back?  I didn't change anything.  They just stopped showing up. 

Thanks.

Steve

[sspeak]

A few days ago, I had three emails in a row that showed the preview photo.  Using BlueMail on my Android device.  I was hopeful that the problem was fixed, but it didn't work again after that.

[AHS82Mike]

Gmail on my android I get the previews in Gmail. Just not in Outlook or other windows Email programs like the default one for Win10

[Heavy_D]

Hi All, thought I would provide an update on my experience , since support seems to be doing nothing about this, nor is it mentioned as a reported issue on their status page yet.

What worked for me...went back and found an old email from May before the problem, opened it on my phone and selected "always show pictures from this sender" . Even though the picture didn't show from in the old email, all of the new emails are showing the thumbnail again now. Just thought I'd let you guys know, cheers.

[AHS82Mike]

I tried all this and still no previews in Outlook: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/block-or-unblock-automatic-picture-downloads-in-email-messa... 

[CWuestefeld]

Telling Outlook to show images will work for old messages - before a month or so ago, when Arlo made the change. It will NOT work to make new messages show their images.

The problem is that they rewrote the whole thing. It no longer includes the messages at all. Instead it tries to run a little javascript program that goes to retrieve the image and inject it into the displayed message at the time you view it. But running javascript in your email is a security vulnerability, and Outlook won't do that - even if you allow showing images.

What's driving me crazy is that I'm a web developer, and even though I'm not on their team and I've never seen their code, it took me less than a half hour to figure this out. So why does it take their team weeks and weeks to respond to this problem?

[grover5177]

Because it's not hitting their bottom line yet. More than once, they seem much more interested in rolling out new products/features than addressing known issues with current stuff. Good example is the multiple notification bug that went on for a LONG time before it was finally addressed. There are many other issues as well but they either haven't a clue or dont' really care about anything that isn't impacting their bottom line in a negative way.

[ranran]

Well, first -thank you sir - you've given us more information than Netgear has bothered to provide.  Second, I think grover5177 hit the nail on the head - everything is prioritized with profit in mind.......that's how most businesses operate, so this is relegated to a low priority because, hey, we already bought our Arlo stuff and although we moan and complain, we'll probably stick with this security ecosystem for now....

[jruddy]

Hello Support? Are you here??? You guys can't figure out how to fix the html in your emails to fix this issue??? It's been months and clearly people are frustrated.

Someone mentioned the bottom line... I can tell I was looking at getting replacing my system with a Ultra because the Pro isn't clear enough on further away video.  Right now I'm so frustrated, I'm looking at other options. This is a basic change, that should never take this long to resolve!

In case you aren't aware, most people have their email opened on their computer all day at work. Why do I need to grab my phone everytime I get an alert.  The email alert function is mostly useless now.

[jguerdat]

---

@jruddy wrote:

Hello Support? Are you here???

---

Nope. Support is here:

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx

This is a user forum.

[frankpgh]

No need to be condescending. 

This "user forum" is/and should be monitored by Arlo.  They have responded during the thread, and owe the user community (ie. the customers) answers.

You're not helping. 

Perhaps a bunch of us filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau and FTC for not meeting their oblicgations would help.  

[jruddy]

---

@jguerdat wrote:

---

@jruddy wrote:

Hello Support? Are you here???

---

Nope. Support is here:

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/support/contact.aspx

This is a user forum.

---

Last time I checked the website it was hosted by a subdomain on arlo.com  means arlo owns the data and the forum. Be no point of it, if Arlo wasn't watching.

Sure, I can waste my time opening a ticket based on an issue that is widely discussed, but that's not going to resolve the issue. This is a template update that broke something that worked for a long time. All they have to do is revert the changes and come out with a new template once it's fixed.  Nothing crazy, instead they just have a bunch of frustrated users.

[jruddy]

I paid $800 for my system that no longer works as expected.

I was patient for a month, now I'm tried of waiting. We could all file claims and complain on BBB but honestly, this shouldn't be a hard fix, that is the most frustrating part. Shouldn't have to go anywhere close to that far.  

[rulviebaby]

I followed up with a chat session asking about a case they opened for me in May.

The text follows.  Perhaps you all should direct your energy to Amazon and share your frustration in reviews.  It doesn't seem that their support team is connected to their development team and all the complaints are going nowhere!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Merry R

Hi . Thank you for choosing Arlo.

12:27:05 PM

My name is Merry. How may I assist you today?

12:27:10 PM

Me

Hi

12:33:39 PM

Merry I have a case from back in may and I don't see any resolution. There is no change.

12:34:36 PM

The case number is 40891557.

12:34:52 PM

Merry R

Let me review the case first.

12:35:14 PM

Me

Can you tell me what the plan and schedule to resolve the case is?

12:35:14 PM

Merry R

Please stay in the line.

12:35:34 PM

Me

I am not looking for generic answers like out team is looking into it. I'm looking for dates and schedule.

12:36:00 PM

If you can not provide the plan can you give me access to a manager to discuss this issue. It is a major problem and basically renders your system useless.

12:36:46 PM

Thank you.

12:36:55 PM

Merry R

Thank you for waiting Paul. The case was handled already by our higher team department. Also our engineering team department are still currently working on your issue.

12:42:21 PM

Me

So what is the deployment plan and schedule?

12:42:57 PM

Merry R

As of this time we don't receive feedback yet from our engineering department. The work around for this issue is to try use browser to view email alerts or you can also just click on "click here to view the video"

12:46:29 PM

Me

That workaround is ok for a few days or a week but absolutely ridiculous for over a month. It's a simple problem. You rewrote you alert email with javascript to display the snapshot. This is considered a security risk in email and Microsoft will not display it in they power products. Simple to fix.

12:49:39 PM

If you cannot provide a schedule and plan I have no recourse than to assume you will never fix the problem and I will have to get a new system from another vendor.

12:50:41 PM

I will also share put reviews on Amazon concerning this issue, notify the the Community who are also very perturbed and recommend that we all generate reviews on Amazon telling the truth about this problem so that perspective customers will know what they are getting into.

12:52:32 PM

Merry R

I really do apologize for this matter Paul. I understand your frustration right now. However this was an ongoing issue we're currently experiencing and our engineering department are still looking for a fix.

12:52:54 PM

Me

I'll ask again - Can you tell me when this will be fixed???

12:52:56 PM

Merry R

I cannot give you a time frame since we don't receive feedback yet from our engineering team. I'll give you that information if the other department send an update regarding this matter.

12:54:14 PM

Me

OK - I know your hands are tied, be don't like the mushroom style of communication. Please have somebody email me the schedule. This is no way to run a company.

12:58:30 PM

Bye

12:58:55 PM

Merry R

Thank you for your continued cooperation.

1:00:22 PM

Again, thank you for choosing Arlo. Have a great day!

[Rueg]

Ridiculous.

[Rueg]

@JessicaP  - Any update on this?  It has been over 5 weeks now.

Thanks.

[JessicaP]

We appreciate everyone's patience regarding this. Our development team is still looking into this issue. We will be sure to update the community when we hear any information from our team. We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience given.

[ranran]

Hi Jessica,

While I'm glad you are responding, I'd like to point out that no constructive information has yet to be provided.  How likely is it that Netgear/Arlo will engage the community by having a represenatitve from the oft referred to 'development team' actually provide an update as to whether they have a) confirmed the problem as amply described (and explained) here, and b) taken steps to rectify the lack of image preview?

[Rueg]

JessicaP messaged me with the following:

https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Pro/What-happened-to-the-preview-picture-in-the-emails/m-p/169963...

We appreciate your patience regarding this. Our development team is asking if you could forward over the following information via email.

• Your Arlo account and Arlo username
• State which email client you're having problem with and send the following file below.
  • (If you're using Outlook) For Outlook desktop, right click on the message and click on "View Source", copy and paste into a text file.
  • (If you're using Gmail) For Gmail desktop, click on the three dots on the right of the message and click on "Show Original" or "Download message" as .eml file.

We hope to hear from you soon and we appreciate your patience and understanding once again.

I did this - sent a email with the requested information.  What I don't understand is why they are just asking for this information now - after the issue has been ongoing for over 5 weeks.  And also, others have posted in this thread exactly what the issue was and how to fix.  Is nobody from support looing at this thread?

@JessicaP  - do you want others to send this information?  There are many different people using different email applications having the same issue.

[paulrosslaw]

do you want my info as i can easilly provide it although the problem has been explained in simple terms in this forum and it beggars belief that the development team doesnt understand what they did wrong to break the emails around 25th May or how to put it right!

[rulviebaby]

In response to your request for information Jessica:

 I cannot believe that your development team cannot buy or borrow access to the prevalent email clients that have been mentioned in the thread and do the requested testing themselves?   Do you need a contribution???     

I mentioned the following in a thread back in May.  There is a 3rd party product that you send your email to (see the link below) and they test it with 90 or so different email clients and show you what the recipient would see on each of the clients.  I would think this would be an invaluable to your team??

             https://litmus.com/email-testing

 Did my post on 5/27 fall on deaf ears?  Again does your team need a contribution??? Better yet it has a 7 day free trial and it would give them an incentive to finish in a week and not have to pay for it and provide a useful product for your customers again.

As has been mentioned in numerous posts the change you put in contains javascript and some email clients refuse to display it – how about just removing the javascript?

Your developers need to learn to test on their own and the community shouldn’t have to get involved - prehaps volunteers on a pre release basis,  but not after a catastrophy.  I gave you a couple of suggestions above and if they had been followed before the recent changes none of this frustration would have occurred.

Let us know what your team thinks about the suggestions?

[treebuilder]

To add insult to injury, I've also noticed the following:

• Emails are sometimes significantly delayed from time of detection,
• Object detection fidelity has decreased significantly,
• App notifications are now delayed, and occur when I wake my phone, rather than as they occur,
• The app has been crashing more frequently.

Taken together, the value of the product, for me, has decreased significantly.    Coupled with their inability or unwillingness to address (what I consider to be) these significant problems in a timely manner, I am beginning to regret my purchase, and am considering alternatives for my home security.

[jruddy]

The answers to support's questions have been provided multiple times in the thread.  What does we are "working on it" even mean if no one has read the thread. They know what changes they made on 5/25.. change it back.

As someone who works in the tech support industry, this is a sad excuse for support.  

[ScottK1]

Same here.  I do not understand the extraordinarily bad support.  The only reasonable explanation is that the people monitoring this group are not relaying the significance of the problem to development.  Seriously, do they not own these products and use them themselves?  In my company, the appropriate people use the devices they are responsible for.  It’s not optional, and it is free to employees involved.  It is so STUPID to be asking for additional information.  Just TRY IT YOURSELF.  It DOES NOT WORK, regardless of model or software..

I’m going to add some 1 star ratings to Amazon and everywhere else this weekend, for every ARLO product there is.

Scott

[ranran]

Well, it would seem I am not alone in my consternation at the extended time for resolution of this issue.

To keep things in perspective, I do like the system - for me it has been a relatively solid, wire-free method of camera surveillance.  However, this has hit me rather hard as I like to quickly scan through the snapshot emails to see if anything requires further investigation.

Is anyone aware of a system like this (particularly good/high resolution cameras with wide viewing angles and wire-free installation) that is better than the Arlo system?  I do like to keep my options open...

[BillTHollins]

In otherwords lets make the email LESS helpful. Click on show in browser works, but that is additional time.

It still works with Outlook on Android but not on desktop. So if an intruder chances are they will escape before anything can be done.

Certainly no thought of useability of the system. Along with lack of Geofencing working another fail.